Patent Application
20110263387
The present invention relates to apparatus to be applied to the body of a novice swim student to enhance confidence and provide a teaching aid for the instructor.
Most beginning swim students, and especially young children, find that being placed in a prone swimming position in a body of water is an intimidating, if not a frightening experience, and not one adapted to inspire confidence. Even with the underbody hand support of an instructor many beginners are prone to panic when asked to reach and pull or do the crawl and scissor kick at the same time.
As the inspiration for the present invention, it has been discovered that beginners immediately relax and become receptive to teaching commands once the student senses lifting type of support at the small of the back.
The prior art has seen many different configurations of apparatus designed to either assist beginning swimmers or provide instruction to more advanced swimmers. The U.S. Pat. to Lan et al., No. 7,185,598 for Swim Training and Buoyancy Assist Device, is one illustration of the prior art where the distal end of a tether is attached to a belt around the swimmer's waist. The tether is anchored to the side of a swimming pool restraining the swimmer from moving more than a short distance in one direction from the anchor. While possibly providing apparent buoyancy or lifting, the device would not prevent a beginning swimmer from sinking to a depth that would produce panic.
Similar apparatus have been developed by others but suffer from the same disadvantage, that is, the device is primarily useful to a swimmer who has at least some ability to cope with the water and execute at least remedial swimming strokes without fear.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide an easily donned and non-hampering harness to be worn by a beginning swim student that will provide a swim instructor with means to build confidence and reduce the student's fear of the water.
Another object of the invention is to provide a harness for the beginning swimmer that includes a handle by which an instructor can easily provide a lifting force to the lower back of a prone swim student to keep the student from being immersed in the water to an extent that will cause panic and fear.
Another and further object of the invention is to combine the function of supporting the swimmer by lifting the handle on the swimmer's harness with the added function of moving the swimmer's legs in a manner that will encourage the leg kicking that is required of a prone swimmer.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent on a reading of the following description of the preferred form of the invention taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.
The swim training harness of the present invention includes a waist belt with an operating handle, two leg bands and a pair of straps interconnecting the operating handle and the respective leg bands. The operating handle serves two purposes. It acts first as the point of application of the lifting force. Second, when rotated to a limited degree, the operating handle mechanism will put tension on one of the connecting straps, causing the leg to which the respective leg band is attached to be raised, simulating the intentional movement of the leg in the required kicking motion. Limited rotation of the handle in the opposite direction will cause the other leg to be raised.
Referring first to
As seen in
The leg bands 12 are constructed of flexible material that accommodates being wrapped around the thigh portion of a human leg. Hook and loop attachment material secures each leg band around the leg. The posterior side of each leg band is provided at its lower edge with a ring 31 to which the respective distal ends of the straps 15 are secured. In vertical alignment with the ring 31, the upper edge of the posterior side of each leg band is provided with a second ring 33 through which the respective connecting strap is trained for sliding movement. Each of the connecting straps 15 is provided with a length adjusting buckle 34 intermediate the strap's proximal and distal ends.
Looking further at the lever arm assembly, it is seen in
The handle 10 is secured to a shaft 41 that is perpendicular to the plane of the disc 22. The shaft projects from the surface of the disc a sufficient distance to engage a bore in the bottom of the handle 10 and hold the handle at a sufficient distance from the top cover 43 of the housing 28 that will permit the handle to be fully grasped by the hand and fingers of an instructor.
The belt 6 of the harness 2 may be constructed of a suitable webbing material with length adjusting buckles 44. The webbing may be covered in whole or in part by a rubber sleeve 47 to prohibit undesired bending or twisting of the webbing and to enhance the comfort of the harness.
In operation, once the instructor has stabilized the student by holding vertical pressure on the handle 10 the instructor can then proceed to introduce the kicking maneuvers that are critical to swimming technique. By rotating the handle 45° the attached lever arm 28 (the disc 22 in the preferred embodiment) will rotate causing the connecting straps 15 to respectively pull on one of the leg bands, raising the leg to which that band is attached, and relaxing tension on the other connecting strap, allowing the leg to which that strap is connected to lower deeper into the water. By reversing the direction of rotation of the handle by 90° the opposite effect is achieved. As the student gets the feeling of how the legs should flutter to perform the proper kicking action, the instructor may increase the frequency of rotation and reverse rotation to enhance the kicking maneuver all the while keeping upward lifting pressure on the handle to steady the student and improve his confidence in dealing with breathing and otherwise dealing with a water environment. The handle 10 is restrained from rotation beyond 45° from its neutral position by the engagement of the disc fences 40 with the stop pins 36.
