US3451677A - Resister football trainer - Google Patents

Description

June Z4, 1969 z. NEDWICK RESISTER FOOTBALL TRAINER sheet of 2 Filed Aug. l5, 1966 w mw /QTTP/VEY June 24, 1969 z. NEDwlcK 3,451,677

RES I STER FOOTBALL TRAINER 4Filed Aug. l5, 1966 5? ATTQQA/Ey United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 273-55 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A football, blocking and scrimmage practice apparatus having a frame member mounting a pair of rows of flexible resilient conical shaped elongated resistance members directed toward each other in staggered relation. The frame member for the rows provides a passage for a player whose movement is retarded or resisted by the flexible resistance members. A tubular boom extends beyond the front of the frame member. A tackle dummy is suspended from the front of the boom and is connected to a spring resisting device. The frame members have a pair of skids. Each skid at its rear end pivotally supports a blocking dummy which is spring biased to an upright position.

This invention relates to a football training and practice machine.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a structure or machine to be used in football tackle and scrimmage practice that will apply to a football player while running a yielding resistance to the upper part of his body when he is slightly crouched as well as to his legs.

Another object of this invention is to incorporate in the machine along with the yielding resistance a plurality of movable dummies for tackling and blocking practice.

A further object of this invention is to provide a structure or machine mounted on skids so as to permit placement thereof in a variety of positions as well as to be moved into the path of running of a football player during practice of tackling and scrimmage such that the Y weight of the machine reduces the possible speed of the practicing player pushers providing that the practicing player runners speed will always be faster than the speed of the pushers or blockers Yet another object of this invention is to provide an inverted U-shaped frame structure supported at its lower ends on a pair of skids through which frame structure the practicing player runs, there being provided within the frame structure two vertically related tiers of rubber resistance elements interposing a yielding resistance both to the body and legs of the runner as he moves through the frame structure simulating the resistance he would encounter during an actual football game.

A still further object of this invention is to provide in front of the frame structure a suspended blocking dummy that may be tackled by the runner and moved into the frame structure against a yielding resistance to the movement of the dummy forming part of its suspension.

Another object of this invention is to provide on each skid of the practice machine rearwardly of the frame structure an upright pusher dummy which is pivoted to the skid and incorporating a yielding resistance to forward pivotal movement thereof when engaged during football practice by a player acting as a pusher or blocker.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the form illus- 3,451,677 Patented `Ilune 24, 1969 P ICC trated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a perspective view of the complete football practice machine.

FIG. 2 is a rear end view thereof.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view partly in section on line 3 3, of FIG. 2, of a part of the structure of the machine showing the manner of tackle dummy suspension.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective View of a detail of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side View partly in section of a modified form of tackle dummy suspension.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail view showing the pivotal mounting of a pusher dummy on the machine of FIG. l.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the practice machine 10 is seen to be a movable structure embodying a pair of laterally spaced skids 12, 13 the forward ends of which are turned upwardly as at 14 to permit easy riding over slight obstructions etc., as the skids move over a ground surface. The skids 12, 1.3 are of metal of any suitable structural shape and size and for purposes of illustration are shown to be of heavy flat bar stock. Mounted on the skids 12, 13 are a pair of longitudinally spaced like inverted U-shaped frame elements 1'8, 19 each respectively com-prising an upper bight portion 20, 21 and transversely opposed uprights 212, 23 and 24, 25. At their lower ends the uprights are respectively each provided with an integral outwardly extending foot 22a, 23a and 24a, 25a. The corresponding terminal ends of each foot engages the upper surface of a skid and is rigidly secured thereto by welding at 26, see FIG.l 6, as the U-frame elements 18, 19 are formed of heavy pipe or solid bar stock and are vertical with respect to the skids 12, 13. The height of the uprights of the frame elements 18 and 19, and the transverse spacing therebetween is such as to permit the passage of a football player therethrough for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

Bridging the frame elements 18, 19 at each side thereof are pairs of upper rails 30, 31 and lower rails 34, 35 which are horizontally disposed. The rails are disposed inwardly of the frame element uprights with the upper rail 30 and lower rail 34 rigidly secured in any desired manner to the uprights 22, 24 and in a like manner the upper rail 31 and lower rail 35 are rigidly secured to the uprights 23, 25. The rails of each pair lie in horizontal opposed relationship as clearly shown in FIG. 2.

