This invention relates to a tee ball stand. More specifically, this invention relates to a tee ball stand which is self-righting to a vertical orientation in the event the ball holding structure is inadvertently struck instead of the ball itself.
Tee ball stands are characteristically used in the process of teaching young children to hit a ball with a bat. A ball is placed on the end of a pole near the youngster who can then strike at the stationary ball by swinging a bat instead of the more difficult task of attempting to hit a moving ball. With limited experience or limited coordination, the youngster may occasionally strike the pole holding the ball, rather than the ball itself. This can be expected as part of the learning process. As a result, various solutions have been proposed for the safety of the child and for repositioning the tee ball stand in the event of inadvertent and errant bat swings.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,045,462, 6,551,204 and 7,226,372 all relate to either flexure or tilting of the vertical ball support pole by some yielding mechanism. Owen U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,307 discloses a helical spring as a shock absorbing element which directly connects the base and the ball support pole of the tee ball stand.
In practice, however, the latter mentioned solution suffers from a number of drawbacks for young children. With the spring member of Owen directly interposed in the ball support member as a shock absorbing element, it is too strong to effectively yield when struck by a bat wielded by a youngster who will still feel the shock of impact through the bat. If, on the other hand, the spring member of Owen is a weaker spring so the youngster will not feel the shock of impact, then the spring will not serve to be self-righting when struck by an errant bat swing.
Therefore, a need remains in the field of youth sports for a safe tee ball stand that will easily yield when struck and still be self-righting in such situations. The primary objective of this invention is to meet this need.