Connector assembly for a ball and cord

A tethered ball assembly comprising a mounting post, a cord connected at one end to the post, a hollow ball having an aperture in the wall thereof and a connector assembly mounted in said aperture for retainably receiving the other end of the cord and securing it to the ball, said connector assembly comprising a tubular member extending through the aperture in the wall of the ball, said member having flanges adjacent the ends thereof and a bore for passage of the cord therethrough into the interior of the ball, one of said flanges being positioned outside the ball and the other of said flanges being positioned inside of the ball, and a flexible washer having an aperture and mounted on said tubular member and being positioned entirely within the ball between the interior wall of the ball and the internal flange, said washer being free from direct contact with the cord extending through the bore of said tubular member, said washer being in cooperative surface engagement with said internal flange and, when no external forces are exerted on the ball or cord, being spaced from the interior wall of said ball near the aperture of the ball thereby engaging the interior wall of the ball only remotely of the apertures of both the washer and ball to provide a spaced relationship between the washer and the interior wall of the ball at the aperture such that, in use, tension or shock loading applied to the cord will cause the washer to flex toward and against the interior wall of the ball, said mounting post including a fixed threaded member secured to the post and a rotatable threaded member rotatably connected to said fixed member, said one end of said cord being attached to said rotatable member, said threaded members having cooperating jam-preventing means at each end of the relative travel therebetween.