WO2003024540A1

WO2003024540A1 - Process and apparatus for automatic golf teeing

Info

Publication number: WO2003024540A1
Application number: PCT/HU2002/000084
Authority: WO
Inventors: Antal Kuthy, Sr.; Antal Kuthy, Jr.
Original assignee: Kuthy Antal Sr; Kuthy Antal Jr
Priority date: 2001-09-18
Filing date: 2002-08-29
Publication date: 2003-03-27
Also published as: HU0103725D0; HU223209B1; HUP0103725A2

Abstract

The subject of the invention is a process to realise the golf ball teeing simply, automatically and quickly. The functioning steps based on the process can be described as follows: The ball hit on the server tee (3) will struck in the capturing net (14) that is attached to net (12) where the larges part of its kinetic energy will be absorbed and it is falling down to the sloping stretched bottom part of the net (12). The sloping part of the net is pull down to the conveyor unit (9) at the in-roll aperture (8) and since that is the lowest part of the net the balls are rolling through the in-roll aperture (8) in the conveyor unit (9). Then the blower (10) being in the conveyor unit (9) is blowing the balls in the transit ball magazine (17) from which the ball feeder (7) releases a ball on the lifting spoon (5). The spoon rotator (6) together with the lifting spoon (5) raises the ball over the server tee (3) and drops it on its top. Then the tee elevator (4) starts to move upwards and the ball will be lifted in the pre-programmed and desired height. From that position the golfer can hit the ball again and the process can start one more. Further more the subjects of the invention are the apparatus realising the process and the special net arrangement that damps the golf ball hit.

Description

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC GOLF TEEING

The present invention concerns to a process for the realisation of the automatic golf teeing, which retrieves back the balls caught by the netting automatically to the tee, without compelling the player to move from his former hitting position.

The present invention is in addition an apparatus that is suitable to realise an automatic teeing process and besides a special ball catching net that is accomplished to the energy-absorption of the balls hit during the training.

The apparatus realizing the ball serving process is full automated, the player's muscles doesn't suffer any harm in case the training hit has been carried out too deep.

The apparatus can be used to both in and outdoor practise for teeing up balls caught and retrieved by the ball catching net or taken out from a ball reservoir of high capacity.

There are more solutions to retrieve and tee up balls by the equipment for practising the golf swing.

The American patent No. 4,177,996 acquaints one of these. In this case the practising balls roll out from a spiral ball magazine via a trough to the hitting tee.

At this solution, according to the patent, the hitting tee is rigid and can get damaged by deep strokes and then the hitting surface can shock the arm muscle or other musculature through the golf club. The tee height is not adjustable.

The ball reservoir's placement is defined through the mechanical arrangement and could hinder the golf player's moving.

The equipment isn't susceptible to tee-up balls caught by a net, balls can get to tee only semi- automatically by being taken out from a reservoir.

The American patent No 4,741,537 realises the golf ball tee-up semi-automatically. The basic conception is at the technical solution too that the new balls are taken out for hitting from a reservoir equipped with a spiral-tube. The way between the ball reservoir and tee is accomplished by the gravitation. Giving a pull to a lever launches the ball's teeing. The tee is lifted by compressed air.

Neither this solution is capable to transport the ball from the practising net to the tee, since it operates only semi-automatically. The tee height can't be programmed; in advance can be modified only a complicated way, by chocks of different heights. The player's muscle isn't protected against the shock of the artificial turf.

At the American patent No. 5,690,555, the balls caught by the net are led through a gravitational channel to the mechanical feeder, from where the player has to initiate the ball's tee-up.

The ball is rolling into the feeder through a rigid channel between the netting and the tee. The distance between the tee and the net is defined; it is difficult to adjust the best hitting distance related to the net aperture. The tee height isn't adjustable, the shock of the artificial turf can't be stopped, and the operation is not automatic. Automatic tee dispenser is the subject of the American patent No. 4,319,753. In opposite to the previous solutions the tee heights can be pre-programmed to some discreet value but continuous programming is neither here possible. The equipment has a complicated mechanical structure, its structural height is large, the player's muscle isn't protected against the wrong reaction of the hitting surface, the apparatus is suggested for being used sunk under ground, what makes difficulties during the settlement and it isn't capable to receive balls coming from the net.

