JPH0538767Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] 1. Purpose of the invention (1) Industrial application field This invention is a device that automatically places golf balls one by one onto a rubber tee at a golf driving range or home golf driving range. This invention relates to an improvement in an automatic golf ball feeding machine that places golf balls on the ground.

(2) Prior art and problems with this invention As a large-scale automatic golf ball feeding machine, a golf ball pushing device installed underground is equipped with a rubber tee, and this tee is lowered into a hole made in a practice mat. When the ball on the tee is hit or dropped onto the mat, it is automatically pulled into the hole in the practice mat, A ball that rises by placing the ball on top of the mat under the mat is already in practical use. This device allows the height of the tee to be pushed up to be adjusted in multiple stages by operating a switch, so that the height of the tee on the mat can be adjusted as desired.

In this case, if the ball falls from the tee, when the tee pulls it into the hole in the practice mat, problems may occur, such as the falling ball dropping the ball placed on the tee under the hole. For this reason, it may not always be possible to place the golf ball smoothly on the tee and automatically feed it. In addition, this automatic golf ball feeding device requires large-scale equipment and involves a large amount of installation work, so it cannot be called a simple device.

Various types of simple automatic golf ball feeding machines are known in the literature, but each of them has problems in its practical application, so it has not yet been put into practical use or widely used.

As one of the simple automatic golf ball feeding machines,
The one shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 19167/1983 is publicly known.

This device has a C-shaped ball platform at the tip of the swinging arm, and this arm is oscillated and reciprocated between the ball supply section and the tee on the practice mat, and the ball platform is placed on the tee. The next operation is to lower the arm and transfer the ball on the ball platform to the tee below it, then swing the arm toward the ball supply section while keeping it lowered, and then move the ball to the ball supply section. Stop the arm under the section.

Next, the arm is raised and the ball is dropped from the ball supply section onto the ball platform at the tip of the arm.

In other words, this automatic golf ball feeding machine sequentially and continuously performs four operations: horizontal movement of the swinging arm, lowering of the swinging arm, horizontal movement of the swinging arm, and raising of the swinging arm to complete one cycle. When the ball on the tee is hit or falls, this is detected and the next cycle is automatically executed. In principle, this device has a simple arm movement, so the ball can be fed quickly, and the mechanism is simple.

However, the device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-19167 has the following problems that need to be improved in order to put it into practical use.

In other words, golfers have different desired tee heights, and at a normal driving range, there are high, medium, and
There are three types of tees available: low tees, and some people use super high tees (for example, professional golfer Shoji Ozaki). may also be used.

The difference between the high and low points of these tees is as much as 30mm.

The device described in the above-mentioned publication has the arm stopped at the tee position, and the guide plate 23 of the arm is stopped at the tee position.
(See drawings in the same publication; the same applies hereafter in the description of the prior art) to lower the arm (arm 9) by dropping a cam roller (not shown) into the recess 25. The upper part is extremely small, and it descends and stops rapidly, and as the arm vibrates, the ball suddenly collides with the top of the tee, making it easy for the ball to fall from the tee.For this reason, a large descending stroke must be taken. do not have. Moreover, since the C-shaped ball platform at the tip must be considerably lower than the ball on the tee, the difference in height of the tee that can be used with this device is practically zero, and there is no room for selecting the height of the tee. The problem is that there is no.

Furthermore, in the ball supply section, from the ball supply guide pipe 8 to the ball mounting table (ball mounting section 10).
It is something that is dropped upwards (as the vertical stroke is small, this is the only mechanism that can be used),
The drop must be equal to the length of the ball supply guide tube for vertically guiding the ball and the diameter of the ball, and the ball must be dropped and received on the C-shaped ball platform. Therefore, if the ball falls slightly off the ball platform, it often jumps out from the ball platform and falls. If the ball falls, the feeding of the ball to the ball supply guide tube by the ratchet wheel 32 is also incorporated into the sequence of one cycle, so that the ball will not be fed smoothly.

In order to solve the first of the two problems mentioned above, this invention aims to create a swing arm drive mechanism that allows the arm to be lowered slowly and with a large stroke. It is something.

By solving this problem, it is possible to reliably prevent the ball from hitting the top surface of the tee, jumping up, and falling, and also against extremely high tees and extremely low tees. The ball can be placed on top of the ball without making any adjustments.

2. Structure of the invention (1) Means for solving the problem The following are the measures taken to solve the above problem.

