FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention discloses cones used as markers in sports drills. Each cone has a three or four sided pyramidal shape for supporting and stabilizing a smartphone to record photo or video of an athlete by optimum positioning of a camera(s) lenses near ground level. The smartphone may also be paired with an IMU sensor, such as a MEMS sensor, worn by an athlete to gather biometric motion data in addition to the video or photos.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Typically, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,140,779B2, entitled “Camera-biometric Motion Timer and Method”, issued 2018 Nov. 27 to Paul Kolen et al, a tripod is set up at a preselected finish line of a sports training drill, such as a sprint race, to stabilize and mount a smartphone loaded with a photo finish app used to capture the finish time as shown in FIG. 1 of that patent. The athlete is wearing a wrist mounted JAWKU™ 6-degree of freedom mems sensor, having motion sensing algorithms which are activated by movement of the athlete to record the starting time. An example of the athlete wearing the mems sensor running a three-cone drill is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,417,932B, entitled “Biometric Data Gathering”, issued 2019 Jul. 17 to John Andrew Wells et al. Both of these patents are incorporated in their entirety into the disclosure of the present invention. IMU stands for Inertial Measurement Unit and MEMS stands for Micro-Electric-Mechanical Systems.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above referenced tripod using a base of a multi-purpose cone to directly contact the bottom of the smartphone supported by the base in conjunction with a side of the smartphone resting (leaning) against a specifically selected 102.5° sloping marker side to obtain best camera lens angle of a photo finish time as the athlete crosses the finish line. The smartphone can be mounted selectively higher on the side of the cone by use of a removable ledge with the ledge secured as by hooks to holes(s) placed through a conical side. The ledge maybe placed on any side of the marker having such holes.
Optionally, ledges on one or more sides can be permanently stamped at various predetermined heights (not shown) into some of the predetermined sides of the cone. The athlete may select different sides and camera heights. This permits best use of light conditions for the camera lens.
A reusable synthetic “gecko” tape may be used to support removable ledges at desired heights on the marker sides without use of holes. Different width smartphones may also be held by movable grippers biased towards each other by a spring. A back side of a holder for the spring has a flexible plug(s) protruding from the back side for attachment and detachment into prepositioned holes in a side(s) of the cone. The cone may also be used in stacks of cones to build varying heights to support a hurdle bar resting on a shallow saddle. Each saddle is attached to a long pole having an end secured inside the stack to form a hurdle gate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of the cone with a smartphone depicted in phantom in front of the sloping side of the cone.
FIG. 2 is a top view of a three-sided cone.
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a removable gecko tape holding a smartphone by two gripper arms.
FIG. 4 is an overhead perspective view of a pair of cones forming a hurdle gate with a hurdle bar resting on cradles supported by poles located for insertion through a stack of cones.
FIG. 5 is a front view of an embodiment of the hurdle gate of FIG. 4 with the hurdle bar resting above stacked cones.
FIG. 6 is a front view of an embodiment of a hurdle gate with cradles in front of the stacks of cones.
FIG. 6A is an enhanced sectional view of a bottom cone cap mounted outside the bottom of a hurdle gate cone.
FIG. 6B is similar to FIG. 6A and shows another embodiment of a bottom cone cap inside the bottom of a hurdle gate cone.
FIG. 7 is a side view of a hurdle gate cone of FIG. 6A showing a saddle supported by a pole to hold one end of a hurdle bar in front of the cone.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to FIG. 1, the cone 1 is a hollow truncated pyramidal cone having sides 2, 2a and 2b converging along a 102.5° slope. The cone 1 may have at least three sides. This angle is selected to ensure a preferred best camera lens angle for the smartphone's camera lens 7A (shown in phantom). This slope permits optimal aiming of the lens of the camera(s) to capture the photo finish time of an athlete executing a running drill or crossing a race finish line at which the cone has been prepositioned. A base 3 for the cone is flat and extends outwardly along the ground to peripherally surround the bottom of the sides of the cone. One or more sides may have a logo, such as JAWKU® or JAWKU SPEED®, displayed thereon to aid cone identification by pickup crews following drill workouts.
The base 3 is rimmed upward slightly by a lip 4 to aid in securing the smartphone on the cone between the lip and a side 2 against which it is located in a leaning position. The base 3 provides stability on the ground for the cone. The space between the lip 4 and the bottom edge of the sloping side is such as to allow the thickness of bottom edge 8 of the smartphone to snugly fit there between without slippage. This fit counters gusty winds and vibrations which can affect the stability of the smartphone leaning on the cone.
A base 3 of a small cone may be 7.75 inches in width per side between corners with the cone 6.75 inches tall to provide adequate ground stability of the cone and the smartphone. The above dimensions are not intended to be limitations as larger sizes may be utilized guided by the general ratio derivable from the above.
A row of holes 20 shown in FIG. 1 extends downward along the slope of the side 2 and are open to the hollow interior of the cone: Set screws or locking pins 30 (shown in FIG. 5) converge on the same plane and secure a pole passed through a central hole 11 in the truncated top 6. Below this row are parallel slots 26 into which a holder has a back with a tapered flexible plug inserted in one of the slots 26 with the holder having a front side supporting adjustable clamps 27, 27A (outlined in phantom in FIG. 2). A spring is used to adjustably bias the clamps towards each other to grip different sizes of smartphones. The plug has a conical tip with spaced tapered split sides forced to close upon entering a slot 26.
