Patent Publication Number: US-10315101-B1

Title: Spring-loaded billiard cue assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to billiard cue devices and more particularly pertains to a new billiard cue device for shooting a cue ball in billiards. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a tube that may be gripped while playing the game of billiards. A rod is slidably positioned in the tube and the rod is urged into a retracted position having the rod being positioned in the tube. The rod is biased into an extended position having the rod extending outwardly from the tube for striking a cue ball in the game of billiards. A light emitter is coupled to the tube to emit a beam of light outwardly therefrom for aiming during the game of billiards. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a spring-loaded billiard cue assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross sectional view taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 1  of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a right side phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a left side phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 8  thereof, a new billiard cue device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 8 , the spring-loaded billiard cue assembly  10  generally comprises a tube  12  that may be gripped while playing the game of billiards. The tube  12  has a first end  14 , a second end  16  and an outer wall  18  extending therebetween. The first end  14  is closed and the second end  16  is open. Additionally, the first end  14  has a well  20  extending towards the second end  16 . A cap  22  is removably coupled to the first end  14  of the tube  12  to close the well  20 . 
     A rod  24  is slidably positioned in the tube  12  and the rod  24  has a first end  26  and a second end  28 . The rod  24  is selectively urged into a retracted position having the rod  24  being positioned in the tube  12 . The rod  24  is biased into an extended position having the rod  24  extending outwardly from the tube  12  to strike a cue ball  29  in the game of billiards. A pad  30 , such as a billiard cue pad or the like, is coupled to the first end  26  of the rod  24  to strike the cue ball  29 . 
     A biasing member  32  to is positioned between the first end of the tube  12  and the second end of the rod  24 . Thus, the biasing member  32  to biases the second end  28  of the rod  24  away from the first end  14  of the tube  12 . A trigger  34  extends through the tube  12  and releasably engages the rod  24  to retain the rod  24  in the retracting position. Moreover, the trigger  34  disengages from the rod  24  when the trigger  34  is manipulated. In this way the biasing member  32  to urges the rod  24  into the extended position for striking the cue ball  29 . The trigger  34  may include a knob  31  that extends outwardly through the tube  12  and finger  33  that wraps around the rod  24 . The rod  24  may have a notch  35  therein and the finger  33  may engage the notch  35  when the rod  24  is urged into the retracted position. Additionally, the finger  33  may disengage the notch  35  when the knob  31  is depressed thereby facilitating the rod  24  to be biased into the retracted position. 
     A light emitter  36  is coupled to the tube  12  to emit a beam of light outwardly therefrom for aiming during the game of billiards. The light emitter  36  is positioned on the second end  16  of the tube  12  and the light emitter  36  may be a laser light emitter or the like. A switch  38  is positioned in the tube  12 . The switch  38  is electrically coupled to the light emitter  36  such that the switch  38  turns the light emitter  36  on and off. A power supply  40  is positioned within the tube  12  and the power supply  40  is electrically coupled to the switch  38 . The power supply  40  comprises at least one battery  42  that is positioned in the well  20  in the tube  12  and electrical contacts  44  in the well  20  that are electrically coupled to the switch  38 . In this way the power supply  40  is in electrical communication with the switch  38  and the light emitter  36  when the power supply is positioned in the well  20 . 
     In use, the rod  24  is urged into the tube  12  and the trigger  34  engages the rod  24  to retain the rod  24  in the retracted position. Moreover, the rod  24  engages the switch  38  to turn the light emitter  36  on. The tube  12  is gripped and manipulated for playing the game of billiards. The light emitter  36  emits the beam of light to assist with aiming the tube  12  and point the rod  24  at the cue ball  29 . The trigger  34  is manipulated to disengage the rod  24  thereby facilitating the biasing member  32  to urge the rod  24  into the extended position. Thus, the pad  30  on the rod  24  strikes the cue ball  29  thereby facilitating a person with limited skill in billiards to successfully strike the cue ball  29 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.