Each rail is suitably fabricated of metal stock such as to provide on its inner side, upper and lower oppositely inclined faces 38, 39 extending longitudinally of the rail and forming therein a somewhat channel or trough shape. Preferably the rails are each of the same dimensions as also the inclined faces thereof. The rails serve as braces for the frame elements 18, 19 and hold the same rigidly together in their vertical parallel relationship. The rails also serve to support rows of opposed upper and lower resister members 4t), 41 which serve to interpose a yielding resisting force to the passage of .a football player running through the frame elements of the practice machine.

Each resister member is formed of rubber so as to be of a desired flexibility and resiliency and is in the shape of an elongated cone. Suitable means, as for example a bolt and Washer embedded in the base of the resister (not shown) is employed for rigidly attaching Vthe resister to the face of the rail permitting only a flexing movement of the resister. Referring to FIG. 2, it Will be seen that the rails 30, 3l each carry a pair of rows of upper and lower resisters 44, 45 the axes of which are inclined by virtue of the flat bases of the resisters seating on the inclined faces 38, 39 of the rails. Also it will be noted, See FIG. 1, that the corresponding upper resisters 44 seated on the upper inclined faces 38 of rails 30, 31 are in opposed staggered relationship with their apices lying substantially in the vertical medial longitudinal plane of the machine 10, the same being true of the lower resisters 45 seated on the lower inclined faces 39 of rails 30, 31; and with all of the apices of the opposed staggered resisters 44, 45 lying substantially in the same horizontal plane.

With regard to the resisters mounted on the lower rails 34, 35, the upper and lower resisters 48, 49 are of a length greater than the length of the resisters 44, 45 and are similarly mounted in opposed staggered relationship on the inclined faces of their respective rails such that by virtue of their greater length the free end portions thereof will overlap each other, see FIG. 2, with their apices lying in parallel horizontal planes.

The resisters 40 are so positioned as to flexibly engage the body of a Crouching runner in his passage through the machine, and the resisters 41 are so positioned as to ilexibly engage the legs of the runner. The upper resisters 40 allow for the wider spread at the shoulders of a player in crouched football playing position while the lower resisters 41 provide by their overlap a greater resistance to the legs of the players. It is thus seen that in operation both the upper and lower resisters 40, 41 Will set up a flexible and resilient opposing force impeding the progress of the practicing runner through the machine.

Forwardly of the machine 10 there is provided a tackling dummy 50 suspended by a cable 52 from a boom l54. The boom 54 is tubular and extends horizontally over the bight portions 20, 21 of the frame elements 18, 19 in the longitudinal medial plane thereof. Brackets 55, 55 support the boom 54 on the bight portions 20, 21 and are welded both to the boom and bight portions to provide a rigid connection therebetween, the boom further serving as a brace between the frame elements 18, 19. The boom 54 has a cantilever portion 58 projecting forwardly of the front frame member 18 for a selected distance suitable to support the tackle dummy 50. Caps 60, 61 threadedly mounted on the forward and rear ends of the boom '54 serve as closures. An opening 63 in the forward cap 60 is provided with guide rollers 64 for the cable 52 which extends into the tubular boom 54, see FIG. 3. The inner end of the cable 52 has an enlarged head 66 for engagement with an abutment member 67, shown in FIG. 4 to be of cross shape. A compression coil spring 68 surrounds the cable 52 within the boom 54 with its forward end engaging the closure cap 60 and its rear end seated on the abutment member 67. The outer end of the cable 52 is secured as at `69 to the upper end of the tackle dummy 50. It is thus seen that when a practicing football player or runner grasps the tackle dummy 50 he can pull the same against the yielding resistance of spring 68 into the frame elements 18, 19 wherein his movement will be impeded by the resisters 40, 41.

