JPH0556147B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a batting practice machine for baseball or tennis.

[Background technology]

Conventionally, a batting practice machine has been proposed in which a pitching arm is rotated using a biasing force of a spring or the like to throw out a ball. In this type of batting practice machine, there are those that hit the ball by rotating the pitching arm once,
Some proposals have been made to hit the ball by abruptly stopping the movement of the pitching arm. However, in the above method, for a ball that rotates once, the ball launch becomes irregular due to variable factors such as the type, shape, and weight of the ball. In addition, the latter method of stopping the pitching arm and launching the ball can be expected to provide a stable launch, but
Because the pitching arm was forced to stop, a large amount of force was absorbed when the pitching arm stopped, which caused problems with the noise and impact caused by a collision and the longevity of the equipment.

[Purpose of the invention]

It is an object of the present invention to provide a batting practice machine that is compact, has excellent functions such as directionality, has little impact, has low noise, and is highly reliable.

[Disclosure of the invention]

The batting practice machine of the present invention includes a pitching arm whose tip rotates around an arm support shaft to throw the ball, a pitching spring that biases the pitching arm in the pitching direction, and a pitching spring that biases the pitching spring. a pressing member that allows the ball to be released; a stopper spring that is made of a torsion coil spring that is externally fitted onto the arm support shaft and whose one end extending portion holds the pitching arm; The present invention is characterized in that it includes a stopper spring locking portion with which the end extension portion engages to deflect the stopper spring.

Since it is a system in which the pitching arm is stopped without making one revolution, it has excellent functions such as accuracy in the pitching direction, and can be simplified and miniaturized in terms of structure. In addition, since the stopper spring gradually stops the pitching arm, there is little impact, low noise, and long life and high reliability.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 7. In the figure, 1 is a main body case, which is divided at the center into a left main body cover 1A and a right main body cover 1B, and is provided with a front cover 1C. The main body case 1 has a ball throwing opening 2 on the front and a ball feeding opening 3 on the side. Main case 1
A pair of parallel guide rails 4 for receiving a ball M sent from a ball feeding port 3 formed on the side surface of the main body case 1 are provided inside the main body case 1, and a ball pitching arm 6, a ball setting arm 7, and A drive mechanism section is housed together with a U-shaped frame 8. The pitching arm 6, the ball setting arm 7, and the guide rail 4 constitute a ball throwing section. A ball supply section 11 is attached to the ball feeding port 3, and a first ball stocker 9 formed of a pipe material is connected to this, and a second ball stocker 1 is connected to the first ball stocker 9.
0 is concatenated. 12 is a leg, and 13 is a feed cover.

The driving means for the pitching arm 6 will be explained. The pitching arm 6 is made of a wire spring, and is deflected by the rotation of the cam 14, and when it comes off the cam 14, its tip rotates by the elastic force of the deflection, and throws out the ball M. Specifically, the pitching arm 6 consists of two parallel unit arms 6A and 6B (FIG. 4).
A torsion coil spring portion 15 serving as a throwing spring extends from the base end of each unit arm 6A, 6B. As shown in FIG. 5, the tips of each unit arm 6A, 6B are inclined and continuous in the direction of rotation, and the ball M is held at three points: the parallel part of both unit arms 6A, 6B and the continuous part. The ball holding part 6C is possible. The pitching arm 6 is supported by a torsion coil spring section 15 rotatably fitted onto a pipe-shaped arm support shaft 18 (FIGS. 4 and 5). The engaging portion 15a engages with the arm spring holding portion 20 of the frame 8. The arm support shaft 18 is attached to the frame 8. Two stopper springs 17 made of torsion coil springs are rotatably fitted onto the arm support shaft 18 so as to be located between the torsion coil spring portions 15 . The stopper spring 17 is provided with extensions 17c and 17d at one end so as to sandwich the unit arms 6A and 6B of the pitching arm 6 from above and below, and a cam follower 16 is rotatably attached to the tip of the extension 17a. ing. Cam follower 16 is
It is in rolling contact with the cam 14 (FIG. 2). The other end of the stopper spring 17 extends into a hook portion 17b, which extends for a certain length. Hook part 17
b can be engaged with the stopper spring locking shaft 60 in the stopper spring locking portion (embodiment). The stopper spring locking shaft 60 has both ends inserted into a guide hole 61 formed of an elongated hole in the frame 8 and is fixed by a nut 62, and can be vertically adjusted along the guide hole 62.

The diameter of the cam 14 gradually increases in the rotational direction,
There is a discontinuous small path along the way. The cam 14 is driven together with the ball set arm 7 by a motor. This drive transmission system will be explained. A geared motor 21 in which a motor and a speed reducer are integrated is fixed to the frame 8 with screws 22, and a small gear 23 is press-fitted and fixed to the D-cut-shaped output shaft 21a of the geared motor 21. Furthermore, on the camshaft 24,
A large gear 26 having a protrusion 25 for operating the cam 14 and the ball set arm 7 is rotatably fitted onto the cam shaft 24 by connecting the large gear 26 with the cam 14 at a dowel portion. Further, in order to position both of them, positioning in the thrust direction with respect to the camshaft 24 is performed using an E-ring collar or the like. By installing the camshaft 24 in this way, the large gear 26 meshes with the small gear 23. Note that the arm support shaft 18 is attached so that the U-shaped frame 8 is expanded in the direction B.

