US558571A - Base ball oame illustrating apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1,

A. K. SCHAAP.

BASE BALL GAME ILLUSTRATING'APPARATUS.

Patented Apr. 21, 1896.-

M0 m M a 2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.) 7

A. K. SGHAAP. BASE BALL GAME ILLUSTRATING APPARATUS.

No. 558,571. Patented Apr. 21, 1896.

AN DREW B GRAHAM. PHOTO-UI'HQWASHINFIUND c Ihvrrnn STAT S ALEXANDER K. SCIIAAP, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO SAMUEL R. OROIVDER, OF SAME PLACE. A

BASE-BALL-GAIVIE-ILLUSTRATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,571, dated April 21, 1896.

Application filed August 2, 1895. Serial No. 557,930. (No model.)

V a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Figures or Appliances for Illustrating Base'Ball, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements upon the patents granted to Samuel R. Crowder August 6, 1895, No. 543,851, and August 27, 1895, No. 545,270, covering an apparatus for graphically illustrating to an audience the progress of a game of base-ball at a distance from the place where the game is played; and it consists, essentially, in providing each of the figures representing the players with mechanism whereby the various actions of the players-such as running, batting, throwing, and catching the ball, coaching, stooping to catch a grounder, &c.may be more graphically illustrated.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of one of the figures provided with my improvements; Fig. .3, a side elevation showing the player stooping forward to catch the ball; Fig. 3, a side elevation, the leg and bat operating devices being removed to better show the parts; Fig. 4, a side view of the opposite side of the device, the leg and ball operating devices being removed to better show. the working of the remaining parts; Fig. 5, a front elevation of the lower part of the device, showing more particularly the legoperating devices; Fig. 6, a front elevation showing the player in uniform, the uniform serving to hide the operating parts and the ball; Fig. 7 a horizontal section in detail showing the two wire supporting-frames attached to the upright near its hinged joint, and Fig. 8 a detail view of the bat-carrying lever.

Referring to the .drawings by numerals, 1 is the upright support for the figure, its upper part being provided with a rule-joint at 2 and its extremeupper end being provided with the representation of a players head. The upright is provided with the usual friction-block 4, which is adapted to impinge upon the upper surface of the inclined board 5, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,) representing the field. The weight 6 for maintaining the figure in an upright position is pivoted loosely on the lower end of the upright, so as to oscillate thereon. The legs 7 of the player are pivoted upon the opposite ends of horizontal pins 8, projecting from opposite sides of the standard, and the rear upper end of each leg is connected by a suitable resilient connection, such as a coil-spring'fl, to the adjacent end of a horizontal lever 10, pivoted midway its length to the upright, and connecting this lever 10 to the oscillating weight is a wire rod 11, which passes down through the hollow up right, so as not to interfere with the movement of the upright in the slotted board representing the field. It will be observed that when the Weight is oscillated the lever 10 will be oscillated in unison therewith and will impart to the legs an alternate forward and backward motion in simulation to the action of running. The resilient connections 9 yield longitudinally and laterally in order that the legs may move freely on the pivots.

The arms 12 are secured on the forward ends of an gle-levers 13, which are pivoted or vertical brackets 14:, carried by the upright, and whose shorter arms project inward and forward toward each other and have theii downwardly-turned ends connected by a horizontal loop 15, this loop being carried by the upper end of an angle-lever 16, pivoted to the upright and having ashort arm 17, projecting rearwardly and connected to an operatingwire 18, extending through the hollow uprigh t to within convenient reach of the operator below the supporting-board. It will be seen that by drawing on the operating-wire 18 the angle-lever 16 and its loop will press the shorter arms of the angle-levers inward to ward the upright and bring the hands of the player together, whereby the action of catching the ball and clapping the hands in coaching may be readily imitated. To restore the arms to their extended position when the operating-wire is released, a coil-spring 19 connects the outer end of arm 17 to the upright at a point above said arm 17.