The equipment based on the American patent No. 4,662,641 applies tees affixed in equal distance on a continuous belt to get the balls in hitting position. The balls' placement to the tee occurs by vacuum. This solution operates faultless only if the tee's edge can stick securely to the golf ball's rough surface that has dimples - for affecting advantageously the ball's trajectory. Rather high vacuum and good sealed system are needed for reliable operation, otherwise the lifted ball may fall down before the tee reaches the vertical position. The system's disadvantage is that in case one tee is damaged, the whole tee belt shall be replaced, the equipment is too high and that could easily cause an accident.

The American patent No. 5,645,491 serves to realise a golf training equipment too. In this case the ball will be placed on the tee also by vacuum and the tee will get in vertical position by a complicated mechanism under continuous vacuum. The permanent need for vacuum is in this case disadvantageous too. The ball can fall down at any vacuum problem, what can cause operation trouble. The construction is complicated and isn't possible to retrieve the balls.

The invention's aim is to eliminate the insufficiency of the known solutions and to create a simply built ball server by that is possible to put the balls caught in the netting automatically up to the tee and is also usable if the hit balls are not retrieved automatically but released out from a large central ball reservoir for hitting.

At the invention's workout was one object to roll back the hit ball through a flexible tube, in consequence of that the connection between the net and the server machine is not stiff.

The tee-up before the swing shall be realised by a simple construction consisting of a few parts.

The necessary tee height must be adjustable and the tee-up should occur without using vacuum.

A very important object was to realise that the deep strokes occurring at the training don't cause shocks by the rigid hitting surface, which could lead to inflammation and that can hinder in longer continuous training.

The former objects are taken into consideration at the workout of the process for golf ball teeing up.

The automatic golf ball teeing process and the equipment to realise it in the praxis according to the invention are based on the recognition that the hit ball at the training will be caught by a net, the bottom part of the net is tightened and pulled down in a point, because of these the ball is forced to roll by the gravitation and can be introduced in such an area from where by low air pressure it can be blown into a ball magazine from where the balls can release in succession to the top of the hitting tee. If the tee with the ball after that will be lifted somehow to the desired hitting height, the golfer can accomplish the next training stroke.

For the new ball the golfer should wait a very short time in consequence of the simple process and fast operation. If the golf ball is put on a flexible hitting surface made of brush, the golf player doesn't get a shock causing muscle inflammation at the deep strokes since the fast moving club head can now penetrate almost unhindered into the flexible hitting surface and can come out of them without resistance.

Before the stroke, the ball is held by the tee made of flexible material. Is the ball hit, this is detected by a sensor that's signals are led to the central control circuit and energy source, which starts the motor-driven blower to produce over pressure, so the ball is blown into the temporary ball storage, and from there it can be released on a turning elevator spoon, and by turning this, the ball can be dropped to the tee top, but it also can be blown there by low pressure air.

After that, the tee and the ball is automatically lifted to the pre-programmed height by a motor-driven lifting unit and then the stroke can be repeated.

At a special version of ball lifting, pushing the spring-shaft upwards will lift the tee fixed on the end of a spring-shaft.

The netting according to the invention keeps the ball from flying away as well, and a netting system - consisting of different length loose parts that are stepped in deep and hung up at the end of the net - can absorb the energy of the balls hit away. The efficiency of the energy absorption depends on the specific weight of the net, on the length of the single net parts and on the net structure and rigidity.

The basic recognition is that this way the balls do not hit that part of the net that is tightened by its own weight but the loose lower part.

The balls bouncing from the net are kept from rolling out from the collecting surface by a low and flexible obstacle.

