OIL CLEARING APPARATUS FOR BOWLING BALL

Abstract

Disclosed is an oil clearing apparatus for a bowling ball which clears oil on a surface of a bowling ball by using high-temperature heat, thereby preventing the bowling ball from sliding due to the oil applied to a lane of a bowling alley, and is utilized for the purpose of keeping the bowling ball warm and heating the bowling ball, as well as storing the bowling ball.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an oil clearing apparatus for a bowling ball, which can clear oil on a surface of a bowling ball by using high-temperature heat, thereby preventing the bowling ball from sliding due to the oil applied to a lane of a bowling alley, and can be utilized for the purpose of keeping the bowling ball warm and heating the bowling ball, as well as storing the bowling ball.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, bowling is one of indoor sports in which a bowling ball of a predetermined weight is rolled along a lane to throw down pins arranged at an end of the lane, and is being recently spotlighted since the game rule of the bowling is relatively simple and a high exercising effect can be achieved.

Relatively heavy bowling balls designed to be held by inserting fingers are used in bowling games, and oil on lanes or other foreign substances are often attached to the bowling balls during use of the bowling balls. Thus, if the contaminants are not cleared, the bowling balls may have bad outer appearances and may be slid and separated from the hand as well, also badly influencing the game records due to inferior rolling characteristics thereof.

Thus, according to the related art, a bowling player has to wipe a contaminated bowling ball with towel personally before and after the game or during the game.

However, the process of manually wiping a contaminated bowling ball is very troublesome and considerably laborious, and does not exhibit a sufficient washing effect, demanding advent of a mechanical washing apparatus.

As an example of related technologies, Korean Patent Pre-registration No. 1995-0008098 discloses a bowling ball washing apparatus as shown in FIG. 1. The bowling ball washing apparatus includes a housing 20 defined by a bottom plate 22, a vertical wall 24 and a ceiling plate 26, and a horizontal baffle plate 28 is disposed in the housing 20. A bowling ball introduction opening 30 having a diameter slightly larger than that of the bowling ball is formed in the ceiling plate 26 of the housing 20, and a user can input the bowling ball into the washing apparatus through the bowling ball introduction opening 30.

A coin insertion slot 32 is arranged on the vertical wall 24 of the housing 20 and a bowling ball support body 34 is arranged below the bowling ball insertion opening 30 to be spaced apart from the bowling ball introduction opening 30, and a soft washing cloth 36 formed of an water absorbing material is detachably attached onto an inner curved surface of the bowling ball support body 34.

A driving roller 38 is supported by an arm at an upper side of the bowling ball support body 34 to be rotated about an axis of rotation thereof by an electric motor 42, an output shaft of the electric motor 42 is connected to an axis of rotation of the driving roller 38 by a belt 44 in conjunction with the driving roller 38, and a driven roller 46 is installed at an opposite side of the driving roller 38 to be rotated about an axis of rotation thereof while maintaining an interval by which the bowling ball can be accommodated.

However, the bowling ball washing apparatus washes the bowling ball with the washing cloth 36 while rotating the bowling ball with the driven roller 46 and the driving roller 38, and the washing cloth is repeatedly reused, so the oil attached to the bowling ball cannot be perfectly eliminated.

DISCLOSURE

Technical Problem

The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an oil clearing apparatus for a bowling ball, which can naturally clear oil from a surface of a bowling ball due to gravity by using properties of the oil which is melted when heated, simultaneously clear the oil and foreign substances, serve as a keeping box for the bowling ball while clearing the oil of the bowling ball, keep the temperature of the bowling ball and heat the bowling ball while preventing the bowling ball from sliding.

Technical Solution

In order to accomplish the object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an oil clearing apparatus for a bowling ball including a housing having an upper body and a lower body installed separately from the upper body, a heating unit provided in at least one of the upper body and the lower body, and casing installed inside the upper and lower bodies of the housing to support the bowling ball while the bowling ball is heated by the heating unit, wherein a drain unit is connected to the casing located in the lower body.

The oil clearing apparatus may further include a locking unit and a knob in the housing, and a control box is provided at one side of the heating unit to control an operation and a temperature of the heating unit.

The oil clearing apparatus may further include a support unit 210 supporting the bowling ball and provided inside the casing 200 and a positioning boss fixing the bowling ball 300 and provided at a lower portion of the casing.

The oil clearing apparatus may further include a drain unit including a drain hole and a collection box installed to close the drain hole and coupled to the support unit serving as a screw coupling unit through a sealing member.

The heating unit may include a heating coil installed at an inner periphery of the housing and a control box including a microcomputer connected to the heating coil to control the heating temperature and time.

The heating unit may have a heating coil, a blower fan, and a plurality of air holes through which external air flows by the blower fan.

