Patent Application
20220347536
The present invention relates to a toy-like therapeutic device which enables hand eye coordination to the improved.
It is well understood in the medical arts that it is desirable to exercise various muscles in order to maintain or increase the particular muscular function. There are many exercise devices of various kinds which have been designed in order to permit such exercises to be carried out. A particular problem with such exercises is that they often are boring and repetitive and so patients are less likely to comply with their intended exercise regime because of this boring aspect of the exercise.
The genesis of the present invention is a desire to provide exercises which increase or restore manual dexterity in such a way that the carrying out of the exercises is essentially fun and involves playing a game.
In particular, it is known that fine motor skills in schoolchildren are linked with an increased ability in mathematics or arithmetic. Similarly, some degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease can be ameliorated to some extent by the provision of hand-eye coordination exercises.
The inventor of present invention found as a young student, possibly suffering from some sort of dyslexia, that learning to juggle three balls improved both his grades, in particular, his mathematical results, and his concentration in class. In addition, his confidence in class grew.
However, learning to juggle is difficult to do and so didn't represent a particularly practical way of increasing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. So the inventor looked for another way to enable others achieve the beneficial results he had experienced.
The toy-like hand implement of the present invention is intended to provide a pleasant and fun way of improving hand eye coordination and is thought to be of value to persons generally but, in particular, to those persons suffering from degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
However, the benefits of the toy-like hand implement of the present invention may well extend in other areas. For example, in many ball games it is advantageous for catching the ball if the player has what is known as “soft hands”. That is, the player has a certain manual suppleness which gradually slows the ball during catching. It is thought that this ability can be increased by increasing hand-eye coordination, for example, by use of the toy-like hand implement described herein.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a hand implement for improving hand-eye coordination, said implement comprising a handgrip, a volume surrounding said handgrip and sized to receive a human hand, and a plurality of landing surfaces bounding said volume, each of said landing surfaces having a fixed relationship with the other landing surface(s) and said handle; whereby a launchable object can be positioned on one of said landing surfaces, said implement manually accelerated upwardly to launch said object along an upwardly extending trajectory, and said implement re-positioned to catch said object on another one of said landing surfaces as it descends under the influence of gravity.
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
As seen in
In a second embodiment illustrated in
Turning now to
A fifth hexagonal embodiment 41 is illustrated in
A multifaceted sixth embodiment 51 is illustrated in
Turning now to
The hand implement 61 of
In
As seen in
The hand implement 61 of
In
In
Turning now to
The sidewalls 34 are dimensioned to permit the caps 33 to be positioned over a pair of opposed landing services 13F and 13G. In this way, the surfaces 13 F and 13 GR essentially provided with an upstanding rim which is able to retain a spinning top 56.
In this game or exercise, the top 56 is caused to spin on one of the caps 33, the spinning top is launched upwardly, and the hand implement 61 is inverted so as to permit the top to land on the other one of the caps 33. Ideally, this procedure is able to be repeated several times before the top ceases to spin.
A further embodiment is illustrated in
Finally, turning now to
In order to assemble the hand implement 61, first the panel 105 is placed on a firm horizontal surface as this will become the landing surface opposite opening 14 (
The next step is to fold the panels 108 and 110 upwardly into a substantially vertical position so that the panels 106 and 107 approach each other and lie above the washers 18 on the panel 105.
Then panels 102 and 104 are folded upwardly into a substantially vertical position.
Next the panel 103 is folded upwardly into a vertical position. This moves panel 102 to cover the washers 18 on panel 108. Similarly, this movement moves panel 104 so as to cover the washers 18 on panel 110.
At the completion of this stage, the panels 101, 111, 112 and 113 are substantially vertical and positioned above the panels 103, 102, 109 and 104 respectively. Next the panels 101 and 112 are folded downwardly into the box like container. In this way panel 101 covers the washers 18 positioned on the panel 103.
At this stage, the handgrip 2 sub-assembly as illustrated in
The assembled handgrip 2 is positioned between the panels 102 and 104. Finally, the panels 111 and 113 are folded into the interior of the box. Each of these panels has a cutout which enables them to pass the handgrip 2. The fingers 49 of the panels 111 and 113 then have their distal ends inserted into the openings 48 of panels 106 and 107 respectively. This locks all the folded panels in position.
It will be appreciated that the cubic hand implement 61 enables the launchable object to be received on any one of five surfaces corresponding to the back of the hand, the palm of the hand, the left side of fist, the right side of the fist, and the front surface of the knuckles. As a consequence, in order for each of these surfaces to be presented horizontally to enable a catch to take place, so the arm and wrist must be correspondingly manipulated. Furthermore, these manipulations must be time so as to correspond with the time available whilst the launch will object is in flight. As a consequence, there is considerable hand-eye cooperation. In addition, what can be achieved with the right-hand of a right-handed person, can normally not necessarily be achieved by the left-hand. So changing hands also presents a further challenge which enables improved coordination to be achieved through practice.
The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the toy making arts, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the magnetic launchable object 26 and the magnetic die 46 can be magnetically permeable rather than magnetic, and each of the steel washers 18 can be replaced by a small magnet, preferably in the form of a disc.
Similarly, different games and contests can be devised utilising the basic toy as described above. For example, the steel washers 18 of each landing surface can be replaced by a permanent magnet having a specified shape, for example that of a particular animal. Different landing surfaces would have magnets of different shapes.
Under this arrangement the launchable object consists of small ferromagnetic particles such as small steel ball bearings which then adhere to the upright landing surface and coalesce into the shape of the corresponding animal.
The term “comprising” (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of “including” or “having” and not in the exclusive sense of “consisting only of”.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018902771 | Jul 2018 | AU | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/AU2019/050396 | 5/1/2019 | WO |