(a) A cam cylinder driven by an electric motor and supported by a vertical shaft has a circumferential cam surface and a lower cam surface, and (b) the circumferential cam surfaces are located on opposite sides of each other with respect to the axis. and has two arc-shaped cam surfaces centered on the shaft center and two inclined cam surfaces between the two arc-shaped cam surfaces, and (c) the lower cams are located on opposite sides of each other with the shaft center as the center. and two inclined cam surfaces interposed between the two horizontal cam surfaces, and (d) an intermediate link between the arm connected to the vertical intermediate shaft and the swinging cam follower of the circumferential cam. (e) The cam follower of the lower cam is loosely fitted onto the intermediate shaft, and the cam follower is guided by a fixed guide so as to be movable only up and down; A swinging arm that is spline-fitted and has a C-shaped ball rest at its tip is urged upward by a spring to bring the top surface of the swinging arm into contact with the bottom surface of the cam follower of the bottom cam, The cam follower of the lower cam is urged upward, and (g) the arcuate cam surface of the circumferential cam and the inclined cam surface of the lower cam are aligned in phase.

(2) Effect The cam cylinder is driven at low speed via a reducer etc.
It rotates once and stops automatically. Along with this rotation, the circumferential cam moves the cam follower once in the horizontal plane.
make it go back and forth. This cam follower stops at one end of its stroke while in contact with a large-radius arc-shaped cam surface, then reciprocates while in contact with one inclined cam surface, and comes into contact with a small-radius arc-shaped cam surface. Then, it stops again at the other end of the stroke, comes into contact with the other inclined cam surface, moves back, and stops at one end of the rear stroke, completing one stroke.

As the cam cylinder rotates, the cam follower on the lower cam surface makes one reciprocation up and down. While the lower cam follower is in contact with the horizontal cam surface at a low position, it stops at the bottom end of the stroke, and while it is in contact with one of the inclined cam surfaces, it rises and comes into contact with the horizontal cam surface at a high position. During that time, it stops at the upper end of the stroke, contacts the other inclined cam surface, descends, and then
It comes into contact with the horizontal cam surface at a low position and stops at the lower end of the stroke, completing one stroke.

One stroke of the cam follower of the circumferential cam in the horizontal plane drives the intermediate shaft via the intermediate link in the order of normal rotation → stop → reverse rotation → stop within a predetermined center angle range. As a result of this rotational and reciprocating movement of the intermediate shaft, a swinging arm whose one end is spline-fitted to the intermediate shaft is reciprocally swung to perform one operation of forward movement → stop → backward movement → stop.

Due to the vertical movement of the cam follower by the lower cam surface, the swing arm performs one operation of lowering → stopping → rising → stopping under the upward bias of the spring.

Since the arcuate cam surface of the circumferential cam and the inclined cam surface of the bottom cam are in phase, the combined movement of the swinging arm by both cams causes the swinging arm to move up and down and swing when the swinging is stopped. When this happens, the vertical movement becomes a motion that stops. That is, for example, the operation of horizontal movement to the left → descent → horizontal movement to the right → rise → complete stop is performed, and when the start switch is turned on, this operation is repeated again.

Since the downward stroke is performed by the inclined cam surface of the lower cam having a sufficiently large angle range in terms of the rotation angle of the cam, it is possible to make a slow movement and a sufficiently large stroke.

Therefore, even if the ball on the ball platform hits the top of the tee during the downward stroke, the impact is small, and the ball does not bounce up due to the impact and fall from the tee. The vertical vibration of the arm accompanying the start and stop of the stroke is also extremely small, so the ball can be stably held on the ball platform.

(3) Example A cam cylinder 1 close to a disk has a circumferential cam 2 at its upper end, and this circumferential cam has a small radius arc-shaped cam surface 3, an inclined cam surface 4, and a large radius arc-shaped cam surface. 5.

The lower surface of the cam cylinder 1 is a lower cam 6, and this lower cam consists of a lower horizontal cam surface 7, inclined cam surfaces 8, 8, and a higher horizontal cam surface 9. arc-shaped cam surface 5 of the circumferential cam surface;
The phase matches with 3. This degree of matching does not have to be perfect; it is sufficient that the cam follower is in contact with the arcuate cam surface of the circumferential cam at least when the lower cam is in the upward stroke or downward stroke position.

