The Purdue Pete golfer is a desktop golfing toy comprising two components. The first is the Purdue Pete figure, whose hammer is used as the golf club. The second is the mini golf windmill modeled after the Purdue bell tower. The goal for the user is to use Pete’s hammer to strike the ball past the windmill blades through the arch in the bell tower. Successfully doing so results in a score. Scoring is indicated by the playing of “Hail Purdue.” The space between the two figures can be varied to adjust the difficulty level. Challenge level can also be increased by placing office or household objects between the figures as additional obstacles.
The key function of the Purdue Pete golfer is the spring-powered ratchet and pawl mechanism in the chest. The user can use Purdue Pete’s hammer to draw the arm mechanism back up to 100o clockwise from the vertical resting position. Swing strength can be varied with drawback angle to account for the distance between figures and presence of other obstacles. Pete’s head is connected to the pawl, which engages the ratchet when pushed into the body. Lifting the head releases the mechanism and starts Pete’s golf swing. Pete’s base bears a “block P” figure. This was added to the base to provide the user with additional grip for aiming the shot and scoring.
The primary function of the bell tower is the geared DC motor that drives the windmill blades at 16 rpm. The secondary function is utilizing the three vertically stacked laser and photoresistor pairs to create a sensor curtain across the bell tower scoring arch. When the curtain is breached, a score is detected and a piezo buzzer to plays “Hail Purdue.”
