Patent Application
20060046899
The present invention relates to a quick connecting mechanism for quickly and conveniently assembling and disassembling two vertically adjacent sections forming legs and/or safety fence posts of a trampoline.
Conventional trampolines have an open jumping bed that tends to cause accidents when a child jumps thereon. Therefore, a protective net located around a space above the jumping bed has become a required item for a trampoline. U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,207 B1 discloses a trampoline having a safety fence for enclosing a space immediately above a jumping bed. The jumping bed of the trampoline disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,207 B1 is usually supported to a predetermined height by connecting to a legged frame via a plurality of radially extended elastic elements, such as springs. The elastic elements are fixedly connected at an inner end to an outer periphery of the jumping bed, and at an outer end to the legged frame, which is normally round or rectangular in shape.
To mount the safety fence around the space above the jumping bed, a plurality of spaced and upward extended posts are connected to the legged frame for holding a protective net thereto. The posts for supporting the safety fence are usually assembled from a plurality of sections to have a height sufficient to covera user's bouncing height above the jumping bed.
The legged frame of the trampoline also includes legs assembled from a plurality of vertical sections. A trampoline manufacturer would usually ship the trampoline in a disassembled state, and different components of the trampoline, including the sections for forming the legs and safety fence posts, are assembled at the site for erecting the trampoline. In the conventional trampoline, two vertically adjacent sections forming the legs and the safety fence posts are connected by means of screwing them to each other, and therefore, a lot of time is required to assemble the sections for use and disassemble the sections for storage.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a quick connecting mechanism for effectively assembling and disassembling two vertically adjacent sections forming trampoline legs and/or safety fence posts at largely reduced labors and time.
To achieve the above and other objects, the quick connecting mechanism for trampoline legs and safety fence posts according to the present invention mainly includes an upper and a lower hollow sections, and an elastic connecting element mounted between the upper and the lower section. The lower section includes an upper end portion that has a reduced outer diameter equal to an inner diameter of a main body of the upper section, and is formed at a predetermined position with at least one lower radial hole corresponding to at least one upper radial hole formed at a predetermined position on the main body of the upper section. The elastic connecting element is integrally formed from a metal material to include two arms that normally elastically extend outward from a common point at predetermined inclinations, and one of the two arms is provided at a free end with at least one sideward and outward projected retaining head, which is diametrically slightly smaller than the upper and lower radial holes. The elastic connecting element is mounted in the lower section with the two inclinedly extended arms elastically compressed in the diameter-reduced upper end portion of the lower section and the at least one retaining head engaged with and partially projected from the at least one lower radial hole.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one retaining head and the two arms of the elastic connecting element are integrally formed from a sheet metal material, and the at least one retaining head is a hollow cylinder having an axial slit to provide the hollow cylinder a desired tolerance for a solid insert to plug therein.
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
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The lower section 20 includes an upper end portion 21 that has a reduced outer diameter equal to an inner diameter of a main body of the upper section 10, and is formed at a predetermined position with a lower radial hole 22 corresponding to an upper radial hole 12 formed at a predetermined position on the main body of the upper section 10.
In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the elastic connecting element 30 is a substantially V-shaped member integrally formed from a metal material to include a first and a second arm 31, 32 that normally extend outward at predetermined inclinations. In the illustrated embodiment, the first arm 31 has an inclination smaller than that of the second arm 32. The first arm 31 is provided at a free end with a sideward and outward projected retaining head 33, which is diametrically slightly smaller than the radial holes 12, 22 and preferably has a rounded free end 34.
The retaining head 33 and the two elastic arms 31, 32 are integrally formed from a sheet metal material. The retaining head 33 is a hollow cylinder formed by pressing, and is provided at a predetermined position with an axial slit 35 that provides the hollow retaining head 33 with a desired tolerance for a solid insert 36 to plug into the hollow retaining head 33.
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Although only one elastic connecting element 30 is provided in the above-described preferred embodiment for quick connection of two vertically adjacent sections 10, 20 of the legs and/or safety fence posts of a trampoline, it is understood more than one elastic connecting element 30 may be used to ensure a stable connection of the two sections 10, 20.
With the quick connecting mechanism of the present invention, two vertically adjacent sections forming the legs and/or the safety fence posts of a trampoline could be quickly and conveniently assembled or disassembled to effectively save a lot of labor for assembling the trampoline.
The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