A ball set arm 7 is rotatably installed on each main body cover 1B at a boss portion 50, and a ball setter 100 is attached to the ball set arm 7 with a pin on the outside of the right main body cover 1B so that the ball set arm 7 is integrated with the ball set arm 7. It is fixed by etc. In addition, the ball set arm 7 is attached to the right main body cover 1B.
The boss portion 50 is constantly pressurized in the F direction by the set arm spring 51. In addition, the ball set arm 7 to which the ball setter 100 is fixed
The other end, the boss portion 101 of the ball feeding case 101
It is rotatably fitted into a. The other end of the ball set arm 7 extends above the set and engages with the protrusion 25 of the large gear 24 during assembly. on the other hand,
The right main body cover 1B and the ball feeding case 101 are
It has a ball feeding rail 103 made of a plurality of inclined ribs in a direction perpendicular to the ball feeding port 3, and further has a stocker holding part 104 and a ball feeding port 105 at the upper part.

The storage state of the drive mechanism section incorporated in the frame 8, etc. will be explained. The frame 8 is fixed to the left main body cover 1A with two screws 32. Left main body cover 1A
has a dry battery box 33 formed in a part thereof and has one guide rail 4, and the right main body cover 1B has a guide rail 4 similar to the left main body cover 1A.
and a ball feeding port 3. These left and right body covers 1A and 1B are connected to the power switch 40 and AC
They are fixed in such a way that the adapter terminals 41 are sandwiched between them.

The guide rail 4 is formed in an arc shape that substantially follows the rotational trajectory of the ball holding portion 6C of the pitching arm 6, and has a shape that gradually moves away from the rotational trajectory of the ball holding portion 6C toward the front in the pitching direction. It is becoming.

Adjusting rubber feet 45 are fixed to the lower part of the main body case 1 via an angle adjusting metal fitting 43 and a pair of angle adjusting screws 44 screwed into the nut portion thereof. The angle adjustment fitting 43 is fixed to the main body case 1. By warming the screw fixing nut 46 and turning the angle adjustment screw 44, the setting angle of the main body case 1 relative to the ground can be changed, and the throwing angle of the ball can be changed arbitrarily.

In this embodiment, the cam follower 16 was used as the pressing member, but a single steel body was used as the pressing member, and the pitching arm 6 was rotated by pressing against the rigid body with an air cylinder or hydraulic cylinder. Good too.

Operation When the power switch 40 is turned on, the geared motor 21 rotates, and the small gear 23 and large gear 26
The cam 14 rotates via. When the cam 14 rotates, the cam follower 1 moves the pitching arm 6.
6 is moved, and the stopper spring 17 connected to the cam follower 16 is also moved. At this time, the hook portion 17b of the stopper spring 17 is in a free state and does not cause any loss to the pitching arm 6. At this time, the protrusion 2 of the large gear 26
5, the ball setter 100 is moved via the ball set arm 7. Then waiting ball M ₁
In the case of a ball, the stopper part of the waiting ball _M1 sinks below the surface of the ball feeding rail 102, and the forced feeding part of the waiting ball _M1 pushes the waiting ball _M1 , so the ball moves onto the ball feeding rail 103. do. Since the ball rail 102 itself is composed of ribs that are perpendicular to the ball feeding port 3 and inclined, the ball can be fed smoothly onto the ball feeding port 3.
and moves onto the ball holding portion 6C of the pitching arm 6.

On the other hand, the ball that has been set as the waiting ball M ₂ passes through the ball feeding port 3 while the waiting ball M ₁ is sent out by the ball setter 100 and attempts to flow in the same way as the waiting ball M ₁ , but the ball setter 100 is activated. After that, the distance between the tip of the forced feeding part and the stopper part of the waiting ball _M2 of the ball feeding case 101 is set to be smaller than the ball diameter, so it will not move forward any further. When the ball setter 100 returns to its original position by the force of the set arm spring 51, the ball setter 100 is reliably set at the position of the waiting ball _M1 .

FIG. 7 shows the state of the large gear 26 and the pitching arm 6 just before the ball M is thrown. When the cam follower 16 moves away from the maximum radius of the cam 14, the energy stored in the torsion spring portion 15 of the pitching arm 6 causes the pitching arm 6 to be ejected while holding the ball at three points. The pitching arm 6 that has moved while holding the ball moves together with the stopper spring 17, and the hook portion 17b of the stopper spring 17 engages with the stopper spring locking shaft 60 of the frame 8. Then, only the ball is thrown out while the stopper spring 17 has enough acceleration to store energy. After pitching, the pitching arm 6 is stopped by the stopper spring 17, but the stopper spring 17 does not absorb the energy of the pitching arm 6 all at once, but over a certain period of time, so that it is not affected by the impact. Does not generate noise or damage equipment.

