Clock

A clock having conventional clock timing mechanism operably connected to a supporting hour hand, a minute hand, a modified second hand, and a freely pivotable object support hand. The object support hand swings freely in pendulum fashion, taking a downwardly at-rest position when not being otherwise articulated by the second hand. The second hand and/or the object support hand are modified to cooperatively engage with one another each time the second hand passes the object support hand so as to carry or pivotally lift the object support hand to the top of the arch of the second hand, at which point the object support hand freely pivots downwardly and swings in pendulum fashion until again coming to its at-rest position. The object support hand may include an enlarged distal end having the appearance of a miniature flyable object such as a strikeable sports related object which appears to be struck and to fly each time the second hand sweeps by and carryingly engages the object support hand.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
SCOPE OF INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to a conventional clock or timepiece, and 
more particularly a visual effect clock having a second hand which sweeps 
by to carry a freely pivotable object support hand on each revolution of 
the second hand. 
PRIOR ART 
Timepieces and clocks are well known to have a clock timing mechanism which 
is operably engaged by an output shaft thereof to moveable hour, minute 
and second hands which move in well known corresponding time order. 
Applicant is also aware of an unpatented clock using magnets concealed 
behind the face of a clock which interact to move magnetic balls in 
corresponding inner and outer grooves of a clock face to give the 
appearance that these balls moving in unassisted manner show the correct 
time of day. 
Applicant is not aware of any prior art which utilizes a uniquely 
configured structure of the second hand to repeatedly sweep by to contact 
and carry an object support hand through approximately half of its 
revolution from the bottom to the top of the arc of the second hand 
whereupon the object support hand freely swings downwardly and oscillates 
back and forth in pendulum fashion until coming to rest in a downwardly 
hanging position, this cycle being repeated at each revolution of the 
second hand to produce a unique visual effect. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention is directed to a visual effect clock having conventional 
clock timing mechanism operably connected to a supporting hour hand, a 
minute hand, a modified second hand, and a freely pivotable object support 
hand. The object support hand swings freely in pendulum fashion, taking a 
downwardly at-rest position when not being otherwise made to articulate by 
the second hand. The second hand and/or the object support hand are 
modified to cooperatively engage with one another each time the second 
hand passes the object support hand so as to carry or pivotally lift the 
object support hand to the top of the arch of the second hand, at which 
point the object support hand freely pivots downwardly and swings in 
pendulum fashion until again coming to its at-rest position. The object 
support hand may include an enlarged distal end having the appearance of a 
miniature flyable object such as a strikeable sports related object which 
appears to be struck and to fly each time the second hand sweeps by and 
carryingly engages the object support hand. 
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a clock for showing 
the correct time and including an additional freely pivotable object 
support hand which is made to articulate by being carried through one half 
of a stroke upwardly from its downwardly hanging rest position and then 
having the appearance of flying freely from the top of the arch of the 
second hand downwardly in pendulum fashion back to the at-rest position. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a sports related clock 
which includes a modified second hand and newly added freely pivotable 
sport objects support hand which are cooperatively structured and viewably 
formed to create the appearance or visual effect of a flyable sports 
object being struck and made to fly by a corresponding striking sports 
related implement. 
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a golf related clock 
which repeatedly has the appearance of a simulated miniature golf club 
striking a golf ball and making it fly through the distal end arc of the 
additional object support hand. 
In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent 
hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with reference to 
the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings, the invention in one embodiment is shown 
generally at numeral 10 in FIGS. 1 to 5. Each of the embodiments 10 
includes a clock housing 12 which supports a conventional clock timing 
mechanism 30 having an operably disposed output shaft 28 extending from 
the housing 12 centrally through the face 14 of the clock 10. By this 
conventional arrangement, the hour hand 16, the minute hand 18, and a 
modified or improved second hand 20 operate in the conventional fashion to 
provide viewable indicia of the correct time of day. 
