Swing parameter measurement system
First Claim
1. An athletic implement having mounted thereon apparatus to measure and display a parameter related to the swing of the athletic implement, the apparatus comprising:
- a variable resistance force transducer to measure the centrifugal force experienced at the transducer in terms of resistance,means to convert the resistance into a rate of pulses,means to count the pulses during a fixed interval, to provide a present count,means to compare the present count with the prior count of the previous interval to determine which is greater, andnumerical display means to display decimal numerals reflective of the greater of the prior or the present count, whereby said decimal numerals indicate a value related to the measured swing parameter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A transistor logic device uses a signal from a transducer responsive to the centrifugal force experienced in or near the strike zone of a baseball bat during the swing to digitally process and numerically display numerals representative of the maximum centrifugal force experienced during the swing. Knowledge of the maximum force during the swing is useful on a comparative basis in improving batting performance and the speed of the swing can be computed or the displayed numbers can be converted into numbers revealing swing speed in miles per hour or other units. The use of digital data, dealt with digitally, and displayed digitally simplifies, and reduces the cost and size of the apparatus to allow it to be integrated within an actual baseball bat.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. An athletic implement having mounted thereon apparatus to measure and display a parameter related to the swing of the athletic implement, the apparatus comprising:
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a variable resistance force transducer to measure the centrifugal force experienced at the transducer in terms of resistance, means to convert the resistance into a rate of pulses, means to count the pulses during a fixed interval, to provide a present count, means to compare the present count with the prior count of the previous interval to determine which is greater, and numerical display means to display decimal numerals reflective of the greater of the prior or the present count, whereby said decimal numerals indicate a value related to the measured swing parameter.
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2. An athletic implement having mounted thereon apparatus to measure and display a parameter related to the swing of the athletic implement, the apparatus comprising:
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a variable resistance force transducer to measure the centrifugal force experienced at the transducer in terms of resistance, a first pulse generating oscillator having a fixed pulse rate, a binary to decimal counter device having output signals representing a count of a cycle of ten pulses of the first oscillator, a second pulse generating oscillator having a pulse rate determined by the variable resistance of the force transducer, a control gate having as an input the variable rate pulses of the second oscillator, and as an enabling input the output signal of the binary to decimal counter device, and, while enabled, an output of the pulses of the second oscillator, a counter device for receiving the output of the control gate, while enabled, to count the pulses of the second oscillator, a memory device for storing the count provided by the counter device, a comparator device for comparing the most recent count of the counter device with the count stored in the memory device, and only if greater, transferring the most recent count to replace the count stored in the memory device with the greater, more recent count, and numerical display means to display decimal numerals related to the count presently stored in the memory device, whereby said decimal numerals indicate a value related to the measured swing parameter. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5)
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6. The method of measuring a parameter of the swing of an athletic implement comprising the steps of:
- swinging the athletic implement
employing a variable resistance force transducer mounted on the athletic implement to measure the centrifugal force experienced at the transducer in terms of resistance. utilizing that resistance to vary the rate of pulses generated by a first oscillator, establishing a plurality of sequential, identical fixed intervals by means of a second oscillator having a fixed pulse rate, counting the pulses of the first oscillator during a fixed interval to extablish a present count, comparing the present count with any previous count retained in a memory device, replacing the count retained in the memory device with the present count, only if the present count is larger, and using a numerical display, displaying decimal numbers related to the new count.
- swinging the athletic implement
Specification