Patent ID: 6120383
Filing Date: 2000-09-19
Classification: A63B

Abstract:
An apparatus for positioning a golf ball onto a tee, comprising:means for supplying a source of negative pressure;a flexible tee having a stem portion and an integral cup-shaped ball support portion;the flexible tee further including a bore extending from said cup-shaped ball support portion through said stem, said bore being in fluid communication with said source of negative pressure so that a golf ball seated on said cup-shaped portion is held thereto by negative pressure;a tee-loading station being a size adapted to admit thereinto only one golf ball at a time;means for supplying a source of golf balls to the tee-loading station;tee-loading means for rotatably positioning the cup-shaped portion of the flexible tee into sealing engagement with a golf ball at the tee-loading station and for rotatably repositioning said engaged golf ball into a substantially vertical position, said tee-loading means including a rotary actuator, the rotary actuator further including a vacuum tee manifold pivoting from the rotary actuator, the flexible tee being oriented generally perpendicular to and near an end of the vacuum tee manifold, wherein the rotary actuator causes the vacuum tee manifold to rotate such that the cup-shaped portion of the flexible tee is rotated into direct contact with the golf ball for sealing engagement with said golf ball; andcontrol means for activating said tee-loading means to move said flexible tee from the tee-loading station, where a golf ball is sealed to the cup-shaped portion of the flexible tee, to said substantially vertical position where the golf ball is ready to be struck, and to reposition the tee-loading means from the substantially vertical position after the golf ball has been struck to the tee-loading station for sealing engagement of the tee with another golf ball.