US3231277A

US3231277A - Baffleboard ball game apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3231277A
Application number: US441639A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kelley M Holland
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-03-22
Filing date: 1965-03-22
Publication date: 1966-01-25
Anticipated expiration: 1983-01-25

Description

1966 K. M. HOLLAND BAFFLEBOARD BALL GAME APPARATUS Filed March 22, 1965 22 Fig.3

INVENTOR. KELLEY M. HOLLAND United States Patent 3,231,277 BAFFLEBOARD BALL GAME APPARATUS Kelley M. Holland, 4649 Biona Drive, San Diego, Calif. Filed Mar. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 441,639 6 Claims. (Cl. 273-101) This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 146,833, filed October 23, 1961, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to apparatus for a new game played with a ball of extremely light weight, preferably hollow, and quite resilient and the apparatus developed to exploit the peculiar characteristics of such a ball when used with ball-propelling guns in a pin-ball type of game apparatus.

The principal object of this invention is to provide apparatus for a game which demands the exercise of great skill and muscular co-ordination, and to make it possible for opposing players to add to the excitement of the game by cross fire and interference with the balls projected by opposing players.

It is another object of the invention to provide a game apparatus which can be easily collapsed into a small space to facilitate storage and transportation of the game apparatus.

It is another object of this invention to provide a unique gable construction which combines the functions of a top baffle for the projected balls as well as a canopy, the latter being thought of as functioning merely as a cover to prevent interference with the flight of the balls and to prevent lateral escape of the balls.

Another object of this invention is to provide apparatus which is ideally suited for use by as many as four players, there being a single target aperture in a centrally disposed baflle board, each of the players being able to interfere with the trafiic through said target aperture of the balls fired by opposing players, provision being made for the very rapid return of the balls which do not pass through the target aperture, thus heightening the excitement of the game and enabling fast game action.

Another object of the invention, ancillary to the preceding objects, is to provide game apparatus of this character wherein ball-propelling guns are located at all four corners of the cabinet, thus permitting use by four players even though the space required by the apparatus as such is quite limited.

The last object to be mentioned is to provide game apparatus particularly suitable for use in game rooms, private playrooms and the like, which is inexpensive to manufacture, completely safe while intensely interesting to use and which is quite durable and rugged. Other objects will appear as this description proceeds.

Drawings A preferred embodiment of my invention is described in detail in the following specification and is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view of the game apparatus, in perspective;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plane view of the game apparatus; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, this figure being on an enlarged scale, the better to show the detailed construction of the various parts.

Detailed description of the invention Referring now to the drawing in detail and to the parts and portions thereof by reference numerals, the same reference numerals being used to designate the identical or similar parts and portions throughout the various figures, the apparatus includes a cabinet, generally indicated 3,231,277 Patented Jan. 25, 1966 by the numeral 10 having vertical side walls 12 and vertical end walls 14. The bottom of the cabinet is constituted by board or panel elements which function as play ing surfaces 16, as well as structural elements of the cabinet. It will be noted that the cabinet has a reduced vertical dimension at its central part and a greater vertical height at each end wall 14, and this has been found to improve the stability of the cabinet when placed on surfaces which are not perfectly flat, and to tend to keep the cabinet from shifting unduly when the ball-propelling guns are operated overzealously in the excitement of the game, the playing surfaces 16 being inclined.

Disposed centrally in the cabinet is a vertical bafile board 18 which is primarily supported by lateral guide rails 20 fixed in spaced relation on the inner surfaces of the side Walls 12 and engaging the lower lateral edges of the baffle board 18. The lower longitudinal edge of the baffle board rests upon the bottom of the cabinet, that is, the juncture of the playing surfaces 16. The baflle board is provided with a target aperture 24, preferably disposed centrally of the upper portion of the bafile board, and a plurality of balls, one of which is indicated at 26, are disposed on each of the playing surfaces. The character of these balls is extremely critical. They can be most easily described as being Ping-pong balls, that is, they must be of extremely light weight and highly resilient, all such balls will probably be hollow and will also probably be constructed of plastic. The character of the balls is determinant to a very great degree the general character of the game played with this apparatus and the use of Ping-pong balls is proposed as a novel and very important feature of this invention.

