Coacting wheel ball projecting device

Claim 1

A lightweight, small, hand portable device for projecting a plurality of balls in sequence at timed intervals comprising: a frame means for supporting a mechanism for projecting a plurality of balls including a generally rectangular housing; a pair of wheels rotatably mounted within said generally rectangular housing for counterrotation in substantially a common plane, said pair of wheels having a diverging side and a converging side, the peripheries of each of the individual wheels in said pair of wheels including substantially rigid flanges and a resiliently, radially compressible core means disposed between said flanges and a compressible support band means for forming the inner portion of the wheels so that when one of said balls of said plurality of balls is positioned between said wheels said core means and said band means will be compressed substantially by one of said balls of said plurality of balls and said wheels will accelerate said ball to the speed at which said wheels are rotating and project said ball from the diverging side of said wheels along a mutual tangent line of said wheels; a ball guide means for guiding balls, said ball guide means being mounted on said frame means on the converging side of said pair of wheels in position to deliver balls under the urging of gravity to said converging side; a plurality of ball magazine means for holding balls mounted on a first side wall of said generally rectangular housing, each of said ball magazine means being configured to hold a plurality of balls in the form of a single column of balls, each individual one of said plurality of ball magazine means having an exit end, the exit ends of each said individual ball magazine means being positioned to discharge balls under the urging of gravity onto said ball guide means; and a plurality of escapement devices positioned adjacent the exit ends of said individual ball magazine means, one of said escapement devices being positioned adjacent the exit end of each of said individual ball magazine means, means for coordinating the operation of said plurality of escapement devices whereby balls are released sequentially at predetermined intervals from said plurality of ball magazine means.