Advantageous Effects

As described above, the oil clearing apparatus for a bowling ball according to the present invention can naturally clear oil from a surface of a bowling ball by using properties of the oil which is melted when heated, naturally remove foreign substances from a surface of the bowling ball when the oil is cleared, serve as a keeping box while clearing the oil of the bowling ball, store the bowling ball while maintaining the temperature of the bowling ball and heat the bowling ball while preventing the bowling ball from sliding.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a bowling ball washing apparatus according to the related art;

FIGS. 2 to 4 are a perspective view, a disassembled view, and an assembled sectional view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention, respectively;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are sectional views showing a heating unit provided in the oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention, respectively;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing an oil clearing apparatus including a heating unit according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are sectional views showing mounted states of heating units according to other embodiments of the present invention, respectively;

FIGS. 10 and 11 are perspective views showing oil clearing apparatus of the present invention, respectively;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a keeping state of the oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIGS. 13A and 13B are a perspective view and a sectional view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 2 to 4 are a perspective view, a disassembled view, and an assembled sectional view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention, respectively, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention, FIGS. 7A and 7B are sectional views showing a heating unit provided in the oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention, respectively, FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing an oil clearing apparatus including a heating unit according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 9A and 9B are sectional views showing mounted states of heating units according to other embodiments of the present invention, respectively, FIGS. 10 and 11 are perspective views showing oil clearing apparatus of the present invention, respectively, FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a keeping state of the oil clearing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 13A and 13B are a perspective view and a sectional view showing an oil clearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

The oil clearing apparatus C of the present invention has an assembly structure of a housing 100 having supports 140 for preventing rolling and a casing 200 provided inside the housing 100.

The housing 100 of the present invention may be fixed to a box-shaped outer casing (not shown) without an additional support.

A heating unit 110 is provided inside the housing 100 and a locking unit 120 is provided at a connecting portion of the housing 100 to prevent the housing 100 having upper and lower separable structures from being separated.

The housing 100 may have a separable structure without using the separate locking unit 120.

A control unit 150 having a combination of a temperature adjustor 151, a timer 153, and a microcomputer 155 connected to the temperature adjuster 151 and the timer 153 is further provided such that the control unit 150 can be exposed to the outside at one side of the housing 100.

Then, the control unit 150 may be integrally or separately provided at one side of the housing 100, and may be installed to supply an external power through a connector 157.

The casing 200 is integrally installed at an inner side of the housing 100 to support the bowling ball 300 and the drain unit 170 is connected to the casing 200.

The housing 100 may not include the drain unit 170 separately.

A knob 180 is further installed at an outer side of the housing 100 for transportation.

A support unit 210 for supporting the bowling ball 300 is further provided inside the casing 200, and a positioning boss 230 for fixing the bowling ball 300 is further provided at a lower portion of the casing 200.

The positioning boss 230 includes a plurality of support bosses 231 corresponding to finger insertion portions 310 of the bowling ball 300 and fixing blocks 235 connected to the support bosses 231 via springs 233 and coupled to the casing 200.

The drain unit 170 includes a drain hole 171, an L-shaped guide groove 173 to close the drain hole 171 and a collection box 175 having a fixing boss 175a corresponding to the guide groove 173 and coupled to the guide groove 173 through vertical movement and rotation thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the heating unit 110 includes a first heating coil 111 installed at an inner periphery of the housing 100, and a set of first heating coils may be separately installed at inner sides of the upper and lower casings or may be integrally connected to each other.

As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the heating unit 110 includes a heating chamber 113, a second heating coil 115 provided at an inner side of the heating chamber 113, a blower fan 114 provided in the heating chamber 113, and a vent hole 117.

The vent hole 117 may be formed in the upper body 101 and the lower body 103 prepared as a set in the housing 100, respectively, or one vent hole may be formed such that air can flow through a separate vent hole formed at a connecting portion of the upper body 101 and the lower body 103 coupled with each other.

The heating unit 110 may employ a surface heater instead of a coil.

Meanwhile, a plurality of stoppers 270 protrude from a side surface of the casing 200 while forming the same plane to prevent interference with the bowling ball 300 received in the casing 200 such that a support shelf 275 can be positioned thereon.

The oil clearing apparatus C and the bowling ball 300 are kept in a bowling ball bag 400 having a support plate 410.

As shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, in the oil clearing apparatus C of the present invention, after the upper body 101 and the lower body 103 of the housing 100 are separately installed, the support unit 105 is formed in the lower body 103 to accommodate one end of the upper body 101 and a flexible cable 290 is connected to sides of the upper and lower bodies 101 and 103 to supply an electric power to the heating coil 111 of the heating unit 110.

In the present invention, an adiabatic member 500 is provided into the housing 100 to prevent loss of heat of the heating unit 110.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper body 101 of the housing 100 has a height smaller than a height of the lower body 103 so that the center of weight of the housing 100 is located in the lower body 103.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 13, the present invention has the housing 100 including the combination of the upper body 101 and the lower body 103 and the casing 200 installed to correspond to the shape of the bowling ball 300 when connected to the upper and lower bodies 103 of the housing 100 while forming a closed space inside the housing 100 so that the bowling ball 300 can be kept inside the housing 100 to which the casing 200 are integrally coupled.

