U.S. patent application number 09/887932 was filed with the patent office on 2002-12-26 for ball practice suspension device.
Invention is credited to Jordan, Domingo.
Application Number | 20020198068 09/887932 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25392168 |
Filed Date | 2002-12-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020198068 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jordan, Domingo |
December 26, 2002 |
Ball practice suspension device
Abstract
The invention is directed to an apparatus for suspending a ball
on a core of air and includes a conical base, an air blower
disposed therein, and a variable length nozzle extending upwardly
therefrom through which air is discharged.
Inventors: |
Jordan, Domingo; (El Paso,
TX) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Domingo Jordan
2449 Juliette Low Drive
El Paso
TX
79936
US
|
Family ID: |
25392168 |
Appl. No.: |
09/887932 |
Filed: |
June 22, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/418 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 69/0002 20130101;
A63B 69/409 20130101; A63B 2069/0077 20130101; A63B 69/0075
20130101; A63B 2069/0008 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/418 |
International
Class: |
A63B 069/00 |
Claims
1. A ball practice device including a housing having a base, a wall
disposed thereabout and extending upwardly therefrom and
terminating in an opening, an air blower disposed within the
housing directing air through said opening, and control means
connected to said air blower regulating the amount of air being
discharged through said opening.
2. The ball practice device of claim 2 wherein the housing is cone
shaped and has air inlet openings disposed about the base
thereof.
3. The ball practice device of claim 2 wherein a nozzle is
removably disposed in the outlet opening.
4. The ball practice device of claim 3 wherein a set of different
lengthed nozzles are provided to accommodate the height of a
player.
5. The ball practice device of claim 3 wherein the nozzle is
telescopingly adjustable.
6. The ball practice device of claim 1 wherein the controls include
a circuit including an off/on switch, a diode, a capacitor, a
potentiometer, and a triac controlling the amount of electricity
passing from a power source to the air blower.
7. The ball practice device of claim 3 wherein the controls include
a circuit including an off/on switch, a diode, a capacitor, a
potentiometer, and a triac controlling the amount of electricity
passing from a power source to the air blower.
8. The ball practice device of claim 2 wherein the housing is made
from plastic.
9. The ball practice device of claim 1 wherein filters are disposed
on either side of the air blower to reduce the noise thereof.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Devices are known which employ an air jet to hold a ball in
an elevated position. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No.
4,564,195(McClure et al). In this device a ball rides on a jet of
air emanating upwardly from the nozzle. The purpose of this device
is to enable a player to practice without a hitting partner.
Moreover, unlike hitting a ball against a wall, these devices
intend to support a ball in a relatively stable manner. A
disadvantage with this device is that although it has an
outlet-controlling device to control the flow of air, the blower is
not regulated and is therefore always working at 100% capacity,
thereby making it clearly energy inefficient.
[0002] In U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,144 (Marello et al), a ball is
suspended in mid air. The device described in the patent with its
bulky size can interfere with the swing of the racquet therefore
making it difficult to practice spin strokes. Much of the focus in
learning the game of tennis and other such ball sports is stroking
the ball with variation of spin. The path of the racquet when
hitting topspin, for example, travels underneath the ball, brushing
it upwards. When hitting under spin, the path of the racquet is
traveling downward in a 45-degree angle to the ground, brushing the
ball downwards. With a bulky device it is difficult to practice
these strokes. Since it is bulky, it maintains the ball at a
constant height, and therefore permits only limited stroke
practice.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0003] It is an object of the present invention to provide a device
which will support a ball in mid-air in a stable position, enabling
it to be struck by a player. The nozzle creates a funnel shaped
stream of pressure with a central core and an encasing film of air.
When a ball is placed in this stream of pressure, the core supports
the ball stably; working against gravity and the encasing film of
air that is formed around the ball will keep the ball centralized
protecting it from unduly winds.
[0004] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a
device with an adjustable nozzle that will support a ball stably at
variable heights so that a player of any size can hit it.
[0005] It is a further object to provide a device which is made of
durable plastic material or the like, which if hit by a player's
racquet or any other object, will not break or cause damage to the
racquet. As the device is of a cone shape and has a variable length
nozzle, the same allows the player to focus on the ball and not on
the cone when practicing various spin strokes. As is apparent, the
cone shape permits the player to concentrate and focus on the
ball.
[0006] In its simplest aspect the present invention includes a cone
shaped housing, an air blower therein, a pressure controller
(potentiometer) and a switch therefore, noise reducing filters, and
a variable length or telescopic nozzle forming the outlet nozzle.
As the nozzle can be adjustably positioned, the discharged air will
stably support a ball at varying heights above the outlet thereof
by either controlling the fluid pressure or by adjusting the height
of the variable length nozzle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of the preferred embodiment
of the air cone.
[0008] FIG. 1a shows a set of variable length nozzles used with the
air outlet.
