Feeding apparatus for ball projecting machine

Claim 1

In a ball projecting machine of the type having a frame, a ball hopper for holding a supply of balls and having an opening in the bottom thereof, an elongated feed tube, a rotatable feeding apparatus for singly feeding the balls to the elongated feed tube mounted below the hopper with the feed tube being adapted at its receiving end to receive balls from the hopper opening and at its discharge end to deliver balls to a ball projecting mechanism, an electric motor means for driving the feeding apparatus and having in conjunction therewith control means for controlling the energization and speed thereof, an improved feeding apparatus comprising: a. a horizontally-positioned apertured disc rotatably mounted on the machine from below the hopper opening and being connected for being driven by said motor means, said disc having a selected number of apertures of sufficient size to receive at least two balls per aperture, each said aperture being shaped so as to have both an inward-leading ball holding area and an outward-trailing ball holding area whereby balls will tend to be forced toward the said outward-trailing area by the centrifugal force created by the rotation of the disc and by the inertia of balls; b. a support plate member fixed below and parallel to and underlying said disc, said plate member having a hole communicating with the receiving end of the machine ball feed tube and positioned below the path of the outward-trailing ball holding area of said apertures in said disc so as to receive and pass a ball from the outward-trailing ball holding area of each of said apertures into said feed tube as each of said apertures passes over said hole; and c. a ramp member located on said support plate ahead of the ball-approach side of said hole and terminating adjacent said hole, said ramp member having a height at its terminal point less than the distance between said disc and said plate member and having a curvature as viewed in plan adapted to cause each successive ball in the inward-leading area of each successive aperture to pass over said ramp member and to be elevated as it approaches said hole so as to urge any adjacent ball in the outward-trailing area of the same aperture into said hole and to prevent a elevated ball in such aperture from entering said hole.