The cam cylinder 1 is fixed to a vertical shaft 10, which is rotatably supported by a bearing 13 on a top plate 11 and a bottom plate 12 of the casing.
Since the cylindrical cam does not need to rotate together with the vertical shaft, a mechanism is adopted in which the cylindrical cam is driven by a motor without driving the shaft 10 by the motor (for example, the cylindrical cam of the lower cam 6 When a gear is formed on the outer peripheral surface and the gear is driven by a pinion, etc., the cylindrical cam may be rotatably supported on the shaft 10 via a thrust bearing.

One end of the swinging cam follower 14 relative to the circumferential cam 2 is pivotally connected to the top plate 11 of the casing by a vertical pin 15, and a cam roller 16 on the lower surface thereof is pivotally connected to the top plate 11 of the casing.
is pressed against the cam surface of the circumferential cam by a spring 17. Pin 1 of this swinging cam follower 14
By shifting the pivot position of the link 18 to the left or right by using a long hole in the top plate or the like, the swing angle of the follower 14 by the circumferential cam 2 and, by extension, the link 18 can be adjusted.
The reciprocating rotation angle performed via the arm of the intermediate shaft 19 can be adjusted. When the rotation angle of the intermediate shaft 19 changes, the horizontal swing stroke of the swing arm 21, which swings from side to side integrally with the intermediate shaft, changes.

The intermediate shaft 19 is rotatably supported by bearings 22, 22 on the top plate 11 of the casing, and the boss of the arm is fixed to this intermediate shaft with a set screw 23 or the like.

The cam follower 24, which is loosely fitted to the intermediate shaft 19 so as to be rotatable and movable up and down, has an arm 25 and a cam roller 26, and the arm 25 can only move up and down by a guide 28 on the inner surface of the side wall 27 of the casing. are guided by. Therefore, the cam follower 24 can only move up and down with respect to the intermediate shaft 19.

The swing arm is an L-shaped arm, one end of which is spline-fitted to the intermediate shaft 19, and is biased upwardly by a spring 29 to push against the lower surface of the cam follower 24 via a thrust pusher 30. is in contact with.

The swinging arm 21 has a C-shaped ball mounting base 31.
is waiting with a ball on it at position R in Figure 2, and the start switch is turned on when a light detection device detects that the ball on the tee t has left the tee t. In order to quickly place the ball on the tee t, it is preferable to set up a sequence of operations so that the ball immediately starts swinging toward the L position, that is, the position directly above the tee t.

On this premise, the overall operation will be explained.

After receiving the balls from the ball reinforcing machine 50, the C-shaped ball mounting table 31 rises by a height corresponding to the stroke S of the lower cam 6, stops at a position higher than the ball supplying machine 50, and turns on the start switch.
Waiting for ON.

When the ball leaves the tee and the start switch is turned on, the motor starts and activates the cylindrical cam. At this point, the cam roller 26 of the cam follower 24 of the lower cam is located at the starting point of the higher horizontal cam surface 9, so it remains stopped after the cylindrical cam is activated. Further, the cam roller 16 of the cam follower 14 of the circumferential cam is located at the end point of the small radius arc-shaped cam surface 3, and is pushed by the inclined cam surface 4 at the same time as the cam cylinder is activated, and the cam follower 14 is moved to the pivot pin 15. The intermediate shaft 19 is rotated clockwise via the intermediate link 18 and the arm 20 of the intermediate shaft 19, and the swing arm 21 is horizontally moved to the L position ( arrow m ₁ ). After the cam roller of the cam follower 14 rides on the large-diameter arc upper cam surface 5, the cam roller 26 of the cam follower 24 of the lower cam 6 is pushed down by the inclined cam surface 8. The swing arm 21 is connected to the lower cam 6 by the cam follower 24.
The C-shaped ball platform 31 at the tip of the C-shaped ball platform 31 descends by a stroke S to near the golf practice mat 60 (as shown by the arrow
_m2 ). During this descent, golf ball B is placed on tee t. The cam cylinder 1 continues to rotate, and when the cam roller 16 of the cam follower 14 moves from the large-diameter arcuate cam surface 5 to the inclined cam surface 4, the cam follower 14 is pulled by the spring 17 and rotates counterclockwise. Then, the swing arm moves horizontally toward the ball supply position R (m ₃ ). When the cam roller 16 of the cam follower 14 reaches the small-diameter arcuate cam surface, the ball platform 31 stops directly below the ball supply device 50. Thereafter, the cam roller 26 of the cam follower 24 is raised along the inclined cam surface 8 by the spring 29 (m ₄ ). A gap C is provided between the ball supply device 50 and the tip of the ball shooter 51, and this gap is large enough for the center portion 31'' of the ball platform 31 to pass through upward. From, ball rest 3
1 moves from below to above while straddling the ball supply device 50. During this time, the golf balls prepared on the ball supply device 50 are supported from below and lifted above the ball supply device 50. When this upward movement (m ₄ ) is completed, the one rotation detection switch of the cam cylinder is activated to stop the motor. This completes one ball feeding operation and waits for the start of the next ball feeding operation.