Then, the housing 100 is connected by a hinge at one side thereof and is provided with the locking unit 120 at the other side thereof, so that the bowling ball 300 can be safely kept if the housing 100 is closed and movement of the housing 100 is minimized by the supports 140 provided on a bottom surface of the housing 100 when the housing 100 is received in a keeping bag 400.

Further, the oil clearing apparatus C of the present invention performs a function of a keeping container even without a bowling ball bag 400 and can be carried by using the knob 180.

Moreover, the heating unit 110 for heating an inner side of the casing 200 is provided at one side of the casing 200 mounted to an inner side of the housing 100, that is, the closed space 200 to heat an inner side of the casing 200 during an operation thereof, thereby melting the oil attached to the bowling ball 300 and separating the oil from the bowling ball.

Then, the heating unit 110 is connected to the control unit 150 including a temperature adjustor 151, a timer 153, and a microcomputer 155 connected to the temperature adjuster 151 and the timer 153 to adjust the temperature of the bowling ball 130 to a desired temperature, making it possible to safely adjust temperature while preventing overheating by using a program input to the microcomputer 155 in advance.

Further, in the present invention, the adiabatic member 500 is filled at one side of the heating unit 110 so that the heat generated by the heating unit 110 can be transferred only to an inner side of the casing, minimizing loss of heat to the outside of the housing 100.

The heating unit 110 includes the first heating coil installed at an inner periphery of the upper housing 100 and attached to the casing 200, the heating chamber 113, the second heating coil 115 provided inside the heating chamber 113, the blower fan 115 provided in the heating chamber 113, and the vent hole 117, so that when the blower fan 115 is operated, the air heated in the heating chamber 113 flows through the vent hole 117 via the blower fan 115 to heat the closed space while transferring heat to the casing 200 to heat an inner side of the casing 200.

Meanwhile, the heating unit 110 of the present invention may not have a coil shape but may use a surface heater.

Further, the heating unit 110 easily connects the melted and dropped oil through the drain unit 170 connected to the casing 200.

The support unit 210 for supporting the bowling ball 300 is provided at an inner side of the casing 200 and the positioning bosses 230 for fixing the bowling ball 300 is provided at a lower portion of the casing 200 to safely support and keep the bowling ball 300 received in the casing 200.

Then, the support unit 210 includes a support plate 211 and a resilient support portion 213, and the positioning boss 230 includes a plurality of support bosses 231 corresponding to the finger insertion portions 310 of the bowling ball 300 and the fixing blocks 235 connected to the support bosses 231 via springs 233 and coupled to the casing 200, so that the bowling ball can be safely supported by easily absorbing an impact of the bowling ball.

The drain unit 170 includes the drain hole 171, the L-shaped guide groove 173 configured to close the drain hole 171 and the collection box 175 having the fixing boss 175a corresponding to the guide groove 173 and coupled to the guide groove 173 through vertical movement and rotation thereof, so that the drain unit 170 can be promptly coupled and separated and the melted and dropped oil can be easily collected and then removed.

Meanwhile, the stoppers 270 protrude from a side surface of the casing 200 while forming the same plane to prevent interference with the bowling ball 300 received in the casing 200 such that the support shelf 275 can be positioned thereon, so that the oil clearing apparatus C can be utilized as a keeping container when the oil clearing apparatus C is not used to clear oil by using the heated casing.

As shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, the oil clearing apparatus C of the present invention includes the lower body having the support unit by which one end of the upper body is accommodated and attached to the lower body, and when the oil clearing apparatus C is kept, the upper body and the lower body can be separated to reduce a keeping space.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper body 101 of the housing has a height smaller than a height of the lower body 103 so that the center of weight of the housing 100 is located in the lower body 103. Thus, the housing 100 is prevented from being overturned when stored.

Claims

1. An oil clearing apparatus for a bowling ball, the oil clearing apparatus comprising:

a housing having an upper body and a lower body installed separately from the upper body;

a heating unit provided in at least one of the upper body and the lower body; and

a casing installed inside the upper and lower bodies of the housing to support the bowling ball while the bowling ball is heated by the heating unit.

2. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heating unit installed in at least one of the upper body and the lower body maintains a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time by a control unit connected to the housing.

3. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein a drain unit is connected to the casing located in the lower body, a support unit for supporting the bowling ball is provided inside the casing, and a positioning boss for fixing the bowling ball is provided at a lower portion of the casing.

4. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the drain unit includes a drain hole, an L-shaped guide groove configured to close the drain hole and a collection box having a fixing boss corresponding to the guide groove and coupled to the guide groove through vertical movement and rotation thereof.

5. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heating unit includes a heating coil installed at an inner periphery of the housing.

6. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heating unit includes a heating chamber, a second heating coil provided at an inner side of the heating chamber, a blower fan provided in the heating chamber, and a vent hole.

7. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the housing includes a plurality of stoppers received in the casing to prevent interference with the bowling ball and support a shelf during a discharging operation and a knob formed at an outer side of the housing.

8. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein an adiabatic member is filled in the casing at one side of the heating unit.

9. The oil clearing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the upper body of the housing has a height smaller than a height of the lower body so that a center of weight of the housing is located in the lower body.