초록 ▼

An air suspension batting tee apparatus which includes an air blower for providing a moving air column which supports a spherical object, a conduit terminating at a nozzle for directing the air column, and an oscillator for producing a fluctuation in the flow of the air column through the nozzle. A

An air suspension batting tee apparatus which includes an air blower for providing a moving air column which supports a spherical object, a conduit terminating at a nozzle for directing the air column, and an oscillator for producing a fluctuation in the flow of the air column through the nozzle. A ball suspended in the air column may be made to oscillate vertically. An air flow displacement arm may be used to produce oscillating movement of a suspended object in a cylindrical path around a vertical axis, thereby simulating motion of a curve ball or a screw ball. The nozzle may be adjusted to varying heights to place a suspended ball within a strike zone for varying sized batters.

대표청구항 ▼

An air suspension batting tee apparatus for fluctuatingly supporting a spherical object on a moving air stream, comprising conduit means having an exit end for transmitting an air stream along a travel path therethrough and for controlling the issuance of the air stream from the exit end in a manner

An air suspension batting tee apparatus for fluctuatingly supporting a spherical object on a moving air stream, comprising conduit means having an exit end for transmitting an air stream along a travel path therethrough and for controlling the issuance of the air stream from the exit end in a manner capable of producing suspension of a spherical object in the issuing air stream, air pressurization means operatively joined to said conduit means for providing such an air stream in the conduit means, and fluctuation means operatively connected to said conduit means for producing fluctuations in the air stream issuing from the exit end of said conduit means, said fluctuation means including air-flow constriction means disposed in the air stream travel path in said conduit means which is adjustable cyclically to vary the transverse area of the travel path adjacent said constriction means, said constriction means including a pair of relatively rotatable air-flow constrictors having air-flow accommodating passages which cooperate during relative rotation to provide a travel path for at least a part of the air stream, the transverse area of which varies according to the relative position of said constrictors, said constrictors being adjacent and the passages in the adjacent constrictors being disposed to align substantially by varying amounts during relative rotation when viewed along the air stream travel path, one of said constrictors being fixed relative to said conduit means, said fluctuation means further including air-flow-driven rotation drive means operatively drivingly connected to the other of said constrictors for rotating the same.