Projectile Impelled By Coacting Wheels Patents (Class 124/78)
  • Patent number: 4025071
    Abstract: A tennis ball feeder and server characterized by a cooperating helical screw type ball feed and a rotating inertia wheel. The feed screw is positioned to revolve on a horizontal axis between a pair of spaced apart, upstanding rails which define an opening through which tennis balls pass to be advanced to the server by the feed screw. The feed screw is formed of a helical rod supported on radial spokes projecting from a horizontally disposed drive shaft. The inertia wheel is supported over a ball engaging rail in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the feed screw and adjacent one end thereof such that when a ball is advanced by the feed screw to an entrance end of the rail it will be wedged between the rail and inertia wheel to be propelled from the exit end of the rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 1976
    Date of Patent: May 24, 1977
    Inventor: Kenneth M. Hodges