Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a football receiving and launching machine that receives thrown footballs into a ball collector, orients the football and transfers the football into a ball accelerator that launches the football into the air automatically, enabling the user to practice catching and throwing footballs without the assistance of another player.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application U.S. Ser. No. 60/754,111, filed Dec. 27 th , 2005, and is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The application relates generally to machine that is designed to receive footballs that are thrown into it, orient them and to launch them back to the user automatically. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Football throwing and catching is an extremely popular sport that is enjoyed by all age groups. Enthusiasts enjoy practicing throwing and catching footballs in yards, gyms and parks to improve their skill. One of the difficulties associated with practicing throwing and catching skills is that it requires at least two players. It is not possible for an individual to practice throwing and catching the football without the assistance of another player. There exist machines that will launch footballs that have previously been loaded into them, but they do not receive thrown footballs and therefore cannot be used for individuals wishing to throw and catch by themselves. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    Disclosed herein is a football receiving and launching machine that enables a user to throw footballs into the machine and receive footballs that are automatically thrown from the machine at a variety of angles and elevations. In addition, the machine may also include a rotatable base that rotates the launcher at a desired rate to allow the user to receive thrown footballs while the user is running. 
         [0005]    In the first embodiment, the launcher includes a collector including a compliant material for receiving thrown footballs. The collector dissipates the inertia of the thrown football and guides that football down into a football orientor which orients the football using a series of orientation features and a translator for transporting the football. The translator, advances the football toward spinning wheels that are preferably tilted in relation to each other. The wheels are spaced apart from each other slightly less than the diameter of one football and spin in such a way as to urge the football between the wheels when one end of the football comes in contact with the wheels. Therefore, the wheels combine to form a ball accelerator. One or more electric motors are mounted to a base that supports the motor, ball collector, football orientor and the ball accelerator. The football accelerates between the wheels and is thrown through the air toward the user. This machine can also be used with round balls that do not need specific orientations. 
         [0006]    Further disclosed herein is a method for receiving and throwing a football. A football is thrown into a collector and the collector guides the football to a football orientor that orients the football. The football is advanced into a ball accelerator which launches the football into the air. 
         [0007]    In an alternative embodiment of a launcher, the football orientor and conveyor portion of the original embodiment have been replaced by a ball guide that allows footballs to roll down the guide into the rotating wheels or cogs. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    Referring to the exemplary drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the accompanying Figures: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a ball receiving and launching machine. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a front view of the ball receiving and launching machine. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a side view of the ball receiving and launching machine. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a side view of the ball receiving and launching machine adjusted to present the football to the ball accelerator in an upright orientation. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a top view of the ball receiving and launching machine. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the ball receiving and launching machine. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a side view of the ball receiving and launching machine having powered rollers to translate the ball. 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a side view of the ball receiving and launching machine having rollers to translate the ball. 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a side view of the ball receiving and launching machine setup for use with round balls. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]      FIGS. 1-5  illustrate a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a launcher  10  for launching and receiving footballs. As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , launcher  10  contains a collector  20  for receiving thrown footballs, a ball orientor  50  for guiding and orienting footballs that fall from the collector, a translator in the form of a conveyor belt  70  that advances the football forward and spinning wheels  80  that combine to form a ball accelerator  81  to accelerate and launch footballs into the air. The collector, orientor, conveyor and wheels are supported by a base  102  that includes leg blocks  130  that have adjustable legs  140  allowing each corner of the base to be adjusted to the desired height above the floor. The base, leg blocks and legs are constructed from relatively rigid material as for example plastic or metal. It should be understood that base  102  could be replaced by multiple bases or a support frame that would perform the same function as base  102 . 
         [0019]    Collector  20 , shown in  FIG. 1 , includes a net  30  that is supported by a net frame  40  along the outer boundary of the net. The net can be made from any type of netting material, as for example polyamide strands. The net is used to absorb the impact of a thrown football minimizing rebounding of the football and allowing the football to fall into ball orientor  50 . Net frame  40  supports the net and is preferably made out of rigid material, as for example metal or plastic tubing, and can be made up of an assembly of several parts, such as short sections of tubes that fit together to makeup the net frame. Net frame  40  is secured to base  102 . It is to be understood that other materials could be used instead of a net and frame assembly that would perform substantially the same function of absorbing a thrown ball&#39;s energy and guiding the football into ball orientor  50 . 
