Games using tangible projectile – Playing field or court game; game element or accessory... – Practice or training device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-17
2003-12-23
Sewell, Paul T. (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Playing field or court game; game element or accessory...
Practice or training device
C473S417000, C473S451000, C273S317600, C273S317900, C273S407000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06666781
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is a national stage filing claiming priority to PCT International Application Serial No. PCT/DE00/00871 filed Mar. 22, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a mobile baseball practice device for practicing the batting or swinging motion of a baseball bat.
In baseball, the basic idea is for a batter to hit a baseball thrown by the pitcher of the opposing team with a baseball bat, propelling the ball in such a manner that it takes as long as possible for the opposing team to retrieve the baseball. Nowadays, the baseball is thrown at speeds of up to 160 km/h, so it is extremely important for the batter to swing the bat with as perfect a swing as possible within an extremely short reaction time and hit the ball in the central zone. This is only possible when the swinging motion is performed as an automatic reflex. For this to happen, the motion has to be practiced in such a manner as to allow the muscles to carry out the optimum swinging motion automatically.
Thus far, practice devices have been used to practice the swinging motion which utilize a pipe frame restricting the swinging motion of the baseball batter during practice. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,852 describes a mobile pipe frame with a c-shaped, curved guide pipe extending out of the end along which the baseball bat is to be swung. The other end of the guide pipe is straight and has a horizontal surface upon which a baseball is placed and which is to be hit by the batter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,039 also describes a mobile pipe frame which has two pipes standing parallel to one another and pipes which are arranged one above the other. The lower pipe has a T piece upon which the baseball can be placed. The practicing batter is thus supposed to swing the baseball bat between the pipes. All existing devices share the same disadvantage, namely that the swinging motion of the baseball bat can only be restricted to an insufficient degree with respect to the distance of the end of the bat relative to the batter while at the same time allowing the swinging motion to be carried out so that only a certain predetermined type of swing can be practiced.
Furthermore, existing devices do not allow the spatial position of the baseball bat to be influenced by the practice device during the swinging motion. The position of the bat in space at the point in time when it meets the ball, however, plays a crucial role. Thus, the batter can hit the ball at the point in time when he is facing the ball frontally as well as standing sideways to the ball or even on the inner side relative to the batter. While a frontal hit and a hit on the inner side relative to the batter is considered to be a good hit, meeting the ball on the outer side relative to the batter is not practiced. If a baseball is supposed to be hit on the outer side relative to the batter, it has to be hit at an earlier point in time, whereby the baseball bat has to travel a longer distance to the ball at the same time. In end effect, the batter needs more time to guide the baseball bat correctly to the ball and the probability of meeting the ball is correspondingly lower.
It is therefore a paramount object of the present invention to provide an improved practice device to practice an optimum swinging motion of a baseball bat.
This and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following description
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a mobile practice device for practicing an optimum swinging motion of a baseball bat using a strike zone restriction apparatus which includes a vertical side wall supported by a holding apparatus. As a result of the strike zone restriction apparatus, the area of motion is restricted for the head of the baseball bat, which will contact the vertical side wall as soon as the head of the bat leaves the allowed hitting zone.
Specifically, the batter stands next to the practice device. The batter needs to stand as closely as possible to the practice device, preferably approximately 50 cm to 70 cm from the vertical side wall. If the batter now makes a swinging motion from an initial position where the head of the baseball bat (viewed in the direction of the swing) is located behind the grip of the bat, the batter is forced to swing the bat in such a manner that the head of the bat is located behind the grip of the bat throughout almost the entire swing. Because the head of the bat is not allowed to leave the hitting zone above the side wall, the batter automatically swings the head of the bat between his body and the pitch trajectory in the direction of the baseball. Practicing in this manner significantly increases the probability that the baseball will regularly be hit on the inner side of the batter and not on the outer side of the batter. The swinging motion is thus generally shortened, allowing the batter relatively little time to meet the ball.
An additional advantage of the present invention is that the practicing batter has to keep his hands close to his body during the entire swinging motion, which means that the center of gravity of the baseball bat is kept comparatively close to the body, and the head of the bat can be swung at a greater speed. This allows harder and longer hits to be attained.
Moreover, compared with the aforementioned state of the art, the practice device of the present invention has the advantage that, although the zone for the swinging motion is limited, which influences how the batter holds the bat and the distance of the bat to the batter, the bat can still be moved freely within this zone. This allows the baseball to be hit in an optimum manner practicing with a pitcher or a ball-throwing device using different kinds of pitches—fastballs, slow balls, sliders, curves and screwballs. It is also possible to practice with balls which are positioned in a hitting direction in front of strike zone restriction apparatus.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mobile practice device is set up with a back wall placed predominantly at a right angle to the side wall. This restricts the back side of the zone (viewed in the swinging direction) for the motion of the bat. This also allows the baseball bat to be swung relatively close to the body, resulting in the swinging motion being relatively short and allowing the baseball bat to be swung faster. In addition, the swinging motion has diagonal components. The baseball bat is thus not swung only from the rear to the front, but rather at the same time from above to below. This ensures that the practicing batter learns to guide the head of the bat in a constant downward motion until it meets the ball. As a result, the force of gravity on the bat can be used to accelerate the swing of the bat. This allows more and better hits than if the swings were only made at a horizontal level.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mobile practice device also has a lower wall which is positioned predominantly at a right angle to the side wall. This restricts the zone for the motion of the bat on its lower side as well. This is especially advantageous when the practice device is used in conjunction with a ball holder, and the ball holder holds a baseball at a certain height in front of the practice device in the batting direction. In this case, the lower wall prevents the head of the bat hitting under the ball when practicing.
The aforementioned back and/or the lower walls can be formed with a single curved wall, the shape of the curve being adjustable to provide for an optimum swinging motion. A preferred curved wall forms an approximately 90° spherical curve, one end of which is substantially vertical and the other end of which is at an acute angle to a horizontal plane in its tangential extension.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the holding device includes a height-adjustment apparatus which allows the height of the str
Aryanpour Mitra
Nagle, Jr. David W.
Sewell Paul T.
Stites & Harbison PLLC
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