Patent Publication Number: US-2006009301-A1

Title: Directional practice device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a directional practice device and particularly to a disciplining device, which is available for the user to practice rectilinear movement and enhance steadiness of the movement.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      To pursue accurate rectilinear movement is frequently seen in sports such as basketball, billiard, golf and etc. and preciseness completely depends on if the movement is accurate. A common feature of these sports is that the direction of the movement is initialed with a little deviation results in a great inaccuracy of the movement.  
      Taking the golf as an example, when the player pushes the golf ball into the hole, it is required to move rectilinearly toward the hole so that how to allow the ball moving toward orientation of hole and entering the hole is subject the player has to practice. For a new learner, it is necessary to learn a posture of holding the club with a movement along the same direction without deviation. It is an important factor that the learner has to control steadiness of direction during hands moving the club.  
      In addition, it is known that skill comes from practice and movements of human body can reach least mistake through practicing repeatedly. Little movement like reckoning by abacus or playing musical instruments with fingers and large movement like moving the whole hand or leg need to practice repeatedly in order to obtain the accuracy. Hence, the movement keeping in the same direction while the club has to be practiced repeatedly, otherwise it is hard to adjust error effectively and the progress through practice is very little.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the present invention is to provide a directional practice device to assist the learner experiencing how to control steadiness of moving rectilinearly.  
      Accordingly, the directional practice device according to the present invention includes a directional frame and a rail base. The directional frame provides a part being defined to move rectilinearly and an engaging member for locating a sport apparatus. The rail base provides two parallel rail parts and each of the rail parts has a component to define a movement of the directional frame. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a directional practice device according to the present invention; and  
      FIGS.  2  is an assembled perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a directional practice device according to the present invention shown in  FIG. 1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a directional practice device according to the present invention comprises a rail base  1  and a directional frame  2 .  
      Wherein, the rail base  1  is available for the directional frame  2  sliding along so that the rail base  1  has two straight rail parts  11  parallel to each other. A rail groove  111  is provided in each of the rail parts  11  and the rail groove  111  is a channel recess in the present embodiment. It is noted that the channel recess is only an example type of the rail groove  111  and not a limitation.  
      The directional frame  2  provides a width corresponding to the rail base  1  and has a plate shaped frame seat  21  with at least a movable projection  22  at two lateral sides thereof corresponding to the rail grooves  111 . The projection  22  can be an outward projecting piece or a roller with a bearing. There are two projections  22  at each lateral side of the frame seat  21  in the embodiment of the present invention.  
      Besides, in order to allow a sport apparatus such as a club being able to be secured to the frame seat  21 , an engaging member  23  is provided on the frame seat  21 . The engaging member  23  is provided with two hooked pieces for locating the club in the embodiment. For the billiard stick, it can be provided with only a hook piece as the engaging member  23  for being inserted with stick. In fact, it can be different types of engaging member  23  in use such as Velcro band can be provided on the frame seat  21 . Basically, it is an essential requirement that the engaging member  23  is capable of locating a certain part of the sports apparatus.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2  again, the directional frame  2  can be slidably attached to the rail base  11  by way of the projections  22  being inserted into the rail grooves  111 . Meanwhile, in case of the related part of a sport apparatus such as the club head being able to be located at the engaging member  23 , the learner can move the sport apparatus repeatedly and allows the sport apparatus performing rectilinear movement constantly. In this way, the learner can practice the same movement along the same orientation skillfully such that the steadiness and accuracy of the movement done by the learner can be enhanced largely.  
      It is appreciated that although the directional practice device of the present invention is used in a very limited space instead of practicing at the real playing field, effective and steady practice can be obtained as well. Further, it is very easy to set up and to operate the directional practice device of the present invention. These advantages are not possible to achieve with the prior art.  
      While the invention has been described with reference to the a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention, which is defined by the appended claims.