Device for branding indicia on a tennis ball

An object marker for heat searing identifying indicia onto the surface of spherical objects, comprising a housing,

• a plurality of removable imprint modules enclosed in said housing, each having a ceramic body and provided with a raised imprint portion,
• an electrical resistance heating element means embedded in each ceramic body for heating said raised imprint portion to searing temperature,
• a pair of electrical contact prongs connected to the electrical resistance heating element means and extending downwardly from the ceramic body,
• an electrical circuit means mounted in said housing and adapted to be connected to a source of electrical power,
• said electrical circuit means including electrical receptacle means mounted in said housing for removably receiving said electrical contact prongs,
• window means formed in said housing for exposing the imprint portion and for providing access for connection of said electrical contact prongs to said electrical receptacle means and of such size and shape as to receive and position an object which is pressed down against the imprint modules to thereby mark the object with identifying indicia,
• said window means extending around the imprint modules and limiting the depth of insertion of the objects so that each object is seared to a uniform desired depth,
• said raised imprint portion of said imprint modules being generally spherical in shape for contacting the surface of the spherical object, the radius of curvature of said spherical shape being approximately that of a standard size tennis ball,
• said modules being mounted in said housing relative to each other so as to be contiguous to the circumference of the spherical object,
• said electrical circuit means including a pair of bus bars connecting the receptacle means in parallel relationship,
• and a switch connected in series in the electrical circuit means for turning the marker on and off.