Ball propelling guns, generally indicated by the numeral 28, are provided at each end of the cabinet, preferably four in number and disposed at each corner of the cabinet, that is, at each end of each end wall 14. The ball propelling guns are identical and only one will be described: each gun includes a plunger 30 terminating in a handle or knob 32 and biased toward the baffle board 18 by a spring 34, the spring and a portion of the plunger being housed in a cylindrical bore 36 of a block 38. Each block 38 is pivoted, as at 40, upon a bracket plate 42 which is fixed to the corresponding end plate 14 and extends inwardly of the cabinet above the ball-propelling gun. Each bracket plate is provided with a finger access hole 43 to enable the player to hold the gun after prepositioning the same by swinging action applied to the plunger knob 32. A slot 44 is provided in the adjacent portion of the end wall 14 to accommodate an intermediate portion of the plunger 30.

A plurality of lofting elements 46 are secured upon the playing surfaces 16, these lofting elements being in the general planes through said target aperture and the corresponding gun. In the illustrated embodiment four such lofting elements are shown but it will be understood that the lofting elements on each playing surface may be combined into one larger lofting element extending a greater distance transversely of the playing surface, one very important structural feature being retained in any case, namely, that the portion or portions of the lofting element or elements disposed toward the baffle board must be tapered toward said baffle board so that the balls returned therefrom will not be arrested by the lofting element, even though they may be deflected thereby in rolling back toward the guns. The edges 48 disposed toward the guns of the lofting elements are normal to the playing surface, as best shown in FIGURE 3, and the angle thereof is a factor largely determinant of the path of the ball upwardly toward the target aperture 24, this path being indicated graphically in FIGURES 1 and 3 by the arrows 50. That the ball must be a table tennis ball or the equivalent has already been. mentioned and certain dimensions are also critical, to wit, the height of the edge 48 to operate efficiently with such a table tennis ball must be approximately one-eighth inch, or at least within the range of three thirty-seconds to five thirty-seconds of one inch in height, and the edge 48 should be seven inches with a possible tolerance of only one-quarter inch if the ball is to transverse the target aperture 26 in horizontal flight.

Ball return ramps 52 are provided on each side of the baffle plate 18, the lower edges of these ramps being engaged by stop blocks 54, disposed laterally of the plane surfaces 16. The upper edges 56 of the ramps 52 engage intermediate portions of the baflle board 18, greatly aiding in stabilizing the baflie board, it being recalled that the baflle board is removably and somewhat loosely inserted between the lateral guide rails 20.

A gable 58 of unique structure is functionally a com bined top baffle and canopy. The gable is comprised primarily of flexible sheet material 60 and as a top baffle it deflects balls which are made to bounce extra high upon striking the lofting elements 46, a skillful player being able thus to use the gable as a top baflie to deflect a ball through the target aperture 24. As a canopy the gable 58 covers the whole central portion of the cabinet and the side flaps 61 of the gable prevent the balls from escaping laterally of the cabinet during play. Each end of the gable has a channel 62 constructed in the sheet material 60 thereof to accept a pair of dowels 64 of such a length as to extend onto the upper edges of each of the side walls 12. This arrangement of the dowels holds the brackets 66 in the positions shown clearly in FIG- URES 1 and 3, with the sheet material 60 stretched over the top of the baffle board 18 and the side flaps 61 tautened into vertical position, it being understood that these side flaps are of triangular form. The brackets 66 are secured to the inner surfaces of the side walls 12 by pivots 68, which may take the form of simple headed screws, and the brackets are shown in operative positions in FIGURES 1 and 3 and one of these brackets is shown in inoperative or retracted position in chain lines in FIGURE 3. It is thought that this simple showing of the positioning of the bracket 66 in inoperative position in FIGURE 3 will indicate how the entire gable is removed or collapsed for storage or transportation of the apparatus, the dowels simply being manipulated axially thereof, being reasonably loosely held in the corresponding channels 64, to release the ends of the dowels from the brackets 66, thus permitting the entire canopy to be removed and collapsed when desired. It will also be noted that the baffle board 18 is easily removed by simply raising the same out of the sockets defined by the lateral guide rails 20, and the ball return ramps 52 are simply then lifted out and stored in the body portion of the cabinet along with the folded or collapsed gable.

