Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2~31~g3
BASEBALL BATTING PRACTICE METHOD
AND APPARATUS
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to sports training,
and particularly to methods and apparatuses for use in
practicing baseball batting.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Successfully batting a baseball pitched by a
talented professional pitcher is regarded by many as
among the most difficult feats of hand to eye
coordination in sports. In fact, a success rate of 30%
(a .300 batting average) is regarded as exemplary and a
25% success rate is typically regarded as the norm.
These seemingly low success rates are attributable to,
among other things, the speed with which a fast ball gets
to home plate, the non-linear path taken by a curve ball
and other pitches, and the individual pitcher's ability
to conceal the type of pitch thrown and ball release.
Various methods and machines have been used in
efforts to improve the batting averages. For instance,
it has been common to use a coach or other player to
pitch balls to batters for practice. To save wear and
tear on valuable professional baseball players and
coaches, pitching machines have been developed and
employed. One type of pitching machine that has been used has a
rotating pitching arm which slings a baseball toward home plate.
Another type of pitching machine has a pair of counter-rotating,
resilient wheels into which a baseball is introduced. The
resilient rapidly spinning wheels grip the baseball and propel it
at a high rate of speed. While pitching machines of the type
just described provide distinct savings over the use of
professional baseball players and coaches, they provide only
limited help in training for batting balls thrown by actual
pitchers. It has heretofore been thought that such machines are
inherently too mechanical and rote to provide good simulation of
actual playing conditions beyond that of propelling balls along
established trajectories.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for an apparatus
which more closely simulates the conditions faced by batters when
batting against live pitchers. It is to the provision of such,
therefore, that the present invention is primarily directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention in one aspect provides an apparatus for
studying the pitching motion of baseball pitchers and for
practicing batting, the apparatus comprising in combination, a
display screen having a passage therethrough, means for
propelling balls in succession through the screen passage toward
a home plate along a path generally parallel to the ground.
Means is positioned between the home plate and the display screen
for displaying a moving image of a baseball pitcher on the screen
adjacent the passage, with the image of the pitcher going through
a windup and delivery. There is means for synchronizing the ball
propelling means with the means for displaying a moving image.
The invention also provides a method of providing baseball
players with ball batting practice against individual pitchers to
learn the pitching movements of the individual pitchers
comprising the steps of displaying a moving image of the baseball
pitcher during his windup and delivery on a screen of a type
having a passage therethrough and propelling a ball through the
screen passage during the display of ball delivery by the pitcher
on the screen, wherein the step of propelling a ball comprises
propelling a ball along a path generally parallel to the ground
toward a home plate positioned to one side of and spaced from the
screen.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become
apparent upon reading the following specification when taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a partially cut away, perspective illustration of
a baseball batting practice apparatus that embodies principles of
the present invention in a preferred form.
Figs. 2a - 2d are perspective views of a portion of the
apparatus of Flg. 1 with images of a baseball pltcher shown
thereon during a windup and delivery sequence.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
With reference now with more detail to the drawings, in
which like numerals represent like elements throughout the
several views, there is shown in Fig. 1 a baseball batting
practice apparatus 10 according to the present invention. The
apparatus includes a large rectangular projection screen 11 and a
projector 12 positioned to project moving images onto the screen.
The projector is preferably of the type that generates and
projects images from a video cassette although it may directly
project images from motion picture film. The projection screen
is preferably large enough to allow life-size images of baseball
pitchers to be shown thereon. It has a centrally located passage
13 therethrough which is large enough to allow baseballs to pass
easily through the screen.
A pitching machine 16, such as that made
by Jugs Manufacturing Company, Inc., is positioned behind the
_4_ 2 ~ ~ ~ @ ~ ~1
projection screen 11. It has a pair of counter-rotating
friction wheels 17 and 18 located closely adjacent the
passage 13. Baseballs B, are deliverable in succession
to the rotating friction wheels by means of a conveyor
system 20. The conveyor system comprises an endless
conveyor belt 21, resilient push plates 22, adjustably
mounted to the conveyor belt 21, and a constant speed
driving motor 23. The conveyor belt 21 has a series of
unshown evenly spaced markings thereon.
A conveyor drum 24 is spaced from the pitching
machine 16 and a similar unshown drum is located near the
resilient wheels 17 and 18 with the conveyor belt
extending about the two drums. The motor 23 is coupled
to the drum 24 so that it may drive the conveyor belt~
The push-plates are mounted to the conveyor belt 21 by
unshown fasteners. The push-plates are roughly one-half
as tall as the diameters of the baseballs B to allow them
to present the baseballs to the friction wheels without
the plates contacting the wheels. This is made possible
by the spacing between the drum and wheels. A hopper 26
is positioned adjacent the drum 24 from which baseballs ~3
may be sequentially fed onto the belt 21 through a
delivery conduit 27. A synchronization control unit 30
is provided for synchronizing projector operations with
pitching machine operations. It has a start switch 31
and a stop switch 32. The start and stop switches are
electrically coupled to both the driving motor 23 and the
projector 12 by electrical lines 33 and 34, respectively.
