Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     (a) Technical Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a dispensing device for golf balls, and in particular, a dispensing device that is mounted on the ground for practicing of golf.  
         [0003]     (b) Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]      FIGS. 1 and 1 A disclose a self golf ball dispensing device  10  and a conventional golf tee  20 . When the pedal  101  positioned at the side of the device  10  is stepped, a golf ball  30  is discharged from the outlet  102  and the ball  30  is placed at the upper end of the golf tee  20  for swinging. Taiwanese Patent Publication Nos. 271086, 281925, 291099, 296643, 308893 and 343555 discloses a dispensing device  10  for golf ball and the elevating mechanism for the dispensing. The drawback of the conventional device is to manually place the ball onto the upper end of the golf tee  20 .  
         [0005]     Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing device for golf balls which can obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a golf ball dispensing device comprising an elevating means, a ball seat and a railing means, characterized in that the elevating means includes a seat body, an elevating power module, a sliding block and a first to forth sensor, and the seat body is mounted on the body of the dispensing device and is connected to the elevating power module and the sensors, and the sliding block is pivotally mounted to the elevating power module, and the elevating power module is provided with a motor, the elevating power module is capable to move upward or downward to the upper point and the lower point; the ball seat includes a base seat and ball-holding rod, and the base seat is mounted to the sliding block of the elevating means so that the base seat moves together with the sliding block, and the base seat is extended with an extension rod so that the elevation to the upper point and the lower point is stopped by the sensing of the first and second sensor; the railing means includes at least two railing plate, railing body, a second motor and a ball-pushing seat, and the two railing plates are connected to the body of the dispensing device, and the railing body is mounted between two railing plates and the second motor is connected to the railing plate and to drive the ball-pushing seat to rotate, the ball-pushing seat has a ball-holding section at one side, allowing a golf ball to be placed on the railing body, and a second motor drives the ball-pushing seat to rotate and the ball-holding section is used to push the golf ball to move forward to the elevating means, and the golf ball to drop onto the ball-holding rod of the ball seat.  
         [0007]     The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.  
         [0008]     Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional golf ball dispensing device.  
         [0010]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a conventional golf tee.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a golf ball dispensing device of the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the dispensing device of the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a perspective exploded view of the elevating device and the ball seat in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is an elevational view showing the elevating device of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the dispensing device in accordance with the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0016]     The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.  
         [0017]     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , there is shown a golf ball dispensing device comprising a device seat (a) mounted with an elevating device  1 , a ball seat  2  and a railing device  3 . The elevating device  1  includes a seat body  11 , an elevating power module  12 , a sliding block  13  and a first to forth sensors S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4  (as shown in  FIGS. 4, 5  and  6 ). The seat body  11  is mounted onto the body of the device seat (a) and is connected to the elevating power module  12  and the sensors S 1 , S 2  and S 3 . The sliding block  13  is pivotally mounted to the elevating power module  12 . The motion of the elevating power module  12  provides elevation or lowering to the upper and lower end point (as shown in  FIG. 5 ). The elevating power module  12  is provided with a motor (m 1 ). The first and second sensors S 1  and S 2  are respectively mounted on the upper and lower portions of the seat body  11  between which the sliding block  13  can slide. The motor (m 1 ) is connected with the elevating power module  12  so that the motor (m 1 ) will be moved in unison with the elevating power module  12 . The third sensor S 3  is mounted on the sliding block  13  of the seat body  11 . The fourth sensor S 4  is mounted on the ball seat  2  for detecting whether there is a ball on the ball seat  2  and can move in unison with the first motor (m 1 ). The preferred embodiment of the elevating power module  12  comprises a motor (m 1 ), two gears  121  and a chain  122 . The two gears  121  are driven by the first motor M 1  so as to elevate or lower the seat body  11  to move to the upper and lower end point (as shown in  FIG. 4 ). The chain  122  surrounds the gears  121  and there is a protrusion  123  on the chain  122 . The protrusion  123  passes through a long slot  131  at the sliding block  13 . The two lateral sides of the sliding block  13  are provided with a through hole  132  and two protruded bodies  14  at the seat body  11  pass through the through hole  132 . When the chain  122  rotates, the long slot  131  moves to drive the sliding block  13  such that the sliding block  13  moves up and down (as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 ) along the two protruded bodies  14 .  
