Patent Application
20200315819
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure and prior art relates to prostheses and more particularly pertains to a new prosthesis for enabling a user with a residual arm to play a cue sport.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a socket that is configured to position over and to couple to a residual arm of a user. A connector that is coupled to the socket is configured to selectively couple to a cue stick to couple the socket to the cue stick, positioning the user to manipulate the cue stick to play a cue sport, such as pool and billiards.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The socket 12 comprises a tube 16 that has a lower end 18 and an upper end 20. The lower end 18 is closed and arcuate so that the lower end 18 is substantially complementary to a profile of an end of the residual arm of the user. The upper end 20 is open and is configured to insert the end of the residual arm of the user to position the tube 16 over the residual arm. The present invention also anticipates the tube 16 being custom made to fit the residual arm of the user.
A plurality of cutouts 22 extends into the tube 16 from the upper end 20 toward the lower end 18. The plurality of cutouts 22 comprises two cutouts 22 that are elongated U-shaped and substantially opposingly positioned in the tube 16, as shown in
The prosthesis 10 also comprises a strap 24. A first fastener 26 and a second fastener 28 are coupled to a first end 30 and a second end 32 of the strap 24, respectively. The second fastener 28 is complementary to the first fastener 26. The strap 24 is configured to position around the tube 16 proximate to the upper end 20 and to be tightened around the tube 16. The cutouts 22 are configured to contract so that the upper end 20 of the tube 16 abuts the residual arm and so that the second fastener 28 is positioned to couple to the first fastener 26 to fixedly position the strap 24 on the tube 16 to couple the tube 16 to the residual arm. The second fastener 28 and the first fastener 26 comprises a hook and loop fastener 34. The first end 30 of the strap 24 is coupled to the tube 16 proximate to a respective cutout 22.
A connector 36 that is coupled to the socket 12, as shown in
The connector 36 comprises a ring 42 that is configured to insert a tip end 44 of the cue stick 38 and to slide along a shaft 46 of the cue stick 38 until an inner surface 48 of the ring 42 frictionally couples to the shaft 46 of the cue stick 38 proximate to a natural grasping point 50 on the shaft 46. The inner surface 48 is tapered so that the inner surface 48 substantially matches a profile of the shaft 46 at the natural grasping point 50.
In another embodiment, as shown in
In use, the socket 12 is positioned over and coupled to the residual arm of the user. The connector 36 then is coupled to a cue stick 38 to couple the socket 12 to the cue stick 38, positioning the user to manipulate the cue stick 38 to play a cue sport, such as pool and billiards.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