         [0020]    Launcher  10  has ball orientor  50  that receives footballs from collector  20  and guides the falling football down to conveyor belt  70 . The orientor is a funnel-type structure having sloped sides as show in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3  that are attached to base  102 . Ball orientor  50  is shown in the shape of a rectangular funnel, but may have many different shapes that would work equally as well. Alternatively, ball orientor  50  could be replaced with guide net  60 , as shown in  FIG. 6 . When the football is dropped from the collector into the ball orientor, guide net  60  guides the falling football into a narrow resting position on the conveyor belt or other type of translator, shown as first position  61 . Guide net  60  or the funnel-type ball orientor  50  could also guide the ball directly into ball accelerator  81 . 
         [0021]    In addition to ball orientor  50 , the football can be further oriented while it is being transported on the translator as can be seen in  FIG. 1 . This can be accomplished by right and left orientation features  64 A and  64 B respectively. The right and left orientation features are supported by base  102  and are designed to orient the advancing football on the conveyor belt or other type of translator into a general orientation so that the football is end to end aligned with the length of the conveyor belt and is pointing to a position approximately centered between spinning wheels  80  as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         [0022]    The right and left orientation features are designed to rotate or flip the advancing football on the conveyor belt in an end to end position if the ball does not already land this way on the belt from ball orientor  50 . This is accomplished by the stationary orientation features coming in contact with the miss-oriented football while it is advancing forward on the convey belt. The amount of engagement between a miss-aligned football and the orientation features is increased as the football advances on the conveyor belt toward the spinning wheels. The increased contact causes the football to rotate or flip into and end to end position aligning with the conveyor belt as it is advanced toward wheels  80 . Orientation features  64 A and  64 B may also be integrated as part of ball orientor  50  to reduce the number of components required for the launcher. 
         [0023]    It should be understood that other transferring means may be used instead of conveyor belt  70  that would serve the same purpose of advancing the football toward wheels  80 . For example, the conveyor belt could be replaced by a plurality of small rotating roller wheels  90  as shown in  FIG. 7 . Roller wheels  90  can be driven by a roller motor  100  or may inclined on an angle, shown in  FIG. 8 , that allow the football to roll over the roller wheels. Also, conveyor belt  70  could be replaced with a plurality of smaller belts that combine to translate the football toward the ball accelerator. In addition ball orientor  50  and the ball translating means could be combined into one unit that performs both functions. In addition, the orientation features could also be secured to launcher  10  in a different manner than previously described. 
         [0024]    Wheels  80  spin in the direction shown in  FIG. 1  and are supported by shafts  82 A and  82 B, shown in  FIG. 2 . Shaft  82 A is installed into a wheel motor  110  and shaft  82 B is install into a support block  86  mounted onto base  102 . The wheels are fixed to the shafts so that the shafts and wheels rotate together. Bearings (not shown) are contained within support block  86  to allow for rotation of shaft  82 B mounted within the support block. Shaft  82 B is driven by a torque transfer cable  88  that extends from wheel motor  110  over to shaft  82 B. This type of ball accelerator construction is common in the art and will not be discussed in detail. The wheel motor may be electric and is mounted onto base  102  and rotates shafts  82 A and  82 B. Wheels  80 , shaft  82 A, shaft  82 B, support block  86  and wheel motor  110  combine to form ball accelerator  81 . Conveyor belt  70  is driven by conveyor motor  105 . Alternatively, wheel motor  110  can be used to drive wheels  80  and conveyor belt  70  by the use of pulleys and belts or other energy transferring means. Since driving these types of mechanisms is common practice among those skilled in the art, they will not be described in detail. It should be well understood that there exists many different methods that are commonly used to drive the conveyor and the accelerator, therefore, the scope of this invention is not meant to be limited to the described means. 
