Patent Application
20050176317
The present invention relates to a fin with a blade having adjustable closed area, and more particularly to a fin with a blade having a closed area that may be freely adjusted for the blade to create desired propulsive force matching a diver's kick force.
A fin includes a blade that has an expanded area to produce enhanced water-kicking ability and propulsive force, so as to help a user, that is, a diver, to quickly move forward under water.
Generally, a fin has given specification and size. The propulsive force that can be produced by a fin is determined by the hardness of the material used to make the fin and the water-kicking force produced by the diver. Generally speaking, a fin having a blade made of a harder material tends to produce larger propulsive force. However, the diver must be strong enough to exert more strength to kick water with the harder blade. On the other hand, a blade made of a softer material tends to produce somewhat smaller propulsive force, and the diver may kick water with the softer blade without exerting too much strength. That means the diver may reserve more energy for swimming under water.
The blade of a fin is typically a solid flat piece, and has a performance decided by the material used to make the fin. However, the same type fin might have different users, and the same user or diver might need different fins for different diving environments or water activities. A conventional fin has given hardness that could not be changed once the fin is produced. That is, the conventional fin is not adapted to different users or different use conditions because it could not be changed in the hardness thereof, and accordingly the propulsive force that may be produced by it.
To solve the above problems, a fin with a blade having a plurality of lengthwise channels is developed. Elongated inserts may be separately inserted into the channels, so that the blade may have an overall hardness and accordingly a propulsive force adjustable by the number of the elongated inserts inserted in the channels on the blade.
The elongated inserts are separated from the fin and normally disorderly scattered when they are not inserted in the channels on the blade, and are therefore easily getting lost. Particularly, these elongated inserts are not always available for use when they are normally scattered, and not conveniently portable when they are temporarily removed from the channels on the blade. Although the above-mentioned elongated inserts are useful in adjusting the hardness of the fin, they are not convenient for use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,631 discloses a fin having a left and a right blade, most part of which are separated from each other. However, since the left and the right blade are always in the separated state, they do not have the function of providing an adjustable closed area thereof.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a fin that includes a blade, which is lengthwise split into a plurality of sub-blades, so that the sub-blades are separated from one another from an outer end of the blade to a near central point of the blade; and at least one zipper, which is located between two adjacent sub-blades and adapted to zip up for the adjacent sub-blades to provide a closed area. The closed area provided by the adjacent sub-blades is adjustable by zipping up the zipper by different length to thereby regulate a propulsive force created by the blade of the fin.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
Please refer to
As shown, the fin mainly includes a blade 1, and at least one zipper 2.
The blade 1 is lengthwise split into a plurality of sub-blades, so that these sub-blades are separated from one another from an outer end 1a of the blade 1 to a near central point 1b of the blade 1 (also see
Please refer to
The zipper 2 may be connected to the blade 1 in any suitable manner. For example, the zipper 2 may be positioned in a mold used to mold the blade 1, so that the plastic frame 23 of the zipper 2 is integrally connected to the adjacent left and right sub-blades 11, 12.
To ensure firm and stable connection of the zipper 2 to the blade 1, tongue and groove joint may be designed between the plastic frame 23 and the blade 1. For example, as shown in
Moreover, the blade 1 is provided along the adjacent edges of the left and the right sub-blade 11, 12 at an outer side of the zipper 2 with locating mechanism C, so that the pull tab 22 having been pulled from the outer end 1a of the blade 1 to a desired position on the zipper 2 to partially or fully separate the left and the right sub-blade 11, 12 from each other may be held in place via the locating mechanism C and thereby keeps the two sub-blades 11, 12 in the separated state.
Please refer to
When the pull tab 22 is pulled forward from the near central point 1b toward the outer end 1a the blade 1 and engaged with one selected pair of locating holes 14, portions of the two adjacent sub-blades 11, 12 behind the pull tab 22 are zippered up to produce a closed area 1C. By moving the pull tab 22 to different positions, the closed area 1C is adjusted to accordingly regulate a propulsive force that may be produced by the fin.
According to the present invention, the zipper 2 for regulating the propulsive force of the fin is integrally provided on the blade 1 without the risk of undesirably separating from the blade 1. What is most important is a user (diver) may adjust the zippered-up length of the zipper 2 and accordingly regulate the propulsive force of the fin at any time before or during diving, so as to enable kicking water in the most comfortable manner. That is, the fin of the present invention may be conveniently and quickly adjusted without the risk of scattered parts.
