A golf practice machine

973,167. Golf-practicing machines. E.K.C. MANUFACTURING CO. Ltd. Dec. 12, 1962 [Dec. 13, 1961], No. 44623/61. Heading A6D. [Also in Divisions G1 and G4] A golf-practicing machine comprises a ball mounted on a support which is pivotable about a horizontal axis, and resilient means lying in the path of the ball, the mounting of the resilient means being coupled to an indicator, which latter gives an indication of the distance the ball would have travelled if free. The ball 15 is mounted on a bell-crank lever pivoted at 12 to a supporting bracket 11 and urged towards its upright position by a leaf-spring 20. When the ball is struck, it moves to abut against a plate 23 cushioned between layers of resilient material within a framework 22, the plate being mounted at one end of a pivoted lever 24 whose other end is coupled to a rack 35 which cooperates with a pinion mounted on the pivot of the pointer 39 of an indicator supported on framework 30. The ball is held in contact with the device 22, 23, against the action of leafspring 20, by a spring-loaded pawl mechanism 17. A coin-freed lever system 46, 49, 51, 52, 53 is provided for releasing the pawl mechanism 17 and allowing the ball to return to the position illustrated in Fig. 1, the lever 46 of the system simultaneously operating a pawl-and-ratchet release mechanism (not shown) for the pointer 39, thereby allowing the latter to fall to zero As shown in Fig. 10, the ball 15 is arranged to project through a slot 14 in a housing 57 for the machine, whilst a housing 58 is provided for the indicator and coin-freed mechanism. A retractable safety net may be provided in the housing 57 as a precaution against the ball's breaking free from its support, and the arm 14 may be adjustable in length. Moreover, the arm 14 may be hinged to allow movement of the ball in response to cutting or slicing strokes, in which case electrical contacts arranged to be contacted by the arm and coupled to lamps may be used to indicate the degree of cut or slice. Reference is made in the Provisional Specification to the possibility of coupling the shaft 12 to the indicator pointer.