Abstract:
The invention is of a Shotgun hiker, a mechanical football hiker that propels the football five yards in a consistent direction and manner in order to allow football teams to practice the shotgun offense without the use of a trained team member to hike the football.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to mechanical football hikers. 
   2. Background Information 
   Football is a national passion, and where there are football games, there are football practices. Football practice seasons and football practice sessions are typically regulated by league rules in order to ensure consistency and fairness. These rules, for instance, may limit the amount of time a team can practice or limit the length of the practice season a team can require players to be present for practice. 
   Working within these constraints, consistency is difficult to maintain when propelling or hiking a football to the quarterback during practice sessions. This is true because the job of hiking the ball during practice typically falls to an “expendable” member of the team or training staff because the official ball hiker is most likely performing his own training. It would be inefficient to utilize a valuable member of the team to perform such a monotonous, repetitive function as hiking the ball to the practicing quarterback, when that team member could be furthering his own skills, especially when practice time is limited. Another variation of this problem is encountered during off season practice sessions when attendance is not required and therefore the presence of a hiker is optional. This has led to the development of mechanical ball hikers. 
   Currently, the mechanical ball hikers that are available merely “hand” the ball to the quarterback, and do not propel it in the manner required to simulate that required for the “shotgun” formation. Therefore, existing ball hikers may be adequate for teams using standard line-ups and plays, but are useless for those employing the “shotgun” offense, in which the quarterback typically stands back from the offensive line about five yards. This line-up is advantageous in certain situations because it gives the quarterback more time to throw the ball and is very hard to defend against. It is an advantageous offense to use with a light, quick front line and a quarterback who knows how to run as well as throw the ball. More and more high school and college teams are taking advantage of the unique plays that such a line-up favors. 
   The shotgun hiker of the present invention solves the problem of how to train a quarterback in the shotgun offense by creating the force needed to mechanically propel a football over a distance, consistently and in a predictable direction. This allows football team members to maximize their practice time and football coaches to most efficiently and effectively train quarterbacks and other team members in the shotgun offense. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanical means to propel or hike a football during football practice. 
   It is another object of the present invention to provide a more convenient method of practicing the shotgun offense by providing a mechanical means to propel or hike a football over a distance, rather than merely “hand the ball” to the quarterback during football practice. 
   It is a further object of the present invention to provide a consistent means of propelling or hiking the football over a distance into the hands of a quarterback during football practice without the use of an experienced team member. 
   In satisfaction of these and other related objectives, Applicant&#39;s present invention provides a convenient, consistent, mechanical means to propel a football over a distance into the hands of a practicing quarterback in order that the team may practice the shotgun offense without the use of an experienced team member to hike the ball. 
   Applicant&#39;s approach to the problem described above is certainly simple, but it is equally unobvious. Applicant&#39;s Shotgun Hiker makes possible, for the first time, a mechanical means of propelling or hiking a football over a distance, which allows a football team to practice the shotgun offense without the use of an experienced team member to hike the football. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the Shotgun Hiker. 
       FIG. 2  is an enlarged top plan view of the ball-launching platform of the Shotgun Hiker. 
       FIG. 3  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the release actuation means of the Shotgun Hiker. 
       FIG. 4  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the attachment point of the distal end of the springs. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , the shotgun hiker of the present invention is identified generally by the reference number  10 . 
   Shotgun hiker  10  of the preferred embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 1 , includes support frame  12 . Support frame  12  includes base  14  and an upright structure  16  (attached to base  14  through the use of bolts or screws in a conventional manner). Upright structure  16  includes, in the preferred embodiment, two wheels  28  and  30  and a handle structure  32  which afford the hiker  10  with dolly-like portability. 
   In the embodiment shown, upright structure  16  also includes ball holder  34  which is attached through conventional means to upright structure  16  to allow for the convenient storage and transfer of extra footballs. Many configurations of a support frame  12  could be developed by one skilled in the pertinent art and the invention is not limited by the embodiment described here. 
   Seen best in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , ball launching platform  18  is pivotally connected to pivot blocks  20  and  23  near, but not at, its proximal end  22  (which includes left proximal terminus  24  and right proximal terminus  26 , respectively, on either side of proximal end  22  of ball launching platform  18 ). 
