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GAME MACHINE FOR PRACTICING PITCHING

  • US 20080045362A1
  • Filed: 10/10/2006
  • Published: 02/21/2008
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2006
  • Status: Abandoned Application
First Claim
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1. A game machine for practicing baseball pitching comprising:

  • a cage having nets on a top and both sides thereof and including a rear display assembly including a numerical current pitch speed display, a numerical high pitch speed display, a numerical current score display being set to zero when the game machine is turned on, and a numerical high score display; and

    a front console including a coin insertion slot and a calculation and display circuit;

    a target mounted below the display assembly and including a plurality of flexible panels on a front face thereof, a rear frame thereof divided into a plurality of compartments, equal in number to the panels, each compartment including a flexible member mounted rearward of the panel, and a plurality of micro-switches each mounted rearward of the flexible member and spaced therefrom wherein each panel is marked by a numeral as a score; and

    an optoelectronic pitch speed measurement device including a first speed sensor mounted on an intermediate portion of the cage, a second speed sensor mounted proximate the target, a first light mounted on a top of the cage immediately above the first speed sensor, and a second light mounted on the top of the cage immediately above the second speed sensor,whereby inserting one or more coins into the coin insertion slot will cause the console to supply one or more balls, and pitching a ball toward one of the panels (i) will cause the first speed sensor to sense the ball as light emitted from the first light to the first speed sensor is interrupted by the ball and record a first time, cause the second speed sensor to sense the ball as light emitted from the second light to the second speed sensor is interrupted by the ball and record a second time, and cause the calculation and display circuit to calculate a current pitch speed by subtracting the first time from the second time, show the current pitch speed on the current pitch speed display, compare the current pitch speed with a previous high pitch speed shown on the high pitch speed display, and update the high pitch speed display if the current pitch speed exceeds the previous high pitch speed; and

    (ii) in response to hitting the panel, the flexible member associated with the panel will flex to close the micro-switch by contacting, activate the calculation and display circuit to increment a current score shown on the current score display by the score marked on the panel, cause the current score display to update same, compare the current score with a previous high score shown on the high score display, and update the previous high score if the current score exceeds the previous high score.

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