Bucking machine

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6402626
  • Patent Number
    6,402,626
  • Date Filed
    Monday, July 9, 2001
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, June 11, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Nguyen; Kien T.
    Agents
    • Rhea; Robert K.
    • McCarthy; Bill D.
Abstract
A rodeo rider training apparatus is formed by a retractable wheel horizontal base frame supporting a spin wheel, a motor spin wheel driving apparatus and a spin shaft supporting a bucking apparatus in turn supporting a rider support for simulating a bucking action of a horse or bull while the spin wheel rotates the bucking apparatus in a selected direction. A divided circular pad horizontally surrounds the vertical axis of the bucking apparatus and rider support and spins therewith within a central portion of a surrounding air mattress providing padding, with the circular pad, for receiving a rider falling from the rider support thus allowing the falling rider to spin with the device until he can exit the spin pad to the air mattress, out of the way of the bucking apparatus.
Description




CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS




Not applicable.




STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT




Not applicable.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to bucking machines which simulate the bucking action of a horse or bull and simultaneously spins as is typical of rodeo bulls.




1. Field of the Invention




2. Description of the Prior Art




There are numerous rocking or bucking machines presently in use or available on the open market primarily targeting small children as an amusement device.




Other machines of the prior art are intended primarily for adults and/or cowboys in which the bucking action is considerably improved over the small units located in front of many business establishments for the amusement of children and in which the device angularly rotates or spins to simulate the action of a bucking bull.




U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,979 issued Dec. 21, 1976 to Turner for Rodeo Training Device and U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,787 issued May 28, 1985 are good examples of rodeo training bucking machines which includes a spin action simulating a bucking bull.




One disadvantage of each of the above named patents comprises the danger of the participant, after being thrown from the rider support to the base or surface of the earth, being injured by the spinning action of the rider support contacting him before he has an opportunity to move out of the way.




The bucking machine apparatus of this invention overcomes this problem by providing a diametrically divided circular pad of substantial thickness and diameter, at least as great as the overall length of the rider support, which surrounds the shaft or spindle supporting the rider support and spins with the rider support and its bucking mechanism thus insuring the rider is in no danger of being hit by the rider support since the rider and the rider support all rotate in the same direction simultaneously.




Further this circular pad is surrounded by an air filled mattress substantially greater in overall horizontal dimensions, so that a rider may roll off the circular pad onto the mattress and exit the position of the bucking bull without physical danger.




U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,418 issued Nov. 1, 1955 to Small for Hobby Horse and U.S. Pat. No. 2,889,148 issued Jun. 2, 1959 to Lyles for Mechanical Horse are believed good examples of the state-of-the-art relating to amusement riding devices.




BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




A retractable wheel horizontal base frame supports a spin wheel and reversible motor spin wheel driving apparatus having an upstanding spin shaft eccentrically projecting upward from the spin wheel and supporting a bucking apparatus in turn supporting a rider support for simulating a bucking action of a horse or bull while the spin wheel rotates the bucking apparatus in a selected direction.




A divided circular pad horizontally surrounds the vertical axis bucking apparatus and rider support and spins therewith within a central portion of a surrounding air mattress providing padding, with the circular pad, for receiving a rider falling from the rider support thus allowing the falling rider to spin with the device until he can exit the spin pad to the air mattress out of the way of the bucking apparatus.




The principal object of this invention is to provide an amusement and training device simulating the action of a bucking animal or rodeo bull and providing a safety feature minimizing the danger of a thrown rider being injured by the spinning action of the rider support.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of the device illustrating one direction of spin of the rider support and safety pad;





FIG. 2

is a side elevational view of the apparatus as seen in

FIG. 1

with the air mattress and rider support removed for clarity;





FIG. 3

is a top view of the base frame and an overlaying rotating frame, as viewed when looking in the direction of the arrows


3





3


of

FIG. 2

;





FIG. 4

is a bottom view of the divided circular safety pad, when looking in the direction of the arrows


4





4


of

FIG. 2

;





FIG. 5

is a fragmentary elevational view to a larger scale illustrating the lateral movement of the bucking mechanism, when looking in the direction of the arrows


5





5


of

FIG. 2

; and,





FIG. 6

is a fragmentary elevational view to a similar scale of the rearward portion of the bucking mechanism, when looking in the direction of the arrows


6





6


of FIG.