The invention 10 also generally includes a freely pivotable object support 
hand 24 which is supportively connected in the preferred embodiment for 
free pendulum like pivotable or swinging motion to the output shaft 28 
forwardly of the second hand 20. However, other sequential position 
arrangements on the output shaft 28 are also envisioned within the scope 
of this invention. The object support hand 24 includes an enlarged or 
weighted distal end portion 26 which, in this embodiment 10, has the 
appearance of a miniature golf ball. However, a broad range of other 
objects, both sports related and otherwise, are envisioned within the 
scope of this invention, any of which might have the useful or 
entertaining appearance of being moved or struck. 
When the object support hand 24 is at rest, it hangs downwardly as shown in 
FIG. 1 in a generally stationary upright orientation. However, the second 
hand 20 is modified by having a formed distal end 22 which, in this 
embodiment 10, forwardly extends so as to releasable engage with the 
distal end portion 26 of the object support hand 24 as best seen in FIGS. 
2 and 5. This supportive contact engagement occurs each time the second 
hand 20 sweeps downwardly in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 to make 
contact with the object support hand 24. At this point generally in the 
downwardly or six o'clock orientation, the second hand 20 appears to 
contact and then carry the object 26 through an arc B to the top of the 
arc of the second hand 20. At this point, a seen in FIG. 3, the object 
support hand 24 and connected or unitary distal object 26 will free fall 
downwardly in pendulum fashion in the direction of arrow C and may swing 
back and forth until coming to its downwardly oriented at-rest position 
shown in FIG. 1. This typically occurs before the next time the second 
hand 20 reaches its downwardly or six o'clock position to repeat this 
cycle. 
Referring additionally to FIG. 6, the preferred embodiment of the invention 
is shown generally in partial view at 40 and also includes a clock housing 
42 and associated clock timing mechanism (not shown) which is positioned 
behind the face 44 of the clock 40. The hour hand 46 and minute hand 48 
are operably connected to the output shaft 58 of the clock timing 
mechanism (not shown) and operate in a conventional timekeeping manner. 
Likewise, the second hand 50 also operates in keeping time in the 
conventional manner. 
This embodiment 40 also includes a freely pivotable object support hand 54 
which includes a very slender unobtrusive rigid wire pivotally connected 
at its inner or proximal end to the output shaft 58 and includes an 
enlarged distal portion 56 having the appearance of a miniature golf ball. 
the second hand 50 is in the shape of a miniature golf club having a 
conventional shank and handle portion which is pivotally connected for 
free rotation at the proximal end of the second hand 50 to the output 
shaft 58 as previously described. The distal portion 52 of the second hand 
50 has the appearance of a golf club. 
At each controlled or regulated revolution of the second hand 50 in the 
direction of arrow D, at the downwardly portion of its arc, the golf club 
head 52 appears to strike the golf ball 56. Although not shown in FIG. 6, 
the releasable interengaging structure between the second hand 50 and the 
object support hand 54 is similar to that described in FIGS. 4 and 5 
above. By this arrangement, the head of the golf club 52 appears to strike 
and carry the golf ball 56 through an arc of about 180.degree.0 to the top 
of the sweep of the second hand 50 whereupon the simulated golf ball 56 
and object support hand 54 freely rotate downwardly in pendulum fashion 
back to the at-rest position for the next downwardly sweep of the second 
hand 50. 
A broad variety of additional sports related objects and striking 
implements are intended within the scope of this invention. Such related 
sports equipment might be a tennis racket and tennis ball, a hockey stick 
and hockey puck, a crochet mallet and ball, a baseball and bat, a football 
and the foot and leg of a kicker and so on. The only intended limitation 
in this regard, whether sports related or otherwise, is the addition of 
the freely pivotable object support hand having nothing to do with the 
keeping of time by the clock instrument itself. 
While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what are 
conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is 
recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the 
invention, which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed 
herein, but is to be afforded the full scope of the claims so as to 
embrace any and all equivalent apparatus and articles.