(4) Embodiment One embodiment has been described above, but when the swinging arm swings toward the tee, the ball is placed on the C-shaped ball platform, so this movement is performed slowly. It is better to perform the return operation (m ₃ ) quickly (so-called quick return). For this purpose, one embodiment of this invention is to reduce the inclination angle of the outgoing inclined cam surface of the circumferential cam and increase the inclination angle of the backward (return) inclined cam surface. Regarding the surface, the swinging arm decelerates and stops from the moment it approaches the tee, but because the swinging movement stops abruptly, the ball is not able to rest on the C-shaped ball platform due to its inertia. Once it is stable, it is better to prevent the tip of the swing arm from causing slight vibrations within the horizontal stroke plane. To this end, the inclination angle may be gradually reduced at the terminal end of the outward inclined cam surface. This is one other embodiment of the circumferential cam of this invention.

Furthermore, the circumferential cam and bottom cam of a cam cylinder do not necessarily have to be integral; it is sufficient that the circumferential cam and the bottom cam rotate in synchronization, and there is no reason why both cams must be on a concentric axis. . The illustrated embodiment is better in terms of simplifying the cam, but in this case, depending on the arrangement of the intermediate shaft 19 and the vertical shaft 10, the circumferential cam and the lower cam may be separated. Even if both cams are driven by different vertical shafts, both shafts can be connected to each other.
They may be driven in synchronization with each other with a gear ratio of 1:1. However, in this case, the number of vertical shafts and the elements for driving the vertical shafts increases, resulting in higher costs, so although it cannot be said to be a preferred embodiment, it can be considered as one embodiment of this invention.

Furthermore, the cam roller 16 of the swinging cam follower 14 is pressed against the circumferential cam surface by the spring 17, so that even during the return stroke of the cam roller 16,
It returns along the circumferential cam surface, but as is common sense in normal cam design, the return cam roller of the cam follower is brought into contact with the cam surface.
In one embodiment of this invention, the swinging cam follower is pulled back by a return cam roller during the return stroke, and the return spring is omitted. Although this mechanism is more expensive than the case where a return spring is used, it may be adopted as the next best measure when it is not possible to arrange the return spring conveniently due to space constraints or the like.

In the embodiment shown, the cam roller 2 of the lower cam
6 is biased upward by a spring 29, but this mechanism is better in terms of cost, but the cam groove is constructed by providing an upper cam parallel to the lower cam without using a return spring. However, the cam groove can also drive the cam roller upward and downward. However, if this mechanism is adopted, a special mechanism is required to move the cam follower and the swing arm up and down together, so there is no sufficient space to place the spring 29 for returning the mechanism, etc.
There is little merit in implementing it unless it is unavoidable.

Even if the lower surface cam is replaced with an upper surface cam, the biasing direction of the return spring 29 is reversed, and the cam follower 24 is disposed below the swing arm 21, the same operation as in the illustrated embodiment is achieved. This is also an embodiment of the present invention, and there is no space below the swing arm 21. Some methods are effective when the design is such that sufficient space is available above.

Furthermore, since it is necessary for the cam follower of the lower cam to be restricted in its rotation and only allowed to move up and down, the intermediate shaft is fixed to the casing in a non-rotatable manner, and the hollow shaft is rotatably fitted onto this intermediate shaft. It is also a feature of this invention that the swing arm is fitted to this hollow shaft so that it can move up and down, and the cam follower 24 is fitted to a fixed intermediate shaft so that it can only move up and down, thereby regulating the rotation of the cam follower 24. This is one embodiment. This aspect is an effective aspect to be adopted when it is desired to effectively utilize the dead space created by the arm 25 in the illustrated embodiment.