The ball 20 is carried at the end of an anglelever 21, pivoted to the upright and provided with a rearwardly-extending arm 22, which latter is connected to the upper part of the upright by a coil-sprin g 23 (to normally draw the ball down out of the way) and to an operating-wire 23, which enters an opening in the side of an upright and passes down through the same to Within convenient reach of the operator. The lower end of the operatingwire 23 is provided with a cross-pin 24, which is adapted to engage over pins 25, projecting from the upright, and thereby hold the operating-wire down and the ball in its raised position.

It will be seen that by simply drawing down the operating-wire 23 the ball may be raised up to a point 011 a level with the hands 12, and to bring the hands together upon the ball to illustrate the action of catching the ball the lever 21 is bent forward about midway its length to such an angle that when it is raised it will strike against the front edge of the loop 15, as shown in Fig. 2, and press the same inward, which action will bring the hands together in the manner heretofore described.

The bat 26 is secured 011 the lower end of an angle-lever 27 similar in construction to the ball-carrying lever 21 and pivoted on the upright and having its rearwardly-extending arm 28 connected to the upper part of the frame by a coil-spring 29 (to keep the bat norm ally drawn down in front of the upright) and to an operating-wire 30, extending down through the hollow upright and provided with a cross-pin 31, adapted to engage over pins 32 on the upright to hold the bat in its raised position. The bat-carrying lever is bent similarly to the ball-carrying lever, so that when it is raised it will strike loop and draw the hands together upon the handle of the bat. To permit the bat-carrying lever 27 to yield or fold when the player stoops forward, as shown in Fig. 2, said lever is jointed at 33 and 34, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and to keep the jointed parts in position a suitable spring 35 is employed.

To bend the upper part of the upright forward, as shown in Fig.2, to illustrate the action of catching a ground ball the upright at a point above the hinge 2 is provided with a circular wire frame 36, which is connected at its front edge to an operating-wire 37 and at its rear edge to a coil-spring 38, which latter extends to a point below the hinge-joint where it is connected to the upright to assist in restoring the upper part of the upright to its vertical position. The upper end of the coil-spring is also connected to a stationary arm 39, projecting rearwardly from the lower end of the upper part of the upright. The operating-rod 37 extends down through the hollow upright and the weight and is provided with an operating-handle 40 at its lower end.

In order that the hands and the ball may be operated at the same time that the player stoops forward, the rear end 28 of the ballcarrying lever is connected by an additional operating-wire 41 to the operating-rod 37 In order that the ball-carrying lever may be operated through the medium of either of its operating-wires 23 41 without buckling or bending the other, those two wires are formed with interlocking loops 42 near their upper ends, the loops being sufficiently elongated to permit either wire to be operated without operating or bending the other, as shown more particularly in Fig. 2. The frame 36 also serves to assist in carrying the uniform of the player and preventing it interfering with the working parts. Another frame 43, semicircular in shape, is secured to the upright below the hinge-joint, and depending from this frame at one side of the standard is a wire loop 44, whose upper end is connected to said frame 43 and whose other end is connected to the cross-pin 24, carried by the upright, this loop being so located as to surround the ball while it is in its lowered position.

As shown in Fig. 6, the loop 44 supports the uniform of the player adjacent to the ball, the uniform being slitted at 45 to permit the ball to pass into the loop and be hidden by the closing of the slit after the ball has entered.

In order that the cross-pin 24, carried by the ball-operatin g wire 23 may be disengaged from its locking-pins 25 automatically by the operation of the leg-operating mechanism, a triplever 46 is pivoted to the upper side of the weight and has its upper ends guided by eyes 47 on the upright, this trip-lever being bent so as to push the cross-pin 24 off the lockingpin when it is raised by the oscillation of the weight, and to release the bat-operating wire in a similar manner from its pins 32 the legoperating'wire 11 is bent at 48, this bent portion serving to release pin 31 when the operating-wire 11 is thrown upward by the oscillation of the weight.

