Slingshot baseball

Abstract

A launching and/or catching toy kit has a ball and at least one associated slingshot. The ball includes a spherical body, a support non-movably attached to the body, a tail, a first and a second elastic band hook oppositely disposed. The slingshot is configured to launch the ball from a first user to a second user. The slingshot includes a handle and a pair of prongs connected and/or extending from the handle top. At least one elastic band is connected to each prong. Each of the at least one elastic bands are releasably captured by their respective first or second elastic band hook on the football during launching by the first user. When two slingshots are available, the users can shoot and catch the ball between each other allowing for a game of catch.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A launching and/or catching toy kit, comprising:
 a ball comprising:
 a) a spherical body defining a diameter; 
 b) a support non-movably attached to the body, where a first end of the support is disposed within the body and a second end of the support extends beyond the back end of the body, where a longitudinal axis is defined through the body and the support; 
 c) a tail attached to the second end of the support; 
 d) a first and a second elastic band hook oppositely disposed about the longitudinal axis and attached to the body and/or the support; 
   a slingshot associated with the ball, the slingshot configured to launch the ball from a first user to a second user, the slingshot comprising:
 a) a handle configured to be gripped by the first user; 
 b) a pair of prongs connected and/or extending from a top of the handle, wherein the pair of prongs form an opening wherein the opening is at least as wide as a maximum width of the ball; 
 c) at least one elastic band connected to each prong of the pair of prongs; 
   wherein each at least one elastic band is releasably captured by its respective first or second elastic band hook on the ball during launching by the first user.   
     
     
         2 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein the tail extends outwardly in a vertical plane aligned along the longitudinal axis which is generally perpendicular to a horizontal plane, where the horizontal plane is aligned along the longitudinal axis but also extends through the first and second elastic band hook. 
     
     
         3 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein the tail comprises a finger grip feature configured to be easily grasped by the first user when launching. 
     
     
         4 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein the support is not disposed through a front end of the body or wherein the support comprises a hollow aluminum tube. 
     
     
         5 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the ball is at least 2.0 inches. 
     
     
         6 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the ball is at least 2.5 inches. 
     
     
         7 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein an overall weight of the ball is less than 100 grams. 
     
     
         8 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of a front end of the body comprises a Shore A durometer hardness substantially equal to or less than 25. 
     
     
         9 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , including a lift-generating wing non-movably attached to the support. 
     
     
         10 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , wherein the lift-generating wing is disposed behind a center of the body in relation to along the longitudinal axis or wherein an outside contiguous envelope of the body does not coincide with any portion of an outside contiguous envelope of the lift-generating wing or wherein the body and lift-generating wing are separately disposed. 
     
     
         11 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , including a floor stand attached to a bottom of the body, where the floor stand is configured to stabilize the ball in a fixed position when the ball is placed upon a generally horizontal surface. 
     
     
         12 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , wherein the lift-generating wing comprises a dihedral angle of at least 5 degrees. 
     
     
         13 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , including a horizontal stabilizer disposed behind the lift-generating wing attached to the support and/or the tail. 
     
     
         14 . The toy kit of  claim 13 , wherein the horizontal stabilizer comprises a downward force producing horizontal stabilizer configured to create a nose-up pitch of the ball in flight. 
     
     
         15 . The toy kit of  claim 14 , including a manual adjuster associated with the horizontal stabilizer, the manual adjuster controlling a shape of the horizontal stabilizer, where the manual adjuster is mechanically engaged between the horizontal stabilizer on one side and the support or tail on the other side. 
     
     
         16 . The toy kit of  claim 15 , wherein the manual adjuster comprises a hand-turnable threaded fastener. 
     
     
         17 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , wherein the lift-generating wing comprises a generally convex upper surface opposite a generally concave lower surface, where the upper and lower surfaces define a wing thickness. 
     
     
         18 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , wherein a wing thickness of the lift-generating wing is less than 0.10 of an inch. 
     
     
         19 . The toy kit of  claim 9 , wherein the lift-generating wing comprises an injection molded, non-foamed, polymer wing. 
     
     
         20 . The toy kit of  claim 1 , wherein the body, support and tail are made as a single manufactured part from the same material.