Baseball pitching analyzer

Claim 1

In a pitching analyzer including a sensor frame having a central opening which an object to be detected will pass through, a plurality of light emitters directed across said central opening to define a light grid substantially normal to an anticipated flight path for the object, and a light detector associated with each of said emitters and located at a position substantially opposite to its associated one of said emitters with respect to said opening, the improvement comprising: a housing defining an interior cavity and including a front panel having an opening extending therethrough for passage of the object to be detected, said front panel having a funnel configuration about at least a portion of its extent such that at least a portion of the periphery of said opening is located a predetermined distance from the largest peripheral dimension of said funnel configuration, whereby the objects to be detected will be deflected through said opening at the smallest peripheral dimension of said funnel configuration upon impact with said portion of said extent of said front panel, said housing further including a back wall upon which the objects will impact after passing through said opening; said sensor frame being resiliently mounted to said housing within said cavity at a position intermediate said front panel and said back wall, with said central opening of said sensor frame being substantially aligned with said front panel opening, said sensor frame including a single one of said light grids; a sensor guard mounted to said housing within said cavity in proximity to said sensor frame and having at least a portion intermediate said sensor frame and said front panel, said sensor guard portion having an outer peripheral extent greater than that of said sensor frame to thereby extend peripherally outward of said sensor frame, and a sensor guard opening substantially coaxial to, and having a smaller peripheral length than, said opening of said sensor frame, whereby said sensor guard opening extends peripherally inward of said opening of said sensor frame; and further including control means operatively connected to said detectors, said control means including a timer, memory and calculation means, said control means activating said timer during the period the object passes through the light grid, as detected by said detectors, and said calculating means automatically calculates a velocity of the object by dividing the known size of the object, stored in said memory, by the output of said timer.