It will be seen that by means of the mechanism described the various movements of the players may be illustrated with sufficient clearness to render unnecessary an oral explanation of the various plays to the audience.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. I11 a baseball-illustrating apparatus, the combination of a slotted supporting-board, a movable upright working in said slots and extending therethrough and provided with a friction-block bearing on the board and a weight at its lower end to maintain it in an upright position, a figure of a player on the upright above the board, pivoted an gle-levers carrying the arms of the player and adapted to swing laterally toward each other, a pivoted angle-lever provided with a loop engaging the inner ends of the arm-levers and adapted to press the same inward and out ward, and an operating-Wire extending down through the upright to a point below the board, substantially as described.

2. The combination of an upright carrying the figure of a base-ball player at its upper end, the legs of the player being pivotally hung, an oscillating lever 10 pivoted to the upright above the legs, a resilient connection between each end of the lever and the adjacent upper end of the leg, and an operatingwire connected to the lever 10 and depending therefrom, substantially as described.

3. In a base-ball apparatus, the combination of an upright carrying the figure of a player at its upper end and a pivoted weight at its lower end, a supporting-board, an oscillating lever 10 having its opposite ends connected to the swinging legs of the player, and an operating-wire connecting said oscillating lever to the oscillating weight, substantially as described.

.4. In a base-ball device, the combination of an upright carrying the figure of a player, the arms of the player being adapted to swing to gether in front, a pivoted lever carrying a ball, means for raising said lever to bring the ball between the hands and simultaneously swing the hands toward each other, substan tially as described.

5. In. a base-ball apparatus, the combination of an upright carrying the figure of a player, angle-levers carrying the hands of the player and adapted to swing laterally, an angle-lever carrying the ball and adapted to raise the same between the hands, means for operating the hand-carrying and ball-carrying levers, the bent part of the ball-carrying lever being adapted to bring the hands together when the ball is raised, substantially as described.

6. In a base-ball apparatus, the combination of an upright carrying the figure of a player, the arms of the player being adapted to swing laterally, a bat-carrying lever pivoted to the upright, and means for raising the bat between the hands of the player simultaneously bringing the hands toward the handle of the bat, and means for restoring the parts to their normal position, substantially as described.

'7. In a base-ball apparatus, the combination of a field-board, an upright depending therethrough, the figure of a player being carried on the upper end of the upright, a bat-carry ing lever pivoted on the upright, and an operating-wire connected to said lever and extending below the board whereby the operator below the board may raise the bat to an approximately horizontal position in front of the player, substantially as described.

8. In a base-ball apparatus, the combination of an upright carrying a figure of a player at its upper end, the upright being hinged and adapted to bend forward about midway the length of the figure, an operating-wire adapted to bend said upper part forward, a ballcarrying lever and means for simultaneously raising the ball to a position between the hands of the figure when bent forward, substantially as described.

9. In a baseball apparatus,the combination of a field-board, an upright depending therethrough and carrying the figure of a player on its upper end, the legs of said player being adapted to swing forward and backward and its arms adapted to swing laterally, a ballcarrying lever adapted to swing the ball up between the hands, a bat carrying lever adapted to swing the bat up between the hands of the figure and operating-wires for said levers extending below the operatingboard, substantially as described.

10. In a base-ball apparatus, the combination of a supporting-board, an upright depending therethrough, the figure of a player on the upper end of the upright, the arms of the player being adapted to swing laterally and its legs forward and backward, a ballcarrying lever, means for raising the ball between the hands of the figure and simultaneously bringing the hands toward the ball, an operating-wire connected to said means and extending below the board, a device for holding said operating-wire down, an oscillating part carried by the upright and adapted to operate the legs of the figure, and a tripping device connected to said oscillating part and adapted to release the said operating-wire, as and for the purposes set forth.

11. In a base-ball apparatus, the combination of a field-board, an upright depending therethrou gh and having the figure of a player upon its upper end, said figure being adapted to bend forward, a bat-carrying lever pivoted to the upright and depending in front of the same, said bat-carrying lever being jointed so as to fold when the figure stoops forward, and means for raising the bat-carryin g lever, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

ALEXANDER K. SOHAAP. lVitnesses:

C. D. DAVIS, S. R. GRowDER.

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