FIG. 2 depicts a top view of cone 1 having a triangular top 6 with the cone's three sides 2, 2a and 2b sloping at a 102.5° angle to the base. A hole 11 is centered in the top 6 and provides an opening to the hollow interior of the cone 1. Smartphone 7 is held by the clamps 27, 27A mounted to side 2. The left hand side 2a of the cone has two holes 22 with upper ends of hooks 10 attached there through and lower hook ends engaging an add-on ledge 12 through small holes at each end of the ledge. The ledge can be adjusted vertically by use of smaller length hooks. The add-on ledge has a retaining lip 12a to prevent smartphone slippage.
The right hand side 2b of the cone may be used to hang a ledge, like ledge 12, without the use of any holes in either the side 2b or the ledge by the use of double-sided gecko tape. As shown in FIG. 3, a small double sided strip of gecko tape 16 is pressed high on the side 2b with the front facing of the strip adhering to thin downwardly hanging arms 17, 17A. Clips 18, 18A are attached to the arms to pinch the upper perimeter of the smartphone outside of the screen or touch control areas. The gecko tape is used to temporarily secure the smartphone to a desired higher elevation on the sloped side 2b of the cone. This provides freedom for secure positioning of the smartphone higher than the base 3 of the FIG. 1 embodiment. Moderate wind or rain will not affect the gecko tape holding power for such application. The term “gecko tape” is commonly used in the adhesive art being derived from the feet of geckos' ability to stick to vertical or ceiling surfaces without use of adhesive. Gecko tape, also known as Geckskin®, has a synthetic surface emulating the gecko mammal feet having many tiny fibers relying for holding when pressed down on the forces of the Van der Wall principle. Although this surface is characterized technically as a non-sticking dry adhesive surface, it does not use a chemical adhesive and is easily removable without leaving any residue. It was featured in 2012 by CNN news as one of the top five innovations that year. The gecko tape is reusable multiple times and easily cleaned of dust and debris for immediate reuse.
As at least three sides constitutes the pyramidal cone, it is possible to set up a different smartphone on each side at different heights using the above disclosed three different holders, each of which is independently height adjustable.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, plural cones support hurdle bar 26. Each cone is fourteen inches in height. By stacking several of the cones, which are hollow, an adjustable height may be selected to support hurdle bar 26 at various hurdle regulation heights. In one embodiment, cones have vertical rows of holes 20 (shown in FIG. 1) on each side to permit set screws or locking pins 30 (shown in FIG. 5) to engage pre-marked vertical lower portions of long poles 28, 29 whereby stack height is adjustable when the long poles are seated within the stacked cones through the holes 11 of each cone.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 curved cradles 32, 33 are attached at the upper portion of long pole 28, 29. These cradles support the ends of a hurdle bar 26 sitting on top of the cradles which are curved or bowed as shown in FIG. 4 as a safety feature to allow the hurdle bar to lift and roll-off if the athlete's feet strike the hurdle bar.
The path of the jump is shown by reference arrow E in FIG. 4 with the direction of insertion of long poles 28, 29 through top holes 11 shown by double arrows C and D. Vertical adjustment of the hurdle bar 26 is also possible using telescoping poles for the poles 28, 29.
A sectional view of a hollow cone with an exterior bottom support cap 44 covering the open ended bottom of the cone is depicted in FIG. 6A. The inside of the cover cap 44 has a raised collar 43 open upwardly to receive an end of a long pole 40 when inserted through the hole 11 of the cone top 6. The bottom end of a pole 40 is thrust downward to engage/disengage the raised collar 43 in the directions shown in the figure by the double ended arrow PA. The combination of the top hole 11 and channel guide 43 stabilize the cradle 35. The cradle 35 is positioned in front of the cone or stacks of cones by an arm 41 attached to the cradle underside as best viewed in FIG. 7. A locking collar 42 abutting the underside of the arm is adjustable to allow the arm to move axially along the pole 40 for height adjustment of the cradle. The cover cap 44 has an outer perimeter which snap fits the cover around the rim of the cone.
Another variation of a cover cap is an inside cover cap 44A snugly fitted within the hollow bottom of the cone as shown in detail in FIG. 6B. A raised collar with an open channel 43A is centrally positioned and receives the end of the pole 40 when inserted fully downward through the top hole 11. The periphery of the inside cover cap 44A is sloped to match the inside slopes of the cone sides to allow a snug fit.
FIG. 6 shows the cover 44A used with the bottom cone to permit multiple stacking. Although not shown, either cone stack of the hurdle gate may use the outer snap cover embodiment of FIG. 6A.
SUMMARY
This invention is directed to a multi-use cone in the field of sports and is an inexpensive tripod capable of simultaneously mounting plural cameras facing different directions at different camera lens angles while at the same time serving as an integral part of a mounting system for hurdle gates. Other applications are possible, such as in military, in basic obstacle course training exercises. The poles 28, 29 may at their top mount various colored flags, lights, communication antennas, etc., useful for signaling and numbering positions of a course serving as expendable range finders when live ammunition is used.
Patent Grant
12039810
