Apparatus and method for measuring the speed, position, and launch angle of a spherical object in flight by sensing the positions and length of interruption of adjacent light beams

Abstract

A ray projecting means emitting a plurality of parallel rays of light, a ray receiving device for detecting the incidences of the rays of light impinging on them and the interceptions of the rays of light, an instrumentation device for measuring the time for which the rays of light are blocked off by a spherical object in flight, upon detecting signals given by the ray receiving device, and an operation device comprising a computer. The parallel rays of light emitted by using the ray projecting device are arranged within a plane, and their respective positions are known quantities. The distance between every two rays of light is set such as to be less than the radius of the spherical object. The operation device is used to compute the flying velocity of the spherical object in flight on the basis of the locations of the rays of light which are blocked off, and the interceptive time of the rays of light which is measured by using the instrumentation device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.