[0009] FIG. 1b shows a telescoping nozzle used with the air
outlet.
[0010] FIG. 1c shows another embodiment of the present invention
with nozzles of different shapes.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the electrical controls for
the air cone.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0012] The present invention describes an air cone for providing a
controllable stream of fluid pressure for stably suspending a ball
or like in mid air. In the following description, numerous specific
details are set forth in order to provide a thorough description of
the present invention. It is obvious, however, to one skilled in
the art, that the present invention may be practiced without these
specific details. In other instances, well known structures have
not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure
the present invention.
[0013] With reference to FIG. 1 of the drawing, the device of the
present invention is depicted generally at 20 and is seen to be a
cone shaped housing 6 with the base 14 thereof supporting the same
on a surface and with a discharge opening 17 having a nozzle 5
extending upwardly therefrom. The cone is preferably made from
plastic but can be fabricated from any suitable material, e.g.
tin.
[0014] An off the shelf air blower 7 is disposed internally in the
cone 6 above the base 14 and can be held in place in any
conventional manner, for example, by friction fit, by adhesive, or
by flexible tabs extending inwardly from the walls of the cone
housing. A pair of filters 8, 8 are positioned on either side of
the air blower 7 and act to reduce the noise thereof as well as to
remove any impediments from the air entering from spaced inlets 15,
15 disposed about the circumference of the base 14 as it is drawn
into the blower inlet 9.
[0015] The nozzle 5 as seen in FIG. 1a comes in a set of various
sizes 5a, 5b, 5c, etc. and are readily replaceable at the outlet 17
in order to dispose the ball at varying heights to accommodate the
height of the player practicing with the device.
[0016] Alternatively, as seen in FIG. 1b, the nozzle 5 can be
telescopingly adjustable to compensate for the height of the
player. It should be appreciated that a ball B in FIG. 1 can be
suspended with or without any of the nozzles. However the nozzle
serves to concentrate the air thereby being more effective in
suspending the ball.
[0017] The air discharged from the nozzle 5 is controlled by
regulating the air blower 7. The discharged air forms a funnel
shaped air stream 2 having an air core 4 at its center. This air
core 4 is created by air pressure hitting the walls of the outlet
orifice 17 or through the variable nozzle 5. In another embodiment,
FIG. 1c shows different air jet plugs 31, 41 and 51 with its
respective top view 30, 40 and 50 and bottom view 32, 42 and 52.
These air jet plugs can be placed into the outlets of any of the
nozzles shown in FIG. 1a and 1b to give different effects to the
ball 37 and to the air core 34. The nozzle 33 with air jet plug 31
placed into its outlet will create the air core 34 and the funnel
air stream 36 to suspend a ball 37. The air passing through the
slots on the outside surface of plug 31 and the inside wall of the
outlet nozzle 33, creates an extra air film 38, 38 all around the
air core 34. This air film 38, 38 is partially shown in FIG. 1c.
This extra film of air 38, 38 is released in order to better
protect the air core 34 from atmospheric wind. The air jet plug 41
is shaped to suspend and add spin to ball 37. It has a slot on the
outside surface and when placed inside of the outlet of the nozzle
33 causes the majority of the air to be discharged on one side
thereby causing the ball to spin. The air jet plug 51 outlet shape
is conical and can be of a variable size. The nozzle 33 with the
air jet placed on its outlet has the effect of making a stronger
air cord 34 to support a heavier ball. By controlling the speed of
the air blower, the air pressure can be regulated whereby an air
core 4 in FIG. 1 will form an air film about the ball to support
the same. This film of air 3 keeps the ball 1 stably working
against gravity and protects it in windy conditions and eliminates
ball movement when the air core 4 hits the ball's seams. This film
of air 3 will also centralize the ball in case of sudden
misalignment. If it is desired, an object can be placed underneath
the base 14 of the cone in order to tilt it slightly and cause spin
variation to the ball being suspended.
[0018] The air blower as seen in FIG. 2 is controlled by an
electric circuit including an off/on switch 11, a diode 21, a
capacitor 20, a triac 22 and a potentiometer 12 connected by a plug
16 to any conventional power source, not shown. When the off/on
switch 11 is activated, the triac 22 in conjunction with the diode
21 and the capacitor 20 restricts the electricity used by the air
blower 7. The restriction percentage is controlled by the manual
settings of the potentiometer 12 in the circuitry and this
regulates the percentage amount of air pressure discharged by the
blower. In another embodiment, the air cone can have a
photoelectric sensor that would replace the on/off switch 11. The
photoelectric sensor can detect the ball when placed on top of the
discharge opening 17 or the nozzle 5 in FIG. 1. This will
automatically turn on the air blower 7 and when the ball 1 in FIG.
1 is removed, the air blower 7 will automatically turn off.
* * * * *