At one version of the device according to the invention is an inflatable tube system used for the netting, instead of a rigid framework. This special solution enables to set up the ball capturing and roll back system very easily and prompt so the transport of the apparatus is simple.

At one of the device's hitting platform's implementation possibilities, according to the invention, the hitting platform can be tilt for the training to any angle. This way the real situations can be simulated, where the golfer has to carry out golf strokes at grounds of different slope.

The invention is described via realizable examples and in details by drawings. The enclosed drawings are the following:

Fig.l is draft one of a realised golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is the perspective delineation of a realised golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 3-5 show the different realised versions of the tee sensors of the golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention.

Fig.6 is the inflatable tube version of the netting framework of the golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention.

Fig.7 is the version of the net of the golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention combined with sloping ball panels.

Fig.8 is a tilting version of the hitting panel of the golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 9 is the delineation of the stepped ball capturing net of the golf ball teeing apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 10 is a variant of the ball teeing apparatus according to the invention functioning with external ball reservoir.

Fig. 11 is a variant of the ball teeing apparatus according to the invention blowing the ball on the top of the tee.

Fig. 12 is the ball teeing apparatus' variant according to the invention lifting the ball by spring shaft.

A possible implementation, shown as an example, can be seen at Fig 1. is an entirely automated golf ball teeing apparatus.

The stroke of the ball will be executed from the server tee (3). After that the hit ball flies through the air in accordance with a given trajectory and bangs into the ball capturing net (14), where it loses the greatest part of its kinetic energy, then it falls down into the below sloping stretched out part of the netting, which's most deep point is at the in-roll aperture (8). The ball will begin to roll towards the deepest part of the net and there it gets through the in- roll aperture (8), which's size is just as the balls dimension into the ball conveyor unit (9). The ball - as a consequence of its weight - pushes the backstroke valve (11) and begins to roll out. After that the backstroke valve (11) affected by the turned on blower (10) is shutting down and the developing air pressure will forward the ball trough the flexible tube (16) into the transit ball magazine (17).

More balls can be blown in into the transit ball magazine (17) one after another in any rhythm and the ball feeder (7) stops them.

If there is no ball at the server tee (3), the ball feeder (7) lets out a ball from the transit ball magazine (17), which rolls on the lifting spoon (5), the lifting spoon rotator (6) starts the lifting spoon (5) and as it has reached its highest position the lifted ball is dropped on the top of the server tee (3). After that the tee elevator (4) starts and together with the ball on the top of the server tee (3) moves until the pre-programmed tee height is reached. When the ball is hit for training is detected by the tee sensor (18); the tee elevator (4) begins to move towards the lower normal position, the ball feeder (7) releases the following ball out of the transit ball-magazine (17) and the process described previously begins to repeat itself until the next ball appears on the server tee (3) and can be hit again.

During the training, the golfer stands at the hitting panel (2). At the opening cut out in the hitting panel (2) the flexible hitting inset (1) is placed, which is easy to exchange. The placement and operation principles of the tee sensor (18) are different at the diverse making up of the invention.

The tee sensor (18) can be placed outside of the tee under the ball, within the tee or at the hitting panel (2).

The sensor operation can be based on using light, but for this purpose can be utilized the simple weight measuring. The different versions can be seen at figures 3-5. One of the interesting versions of the invention's implementations, which is to be seen at figure 6. There the net is hold by an inflatable tube structure, the blowing up occurs by the blowing unit (20).

At another implementation possibility is the limitation of the moving balls that is accomplished by the net (12), but the ball's rolling in into the in-roll aperture (8) is realised by the rigid sloping ball panel (21). This version is shown at figure 7.

At a special version of the teeing apparatus based on the invention, the hitting panel (2) can be tilt in any angle by the lifting units (22, 23, 25 and 26). The central motion control unit (26) will coordinate the tilting angle of the hitting panel (2). The arrangement can be seen at figure 8.

The stepped version of the ball capturing net (14) is realised by one of the implemented solutions of the invention shown at figure 9.

