Patent ID: 9669269
Date: 2017-06-06
CPC Classifications: A63B

Claim:
1. A game ball feeder for delivering balls to a game ball throwing machine, each ball including two hemispheres, the game ball feeder comprising: a base; a support frame attached to the base; a drive mechanism attached to the support frame; a support rod attached to the support frame; a rotatable ball housing operatively engaging the support rod and mounted in a substantially horizontal configuration, the housing including a plurality of cylindrically shaped ball holding sections, each ball holding section including: a wall defining an entry opening and an exit opening, wherein the entry opening is positioned vertically higher that the exit opening, wherein both openings are shaped and sized to accept and pass at least one of the balls, a first aperture positioned in the wall between the entry opening and the exit opening, the first aperture sized and shaped to only accept a portion of one of the hemispheres of one of the balls and restrict the axial movement of that ball within that ball holding section; a transfer path operatively attached to the support frame and aligned to accept a ball from one of the exit openings and direct that ball to the game ball throwing machine; a partial rotation of the rotatable ball housing by the drive mechanism wherein the partial rotation engages a first ball in the first aperture to restrict movement of that ball in the ball holding section; a continued rotation of the rotatable ball housing wherein the continued rotation disengages the first ball from the first aperture to allow movement of that ball in the ball holding section toward the transfer path; and a gear operatively attached to the rotatable ball housing and the drive mechanism, wherein the drive mechanism and the gear rotate the rotatable ball housing about the support rod.