Treadle controlled ball-tossing device

Claim 1

A BATTING PRACTICE DEVICE FOR TOSSING A BALL TO BE STRUCK BY A BATTER, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED BASE DISPOSED WITH ITS LENGTH SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL, AN ELONGATED BALLTOSSING ARM, PIVOT MEANS CONNECTING AN END PORTION OF SAID ARM TO SAID BASE TO DISPOSE SAID ARM OVERLYING SAID BASE IN GENERALLY HORIZONTAL POSITION WHEN COCKED, A BALL-RECEIVING CUP CARRIED BY SAID ARM AT A LOCATION SPACED FROM SAID PIVOT MEANS, RESILIENTLY-CONTRACTABLE MEANS ENGAGED BETWEEN SAID BASE AND SAID BALL- TOSSING ARM AND SPACED FROM SAID PIVOT MEANS FOR EXERTING AN UPWARD SWINGING FORCE ON SAID ARM, AN ELONGATED SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL TREADLE SEPARATE FROM SAID BALL- TOSSING ARM AND OVERLYING SAID BASE WITH THE LENGTH OF SAID TREADLE GENERALLY PARALLEL TO THE LENGTH OF SAID BASE AND THE LENGTH OF SAID TREADLE ALSO GENERALLY IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE LENGTH OF SAID BALL-TOSSING ARM IN COCKED POSITION, WITH ONE END OF SAID TREADLE ADJACENT TO THE SWINGING END OF SAID BALLTOSSING ARM IN COCKED POSITION AND ENGAGEABLE IN LATCHING ENGAGEMENT WITH SUCH BALL-TOSSING ARM WHEN IN ITS COCKED POSITION TO HOLD SAID ARM IN COCKED POSITION, AND MEANS GUIDING SAID TREADLE FOR ENDWISE MOVEMENT FROM ARM-LATCHING POSITION UPWARD AND LENGTHWISE AWAY FROM SAID ARM TO RELEASE IT FROM COCKED POSITION FOR UPWARD BALL-TOSSING MOVEMENT.