At the invention's other version shown at figure 10, the balls hit from the server tee 3 do not let the balls roll back for the next stroke, but differently from the former solutions, new balls are released from the ball reservoir (29) by the ball releaser (28) through the in-roll aperture (8) in the ball conveyor unit (9). The method of getting the ball onto the tee by blowing can be seen at figure 11. The ball flies out at the end of a tube by means of the on-tee blowing unit (27) and then it flies further in a cavity formed inside the flexible hitting inset (1), ending its trajectory on the top of the tee. By this method the apparatus' structural height can be held low and so the ball gets from the flexible hitting inset to the tee without any emerging appliance.

At figure 12, a version of the ball's lifting realised by flexible spring shaft (30) can be seen. The spring shaft (30), of which an end takes up the tee, can be easily bent by the golf club's stroke.

The golf ball server apparatus, due to its outstanding properties, can be used excellently to practising the correct golf stroke. The apparatus can particularly be well used, when the golf swing's motion's series are desired to be memorised by a lot of practising strokes, without the player's need to change his hitting position for putting the ball on the tee. In addition it is not necessary to bend down to pick up and put the ball on the tee also for elder golfers, what means for them so often difficulties.

The apparatus takes care of the next ball's appearance at the tee automatically and this within a few seconds. This time period of the ball's presence is constant since the balls arriving in different times are rolling in trough the in-roll aperture and are blown in into the transit ball magazine equalised by the transit ball-magazine.

The tee height depending on the different golf clubs can be pre-programmed and the set heights stand in automatically until the program is changed.

Applied for capturing the hit balls a net or other device that takes care also of rolling back the ball, the whole practising system can operate continuously using only a few balls.

Does the rolling back not occur by rigid surfaces but practically by a net, the net can be fold up to a small volume at transport, its operation is soft and supposing that the set up area is grassy, the grass doesn't die out because it gets light through the net and can be sprinkled unhindered without difficulties in the future too.

It follows from the operating principle that in case of using a ball capturing net, it isn't necessary to take out every time a new ball from a high capacity ball reservoir and collect them later from the range to get back into the system.

The balls retrieving back into the system remain always clean during operation.

At the training apparatus, the hitting surface and de ball presenting system are connected by a flexible tube, therefore they can be arranged easily to the best position. It is easy to adjust the system to the net's opening, to the nets distance or to right-handed and left-handed people.

Because of the flexible connection, it is easy to realise such a version of the invention, where such a hitting surface is applied that can be tilt in every direction for practising especially difficult golf strokes that have to be carried out at ground sloping in different direction.

At training sessions is - but at competitions too - the incorrect execution of golf strokes prevalent. In these cases the golf club want to penetrate in the hitting surface, which causes at the outdoor surface the flying out some parts of soil and together with them a part of the grass by impact of the golf club, but in spite of this incident the golf players muscles gets only lighter shocks through the golf club. To practise the golf strokes is used artificial grass generally, but the greatest part of the hitting energy of the strokes carried out too deep comes back through the golf club to the players muscles and this is unhealthy at continuous training and can produce muscle inflammation too.

At the apparatus according to the invention this harmful shock effect can't develop, then the golf club at deep stroke can easy penetrate in the flexible hitting surface and it can move in it further nearly unhindered. At another version for the realisation of the invention were the netting structure consisting of inflatable tubes, where the netting system can be set up very quickly and after by letting out the air and folding up the deflated net structure with the netting it takes a very small place at transport.

Another great advantage of the apparatus - according to the invention - is the simple construction of the server mechanism. The balls' teeing-up and bringing them in hitting position is accomplished by a very simple mechanical solution. While the lifting spoon brings the ball on the tee, it can move free over the flexible hitting inset. By that method can the structural height of the apparatus be reduced since the ball can be taken out of its lower position in shorter way. The lower structural height is favourable because it avoids any possible accident.

If the teeing-up happens by blowing, the structural height can also be held low. The tee moving by flexible spring shaft has a special benefit since the club can easily deflect the tee at the end of a spring.

