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The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of the

The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of

Sheldon M Smith

Travis L Smith

Clement C Hiel

The ball-projecting batting tee comprises a support base, a support column, and a remote control. The ball-projecting batting tee may be a batting practice aid that may be placed on top of home plate and may pneumatically project a ball upwards from the top of the support column to simulate a pitch. The ball-projecting batting tee may be adapted to project the ball upwards under the control of a coach using the remote control. As non-limiting examples, the ball may be a baseball or a whiffle ball. A directional cover located at the top of the support column may pivot to direct the ball towards first base or towards third base to simulate outside and inside pitches.

Ball-projecting batting tee

A diffuse reflector is provided which isotropically reflects the infrared and far-infrared regions of the spectrum. The reflector includes a metal plate having one surface that is roughened by an electric discharge machine so as to have an r.m.s. roughness large enough to diffusely reflect far-infrared radiation. The roughening process creates facets having cavities which trap and diffusely reflect normally incident far-infrared radiation. An example of a reflector so produced has an isotropic bidirectional reflectance distribution function approximately equal to 1/.pi. sr.sup.-1 between the wavelengths of 5 .mu.m and 100 .mu.m.

Far-infrared diffuse reflector

A method and apparatus are provided for determining the strain developed in a coated surface. A beam with a coating on a surface thereof is mounted as a cantilever and a force is applied to the free end of the beam to cause deflection of the beam until the coating on the beam fails. The strain in the beam, and hence in the coating at the point of failure, is determined based on the dimensions of the beam, the point along the beam where failure of the coating occurs and the amount of deflection of the beam, and this determination is made independently of the temperature of the beam and the material from which the beam is made. The determination is made based on the equation E=1.5.sub.x /1.sup.3, where E is strain, h is the beam thickness, d is the beam deflection, x is the distance from the free end of the beam to the point where failure of the coating occurred, and l is the length of the beam.

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Sheldon M Smith