Golf ball recovery systems, apparatus, and methods
AssigneeMulligan International Inc.
InventorsMaxime Pouchet, Mikael Pouchet, François Pouchet
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems, apparatus and methods for recovering golf balls from a surface at the bottom of a body of water are described. The systems and apparatus comprise a picking assembly configured to pick golf balls from a surface when moved along the surface and a docking module configured to receive the picking assembly and to remove the golf balls therefrom. By repeatedly dragging the picking assembly across the surface between progressively changing points on either side of the surface, it is possible to recover golf balls from the entire surface.
Claims17
A system for recovering golf balls comprising:
- a picking assembly configured to pick golf balls from a surface when moved along the surface, the picking assembly comprising an axle having mounted thereon a plurality of resilient discs spaced apart from one another so as to allow the golf balls to be wedged between adjacent discs;
- and
- a docking module configured to remove the golf balls from the picking assembly only when the picking assembly is received in the docking module, the docking module comprising a plurality of dislodging fingers, each dislodging finger engaging a space between adjacent resilient discs when the picking assembly is received within the docking module, the dislodging fingers being configured to remove the golf balls that are wedged between the adjacent resilient discs when the picking assembly and the dislodging fingers are rotated relative to each other around the axle,
- wherein the picking assembly is configured to pick golf balls from the surface only when undocked from the docking module.
An apparatus for removing golf balls from a picking assembly configured to pick the golf balls from a surface when moved along the surface, the picking assembly comprising an axle having mounted thereon a plurality of resilient discs spaced apart from one another so as to allow the golf balls to be wedged between adjacent discs, the apparatus comprising:
- a docking module configured to remove the golf balls from the picking assembly only when the picking assembly is received in the docking module, and a winch configured to pull a cable attached to the picking assembly so as to move the picking assembly along the surface and to pull the picking assembly into a received position within the docking module.
A method of recovering golf balls from a surface comprising:
- a) providing a system for recovering golf balls including a picking assembly configured to pick the golf balls from the surface when moved along the surface and a docking module configured to receive the picking assembly and to remove the golf balls therefrom, the system having two endpoints between which the picking assembly is operable to travel;
- positioning the system endpoints between a pair of geographic points on sides of the surface;
- dragging the picking assembly across the surface between the two endpoints using a pulling cable;
- pulling the picking assembly into the docking module using the cable;
- and
- removing any golf balls collected using the docking module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.