The operation of the invention has already been rather completely divulged by the foregoing description of the apparatus and it remains only necessary to point out that the particular game rules to be employed can be varied considerably, as can the number of players, in the oper ation of this invention.

It is understood that minor variation from the form of the invention disclosed herein may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the specification and drawing are to be considered as merely illustrative rather than limiting.

I claim:

1. Game apparatus comprising:

a rigid cabinet including upstanding, peripherally disposed side and end walls and a plurality of playing surfaces;

a vertical baffle board extending across said cabinet and separating said playing surfaces, said playing surfaces being inclined. downwardly from said baflle board toward each of said end walls, and said bafile board having a target aperture therein;

ball propelling guns mounted in said cabinet and manually operable from without said end walls;

a plurality of extremely light weight, hollow and resilient balls on said playing surfaces;

a plurality of lofting elements, mounted on said playing surfaces, an equal number of said lofting elements being on each side of said baflle board;

ball returning ramps fixed to said playing surfaces immediately adjacent to each side of said baffle board;

a gable comprising a top baffle and a canopy covering a major central portion of said playing surfaces, said baffle board supporting said gable at its center;

and mounting means to mount said gable on said cabinet for collapsibility of said gable when said baflie board is removed.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said ball returning ramp are plate-like and extend across the cabinet at the lower edge of said baffle board and present upper surfaces inclined downwardly toward said guns, the upper edges of said ramps engaging said baflle board and stabilizing said baffle board.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said gable has a supporting dowel at each end thereof;

and means terminally and releasibly securing said dowels to said side walls.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the ends of said gable are spaced inwardly from said end Walls d e-' fining an open space at each end of the cabinet thus providing access to said guns and returned balls.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said guns are disposed adjacent each end of each end wall enabling cross-fire ball propulsion toward said target aperture, said lofting elements being disposed generally in planes through said target aperture and said guns.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of said lofting elements is spaced seven inches from said baffle board, measured in the direction of the corresponding playing surface, and said lofting elements have edges against which the balls are projected, said edges being approximately one-eighth inch in height above the corresponding playing surface.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,279,465 9/1918 Small 273- 1,942,476 1/1934 Harris 273-419 2,688,484 9/1954 Garber 27395 X 2,850,283 9/1958 Lemelson 273--95 3,087,731 4/1963 Waite 273-119 FOREIGN PATENTS 544,393 4/ 1942 Great Britain.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

M. R. PAGE, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. GAME APPARATUS COMPRISING: A RIGID CABINET INCLUDING UPSTANDING, PERIPHERALLY DISPOSED SIDE AND END WALLS AND A PLURALITY OF PLAYING SURFACES; A VERTICAL BAFFLE BOARD EXTENDING ACROSS SAID CABINET AND SEPARATING SAID PLAYING SURFACES, SAID PLAYING SURFACES BEING INCLINED DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID BAFFLE BOARD TOWARD EACH OF SAID END WALLS, AND SAID BAFFLE BOARD HAVING A TARGET APERTURE THEREIN; BALL PROPELLING GUNS MOUNTED IN SAID CABINET AND MANUALLY OPERABLE FROM WITHOUT SAID END WALLS; A PLURALITY OF EXTREMELY LIGHT WEIGHT, HOLLOW AND RESILIENT BALLS ON SAID PLAYING SURFACES; A PLURALITY OF LOFTING ELEMENTS, MOUNTED ON SAID PLAYING SURFACES, AN EQUAL NUMBER OF SAID LOFTING ELEMENTS BEING ON EACH SIDE OF SAID BAFFLE BOARD; BALL RETURNING RAMPS FIXED TO SAID PLAYING SURFACES IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO EACH SIDE OF SAID BAFFLE BOARD; A GABLE COMPRISING A TOP BAFFLE AND A CANOPY COVERING A MAJOR CENTRAL PORTION OF SAID PLAYING SURFACES, AND BAFLE BOARD SUPPORTING SAID GABLE AT ITS CENTER; AND MOUNTING MEANS TO MOUNT SAID GABLE ON SAID CABINET FOR COLLAPSIBILITY OF SAID GABLE WHEN SAID BAFFLE BOARD IS REMOVED,