ARM PITCHING MACHINE HAVING IMPROVED BALL DELIVERY ASSEMBLY AND PITCHING ARM
A pitching machine including a frame, a ball feed trough coupled to the frame, a ball acquisition structure coupled to the frame, and a ball cup coupled to the frame. The trough is configured to retain at least three of the balls. The cup is positioned at the lower end of the trough and is adjacent the acquisition structure. The trough is sloped to allow for gravity feed of the balls to the cup. The cup has a curved wall defusing a ball opening sized for receiving and dispensing the one of the balls. The cup is rotatable about a ball cup axis such that, during use, the cup receives one of the balls when the ball opening of the cup rotates to meet the lowest ball in the trough and the curved wall inhibits more than one ball from entering the cup, and as the cup continues to rotate.
1 . A pitching machine for pitching a ball to a batter, the pitching machine comprising:
a frame; and
a pitching arm coupled to the frame and rotatable in a first direction about a first axis, the pitching arm including a throwing hand, the throwing hand including an elongate body and having a ball contact region, the ball contact region defining a portion of a cylinder wherein the curvature of the ball contact region defines a radius that is equal to or greater than the radius of the ball, and the length of ball contact region is at least twice as long as the diameter of the ball.
2 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the throwing hand further includes a ball stop positioned adjacent to one end of the ball contact surface.
3 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the throwing hand further includes a ball contact layer coupled to the elongate body at the ball contact region.
4 . The pitching machine of claim 4 , wherein the ball contact layer is formed of a resilient material.
5 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the ball is a baseball or a softball.
6 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the curvature of the ball contact region extends over at least 60 degrees of the circumference of the ball.
7 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the curvature of the ball contact region extends over at least 80 degrees of the circumference of the ball.
8 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the pitching arm defines a first longitudinal axis, and wherein the ball contact region extends about a second longitudinal axis.
9 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the first and second longitudinal axes define a throwing arm angle within the range of 0 to 40 degrees.
10 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the first and second longitudinal axes define a throwing arm angle within the range of 15 to 30 degrees.
11 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the throwing hand is coupled to a distal end of the pitching arm.
12 . The pitching machine of claim 1 , wherein the length of ball contact region is at least two and one half times as long as the diameter of the ball.
13 . A pitching machine for pitching a plurality of balls one at a time to a batter, the pitching machine comprising:
a frame;
a ball feed trough coupled to the frame, the ball feed trough having a lower end and configured to retain at least three of the balls;
a ball acquisition structure coupled to the frame, the ball acquisition structure spaced apart from, and configured to support one of the balls at an elevation below, the lower end of the feed trough;
a ball cup coupled to the frame and positioned at the lower end of the ball feed trough and adjacent the ball acquisition structure, the ball trough being sloped to allow for gravity feed of the balls to the ball cup, the ball cup sized for retaining one of the balls, the ball cup having a curved wall defining a ball opening sized for receiving and dispensing the one of the balls, the ball cup rotatable about a ball cup axis such that, during use, the ball cup receives one of the balls when the ball opening of the ball cup rotates to meet the lowest ball in the ball trough, as the ball cup rotates, the curved wall inhibits more than one ball from entering the ball cup, and as the ball cup continues to rotate, the ball opening opens toward the ball acquisition structure enabling the ball to exit the ball cup and drop to the ball acquisition structure.
14 . The pitching machine of claim 13 , wherein the ball cup is configured to continue to rotate and receive the next one of the balls in the ball opening from the ball trough.
15 . The pitching machine of claim 13 , further comprising a pitching arm coupled to the frame and rotatable about a pitching arm axis, and wherein the pitching arm is configured to retrieve the ball from the ball acquisition structure for projection to the batter.
16 . The pitching machine of claim 13 , further comprising a ball hopper coupled to the frame and an upper end of the feed trough.
17 . The pitching machine of claim 16 , further comprising a feeder dish coupled to the ball hopper for facilitating the collection of the balls within the ball feed trough.
18 . The pitching machine of claim 15 , further comprising a drive assembly coupled to the frame.
19 . The pitching machine of claim 18 , further comprising a feeder drive wheel and a ball cup linkage coupled to the ball cup, and wherein the drive assembly is coupled to the feeder drive wheel and the ball cup linkage to cause rotation of the feeder drive wheel and rotation of the ball cup linkage to induce rotation of the ball cup about the ball cup axis.
20 . The pitching machine of claim 19 , wherein rotation of the feeder drive wheel, the ball cup linkage and the pitching arm are synchronized.