3. Effects peculiar to the invention The above shows that this invention solves the above-mentioned problems and eliminates the former of the two problems pointed out in the prior art (as shown in Publication of Utility Model Publication No. 1987-19167). It is as follows.

In addition, the swing arm drive mechanism according to this invention can adjust the swing range of the swing arm by adjusting the position of the fulcrum of the cam follower of the circumferential cam. After fixing the support plate (usually a thick rubber plate) and setting the position, the position of the tee (usually determined by the position of the practice mat, and the position of the practice mat is determined by the position of the golf ball on the practice mat support plate) Even if you discover that the vertical position of the C-type ball platform (which is determined by the relative position with respect to the automatic feeder) is incorrect, you can easily and easily adjust the stroke of this swing arm. The vertical positions of the tee and the ball rest can be matched.

Furthermore, the rise and fall speed of the swing arm, the stop time of the swing movement, the vertical stroke, and the size of the swing stroke are determined by the shapes of the circumferential cam and the bottom cam. The selection range is extremely large, so you can freely convert the cylindrical cam in a wide range to suit the customer's needs.

In addition, 31' is a pair of arms of the C-shaped ball platform, 31'' is the center part of the ball platform, 50' is the front end stopper of the ball supply device, 50'' is a gutter-shaped receiving plate, 52 is a support arm, 53 is a cylindrical part of the ball shooter, 57 is a ball rolling guide part of the shooter, 70 is a ball storage box, 71 is the bottom of the box 70,
72 is a side wall, 73 is a ball guide groove with a U-shaped cross section, 7
4' is one end of the swinging member 74, 74'' is a free end of the swinging member 74, 76 is a horizontal pin, 78 is a leg, 79
is an arm, 80 is a cam plate, 81 is an inclined cam surface of the cam plate 80, B is a golf ball, and C is a gap between the ball shooter and the ball supply device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of an automatic golf ball feeding machine according to this invention, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the operating mode of the automatic golf ball feeding machine according to this invention, and Fig. 3 is a swinging view of this invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing a related mechanism between the arm and the cam roller of the lower cam; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the cam of this invention; FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the operation in which the swinging arm is moved below the supply device in order to supply golf balls to the C-shaped ball platform, and Figure 6 is an illustration of the operation in which the swing arm is moved up to replenish the golf balls on the supply device. It is an explanatory view of a state placed on an arm. In the figure, 1...cam cylinder, 2...peripheral cam, 6...bottom cam, 10...vertical shaft, 14...swinging cam follower, 18...intermediate link, 19...intermediate shaft,
21... Swinging arm, 24... Cam follower,
31...C-type ball mount.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A swing arm having a C-shaped ball platform is driven by a motor and made to reciprocate horizontally and reciprocate up and down by a cam supported on a vertical shaft, A swing arm drive mechanism that places one ball on the C-shaped ball platform in the ball supply section, lowers the C-shaped ball platform from directly above the tee, and places the ball on the C-shaped ball platform on the tee. The cam is a cam cylinder and has a circumferential cam and a lower cam, and the circumferential cam has two arcuate cam surfaces centered on the axis and located on opposite sides of the axis. It has two inclined cam surfaces interposed between both arcuate cam surfaces, and the lower cam is
It has two horizontal cam surfaces located on opposite sides of the axis and two inclined cam surfaces interposed between both horizontal cam surfaces, and swings an arm and a circumferential cam connected to a vertical intermediate shaft. The cam follower is connected to the cam follower via an intermediate link, the lower cam follower is loosely fitted to the intermediate shaft, the cam follower is guided by a fixed guide so as to be movable only up and down, and the cam follower is spline-fitted to the intermediate shaft so as to be movable up and down. The swinging arm, which has a C-shaped ball rest at the tip, is urged upward by a spring, and the top surface of the swinging arm is brought into contact with the bottom surface of the cam follower of the bottom cam. An automatic golf ball feeder that urges the cam follower upward to match the phase of the arcuate cam surface of the circumferential cam and the inclined cam surface of the lower cam. (2) The automatic golf ball feeder according to item 1, wherein among the inclined cam surfaces of the circumferential cam, the inclination angle of the return inclined cam is larger than the inclination angle of the other inclined cam surfaces. (3) The golf ball automatic according to item 2, wherein the inclination angle of the inclined cam surface of the circumferential cam is changed so that the swinging arm is gradually decelerated near the end of its stroke when the circumferential cam swings toward the tee. feeding machine.