Pogo stick with a counting mechanism

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6589140
  • Patent Number
    6,589,140
  • Date Filed
    Friday, January 4, 2002
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 8, 2003
    21 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Crow; Stephen R.
    Agents
    • Harrison & Egbert
Abstract
A pogo stick or jump leg is used for amusement and exercise and is formed of a cylindrical body, a handle frame, a footboard, a landing rod, and a counting mechanism which is disposed in the handle frame and is formed of a counter, a drive member, and a linking member. The linking member is actuated by the landing rod in motion to activate the drive member so as to drive the counter for keeping count of jumps made by the landing rod.
Description




RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS




Not applicable.




STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT




Not applicable.




REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX




Not applicable.




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates generally to a device for amusement and exercise, and more particularly to a jumping device which is provided with a counting mechanism to exhibit the number of jumps made by the user of the device.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




As shown in

FIG. 1

, a prior art pogo stick or jump leg


10


comprises a handle frame


11


, a footboard


12


, and a landing rod


14


. The handle frame


11


is provided with a cylindrical slot


13


extending downwards to fasten to the footboard


12


. The landing rod


14


is extended from the handle frame


11


such that the landing rod


14


is put through the cylindrical slot


13


and the footboard


12


to make contact with the ground surface. The landing rod


14


is provided with a compression spring


16


fitted thereover. A user of the prior art jump leg


10


stands on the footboard


12


such that both hands of the user hold the handle frame


11


. The user does the jumping with the jump leg


10


for amusement and exercise. The prior art jump leg


10


is not provided with a means to count automatically the number of jumps made by the user.




BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a pogo stick or jump leg with a counting mechanism to exhibit the number of jumps automatically.




In keeping with the principle of the present invention, the foregoing objective of the present invention is achieved by the jump leg comprising a main body and a counting mechanism. The main body comprises a handle frame, a footboard, a cylindrical slot, a landing rod, and a compression spring. The counting mechanism is mounted in the handle frame and is formed of a counter, a drive member, and a linking member. As the jump leg is put into action, the linking member is pushed by the top end of the landing rod repeatedly such that the linking member actuates the drive member to be engaged with a driving gear of the counter. The number of jumps is exhibited by the numbered wheels which are engaged with the driving gear of the counter.




The features and the advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

shows a schematic view of a jump leg of the prior art in use.





FIG. 2

shows a sectional view of the counting mechanism of the jump leg of the present invention.





FIG. 3

shows a schematic view of the counting mechanism of the jump leg of the present invention at work.





FIGS. 4-6

are schematic views showing the drive member and the driving gear of the counting mechanism of the jump leg of the present invention in the state of operation.





FIG. 7

shows a partial front view of the jump leg of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




As shown in

FIGS. 2-7

, a pogo stick or jump leg embodied in the present invention is basically similar in structure and function to the prior art jump leg as shown in

FIG. 1

, with the difference being that the jump leg of the present invention comprises a counting mechanism


20


for keeping count of jumps of the jump leg of the present invention.




The jump leg of the present invention is formed of a cylindrical body


10


, a handle frame


11


extending from the top end of the cylindrical body


10


, a footboard (not shown in the drawings) fastened to the bottom end of the cylindrical body


10


, a receiving space


13


located in the interior of the cylindrical body


10


such that the receiving space


13


is extended through both longitudinal ends of the cylindrical body


10


, and a landing rod


14


provided with a compression spring


16


fitted thereover. The landing rod


14


is movably received in the receiving space


13


such that the bottom end of the landing rod


14


is in contact with a surface.




The handle frame


11


is provided in the interior with a receiving slot


17


in which the counting mechanism


20


is disposed. The counting mechanism


20


is formed of a counter


21


, a drive member


22


, and a linking member


23


.




The counter


21


comprises a plurality of counting wheels


212


, each having Arabic numerals. The counting wheels


212


are corresponding in location to a window


18


of the handle frame


11


such that the Arabic numerals of the counting wheels


212


can be seen via the window


18


. The counting wheels


212


are linked by a plurality of linking gears


213


and are driven by a driving gear


214


.




