Abstract: An apparatus for measuring the flying velocity of a spherical object, including ray projecting devices for emitting a plurality of parallel rays of light, ray receiving devices for detecting the incidences of said rays of light on them and the interceptions of said rays of light, an instrumentation device for measuring the time for which said rays of light are blocked off by a spherical object in flight, upon detecting signals given by said ray receiving devices, and an arithmetic operation device, such as a computer. The parallel rays of light emitted by using the ray projecting devices are arranged within a plane, and their respective positions are known quantities. The distance between every two rays of light is set such as to be less than the radius of the spherical object.

Abstract: A ray projecting means emitting a plurality of parallel rays of light, a ray receiving device for detecting the incidences of the rays of light impinging on them and the interceptions of the rays of light, an instrumentation device for measuring the time for which the rays of light are blocked off by a spherical object in flight, upon detecting signals given by the ray receiving device, and an operation device comprising a computer. The parallel rays of light emitted by using the ray projecting device are arranged within a plane, and their respective positions are known quantities. The distance between every two rays of light is set such as to be less than the radius of the spherical object. The operation device is used to compute the flying velocity of the spherical object in flight on the basis of the locations of the rays of light which are blocked off, and the interceptive time of the rays of light which is measured by using the instrumentation device.

Abstract: The present invention utilizes, in combination, an irradiator, a screen and an optical sensor. The irradiator generates a parallel light band to form a linear image region on the screen. A spherical flying object is made to pass transversely through the parallel light band to form a silhouette within the image region. The silhouette is detected by the optical sensor to determine the instantaneous spatial position of the flying object. The position thus determined may be utilized for example to calculate the initial trajectory angle of a golf ball hit from a fixed position.