The game of football is played during a season of the year in which the climate is frequently cold and wet. A cold and/or wet football loses some of its resiliency and does not kick well. A wet football is slippery, easily mishandled and difficult to throw. For these reasons football officials endeavor to keep balls as warm and dry as possible, usually by simply exchanging balls between plays and drying the balls off with a towel as much as possible.
The present invention is directed towards an apparatus for drying and warming footballs and particularly in an arrangement wherein a supply of warm, dry footballs is kept constantly available. An apparatus is provided wherein cold and/or wet footballs are placed into the machine and moved progressively around within the machine in procession where they are warmed and dried. The warmest and driest football is automatically positioned to be removed from the machine.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a football drying machine.
More particularly, an object of this invention is to provide a football drying machine which is self-contained including a frame with wheels whereby the machine may be moved about, including a fuel tank, a burner, a blower, and a carousel arrangement for receiving footballs arranged in such a way that warm air from the blower is passed over the footballs to dry and warm them.
Another more particular object of the invention is to provide a football drying machine including an engine-generator for providing electrical power for operation of the blower fan so that the unit is completely self-contained.
These general objects as well as other and more specific objects of the invention will be fulfilled in the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.