2


.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




The reference numeral


10


indicates the bucking apparatus comprising a rider support


12


having a rearward end portion


13


vertically reciprocated about a horizontal axis by a bucking mechanism


14


(

FIG. 2

) and having an underlying horizontal circular resilient pad


16


which angularly rotates with the rider support


12


and is surrounded by a fixed position air mattress


18


extending horizontally outward from the rotating pad.




The reference numeral


20


indicates a horizontal rectangular open base frame resting on the surface of the earth


22


and having a pair of retractable wheels


24


raised and lowered by normally horizontal respective pairs of arms


27


pivoted about a wheel supporting shaft


25


by a pressure cylinder


26


which raises and lowers respective ends of the wheel supporting arms


27


so that the apparatus


10


may be moved in a mobile manner by a trailer hitch


28


, having a caster wheel


29


supporting the forward end of the frame


20


. The frame


20


centrally supports a horizontal spin wheel


30


rotatable around its spindle or axis


32


. The spin wheel


30


is driven by a reversible motor M


1


and transmission


34


connected with a drive pulley


36


having a belt


38


extending around the drive pulley and the spin wheel for angularly rotating the rider support


12


and its underlying safety pad


16


in a selected direction.




A substantially hexagonal frame


40


horizontally underlies the safety pad


16


and angularly rotates about the axis of the spin wheel


30


while supporting the safety pad


16


overlying the rotatable frame


40


. The frame


40


has a plate


44


(shown fragmentarily in

FIG. 3

) which overlies the spin wheel


30


in underlying relation with respect to the rotating frame


40


for connecting the spin wheel with the rotatable frame


40


and angularly rotating the latter with the spin wheel. A standard


46


, eccentrically mounted on the plate


44


with respect to the axis


32


of the spin wheel, extends upwardly through the circular pad


16


to support the bucking mechanism


14


, as will presently be described.




The safety pad


16


is a selected diameter sufficient to support a rider when falling from the rider support and be angularly rotated with the spin wheel on the safety pad, thus eliminating the danger of being struck by the rider support


12


as it is angularly rotated. The safety pad


16


is diametrically divided along the line


48


(

FIG. 4

) to form opposite halves


16




a


and


16




b


and describe a central opening


50


surrounding the standard


46


and equipment housing


51


. The safety pad


16


is supported on the rotating frame


40


by a horizontal circular frame


52


(

FIG. 4

) of smaller diameter than the diameter of the safety pad. The circular frame being transversely divided in cooperative relation with respect to the diametric division of the safety pad


16


. The pad support frame


52


is provided with a pair of parallel support members


54


which overlie the rotating frame


40


transverse support members


42


(FIG.


3


).




Referring now to

FIGS. 2 and 5

the reference numeral


60


indicates a vertical web secured to the upper end portion of the standard


46


and projecting toward the center of the safety pad


16


above the opening


50


therein. The web


60


horizontally supports a transversely disposed first plate or platform


62


having a pair of pilot bearings


64


mounted at respective ends thereof for journalling a shaft


67


secured to the undersurface of a second platform


66


. The platform


66


is normally maintained in horizontal parallel relation with the support


62


by two pairs of longitudinally spaced compression springs


68


which are compressed in right or left directions, with respect to the rider support


12


, by the mass thereof and the rider leaning in a right or left direction, which simulates the sun-fishing action of a bucking bronco. Similarly, a second pair of pilot bearings


70


on respective sides of the plate


66


journal a shaft


72


pivotally supporting the depending end portions


74


of a pair of laterally spaced L-shaped, in side elevation, upwardly extending arms


76


having a plate


78


intermediate their upper end portions which underlie the rider support


12


when placed thereover.




