The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concepts generally relate to an apparatus for swimming, and more particularly to a monofin and mermaid tail.
Swimming is a popular activity among millions of people every year. It is not uncommon to see a swimmer keep their feet together and swim in a style similar to a mermaid or a dolphin. This provides a different exercise as well as additional enjoyment for the swimmer.
In order to improve the ability of a swimmer to mimic a mermaid while swimming, several monofins have been developed which increase the propulsion force of a user's feet while swimming in the mermaid style. A monofin keeps both of a user's feet connected to a single fin, while having a large flat surface extending away from the user's feet. To secure the monofin to the user's feet, heel straps have been utilized. The heel straps, however, have a tendency to slide off of the user's heel once they are wet and the user places force on them during use. The monofins and heel straps have generally been constructed out of rubber or hard plastic.
Both of these construction practices result in a monofin that is uncomfortable to a user due to the abrasive nature of rubber or plastic that contacts a user's skin. It is desirable to produce a monofin that is more comfortable for a user. Unfortunately, in order to achieve the desired comfort it has been necessary to use materials that are not as hard or stiff as the rubber or hard plastic for connecting the user's feet to the monofin. This causes a significant loss in efficiency of the swimming stroke and enjoyment for the user. It is also desirable to allow users to have the appearance of a mermaid. While this appearance has been done before, the prior art has been limited to mainly performance driven designs, with poor comfort features.
Disclosed is a swimming device in the shape of a monofin similar to a mermaid fin that allows a user's feet to function similar to a mermaid tail or dolphin tail fin. The shape of the device is created by a resilient member that is flat and elongate and has a first side, a second side, a third side, a fourth side, a first end, and a second end. The sides are preferably curved and the second end is preferably concave in order to mimic the appearance of the trailing edge of a mermaid tail fin. The first end is the general location of the foot retainers.
The resilient member is enclosed by a cover. In a preferred embodiment, the cover is made from neoprene and the resilient member is made from polycarbonate, but other materials are acceptable. For example, the cover could be made of spandex or other elastic material while the resilient member may be made of a different plastic or rubber. The cover has a first edge, a second edge, a third edge, and a fourth edge, so that in one embodiment when placed around the resilient member, the edges of the cover are adjacent to the sides of the resilient member. The sides of the cover combine to make a periphery that extends around the resilient member in order to substantially enclose it. In another embodiment, the cover can substantially enclose or surround the resilient member in the sense that a rubber band on a tennis ball substantially surrounds the tennis ball. In other words, in this embodiment, some portions of the resilient member can stick out from the cover. The cover can be held in place using various methods including adhesive or hook and loop closures, with stitching around the periphery being a preferred embodiment.
Attached to the cover are one or more foot retainers. These retainers secure the device to the user's feet in order to allow a user to swim in a motion similar to a mermaid without the swimming device coming off. The foot retainer can be made using one or more straps to secure the user's feet to the monofin. In a preferred embodiment, the foot retainer is comprised of sock-like retainers extending underneath the top half of the cover. The sock-like retainers are elastic, allowing for a snug and secure fit with a variety of foot sizes. One or more securing cords also can be present, with one optionally being located between or near the position of the user's feet. The securing cord is attached to or through the resilient member, and has a sliding lock that can be pressed toward the top surface of the resilient member to press and hold the cover against the resilient member. This provides a more secure foot retention ability.
In one embodiment, the securing cord can be attached to the resilient member in a number of different ways. The securing cord can pass through the resilient member and be secured by a plate on the underside of the resilient member, the plate can be embedded inside the resilient member, or attached to the resilient member with an eyebolt, or an equivalent structure.
Further disclosed is a method for applying a mermaid tail. A first step is placing a tubular fabric mermaid tail, having a waist section, a leg section, and a tail section, around a user's legs. The second step is for the waist section of the mermaid tail to be placed around the user's waist. The third step is pulling the tail section above a user's feet, thereby exposing the user's feet. The fourth step is placing a swimming device, a monofin, on the user's feet. The monofin is designed to create a single fin whereon each of a user's feet is attached. In an embodiment employing a securing cord, the fifth step is to tighten the securing cord described above to more positively secure the users feet to the monofin. The sixth step is to pull the tail section down over the monofin, thereby covering the monofin to create the appearance of a continuous fin and tail.
In yet another embodiment, the strength and/or wear resistance of one or more regions of the fabric tail and/or cover for the resilient member are enhanced, which can be achieved by a number of techniques, including dipping or otherwise coating the region using a strengthening material such as Plasti Dip. Strengthening such area(s) can increase the useful lifetime of the fabric/cover and swimming device in general, especially if applied to areas of the device that tend to wear before other areas, such as the tips and/or heel of the device.
In another embodiment, and in order to maintain shape and provide rigidity to the swimming device 10, a resilient member 12, which is not shown in
In one embodiment, the cover may expose one or more wear surfaces, such as the tips and/or heel, of the resilient member to eliminate wear on the cover at those regions. In another embodiment, such wear surfaces of the cover may be covered with an additional layer of wear resistant material (as further described below). The cover and/or wear surfaces of the cover may also be made of a more wear resistant material than neoprene, such as nylon, Kevlar, canvas, hypalon, PVC, or other strong and wear resistant materials.
In yet another embodiment, the strength and/or wear resistance of one or more regions of the cover for the resilient member and/or the fabric tail are enhanced, which can be achieved by a number of techniques, including dipping or otherwise coating the region using a strengthening material such as Plasti Dip. Strengthening such area(s) can increase the useful lifetime of the fabric and swimming device in general, especially if applied to areas of the device that tend to wear before other areas, such as the tips and/or heel of the cover for the resilient member and/or those same areas on the fabric tail. An example of one such embodiment is illustrated in
Still further, one configuration of the various above-described embodiments is to have two or three securing cords but only one tightening lock. One cord could be attached to the neoprene cover on the outside of the foot and then run through the resilient member, then underneath and across to the middle of the member, and finally up through a hole and through the cover between the feet. A second cord would do the same thing on the other side. Both cords would pull through a single tightening lock. A third (optional) cord would be positioned between the feet and attached to the neoprene cover and secured to the resilient member. In this embodiment, with a single pull, a user can draw the cords tight and secure the neoprene from the left, center, and right positions.
Shown in
Also disclosed is a method of applying a mermaid tail 20 to create the appearance that the user is a mermaid.
While certain exemplary embodiments are shown in the figures and described in this disclosure, it is to be distinctly understood that the presently disclosed inventive concepts are not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the following claims.
The present application is a continuation-in-part of, and hereby claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/854,601, which was filed 15 Sep. 2015, and is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/854,601 is a continuation-in-part of, and hereby claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/286,735, which was filed 23 May 2014, now Issued U.S. Pat. No. 9,162,110, by the same inventors, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20170189759 A1 | Jul 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14854601 | Sep 2015 | US |
Child | 15408246 | US | |
Parent | 14286735 | May 2014 | US |
Child | 14854601 | US |