FIG. illustrates a modication for the spring action for cable 52a connected to the tackle dummy. In this case there is provided a reel 70 rotatably supported by shaft 71 on a support bracket 72 secured as by bolts 73 to the rear end of boom 54a. The reel 70 includes a spiral spring 74 which is activated by the unwinding of cable 52a such as to impart a yielding resistance to outward movement of the cable. The cable 52a enters the boom 54a through an opening 75 in the top wall thereof, there being provided in the opening a guide roller 76 for the cable mounted on bracket 77 secured to the wall of the boom.

At the rear of the machine there is provided a twoman blocking unit embodying dummies 80 and 81. Both blocking dummies are of Similar shape, size and mounting, and a description of the mounting of one will suice for both. Thus, blocking dummy 80 is supported by a rigid standard 83 connected at its lower end to a yoke 4 element 84, the arms 85, 86 of which stl'addle the rear end portion of the skid 12, see FIG. 2. A bolt or pin 88 connects the arms 85, 86 to the skid 12 providing for pivotal rocking movement of the standard and yoke on the skid.

On each of the skids 12, 13 and forwardly of the pivoted standards 83 is an upstanding bracket 90 welded at its lower end to the skid as at 91. An inclined strut on brace 92 is welded at its ends to the skid and to the forward face of the bracket 90. A boss 94 projects from the rear face of the bracket 90, see FIG. 6, and extends into an end of a compression coil spring 95 that seats against the rear face of the bracket 90. A similar boss 96 is provided on the forward face of standard 83 and eX- tends into the other end of the spring 95 which seats against the forward face of the standard. The coil spring 95 is held in place by the bosses 94, 96 and is under an initial compression such as to slightly tilt the standards 83 rearwardly with the yokes 84 acting as limit stops by virtue of their engagement with their associated skid, see FIG. 6. The blocking dummies 80, 81 when each held by a player practicing blocking will resist the forward movement of the blocker or pusher by the compression of coil spring 95 as the dummy is tilted forwardly. Further resistance to movement of the blocker or pusher is established by the weight of the machine 10 which is moved forwardly on its skids under the pushing action of the blocker.

From the above description it is seen that the football practice machine will create a segment of the scrimmage line in football where a runner may be met by opponents resisting the runner at the legs and body thus obviating the dangers of live football scrimmage practice.

There herein described football practice machine has the following advantages and uses:

A. To promote muscular development in the player through provision of resistance to a runner.

B. To enhance the ability -to maintain balance, right running posture and ability to hold a ball as the runner is being grabbed by the resisting features found in the pathway of this Resister machine.

C. To provide blocking features for drill in the art of blocking while overcoming the total weight of this machine.

D. To provide a tackling feature for drill in the art of tackling.

E. To provide means for the three skills mentioned above in one apparatus making this machine not only multi-purpose but also economically practical to the coach since he would not need to buy three different machines. The weight needed for any one of these purposes is now common to all three.

F. Also the machine could represent four defenders for unit practice and employ ve or more offensive personnel in segment drills.

(l) Two dummies to be blocked would represent -two defenders. The resisting rubber arms would represent a third defender. The suspended dummy activated by a coach would be the 4th defender.

(2) A unit of #ve or more offensive personnel could be employed to:

block the two sled dummies,

a third player to lead through the resisting features, then block the suspended dummy; a fourth player to run through the resisting features and veer left or right olf the block on the suspended dummy,

a fifth player to hand the ball to the runner, and a sixth or more players to run decoy rou-tes around the machine.

G. As described in F, the coach could rehearse units involved in middle attacks, or another unit involved in outside or corner attacks until proficient enough to enf gage in live situations.

H. Still another use would be for a defensive player to rush through the pathway and its resisting features and tackle the suspended dummy which could be made to sway by a push by the coach and which would represent a runner.