         [0018]     The ball seat  2  (as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 ) includes a base seat  21  thereunder and a ball holding rod  22  thereabove. The base seat  21  has a center hole for the passage of the ball holding rod  22  which is fastened on the bottom side of the base seat  21 . The fourth sensor S 4  is mounted on the bottom side of the base seat  21  and located close to the center hole of the base seat  21  (see  FIG. 6 ). The base seat  21  is mounted onto the sliding block  13  of the elevating device  1  such that the entire ball seat  2  moves up or down together with the sliding block  131 . The base seat  21  is extended externally with an extension rod  4  such that when the ball seat  2  and the sliding ball  13  move to the upper end point and lower end point, the extension rod  4  is sensed by the first and the second sensors S 1 , S 2  so that the elevating power module  12  is restricted. The extension rod  4  of the base seat  21  of the ball seat  21  is provided with a masking rod  23  at one side. The extension rod  4  for sensing the first and the second sensor S 1 , S 2  is also mounted on the sliding block  13 .  
         [0019]     The railing device  3  includes at least two railing plates  31 , a railing body  32 , a second motor M 2  and a ball-pushing seat  33  (as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). The two railing plate  31  is connected to the device seat (a), and the railing body  32  is mounted between the two railing plates  31  to form a ball-entering rail. The second motor M 2  is connected with the third sensor S 3  and mounted to the railing plate  31  and drives the ball seat  33  to rotate. One side of the ball seat  33  is a ball-holding section  331  and the ball-holding section  331  is a circular arch to provide rotation for the golf ball  5  on the railing body  32  by the second motor M 2 . The ball-holding section  331  pushes the ball body  5  to move forward to the elevating device  1  so that the ball body  5  is dropped onto the ball-holding rod  22  of the ball-holding section  332 . Further, the railing body  32  is inclined (as shown in  FIG. 6 ) at the elevating device  1 , and the railing body  32  is curved so as to provide two recesses (as shown in  FIG. 6 ) as the ready region  321  and the dispensing region  322 . The railing device  3  is provided further with a third motor M 3  and another ball-pushing seat  33  so that the second motor M 2  and the ball-pushing seat  33  are provided at the dispensing region  322 . The third motor M 3  and the ball-pushing seat  33  are provided at the ready region  321  and are respectively provided with a fifth sensor S 5  and a sixth sensor S 6 . When the second motor M 2  drives the ball-pushing seat  33  to dispense a ball, the fifth sensor S 5  informs the third motor M 3  to move. The ball-pushing seat  33  pushes a ball into the dispensing region  322 . The sixth sensor S 6  informs the ball supplementary device to the ready region  321 . The ready region  321  and the dispensing region  322  are designed to place specific number of balls. If there is a change in number of balls, the fifth and the sixth sensor S 6  are detected, for instance, if a ball or four balls are placed on. When a ball is on the ball-holding rod  22  and the ball seat  2  is at the upper point (as shown in  FIG. 6 ), the first sensor S 1  will inform the first motor M 1  to stop and ready for the ball to be impacted.  
         [0020]     When the ball is impacted, the forth sensor S 4  senses that there is no ball on the ball-holding rod  22 , the motor M 1  moves to drive the elevating power module  12  so that the ball seat  2  is lowered. In the lowering process, the third sensor S 3  senses that there is no ball on the ball holding rod  22  and the second motor M 2  causes the ball-pushing seat  33  to move forward the ball body  5  to drop at the ball seat  2 . When the ball seat  2  is at the lower end point, the second sensor S 2  informs the motor M 1  to stop, and when the ball-holding rod  22  gets the ball body  5 , the forth sensor S 4  will sense and will inform the first motor M 1  to move so that the elevating power module  12  is activated to drive the ball seat  2  to move upward to the upper end point. The first sensor S 1  informs the first motor M 1  to stop and the ball is ready. The movement is repeated. In addition, the elevation path of the ball seat  2  is provided with a seventh sensor S 7  (as shown in  FIG. 6 ) to sense the ball-holding rod  22  whether the ball is present. If the ball-holding rod  22  is absent, the seventh sensor S 7  will inform the power module to stop, ready for maintenance.  
         [0021]     It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.  
         [0022]     While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Technology Category: a