A pair of arms


80


are rigidly connected in spaced relation at one end portion with a bight portion


82


and in turn pivotally connected at their other end portions with a pair of crank arms


84


driven by a transmission T operated by a reversible motor M


2


mounted on the standard


46


. The bight portion


82


is centrally connected with the rider support plate


78


by a pair of parallel links


83


only one being shown, (

FIGS. 3 and 6

) connected at respective ends with the bight portion


82


and rider plate support


78


which permits lateral tilting motion of the rider support members by the compression and expansion of the springs


68


as the rider support


12


is moved in a tight or left direction.




OPERATION




In operation of the bucking apparatus


10


and assuming the mattress pad


18


is overlying the base frame and encompassing the rotating frame


40


and safety pad


16


with the bucking apparatus standard


46


projecting upwardly through the safety pad


16


, such as is illustrated by FIG.


1


. Assuming also that the angular rotation of the safety pad


16


and bucking apparatus


14


as well as the up and down bucking action of the rider support


12


is accomplished by connecting the motors M


1


and M


2


to a source of electricity through control switches, not shown. A rider mounts the rider support


12


or may place a saddle, not shown, on the saddle support if desired. When the rider is ready the person operating the apparatus closes current energizing switches, not shown and the bucking apparatus begins its action of up and down movement while being simultaneously rotated in a selected direction. In addition to the up and down bucking movement the rider support, by being unbalanced by the rider, may tilt in a right or left direction compressing a respective pair of the springs


68


so that the rider support also tilts in the right or left direction. The bucking action continues for a specified length of time when the current is interrupted to cease operation of the bucking apparatus.




Obviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alterations without defeating its practicability. Therefore, I do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment(s) shown in the drawing(s) and described herein.



Claims
  • 1. A bucking machine for training a rodeo rider, comprising:a horizontally disposed base frame; a horizontally disposed angularly rotatable frame supported by said base frame in axial spaced relation; an upright standard eccentrically supported by said rotatable frame, said standard being angularly rotatable, in either direction, independently of the direction of rotation of said rotatable frame; a rider support having forward and rearward end portions simulating a portion of the torso of a rodeo animal; reversible motor means operatively connected with said rotatable frame for angularly rotating the latter, in a selected direction; and, motor driven means supported by said standard and interposed between the rider support and the standard for sequentially vertically reciprocating respective end portions of the rider support in an up and down bucking action of a rodeo animal attempting to unseat a rider.
  • 2. The bucking machine according to claim 1 and further including:a first platform horizontally supported by said standard in underlying relation with respect to the forward end portion of the rider support; a second platform pivotally supported by said first platform for lateral downward tilting movement about a horizontal axis; and, resilient means interposed between said first and second plates.
  • 3. The bucking machine according to claim 2 in which said resilient means comprises:a plurality of helical springs.
  • 4. The bucking machine according to claim 3 and further including:a diametrically divided resilient safety pad axially surrounding said standard and having a radial dimension at least equal with the radial dimension described by the respective end portion of the rider support overlying and rotatable with said rotatable frame.
  • 5. The bucking machine according to claim 4 and further including:a fallen rider supporting stationary mattress having a central aperture freely surrounding the safety pad and extending outwardly therefrom a preselected distance and having a vertical dimension substantially equal with the vertical dimension between the surface of the earth and the upper limit of the safety pad.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Number Name Date Kind
2889148 Lyles Jun 1959 A
2908500 Yetter Oct 1959 A
2922649 Hawkins Jan 1960 A
3997979 Turner Dec 1976 A
4519787 Williams May 1985 A
5085425 Collins et al. Feb 1992 A
5180338 Pinto Jan 1993 A
5429515 Greenwood Jul 1995 A
5813864 Ikuta Sep 1998 A
6059666 Ohara et al. May 2000 A