The drive member


22


is formed of a pivoting portion


223


, an upper drive portion


224


, a lower drive portion


225


, and a moving arm


226


, as shown in FIG.


4


. The upper drive portion


224


and the lower drive portion


225


are capable of swiveling on the pivoting portion


223


so as to engage the driving gear


214


, as illustrated in

FIGS. 4

,


5


, and


6


. The drive member


22


is provided with a spring


227


which is used to enable the lower drive portion


225


to be always engaged with the driving gear


214


at the time when the jump leg of the present invention is not in use, as illustrated in FIG.


4


.




The linking member


23


is pivotally mounted in a guide slot


18


of the receiving slot


17


of the handle frame


11


such that the top end of linking member


23


is located under the moving arm


226


of the drive member


22


, and that the bottom end of the linking member


23


is located over the top end of the landing rod


14


. The linking member


23


is provided at the bottom end with a stop edge


24


for stopping the bottom end of a recovery spring


25


which is fitted over the linking member


23


such that the top end of the recovery spring


25


is stopped by the wall of the top end of the guide slot


18


.




As illustrated in

FIG. 3

, when the jump leg of the present invention is in action, the linking member


23


is pushed by the top end of the landing rod


14


to move upwards. As a result, the moving arm


226


of the drive member


22


is pushed by the top end of the linking member


23


so as to cause the upper drive portion


224


of the drive member


22


to engage the driving gear


214


, as shown in FIG.


5


. When the moving arm


226


is relived of the push of the top end of the linking member


23


, the lower drive portion


225


is actuated by the spring force of the spring


227


of the drive member


22


to engage the driving gear


214


, as shown in FIG.


6


.



Claims
  • 1. A jumping device for amusement and exercise, comprising:a cylindrical body provided in an interior with a receiving space extending through both longitudinal ends thereof; a handle frame extending upwards from a top end of said cylindrical body and comprised of a window and a receiving slot whereby said receiving slot is comprised of a guide slot; a footboard fastened to a bottom end of said cylindrical body; a landing rod slidably received in said receiving space of said cylindrical body such that a bottom end of said landing rod is in contact with a surface; and a counting mechanism mounted in said receiving slot of said handle frame and comprised of: a counter comprising a plurality of counting wheels, each having Arabic numerals, said counting wheels corresponding in location to said window of said handle frame such that the Arabic numerals of said counting wheels can be seen via said window, said counting wheels being linked by a plurality of linking gears and driven by a driving gear; a drive member comprised of a pivoting portion, an upper drive portion, a lower drive portion, and a moving arm, said upper drive portion and said lower drive portion being turned on said pivoting portion so as to engage said driving gear of said counter whereby said drive member is provided with a spring to enable said lower drive portion of said drive member to keep engaging said driving gear of said counter at the time when said jumping device is not in action; and a linking member mounted pivotally in said guide slot of said receiving slot of said handle frame such that a top end of said linking member is located under said moving arm of said drive member, and such that a bottom end of said linking member is located over a top end of said landing rod, said linking member comprised of a stop edge extending therefrom, and a recovery spring fitted thereover such that a bottom end of said recovery spring is stopped by said stop edge of said linking member and such that a top end of said recovery spring is stopped by a top end wall of said guide slot of said receiving slot of said handle frame whereby said linking member is pushed by the top end of said landing rod in action such that the top end of said linking member pushes said moving arm of said drive member so as to cause said upper drive portion of said drive member to engage said driving gear of said counter, said lower drive portion of said drive member being actuated by a spring force of said spring of said drive member to engage said driving gear of said counter at such time when said moving arm of said drive member is relieved of a pushing force of the top end of said linking member.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number Name Date Kind
3181862 White May 1965 A
5011136 Rennex Apr 1991 A
6168555 Fetterleigh et al. Jan 2001 B1