DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] Referring now to the drawings in detail and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown the present invention which comprises a movably supported swing trainer apparatus 10 for instructing a player of baseball, tennis, hockey or golf, in the lessons of “following through” with the swing of their bat, racquet, club or stick.

[0033] The swing trainer apparatus 10 of the present invention comprises a vertically supported hanger assembly 12 comprised of a housing 14, a plurality of downwardly extending flexible, spaced-apart swing resistant straps 16 supported within that housing 14. The housing 14 has an upper portion defined as a hanger assembly 18 with an elongated, bendable and twistable coil spring 20 extending vertically therefrom. The bendable spring 20 has an upper end which is attached to a vertically adjustable hanger post 22, as shown in FIGS. 1 and. 3. The hanger post 22 is adjustably lockable within a generally cylindrically shaped post-bearing housing 24, shown in FIG. 1. The post-bearing housing 22 is arranged on the distal end of a support arm 26. The support arm 26 has a proximal end which is fixedly attached to an enclosure bearing 28. The enclosure bearing 28 is a generally cylindrically shaped housing which is vertically adjustable on a main support post 30, as represented in FIG. 1.

[0034] The main support post 30 may be telescopable, and is vertically and rotatably adjustable itself into a post housing 32 arranged about the lowermost end of the support post 30. The post housing 32 is preferably a generally cylindrically shaped member having a lower end 34 which is fixedly attached to a support post base 36, which base 36 may be movably supported on wheels, not shown for clarity. The support post 32 is heightwise adjustable with respect to the post housing 34 through a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart openings 38 which receive a lower adjustment bolt 40 therethrough. The lower adjustment bolt 40 slidably rides on the upper edge 42 of the post housing 32, as shown in FIG. 1, to permit the vertical (and rotational) adjustment of the support post 30 with respect to the post housing 32, as represented by the arrows “H” and “R” respectively. The support post 30 is thus swingable with respect to the lower post housing 32, to permit the entire assembly to be rotated about the vertical axis “V” of the support post 30.

[0035] The main support post 30 preferably also has a plurality of vertically spaced apart adjustment openings 42 near its uppermost end, as shown in FIG. 1. An upper adjustment bolt 44 is arranged through the enclosure bearing 28 to engage successively any one of the spaced apart adjustment openings 42 in the upper end of the support post 30, to permit the support arm 26 to be vertically raised or lowered with respect to that main support post 30.

[0036] The frame 14 of the hanger assembly 12 as aforementioned, supports a plurality of generally horizontally arranged strap support rods 50 and vertically disposed swing resistant straps 16 arranged thereon, as may be seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. That frame assembly 12 may have a peripheral shape or contour which defines in one preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, wherein a “home plate” shape is configured as its “footprint” 52, so as to provide a player or user of this apparatus 10 with a realistic and proper geometric and spacial swing area in which a baseball would likely travel for that player to swing.

[0037] The plurality of vertically disposed swing resistant straps 16 have a foremost strap 54 or straps which may present a target 56 thereon. Such a target in one preferred embodiment, as represented in FIGS. 1 and 2, may be the representation of a baseball 58. Such a target representation may of course be adjusted vertically depending upon the height of the player being instructed.

[0038] The hanger post 22 in the post bearing 24 on the distal end of the support arm 26 may be rotated about its vertical axis 180 degrees, as represented by arrows “A”, so as to provide that target to an alternatively handed player that is a left handed player or a right handed player.

[0039] When a player being instructed to follow-through with his or her swing, the bat or sports racquet will swing through the swing resistant straps thus providing the muscle tone and memory, to encourage such a follow through for proper playing of the sport. The vertically disposed bendable and twistable coil spring 28 arranged between the upper side of the hanger assembly 18 and the lower portion of the hanger post 22 will yield and may twist somewhat so as to not provide too much resistance and injure the player during long practice sessions.

[0040] The swing resistant straps 16 are hung in a parallel array on a plurality of removable parallel strap support rods 50 as represented best in FIG. 2. Initial practice with this apparatus, may consist of only utilizing several parallel support rods 50 with the swing resistant straps 16 thereon. Each of the swing resistant straps 16 may be held in an overlapping relationship to the strap support rods 50 and held in that position by a fastener, such as a rivet 60, as shown in FIG. 3. Those flexible straps 16 may be changed, and may be slidably adjustable on those support rods 50 in the support rod's 50 axial direction of those as desired by the player being trained.

[0041] A further embodiment of the present invention may consist of the hanger post and hanger assembly 12 being vertically supported on an attachment bracket arrangement 70, as shown in FIG. 4. The attachment bracket arrangement 70 is comprised of an upper hoop bracket connector 72 and a lower hoop bracket connector 74. The upper hoop bracket connector 72 and the lower hoop bracket connector 74 mate about the ring 76 of a basketball hoop 78, so as to provide the swing trainer assembly to be utilized on an existing piece of sports equipment, such as a basketball hoop with its typical backboard and basketball hoop support post 80 supporting that assembly 12.

[0042] The attachment bracket arrangement or bracket connector 70 in this embodiment comprises a lower post bearing 82 in the lower hoop bracket connector 74, and an upper post bearing 84 for vertical and rotatable adjustable receipt of the upper portion 86 of the hanger post 12 therethrough. A receiving opening 88 extends through the lower post bearing 82 so as to permit an adjustment bolt 90 to be received through the adjustment hole 88 and into the receiving openings 92 in the upper end of the hanger post 12. This permits the hanger post 12 to be vertically adjustable with respect to the connector bracket arrangement 70 attached to the basketball hoop 78. The lower hoop bracket connector 74 and the upper hoop bracket connector 72 may each have a plurality of radially directed arms 94 which are in vertical alignment with one another on either side of the basketball hoop ring 76. Each radially directed arm 94 may have an opening 96 therethrough for receipt of a connector bolt 98. The arms 94 each have a flange or lip 100 on their radially outer or distalmost end to engage the outer periphery of the basketball hoop ring 76 to lock that connector arrangement therearound. The connector bolts 98 secure the upper hoop bracket connector 72 to the lower hoop bracket connector 74, both connectors 72 and 74 thus being securedly fixed to the ring 76 of the basketball hoop 78.

[0043] Thus, such a hanger assembly may vertically support a plurality of swing resistant straps from an existing sports apparatus such as a basketball hoop, while providing the same vertical adjustment with respect to those swing resistant straps and also providing the bendable spring arranged between the lower portion of the hanger post and the upperpost portion of the hanger assembly to permit the yielding of that assembly as a bat or racquet is pushed through the swing resistant straps.