         [0025]    Ball orientor  50  is shaped to provide initial orientation of a football  55  as is shown in  FIG. 5 . The ball orientor includes tapered side walls  51 , best seen in  FIG. 3 , that urge the football to a specific end point near the bottom of the ball orientor. In addition, an opening  57  is provided at the end of ball orientor  50 . The opening is shaped to only allow certain football orientations to slide through it as shown in  FIG. 5 . In this way, the orientation of the football that is transferred to conveyor belt  70  or other type of ball translator is limited to only the football orientations that will fit through opening  57 . Anti-jam feature  59  is incorporated within the ball orientor to help prevent miss-aligned footballs from jamming within the ball orientor. The anti-jam feature includes raised surfaces  62 A and  62 B that urge a football that has one end touching either of the surfaces to roll off of that surface. In this way, the football is partially aligned to the desired orientation. Other anti-jam type features may also be incorporated within ball orientor  50  to help prevent football jams within the orientor. One example is a vibrator  120 , shown in  FIG. 8 . The vibrator is mounted onto the side of ball orientor  50  to vibrate the ball orientor and prevent the football from jamming. Vibrators of this type are common, therefore, the inner workings of this type of device will not be described further. 
         [0026]      FIG. 3  illustrates how the football may come to rest in first position  61  on the conveyor belt and is advanced by the moving conveyor belt toward the rotating wheels while at the same time is being oriented into second position  65  by orientation features  64 A and  64 B. Conveyor belt  70  continues to advance the football toward wheels  80  until the end of the oriented football come in contact with the wheels. Wheels  80  are spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the football to enable the wheels to squeeze the football between them while the football is accelerated and rotated by the tilted wheels  80  until it loses contact with the wheels and is launched into the air as shown in  FIG. 3 . The player (not shown) positions himself or herself in an area away from launcher  10  in the direction that the football is launched and catches the football. After catching the football, the player may elect to throw the football back into collector  20  of the launcher to have it launched back to him again. Wheels  80  are preferably made from rubber or plastic material that has a relatively high coefficient of friction between the surfaces of the wheels and the football. Metal wheels could also be used, but may lead to excessive football wear. Alternatively, wheels  80  could be notched or cogged instead of being round. In this configuration, the cogged wheels need not rotate continuously, but instead, can be rotated only when the football is in the desired position, shown in the figure. Wheels  80  could also be replaced with paddles or other types of mechanisms that serve to accelerate and launch the football or other types of balls. 
         [0027]    Launcher  10  has several adjustable features that modify the trajectory of the thrown football. Wheels  80  may be tilted horizontally relative to each other, as shown in  FIG. 3 , to cause the football to rotate about its axis running through the ends of the football while the football is accelerated between the wheels. This action causes the football to spiral through the air after being launched from the wheels. In addition, the distance between the wheels may be varied to enable different size footballs to be thrown and to vary the amount of contact between the football and the wheels. If the user desires to have the football launched in an end over end fashion, orientation features  64 A and  64 B may be adjusted to present the football to wheels  80  in an upright position, shown in  FIG. 4 . This is to simulate a kickoff type flight pattern of the football. The rotation speed of wheel motor  110  may also be adjusted to determine how fast and far the football is launched. Legs  140  may be threaded in and out of leg blocks  130  to adjust the elevation of the front and back of the base  102  in order to set the angle and height in which the launcher throws the football. Adjustments can also be made to allow launcher  10  to receive and launch round balls in addition to footballs. Orientation features  64 A and  64 B can be adjusted to only narrow the path for a round ball traversing on the conveyor to deliver it in between the wheels, since there is no specific orientation of a round ball. 
         [0028]    As shown in  FIG. 9 , an alternative embodiment of the ball launcher having a rotating base  160  has been added that rotates base  102  relative to a lower base  170 . This allows ball launcher  10  to rotate while footballs are launched into the air, throwing footballs to varying positions, enabling the user to run to the footballs to catch them. The rotating base  160  preferably rotates through a predetermined angle range, launching footballs after they are thrown and oriented in the machine until the maximum rotation angle is reached, then the rotating base begins to rotate the opposite direction until the opposite maximum rotation angle is reached and the cycle is repeated. Rotating base mechanisms are common in the art, therefore, the inner workings of the rotating base will not further be described. As an alternative, a rotating mechanism could be added to just rotate the ball accelerator to perform the same function previously described without having to rotate the entire base. 
         [0029]    A gating device (not shown) can be added to the orientor to enable the user to release footballs one at a time via a transmitter if more launching control is desired. 
         [0030]    While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.