Apparatus for fitting and drilling bowling balls
AssigneeBrunswick Bowling & Billiards Corporation
InventorsBill E. Towers, Ladislav Jurik, Richard L. Weinbrenner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Delays in fitting and drilling bowling balls are eliminated in a point of sale bowling ball fitting and drilling apparatus. A fitting apparatus (30) includes two movable finger blocks (34), (36) and a thumb aperture (38). Through the use of inserts taken from a group of inserts (150), the fitting apparatus (30) may be utilized to generate control signals to a drilling apparatus (46). A ball (204) may be positioned within the drilling apparatus (46) and insert receiving holes drilled therein in response to the information received by the drilling apparatus (46) from the fitting apparatus (30).
Claims34
Apparatus for fitting a bowling ball to the hand of a user, comprising:
- a first finger block including a first bore;
- a second finger block including a second bore;
- a frame;
- means including a third bore in said frame;
- means mounting said finger blocks in on said frame in generally side by side relation and for movement toward and away from said third bore;
- and
- means in said frame and connected to said finger blocks for generating a signal representative of the distance between each said finger block and said third bore.
Apparatus for fitting a bowling ball to the hand of a user comprising:
- a frame;
- a reference finger hole on said frame;
- at least one finger block pivoted on said frame for movement about an axis toward and away from said reference finger hole, said finger block including a bore;
- a releasable latch for normally latching said finger block in any of a plurality of different positions relative to said reference finger hole;
- and
- means for selectively disabling said latch to allow said finger block to be freely moved between said position without releasing said latch.
Apparatus for drilling holes in a bowling ball comprising:
- a table having an upper surface;
- a carriage;
- a boring tool mounted beneath said table upper surface;
- means mounting said carriage and said boring tool on said table for relative movement in two material transverse direction thereon;
- an upwardly opening ball receiving pocket on said carriage and adapted to receive and support, under the influence of gravity, a ball above said upper surface and in a position to be intercepted by said boring tool;
- means for reciprocating said boring tool through said pocket and array from said pocket;
- an arm mounted on said carriage and in a position overlying said pocket, said arm including a first ball gripping surface rotatable about a generally horizontal axis;
- a second ball gripping surface on said carriage and rotatable about said generally horizontal axis;
- said ball gripping surfaces being on opposite sides of said pocket;
- means for rotating at least one of said ball gripping surfaces about said generally horizontal axis;
- and
- means for effecting relative movement of said ball gripping surfaces toward and away from each other along said generally horizontal axis;
- said generally horizontal axis lying slight above a parallel, generally horizontal plane that is located to pass through the center of a ball when a ball is resting in said pocket, whereby when a ball is resting in said pocket and said ball gripping surfaces are moved toward each other, the ball will be lifted out of said pocket until its center is on said generally horizontal axis.
Apparatus for drilling holes in a bowling ball comprising:
- a table having an upper surface;
- an upwardly opening ball supporting pocket on said upper surface;
- a boring tool mounted below said table for reciprocation in a generally vertical direction in a path intersecting said pocket;
- means for moving said tool in said path;
- means for effecting relative movement between said pocket and said boring tool in two mutual transverse directions, both generally transverse to said vertical direction;
- generally horizontally moveable ball gripping surfaces on opposite sides of said pocket;
- means for moving said ball gripping surfaces toward each other to engage a ball in said pocket and grip the same;
- said ball gripping surfaces having their effective gripping surfaces centered at location just to the side of the center of a ball supported in said pocket opposite said pocket so that when said ball gripping surfaces are moved toward each other, a ball engaged thereby will be moved slightly out of contact with said pocket;
- and
- control means for said apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.