OPERATION
The baseball batting practice apparatus may be
prepared for use as follows. A recording is prepared of
a particular pitcher to be practiced against to include a
series of pitching wind-ups and deliveries. The elapsed
time from the beginning of the recording medium,
.
-5- ~3~ 3
preferably a video tape, to the recorded delivery of the
first pitch is determined as are time intervals between
succeeding recorded pitches. The video cassette is
inserted into a playback unit in the projector 12 and
indexed to its beginning. An operator adjusts the
positions of the push-plates 22 upon the conveyor belt 21
to correspond to the time intervals between the recorded
pitches. A baseball B is placed against each of the
push-plates located on the upper run of the conveyor
belt. As the conveyor belt is driven by the motor at a
constant rate of speed, the markings on the belt are
easily used to establish the time between pitches
executed by the machine.
To begin operations, the conveyor belt 21 is
manually advanced until the push-plate 22 for the first
ball is set back from the friction wheels 17 and 18 a
distance so that the baseball placed in front of it will
move into engagement with the friction wheels in an
elapsed time which corresponds to the time interval from
the beginning of the video cassette to the projection of
the first recorded pitch release. The operator then
turns on the pitching machine 16 which causes friction
wheels 17 and 18 to rotate. With the conveyor system 20
now in its initially indexed position, and with the
spacing of the push-plates 22 corresponding to the time
intervals between the various recorded pitches, and the
video cassette in the projector 12, the operator
simultaneously activates both the conveyor 20 and the
projector 12 by means of the synchronization control
unit 30. This is done by pressing the start switch 31
which simultaneously activates both the conveyor and the
projector. Baseballs are then delivered from the hopper
26 to a stop at the end of the conduit 27. As successive
push-plates move past the conduit end they each retrieve
a ball. In this manner balls are delivered sequentially
~6- 2 ~3~ L~ ~ 3
to the wheels 17 and 18 by the conveyor. This is done in
synchronization with the moving images projected on the
screen 11 o f a pitcher.
Just before each push-plate makes its closest
approach to the wheels it commences to descend in an
orbital path around the drum located adjacent the screen.
In this manner, the ball that it pushes thus contacts the
wheels as the push-plate reaches its orbital perigee
relative to the wheels in avoidance with its making
contact with the wheels. The wheels immediately propel
the ball out of the pitching machine through the passage.
As shown in Fig. 2a - 2d, the batter sees a pitcher
P projected on the screen 11 go through his wind-up and
delivery. As the pitcher's hand holding a baseball is
shown on the screen 13 moving towards a position in which
the baseball is released, (Fig 2C) the pitcher's hand
approaches the passage 13. Just as the pitcher's hand
crosses the passage 13, a ball B is propelled through the
passage by pitching machine 16. To interrupt or stop the
pitching of baseballs, and the moving images on the
screen 11, the stop switch 32 is depressed which
simultaneously halts advancement of the video cassette
tape in the projector 12 and advancement of the conveyor
belt.
~5 It thus is seen that the combination of the conveyor
belt driven at a constant speed, the spaced markings on
the belt, the adjustably mounted push-plates, and the
synchronization control unit provides a simple yet
effective means for synchronizing the on-screen images
with the delivery of balls from the pitching machine. So
constructed and used, the baseball batting practice
apparatus may enable haseball batters to practice
batting against a particular pitcher and allow the batter
to learn that particular pitcher's pitching motion.
As mentioned earlier, there is much that a pitcher
-7- 2 0 ~ ~ L~ ~ 3
can do in the manner of his delivery of the pitch to make
the pitch more difficult to hit. For instance, many
pitchers attempt to keep the baseball hidden from sight
until the last possible moment before ball release. The
baseball batting practice apparatus enables the batter to
become familiar with the pitcher's release to be better
able to time the beginning of his swing relative to the
release of the ball. Of course, model and previously
unknown pitchers may also be displayed.
Other methods of synchronizing the delivery of balls
with the on-screen image of a pitcher delivery may be
employed. For instance, a queue of baseballs held within
a conduit located adjacent the rotating wheels 17 and 18
may be used to deliver balls to the rotating wheels. The
conduit may include means for ejecting one baseball at a
time out of the conduit and into the spinning wheels in
response to signals that an on-screen image of a pitcher
is about to release a pitch. These signals may be
generated by the use of optical codes on the video
cassette tape in positions in the sequence of the images
of the deliveries of pitches. In this case, detectors
are used to detect the codes and to generate electric
signals that control pitching machine operations.
It thus is seen that a novel baseball batting
practice method and apparatus is now provided which
provides batters with improved practicing means. It
should be understood, however, that the apparatus has
been disclosed in a preferred form, and that many
modifications, alterations and additions may be made
thereto, other than those expressly mentioned, without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as
set forth in the following claims.
