Rollback Ball

Abstract

The Rollback Ball or Ballmerang is a ball toy consisting of a ball shell and a mechanical tracking device tracking the ball shell by using friction force or magnetic force converting the moving ball kinetic energy to potential energy, and then releasing the potential energy rolling the ball back at the same straight line path to the same launching destination when rolling the ball in any direction on a flat floor.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. (canceled)

3. A rollback ball comprising a ball shell and a mechanical tracking device, wherein the mechanical tracking device is housed inside the ball shell and wherein a. the ball shell comprises an inner wall; and b. the mechanical tracking device comprises a supporting frame with shafts, at least three wheels with tires, at least three spiral coil springs with an outer end and a center end, and a weight, wherein the wheels with tires are supported by the shafts, rotate freely on the shafts and lean against the inner wall of the shell; the wheels comprise a notch and the shafts comprise a slot, wherein the outer end of the spring is anchored to the notch and the center end of the spring is anchored to the slot; and the weight is attached to the supporting frame.

4. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the ball shell comprises two hemisphere shells.

5. (canceled)

6. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein each wheel comprises an outer edge and the notch is in the outer edge of each wheel.

7. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the shafts further comprise retaining rings to retain the wheels to the shafts.

8. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the tires comprise rubber or synthetic rubber.

9. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the ball shell comprises a high friction material and the tires comprise plastic or metal.

10. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the ball shell comprises ferrous metal or ferrous alloy and the tires comprise a magnetic material.

11. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the weight is attached to the supporting structure with a threaded rod and secured by a nut.

12. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the inner wall of the ball shell comprises a bottom and the weight floats above the bottom of the inner wall of the ball shell.

13. The rollback ball according to claim 1, wherein the wheels are arranged symmetrically on the supporting frame.

14. A method of operating the rollback ball of claim 1, comprising the steps of a. rolling the rollback ball from a first position to a second position; b. winding a first spring in at least one of a first wheel; c. maintaining the weight at the bottom of the inner wall; d. reaching the second position; e. reversing the winding of the first spring in the first wheel; and f. rolling the rollback ball to a third position.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first and third positions are the same or approximately the same.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of winding is in the clockwise direction and reversing the winding is in the counterclockwise direction.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of winding is in the counterclockwise direction and reversing the winding is in the clockwise direction.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of winding and reversing the winding in a second spring in at least one of a second wheel.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of winding and reversing the winding in a third spring in at least one of a third wheel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] FIG. 1: Cross section of the shell to depict a full vertical view of the tracking device. Section A-A: A horizontal cross-section of the tracking device. Section B-B: A partial vertical section of the weight, supporting frame, and point of contact between the ball and the wheel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENT

[0013] An embodiment of the Rollback Ball or Ballmerang is illustrated in FIG. 1, section A-A, and section B-B. In accordance with the present invention the Rollback Ball consists of two hemisphere shells 10a and 10b coupled together to form a hollow ball or a ball shell 10, and a mechanical tracking device leans against the shell 10 and floats above the bottom of the shell 10. The tracking device consists of three or more wheels 30 with tires 20, spiral coil springs 40, a weight 70, and a supporting frame 50. The tires 20 are made of materials with high coefficients of friction such as rubber or synthetic rubber. The shell 10, wheels 30, weight 70, supporting frame 50, and shafts are made of plastic or metal. An alternative to having the tires 20 making of high friction materials is to have the shell 10 made of high friction materials; consequently, the tires 20 will have to be made of plastic or metal. The tires 20 lean against the shell 10; the wheels 30 and tires 20 freely rotate around the shafts 50a which are supported by and attached to the supporting frame 50. The wheels 30 and supporting frame 50 are arranged in a symmetrical pattern. The outer end of the spiral coil springs 40 are anchored in the notched 30a located at the outer edge of the wheels 30 and the center end of the springs 40 are anchored in the slots 50b located in the shafts 50a. The weight 70, hanging above the bottom of the ball 10, is attached to the threaded rod 80 that is inserted into the supporting frame 50 and is secured by a nut 90. The retaining rings 60 are installed at the shafts 50a to prevent the wheels 30 from slipping out of the shafts 50a.

[0014] When rolling the Rollback Ball without spinning on a level floor and with a force that generates kinetic energy below potential energy that could be stored by the springs 40, the ball will roll in a straight line. Gravity will pull and maintain the weight 70 in the vertical position preventing the tracking device from rotating with the shell 10.

[0015] If the wheel's position is in line with the ball's moving path, the tire 20 will rotate from the friction force rubbing against the shell 10 and fully track the whole length of the ball's moving path. The wheel 30 will wind in or wind out (depended on the spring's pattern either clockwise or counter-clockwise) the spring 40 and convert kinetic energy of the rolling ball to potential energy stored in the spring 40. If the wheel's position is perpendicular to the ball's moving path, the tire 20 will not rotate or wind the spring 40, and thus stores no potential energy. If the wheel's position is in between the two mentioned positions the tire 20 will rotate and store potential energy accordingly to its position.

[0016] Each wheel 30 in the tracking device has a position related to the ball's moving path differently from the other wheels 30. Thus, each wheel 30 will rotate and store energy differently from the other wheels 30. Once the ball stops rolling, the springs 40 will unwind releasing their potential energy, the wheels 30 will reverse their rotations proportionally to the amount of their stored potential energy, the tires 20 will drive the shell 10 and the ball back at the same straight line path to the same or approximately the same destination from which it was launched. With the novel mechanical tracking device, the ball can return back when rolling in any ball's direction on a flat floor.

[0017] The second embodiment of the Rollback Ball or Ballmerang is to use magnetic forces instead of the friction forces to track and drive the ball back. For this embodiment, the tires 20 are made of magnetic materials and the shell 10 is made of materials that are attracted to magnets, such as ferrous metal or ferrous alloy. Instead of using the friction forces tracking the ball as previously described, the magnetic tires 20 use magnetic forces pulling and adhering to the ferrous shell 10. When the shell 10 rotates the magnetic tires 20 rotate tracking the shell 10, and vice versa when the magnetic tires 20 rotate.