Apparatus for diagnosing the swing of a club, racquet, bat or similar object

• US 4,582,325 A
• Filed: 05/11/1984
• Issued: 04/15/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsuho Yuhara
• Original Assignee: Mitsuho Yuhara
• Inventors: Yuhara, Mitsuho
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US06/609,223
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 273/148 B, 273/186 A, 273/186 B, 273/186 D, 273/183 B, 273/191 R, 273/26 R, 273/29 A, 273/26 C, 434/252
• US Class Current: 473/215
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3608 Attachments on the body, e.g. for measuring, aligning, restraining A63B69/0059, A63B69/3673 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/36213 with arm or rod fixed on the club and rotating around a fixed supporting point
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3632 Clubs or attachments on clubs, e.g. for measuring, aligning A63B69/3614 takes precedence; clubs for swinging exercises in general A63B15/00

Abstract

Apparatus for diagnosing the; locus of a swing, such as a golf swing, from back-swing through ball impact to follow-through by an arm pivotally mounted near the inner end in a base member attachable to a person'"'"'s body and attachable at the outer end to a club shaft, the inner end being slidingly connected to crossed members rotatably mounted at their ends in the base member to operate rotatable variable resistors which produce voltage change signals which are transmitted to a computer with readout or recording device so that the loci of the swing can be observed.

Claims

1. A swing diagnosing apparatus comprising:

a hollow base member formed by a substantially flat base plate and a convex shaped cover attached to said base plate;

strap means connected to said base plate for removably attaching said base member to the chest of a person;

a substantially central opening in said cover having a part spherical contour;

a spherical ball member rotatably supported in said opening;

a diametrically extending hole through said ball member;

an elongated tubular sleeve fixedly mounted at one end portion in said hole and extending outwardly of said base member therefrom;

an elongated guide rod telescopingly mounted in said sleeve and extending at one end thereof from said ball member inwardly of said cover;

a reduced diameter end portion on said one end of said guide rod;

a spring member within and attached to said sleeve and operatively engaging the other end of said guide rod to urge said guide rod inwardly of said cover;

an elongated arm member attached at one end to the other end of said sleeve;

a coupling member on the other end of said arm removably attachable to the handle portion of a golf club shaft;

two substantially semi-circular guide rails, each rotatably mounted at its ends to said cover for rotation on an axis at right angles to the axis of rotation of the other guide rail and in mutually crossing relationship with respect to each other;

a variable resistor means having a rotatable shaft and operatively mounted on said cover for rotatably supporting on said shaft one of said ends of a respective one of said guide rails;

a guide slot in each guide rail extending substantially the full length thereof and having a width slightly greater than said reduced diameter end portion of said guide rod, said reduced diameter end portion being inserted through said guide slots and being in sliding engagement therein, so that when said base member is strapped to a person a swing of the club causes said reduced end portion to slide in and rotate said guide rails about their ends to trace a locus representing X-axis and Y-axis co-ordinates with respect to a plane containing said right angle axes of rotation of said guide rails and said variable resistors produce corresponding output signals representing the X-axis and Y-axis co-ordinates;

a computer means operatively associated with said variable resistors to receive said output signals and calculate swing data therefrom representing said co-ordinates; and

an output device operatively connected to said computer to receive said data and produce an output useful for indicating the form of the swing.

2. The swing diagnosis apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said output device comprises a display device.

3. The swing diagnosis apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said output device comprises a printer.

4. The swing diagnosis apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said output device comprises a floppy disc device.

5. A swing diagnosing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

said variable resistors are coupled to said computer means by a wire cable.

6. A swing diagnosing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

a radio transmitter and power supply therefor are mounted in said base member;

said transmitter is operatively connected to said variable resistors to receive and transmit said output signals; and

said computer means further comprises means to receive said radio signals.