I. The rubber features of the resisters also provide for a natural adjustment in the amount of resistance to the runner depending on his size or width since a smaller player will impact nearer to the ends of the rubberarm making it easier for him to open 'the door so to speak, While the larger player will impact more toward the central part of this arm where the resistance is greater.

While certain novel features of my invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A football tackle, blocking and scrimmage practice machine for simultaneous use by a plurality of players or by a single player comprising:

(a) a pair of laterally spaced elongated skids,

(b) a pair of upright front and rear inverted U-shaped frame elements each frame element defining,

(l) a pair of vertical uprights, (2) an upper bight portion, and (3) a laterally outwardly extending foot at the base of each upright,

(c) corresponding feet of said frame elements seated on each of said skids and rigidly secured thereto,

(d) upper and lower horizontal rails bridging the vertical uprights of said frame elements at each side and inwardly thereof and rigidly secured thereto with the upper and lower rails at each side of the frame elements respectively in horizontally opposed relation and defining a passage between said front and rear frame elements,

(e) an upper and lower row of elongated conical flexible and resilient resister members tixedly mounted on each horizontal rail and extending laterally into said passage,

(f) means at the base of each resister member rigidly securing the same to its associated horizontal rail,

(g) an upstanding bracket secured centrally on the bight por-tion of each front and rear frame element,

(h) a tubular boom seated on each bracket and rigidly secured thereto and extending forwardly of the front frame element,

(i) a movable cable within said boom having one end portion extending outwardly from the forward extending end thereof,

(j) a tackle dummy secured to said cable one end portion and suspended thereby from the forward end of the boom in forwardly spaced relation to the front frame element,

(k) spring means associated with said boom to which the other end portion of the cable is connected,

(l) a blocking dummy pivotally lconnected to the rear end portion of each skid rearwardly of the rear frame element and each in opposed relation 'to a corresponding upright thereof, and

(m) spring means mounted on the rear end portion of each skid and on the lower end of its associated blocking dummy for yieldingly resisting forward movement thereof,

whereby when said tackle dummy is clasped by a player when running, said tackle dummy is carried into said passage, the movement thereof being yieldingly resisted by the spring means associated with the boom connected to said other end of the cable and movement of said player being further resisted in theI passage by said flexible resister elements in said passage, and each said blocking dummy when engaged by another individual player will swing forwardly against the resistance of the skid carried spring means associated therewith, forward movement of the blocking dummies further operating to move the practice machine on its skids along the ground.

2. The football practice machine of claim 1, wherein:

(a) each horizontal side rail is formed on its inner face with a pair of upper and lower oppositely inclined faces extending longitudinally thereof,

(b) there being a row of resister members mounted on each inclined face of a side rail, and

(c) opposed resister members on opposed inclined faces being in staggered relation to each other.

3i. The football practice machine of claim 2, wherein:

(a) the axes of the upper conical resister members on the opposed upper side rails intersect the medial vertical longitudinal plane of said frame structure in a substantially common horizontal plane,

(b) said upper conical resister members being each of such a length that the apices thereof are substantially in opposed relation in said medial longitudinal plane, and

(c) the lower conical resister members on the opposed lower side rails being each of a length greater than the upper resister members on the upper side rails such that the terminal end portions of the lower conical resistor members extend beyond said medial vertical longitudinal plane in overlapping relation with respect to each other,

whereby said upper resister members will engage the body of said player while said lower resistor members will engage the legs of said player.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7,011,265 7/ 1902 McMaster 273-55 1,176,730 3/1916 Ashton 273-55 2,653,816 9/1953 Young et al. 273-55 2,752,155 -6/ 1956 Nedwick 27 3-55 2,934,343 4/ 1960 Schumacher 273-5 5 2,951,702 9/ 1960 Goodwin. 2,977,118 3/1961 Farkas.

FOREIGN PATENTS 729,379 1/ 1943 Germany.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner. THEATRICE BROWN, Assistant Examiner.

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