Furthermore, when the ball is thrown out, it is placed on the guide rail 4.
The ball M is held by the pitching arm 6 and moves together with the pitching arm 6, so that the user can see the movement of the ball M from the ball throwing opening 2 on the front cover. Further, the trajectory Q of the ball holding portion 6C of the pitching arm 6 and the upper surface of the arc-shaped guide rail 4 are arranged to become farther apart from each other as they go diagonally upward from below, that is, in the pitching direction. Therefore, the ball M is held by both the pitching arm 6 and the guide rail 4 only in the initial stage of being thrown, and thereafter is held only by the tip of the pitching arm 6. Thereafter, the above-mentioned operations are repeated and the objects held in the stockers 9 and 10 are thrown out.

The trajectory (height, reach) of the ball to be thrown is adjusted by adjusting the height of the stopper spring locking shaft 60. That is, the stopper spring locking shaft 60 is moved up and down along the guide hole 61, and the stopper spring locking shaft 60 is fixed with the nut 62 at an arbitrary position. In this way, by changing the height of the stopper spring locking shaft 60, the angle of the pitching arm 6 at which the hook portion 17b of the stopper spring 17 comes into contact and energy begins to be stored in the stopper spring 17 is adjusted to the torsion coil spring portion for throwing. It changes relative to 15. Therefore, the position at which the ball is released by the pitching arm 6 changes, and the throwing strength changes. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 4B, when the position of the stopper spring locking shaft 60 is raised, the trajectory becomes lower, and when it is lowered, as shown by the chain line, the trajectory becomes higher. The height of the ball M to be thrown is determined by adjusting the rubber feet 45.
This can be easily changed by changing the amount of protrusion from the main body case 1, and can be adjusted to the user's requirements.

The ball is thrown out in this way,
Since it is a system that stops the pitching arm 6 without rotating it once, it has excellent functions such as accuracy in the pitching direction.
It is also possible to simplify and downsize the structure. In addition, since the stopper spring 17 gradually stops the pitching arm 6, the impact is small and the noise is low.
Provides long life and high reliability.

In addition, a ball throwing opening 2 is provided on the front of the main body case 1, allowing the batter to visually check the timing of throwing the ball.
Easy to do. In particular, as in this embodiment, the ball feeding port 3 is provided on the side of the main body case 1.
By providing this, the batter can visually check the timing from the supply of the ball to the pitching arm 6 to the unit arm, allowing the batter to practice in a manner similar to actual toss batting practice.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In the batting practice machine of the present invention, when the pitching arm rotates by a predetermined angle (ball release angle) or more, the other end extension of the stopper spring engages with the stopper spring locking part, and the stopper spring is deflected and gradually releases energy. accumulate. This energy, which increases over time, absorbs the energy held by the pitching arm due to the deflection of the torsion coil spring portion. Therefore,
When the pitching arm is at a predetermined angle or less, it is not affected by the stopper spring, and the pitching arm throws only the ball while being accelerated by the energy of the torsion coil spring. And after throwing out
As the pitching arm rotates, the deflection energy of the stopper spring acts on the pitching arm, gradually stopping the pitching arm. Therefore, there is little impact, low noise, long life, and high reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cutaway side view showing its initial state, Fig. 3 is a cutaway front view thereof, and Fig. 4A is the pitching arm and its pitch. A perspective view showing the relationship between the spring and the stopper spring, FIGS. 4B and C are explanatory diagrams of their operation, FIG. 5 is a side view of the drive mechanism, and FIG. 6 is a complete state of ball feeding. FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway front view of the ball, and FIG. 7 is a side view of the ball just before the ball is launched. 1... Main body case, 2... Ball throwing opening,
3...Ball feeding port, 4...Guide rail,
6...Pitching arm, 6C...Ball holding part, 7...
...Ball set arm, 8...Frame, 9,1
0...Ball stocker, 11...Ball supply section,
14...Cam, 15...Torsion coil spring part, 1
7... Stopper spring, 18... Arm support shaft, 21
... Geared motor, 25 ... Protrusion, 26 ...
Large gear, 60... Stopper spring locking shaft, 61...
Guide hole, M...ball.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pitching arm whose tip rotates around an arm support shaft to throw the ball, a pitching spring that biases the pitching arm in the pitching direction, and a pitching spring that deflects the pitching arm. a pressing member, a stopper spring consisting of a torsion coil spring fitted externally on the arm support shaft, and whose one end extending portion holds the pitching arm; and the other end of the stopper spring when the pitching arm rotates beyond the ball release angle. A batting practice machine comprising a stopper spring locking part with which an extending part engages and deflects the stopper spring. 2. The batting practice machine according to claim 1, wherein the amount of energy stored in the deflection of the stopper spring is variable.