Patent Publication Number: US-6699136-B2

Title: Billiard cue with aiming effect

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INTENTION 
     The present invention is related to a billiard cue, and more particularly to a billiard cue with aiming effect. A group of aiming marks are disposed on the cue body. A player can aim the aiming marks at the cue ball to more precisely shoot and control the cue ball. 
     It has been more and more popular to play billiards. It is critical in billiards to shoot and control the cue ball precisely and stably. That is, in order to achieve a nice shot, a player must be able to accurately aim the cue at the true hitting point. 
     For a beginner, it is uneasy to aim the cue at the true hitting point and an error often takes place when shooting the cue ball. For an experienced player, it is still necessary to make sure that the cue be aimed at the true hitting point. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a billiard cue with aiming effect. A player can more precisely shoot and control the cue ball. 
    
    
     The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein: 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an end view according to FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a top view according to FIG. 1, showing that the cue is aligned with the center of the cue ball; 
     FIG. 4 is a view according to FIG. 3, showing that the cue is displaced from the center of the cue ball for rotationally shooting the cue ball; 
     FIG. 5 shows that the cue is not truly positioned; 
     FIG. 6 is a top view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 7 is a top view of a third embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to FIG. 1 which shows a first embodiment of the billiard cue with aiming effect of the present invention. 
     The billiard cue  10  includes a conic slender cue body. The cue body can be an integral body or composed of a shaft and a butt. A tip  14  is adhered to front end (small diameter end) of the cue body  12 . A ferrule  16  is fitted around the small diameter end of the cue body  12 . 
     Two groups of aiming marks A, B are disposed on the ferrule  16  as shown in FIG.  2 . The two groups of aiming marks A, B are positioned on the same circumference. The first group of marks A are positioned on upper half of the circumference, while the second group of marks B are positioned on lower half of the circumference. 
     Each group of aiming marks include a main aiming section  20  and several subsidiary aiming sections  22  disposed on two sides of the main aiming section  20 . In this embodiment, there are four subsidiary aiming sections  22 , that is, there are two subsidiary aiming sections  22  on each side of the main aiming section. 
     Practically, the main and subsidiary aiming sections  20 ,  22  can be distinguished in the following manners: 
     First, the main aiming section  20  has a length (or dimension) larger than that of the subsidiary aiming section  22 . 
     Second, the main aiming section has a color, while the subsidiary aiming section has another color. Each of the above measures enables a player to distinguish the main aiming section from the subsidiary aiming section. In a preferred embodiment, the main and subsidiary aiming sections have different lengths and colors. 
     In this embodiment, in each group of marks, the main and subsidiary aiming sections are arranged at equal intervals s. The two groups of marks A, B are spaced by an interval d which is slightly larger than interval s. Moreover, the two groups of marks have different colors. By means of the different colors and the intervals d, it is easy to distinguish the two groups of marks. 
     In use of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a player can turn the cue  10  to selectively use any group of marks. When aimed, the main aiming section  20  serves as the aiming point for hitting the cue ball. The main aiming section  20  is positioned right at the center of the cue, that is, positioned on the central axis C of the cue. The phantom extending line L of the main aiming section is aligned with the center E of the cue ball  30 . Accordingly, when shooting the cue ball, the center of the cue will hit the center of the cue ball so that the cue ball is straightly hit without rotating. 
     When it is desired to rotate the cue ball, the cue is displaced from the center E of the cue ball  30  to one side thereof as shown in FIG.  4 . The extending line L of the main aiming section  20  is aligned with a phantom position F of the cue ball, which is displaced from the center E of the cue ball. Accordingly, when hitting the cue ball, a rotating effect is created for controlling the cue ball. 
     The five aiming sections  20 ,  22  of each group of marks are arranged at equal intervals s. Therefore, the four subsidiary aiming sections  22  respectively on two sides of the main aiming section serve as scales for rotationally shooting the cue ball. For example, in FIG. 4, when the extending line P of the first subsidiary aiming section  22   a  on left side of the main aiming section is aligned with the center E of the cue ball, the displacement between the hitting point F and the center E of the cue ball is interval s. Therefore, the cue ball will be right-handed rotated by one unit rotational speed. Similarly, when the second subsidiary aiming section  22   b  on left side of the main aiming section is aligned with the center E of the cue ball, the displacement between the hitting point G of the main aiming section  20  and the center E of the cue ball is twice interval s. Therefore, the cue ball will be more strongly right-handed rotated. 
     Similarly, the subsidiary aiming sections on right side of the main aiming section serve as the scales for left-handed rotationally shooting the cue ball. Accordingly, by means of the subsidiary aiming sections, a player can judge the rotational speed of the shot cue ball. 
     Also, by means of the subsidiary aiming sections, a player can judge whether the main aiming section  20  is positioned at the center of the cue or not. The main and subsidiary aiming sections  20 ,  22  are arranged at equal intervals. Therefore, when the main aiming section  20  is positioned at the central axis C of the cue, the subsidiary aiming sections  22  on left and right sides of the main aiming section are symmetrical to each other as shown in FIG.  3 . Reversely, as shown in FIG. 5, in the case that the subsidiary aiming sections  22  on left and right sides of the main aiming section  20  are asymmetrical to each other, it is known that the main aiming sect ion is not positioned on the central axis C of the cue  10 . Under such circumstance, the player needs to turn the cue back to the state as shown in FIG. 3 to position the main aiming section on the central axis of the cue. Only at this time, the main aiming section serves as the aiming point for shooting the cue ball. Therefore, by means of observing whether the subsidiary aiming sections on two sides of the main aiming section are symmetrical to each other, the player can judge whether the main aiming section is right positioned at the center of the cue. 
     FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the main and subsidiary aiming sections  40 ,  42  are straight lines instead of the arrows of the first embodiment. Also, the main aiming section  40  has a length larger than that of the subsidiary aiming section  42 . In addition, the main and subsidiary aiming sections  40 ,  42  have different colors. 
     In the first and second embodiments, the lengthwise direction of the aiming sections  20 ,  22 ,  40 ,  42  is parallel to the axis of the cue  10 ,  10 ′. 
     FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, in which the aiming sections  50 ,  52  are dots and have different colors. 
     It should be noted that the configurations of the aiming sections are not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the aiming sections can be triangular. 
     Furthermore, in the case that two groups of aiming marks are disposed on the cue, the two groups of aiming marks can have different configurations. For example, one group of marks are arrows, while the other group of marks are straight lines or dots. 
     The present invention is characterized in that the aiming marks disposed on the cue enable a player to more precisely aim the cue at the true hitting point of the cue ball so as to shoot and control the cue ball better. By means of the present invention, a beginner can more quickly have the tips of aiming so that the learning time can be shortened. Also, with the present invention, an experienced player can more precisely check the hitting point and enhance the accuracy in shooting. 
     The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.