THE LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

1 Flexible hitting inset

2 Hitting panel

3 Server tee

4 Tee elevator

5 Lifting spoon

6 Spoon rotator

7 Ball feeder

8 In-roll aperture

9 Conveyor unit

10 Blower

11 Back stroke valve

12 Net

13 Rolling out prevent obstacle

14 Capturing net

15 Central control circuit and energy source

16 Flexible tube

17 Transit ball magazine

18 Tee sensor

19 Inflatable tube system

20 Blow up unit 1 Sloping ball panel 2,23,24,25 Lifting units

26 Central motion controller 7 On-tee blowing unit 8 Ball releaser

29 Central ball reservoir

30 Flexible sprig shaft 1 Spring shaft direction turner 2 Spring shaft moving disk 3 Spring shaft moving disk rotator 4 On tee g

Claims

1.

Process for realisation of golf ball teeing, described that the ball arrives at the in-roll aperture and is blown by the conveyor unit at over pressure through the flexible tube and through the cavity formed in the said flexible hitting inset to the server tee's top.

2.

The process, according to claim 1., for realisation of golf ball teeing described that the golf ball hit is captured by the net, the captured ball gets to the in-roll aperture by gravitation and tightening and pulling it down into a point of the bottom part of the net, from where the ball is blown at over pressure through the flexible tube in a transit ball magazine; afterwards the balls are released by the said ball feeder one after another to the rotating lifting spoon and by rotating it, the ball is brought over the tee, then it is dropped down to the tee's top. After that the ball on the tee gets to the desired hitting height.

3.

The apparatus, for realisation of the process according to claim 1., consists of hitting panel (2) in which is embedded the flexible hitting inset (1), serving tee (3), tee elevator (4), in-roll aperture (8), central control circuit and energy source (15), tee sensor (18) and sensors for stepping of the process, described that the in-roll aperture (8) leads to conveyor unit (9), which is connected to the end of the flexible tube (16), the other end of the flexible tube (16) leads to the ball feeder (7) to which is connected the on tee getting unit (34), that is fastened to the hitting panel (2), similarly the tee elevator (4) is fastened to this too.

4.

The apparatus, to realise the process according to claim 3., is described that the on tee getting unit (34) is a lifting spoon (5), which is connected to the spoon rotator (6) fastened to the hitting panel (2), the ball feeder (7) is attached to the transit ball magazine (17), the in-roll aperture (8) is attached to the net (12), the net (12) is connected to the rolling out prevent obstacle (13) and the capturing net (14).

The net arrangement, for absorbing the hit ball's energy, described that it consists of stepped net parts of different lengths that are hung up loose one after another.

6.

The apparatus, according to claims 3 and 4, described that the net (12) is attached to the inflatable tube system (19), the inflatable tube system (19) is connected to the blow up unit

(20).

7.

The apparatus, according to claims 3 and 4, described that the lower part of the net (12) is attached to the sloping ball panel (21).

8.

The apparatus, according to claims 3, 4 and 6, described that lifting units (22, 23, 24, 25) are attached to the hitting panel (2) and to the lifting units (22, 23, 24, 25) are connected to the central motion controller (26).

9.

The apparatus, according to claims 3, 4, 5, and 7, described that the stepped capturing net (14) is attached to the net (12).

10.

The apparatus, according to claim 3, described that the in-roll aperture (8) is connected to the ball releaser (28), the ball releaser (28) is connected to the central ball reservoir (29).

11.

The apparatus, according to claim 3, described that the ball released by the ball feeder (7) from the transit ball magazine (17), is blown by the on tee blowing unit (27) to the top of the tee.

12.

The apparatus, according to claim 3, described that the tee elevator (4) is a flexible spring shaft (30) that is led through the spring shaft direction turner (31), the flexible spring shaft (30) joints to the spring shaft moving disk (32) and that joints to the spring shaft moving disk rotator (33).