   Left and right proximal termini  24  and  26  are rotatably engaged with respective left and right pivot blocks  20  and  23  by the use of a conventional threaded axle and nut assemblies. Left and right springs  36  and  38  are attached to left and right proximal termini  24  and  26  further proximal to the pivot points of ball launching platform  18  vis a vis pivot blocks  20  and  23 . In the arrangement depicted, it is clear that springs  36  and  38  bias ball launching platform  18  from a pre-launch orientation (as shown in  FIG. 1 ) wherein ball launch platform  18  is substantially parallel with base  14  and substantially perpendicular to upright structure  16 , toward an upright, post-launch orientation in which platform  18  is substantially parallel with upright structure  16 . This attachment can be accomplished by hooking the respective ends of springs  36  and  38  through holes  50  and  53 , not shown, in the respective proximal termini  24  and  26 . 
   Referring in combination to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , ball launching platform  18  is held in its pre-launch orientation, against the forces of springs  36  and  38 , through interaction of catch arm  42  (at the distal end  40  of platform  18 ) with release actuator assembly  46 . 
   Release actuator assembly  46  is a trigger mechanism of generally conventional design, one generally instructive example of which may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,968, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. Slight variations in the trigger design for trigger mechanism  46  will follow like variations in trigger designs in general. Additional patents with such variations, the general trigger mechanism design of which could readily be applied to shotgun hiker  10 , include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,469,610; 3,490,429; and 6,478,020, the disclosures of which are here incorporated by reference. 
   Release actuation assembly  46  includes a trigger arm  48  which is pivotally mounted relative to base member  14 . Sear arm  44  is configured and oriented for reversible engagement with catch arm  42  in conventional trigger fashion (see  FIG. 3 ). When trigger arm  48  is activated, usually by stepping on it, trigger arm  48  moves pivotally downward, causing sear arm  44  to move pivotally upward, releasing catch arm  42 , allowing ball launching platform  18  to pivot from its pre-launch orientation to its post-launch orientation under force of springs  36  and  38 . 
   The preferred embodiment utilizes fourteen-inch springs from Century Spring Company, catalog number C-353, or its equivalent, to produce the force needed to propel a standard football five yards and at the proper height for a football quarterback in the shotgun offense. This result is achieved when launch platform  18  is approximately 20½ inches in length and pivots about a point 4½ inches from its proximal end. Springs  36  and  38  are attached substantially at their proximal ends as described above and, at their distal ends, are securely attached to base  14  at attachment points  37  and  39 . 
   The details of attachment point  39  are shown most clearly in  FIG. 4 . Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 4 , an L-shaped angle iron  56  is welded to base  14  in conventional manner ½ inch from the edge of base  14  closest to wheel  30 . A 4-inch “I” bolt  58  is then attached to the distal end of spring  38  and screwed in through hole  60  drilled in the angle iron. The proper tension is achieved when “I” bolt  58  is screwed approximately 2 inches through the angle iron. An identical process attaches spring  36  at attachment point  37  and is not shown. 
   By selecting springs of varying gauges and varying lengths, the tensile strength of the springs can be varied and, therefore, the power with which the football is propelled can be controlled. Further, by varying the angle of the support frame  12 , particularly base  14 , the distance and height that the football is propelled can be controlled. 
   In practice, a football (shown in dotted lines in  FIG. 2 ) is laid across ball rests  52  and  54  to await activation of release actuation assembly  46 . Upon actuation of release actuation assembly  46 , the football is propelled (in a direction away from the upright structure  16 ) to simulate the hiking of a football in the shotgun offense style (distant from the center). 
   In another embodiment, not shown in the drawings, a safety guard can be attached to the support frame  12  at the tubular handle structure  32  and the base  14  to shield users of the shotgun hiker from an errant football. 
   Most components of shotgun hiker  10  are expected to be assembled from steel, or other suitable hard material, with suitable plating or paint, to protect the material from the elements. The springs are those conventionally found and familiar to one skilled in the pertinent art. 
   Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.