Devices for picking up balls
OwnerSydney Parkinsoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device for picking up balls, such as golf balls, is in the form of a tube, preferably of a translucent plastics material, having at one end a ball retainer in the form of a pawl which is loaded resiliently towards an operative position projecting inwardly of the tube and which can pivot, against its loading, in a direction away from the said one and, into an inoperative position not obstructing the interior of the tube, so that a ball can be picked up by pushing said one end over the ball which deflects the pawl as it enters the tube, the pawl then returning to its operative position to retain the ball in the tube.
Claims8
A device for picking up balls comprising:
- a tube having, at one end, a ball retainer arrangement including a pawl tooth resiliently loaded towards an operative rest position projecting inwardly of the tube and pivotable in a direction away from the said one end to an inoperative position free of the tube interior, the ball retainer arrangement including a knob means disposed externally of the tube for permitting the pawl tooth to be pivoted manually into the inoperative position against its resilient loading, the knob means being connected with the pawl tooth by way of a neck providing a recess for location therein of a resilient band extending circumferentially around the said one end of the tube for loading the pawl tooth into the operative position.
A ball handling device for retrieving balls and storing same and selectively dispensing same comprising in combination:
- a retaining means having an interior well for receiving the balls and having a lower opening of a size through which balls may freely pass to and from the well,
- a pawl including a tooth and a knob with a neck therebetween and with the tooth being pivotally mounted relative to the retaining means and swingable between an operative ball-obstructing position inwardly of the well for supporting a ball resting upwardly of and on the tooth and an inoperative non-ball-obstructing position outwardly of the well for allowing passage of balls therepast in upward storing and downward dispensing directions,
- loading means circumscribing the retaining means and the neck of the pawl for resiliently biasing the tooth into a normal operative ball-obstructing position,
- with the tooth of the pawl being swingable upwardly into non-ball-obstructing position responsively to the upward pressure of a to-be-retrieved ball as the retaining means is brought down over the ball for moving the ball through the lower opening of and upwardly into the well sufficiently for the release of the pawl returnably to operative ball-obstructing position,
- and with the pawl knob being manually depressible against the resilient bias of the loading means for the swinging of the pawl tooth into non-ball-obstructing position and the dispensing of the ball outwardly of the well.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.