On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 21:21:12 -0800, the renowned
(daniel peterman) wrote:

Somebody gave me about a hundred pounds of golf balls. They are just
sitting in a bag out in the back yard.
Since I suck at goll and most other sports it got me to thinking that I
may be able to launch these things in some other way than whacking them
with a 3 wood (which for some reason I have at least 4 of).
So, the question is..
how should I craft a machine to fling these things in a rapid fire
fashion very fast and very far?
Compressed air might work, spinning wheels a la tennis ball practice
machine?
gunpowder is not even an option (too loud).
Any better Ideas?

One pitching machine design uses a rotating arm that picks up balls at
the bottom of the rotation, winds up a big coil spring as it turns,
then the spring releases and the arm flies around, flinging the ball
tangential to the rotation. It can only throw one every few seconds at
normal rate, but it could be sped up and/or multiple arms used.

Another design uses rotating urethane flywheels that contact the outer
skin of the ball.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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