Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Using solid work treating agents
Patent
1996-04-05
1998-06-30
Cintins, Ivars
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Using solid work treating agents
15 212, 134 254, A63B 4704
Patent
active
057727783
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of cleaning and dispensing balls or other generally spherical objects from a magazine. The invention also relates to apparatus for carrying out the method.
2. Description of the Background Art
The invention is particularly intended for handling golf balls. Golf courses include separate so-called driving ranges on which golf strokes (swings) can be practiced. For safety reasons, it is not allowed to retrieve balls that have been struck, and the general practice is to purchase a bucket of training balls from a ball dispensing machine. The balls are then collected by means of a special ball collecting device and returned to the ball dispensing machine. Such ball dispensing machines are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,197, 4,126,217 and 3,946,847, among others. The balls are dispensed from these machines through a chute or along an inclined floor to a pivotal part of the machine, such as a cradle or a dispensing wheel which includes a compartment which accommodates one or more rows of balls, and a dispensing chute which leads to a bucket. Apparatus of this kind, however, are liable to malfunction and be subjected to other disturbances due to dirt and grit on the balls, and also due to defective balls, such as half-balls, and balls from which parts have been knocked-off or balls whose dimensions have been enlarged as a result of cracks, splits or swelling. This will result in the balls lodging in the ball dispensing chute or will prevent balls from rolling to the dispensing part of the apparatus. This means that the golfer will not receive the number of balls that he has paid for.
The problem of grit, dirt, clay or mud on the balls can be overcome by using a separate ball washing device. Several such devices are known to the art and include different types of brush disks or brush cylinders. The balls are normally washed with a washing liquid delivered through spray nozzles, and/or by pressing the balls down into a liquid bath during the washing operation. The balls are then dispensed through a dispensing chute to a collecting vessel. Examples of such ball washers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,038,186 and 4,773,114, in which during a washing operation, the balls are conveyed forwards by a brush cylinder in a helical path along the cylinder. Such ball washers are not included, however, in automatic ball dispensers intended for selling practice balls for stroke-training purposes. Instead, it is necessary for the golf course personnel to transfer the balls to the ball dispenser, which is naturally cost demanding and is also liable to cause injury to the personnel concerned as a result of having to lift the balls to a high level in an unfavourable position.
The balls also tend to hang and form bridges (clusters) in both automatic ball dispensers and in ball washing machines, such as to prevent the balls from being advanced. U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,633 teaches a solution to this problem in the form of a ball washing machine which includes a roll or cylinder which extends transversely across and above the floor of the magazine. The roll includes means which counteract the passage of golf balls along a part of the roll periphery and press the balls back in a direction upwardly of the magazine floor, so that the golf balls will be arranged in a sequential row downstream of the roll. The roll has generally an ellipsoidal shape and is covered externally with bristles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,244,319 attempts to solve the problem whereby not all of the balls are able to roll to the dispensing location under their own force, with the aid of an ejector wheel which is intended to force the balls out through a discharge tube. The ejector wheel has a vertical axle and is mounted in a circular recess in the bottom of the ball magazine, said ejector wheel forming the inner wall and the bottom of an annular passageway, while the side wall of the recess forms the outer wall of the passageway. The discharge or dispensing tube projects into the p
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