Patent Application
20140041106
The present invention relates to swimming goggles, and more particularly to backstroke swimming goggles.
Swimming is a sport that keeps people in great shape. Swimming exercises most of the body's muscles, and swimming can even save one's life. For most of competitive sports, it is almost guaranteed that people will eventually get hurt by sport injuries. In comparison, swimming is a sport that rarely causes serious injury. However, like me, most swimmers have bumped their head at the end of the pool while swimming backstroke. While at full sprinting speed, this type of injury may even result in minor concussions, and is also quite painful. It is desirable to design swimming goggles that allow swimmers to see the end of the pool without moving their head while swimming in backstroke. Also, backstroke swimmers often swim in a curvy zigzag path in their lane instead of a simple direct straight line. If the swimmer swims in a zigzag path, then the distance that they swim will be longer, and it also makes them look bad. It is desirable for a swimmer to see the sights behind them while swimming backstroke, so that they may line up their position, thus allowing the swimmer to swim in a straight line. It is also desirable to have swimming goggles that can help swimmers maintain proper head position while swimming backstrokes.
Decorato in U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,345 disclosed a swimming goggle equipped with special lens that attaches onto the front of the eye sockets, increasing the user's lateral vision. It, however, does not enable the ability to see behind his or herself, and does not provide wide enough visual range to support backstroke.
Lathrop in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,340 disclosed a pair of comfortable competition goggles with anti fog washing, watertight fits that enhance the eyesight, and improved forward vision that allows the user to see the wall without lifting their head while swimming the crawl, breast, and butterfly strokes. The swimming goggles, however, does not improve backwards vision, and cannot benefit the ability to see the end of the pool without moving their head while swimming in backstroke.
Tagyo in U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,822 disclosed an attractively shaped pair of goggles that provide watertight vision, and also allow the user to swim faster due to its smooth single large lens. It, however, does not provide the ability to see the wall while swimming backstroke.
Yokota in U.S. Patent Application No. 20060010587 disclosed a pair of goggles that use a contact section that attaches to the area around the eye in the eye socket, therefore, improving the user's field vision. The goggles also prevent light refraction that may cause discomfort to the owner. These goggles may enhance the peripheral vision while swimming backstroke, but it does not give a clear vision of the wall; the swimmers still need to change their normal head positions to see the wall. It also does not use a light reflector.
A primary objective of the preferred embodiments is, therefore, to provide swimming goggles that allow the user to see behind him or her without changing their normal head position while swimming backstroke. This will reduce the chance of injury, since they can now see where the wall is. Another primary objective is to prevent the swimmer from swimming in a zigzag manner when they swim across the pool in their lane. This will allow the swimmer to go faster, and prevent the user from crashing into the lane lines. These and other objectives are assisted by providing swimming goggles with backstroke viewing windows at the eye sockets.
While the novel features of the invention are set forth with particularly in the appended claims, the invention, both as to organization and content, will be better understood and appreciated, along with other objects and features thereof, from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings.
a) shows one example of the swimming goggles of the present invention that has a backstroke viewing window on one eye socket;
b) shows the swimming goggle in
c) shows a goggle without a light blocking cover on the backstroke viewing window;
a, b) are cross-section views of an eye socket that can automatically switch the position of the light blocking cover of the backstroke viewing window;
a) shows a simplified view of a user who is swimming freestyle on his front;
b) shows a simplified view of a user who is swimming backstroke on his back;
a, b) are cross-section views of an eye socket that can automatically switch the positions of the light blocking cover and the light reflector.
a-d) show examples of the goggles of the present invention. The goggles in these examples comprise two eye sockets (101,102) connected by a nosepiece (103) and a head strap (104). Each eye socket (101,102) has a forward viewing window (111) that is mounted on a suction socket (113). Typically, the forward viewing window (111) is made of transparent plastic plate, and the suction socket (113) is made of rubber or plastic. The suction socket (113) sticks onto swimmer's eyes, creating a water tight seal while providing a space between the eye and the forward viewing window (113), allowing clear under-water vision. These structures are similar to those used in conventional swimming goggles. In addition, the examples in
While the preferred embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, other modifications and changes will be evident to those skilled in the art. For example, the light reflector (123) can be a mirror instead of a half-mirror. For another example,
The light blocking cover (121) of the backstroke viewing window (122) shown in
While the preferred embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, other modifications and changes will be evident to those skilled in the art. It is to be understood that there are many other possible modifications and implementations so that the scope of the invention is not limited by the specific embodiments discussed herein. For example, the light reflector also can be automatically switched into position as shown by the cross-section diagrams in
The eye socket shown in
The preferred embodiments of the present invention provide swimming goggles that allow the user to see the end of swimming pool without changing normal head position while swimming backstroke. The chance of injury is reduced because backstroke swimmers can now see where the wall is. The backstroke swimmer also can adjust swimming direction by vision to swim in straight line to achieve better time. These and other objectives are achieved by opening backstroke viewing windows at the eye sockets of swimming goggles. A light blocking cover can be used to prevent unwanted light going through the backstroke viewing window. The light blocking cover can be operated manually or automatically. A light reflector is typically used with the backstroke viewing window. This light reflector can be a half mirror or a full mirror. The light reflector also can be designed to change position automatically according the stroke the swimmer is swimming.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is realized that other modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
