Patent ID: 6237583
Filing Date: 2001-05-29
Classification: A63B

Abstract:
A device useful for pitching spherical projectiles including baseballs and the like which comprises:a) a vertically oriented pitching head support beam, having an uppermost end, a lowermost end, a hollow interior portion, and a first hole disposed through said pitching head support beam in a direction perpendicular to its length dimension;b) a pitching head assembly attached to the pitching head support beam between its uppermost end and its lowermost end, wherein said pitching head assembly comprises:i) a substantially linear head assembly beam having a first end portion, a second end portion, a hollow interior portion, a first and a second connective bearing support arm disposed at each of its first and second end portions, and a second hole disposed through its hollow interior portion in a direction perpendicular to its length dimension;ii) a head assembly bar portion having parallel top and a bottom edge portions that are joined together at their ends by a left portion and a right portion, wherein each of the top and bottom edge portions of said head assembly bar are pivotally attached to the connective bearing support arms disposed on the head assembly beam;iii) a head assembly plate portion that comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, a left side portion and a right side portion, and having a ball delivery hole disposed through its surface, wherein said plate portion is pivotally attached at its left side portion to the left portion of the head assembly bar portion and pivotally attached at its right side portion to the right portion of the head assembly bar portion, said head assembly plate further comprising a first and a second circular velocitizing means that are each rotably disposed within bearing means that are sufficiently attached to said plate portion to enable rotation of said velocitizing means about an axis that is skew to the centerline of said ball delivery hole, and to permit the outer surfaces of said first and second circular velocitizing means to be in sufficient proximity to said ball delivery hole to enable contact between said outer surfaces and a ball which has emerged from said hole a distance equal to the diameter of said ball delivery hole;c) a linear conduit having a first and a second end, by which said linear conduit the pitching head assembly is caused to be rotably attached to the pitching head support beam, wherein said conduit passes through each of said first and second holes such that the conduit and said first and second holes all share a common centerline, said conduit comprising an outer surface with a bearing means connectively disposed coextensively about said outer surface, wherein the bearing means is also in mechanical contact with said pitching head support beam, by which bearing means the head assembly beam is caused to be rotably connected to said pitching head support beam; andd) motive means for conferring rotational motion to said velocitizing means, wherein the first end of said conduit is disposed in sufficient proximity with said ball delivery hole of said plate portion to permit delivery of a spherical projectile that is fed into the second end of said conduit to said hole.