Patent Application
20080269019
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1. Field
The technology of the present application relates generally to safety enclosures for trampolines, and more specifically to an arched access door for a safety enclosure to facilitate ingress and egress.
2. Background
A trampoline provides a frame having a taut mat coupled to the frame using elastically biased members. A user can stand on the mat and perform various solo or group jumping maneuvers. Trampolines may be used for fun and recreation as well as for training, such as, for extreme skiing.
Trampolines, however, come with many unique safety issues. One issue is falling off of the trampoline. Moreover, the younger the user the more likely the user is to be injured by failing off of the trampoline. Therefore, many owners of trampolines feel it is necessary to provide a safety enclosure to inhibit falling from the trampoline.
Many styles of safety enclosures exist. One such enclosure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,468, issued to Nichols, Jr. et al. In particular, Nichols shows a trampoline having a frame and a jumping mat connected to the frame via a plurality of sprints. The frame has a plurality of poles extending above the frame to which a flexible member, typically a mesh fabric or plastic, is attached using ties, springs, clips or the like. The poles may be wrapped with a foam sleeve for safety. The enclosure facilitates stopping a user from unintentionally falling off of the jumping surface. Some enclosures function to positively move the user (or jumper) from the edge. Other enclosures function to stop the movement of the user.
The enclosure needs to have an access point to allow ingress and egress from the jumping surface. Some enclosures, such as Nichols, Jr. above, provide a vertical slit at a point in the enclosure. Generally, the vertical slit is formed at a leading and trailing edge of the enclosure to form a single entry, exit point. In some cases, the leading and trailing edges may overlap to inhibit unintentional exiting from the jumping area. To meet ASTM standards, the leading and trailing edges may be connected via a coupling device, such as, for example, corresponding hook-and-loop material, zippers, snaps, ties, or the like. Some enclosures include both a vertical slit and a horizontal slit. In these cases, a flap opens in the enclosure wall.
In both cases, ingress and egress are difficult as the material associated with the entrance remains essentially in the way of the user and must be moved to provide entry. While ingress is not overly difficult even with the fabric in the way as one is stabile on a stationary platform. Egress through the conventional access ports is relatively difficult as the user is trying to exit from an unstable surface. Thus, the possibility of tripping and falling out of the entry/exit point may be increased.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a trampoline enclosure with an improved entry/exit point to address these and other deficiencies in the art.
The foregoing and other features, utilities and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The technology of the present application will be described with reference to an enclosure for a recreational trampoline. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the enclosure could be used in other situations. Moreover, the technology of the present application will be described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Moreover, unless specifically so stated, all embodiments discussed and disclosed herein should be considered exemplary.
Referring first to
Enclosure 140 includes a plurality of poles 142 extending above mat 102. Above is used as a term of orientation for the poles 142 and should not be considered limiting. Poles 142 may be coupled to every or every other vertical component 116 of legs 114 as shown. Poles 142 also may be coupled to frame 106 directly. Poles 142 are encased in a foam sleeve 144 that has an end cap 146 at the end of the tubular pole 142.
Flexible member 148 is coupled poles 142 to surround at least mat 102, but as shown may surround the entire frame 106. Flexible member 148 may be any conventional material, but is typically a nylon mesh or the like. There are a number of conventional ways to attach flexible member 148 to enclosure 140 known in the art that will not be explained herein except to the extent necessary to understand the technology of the present application. As shown, however, flexible member 148 is coupled to poles 142 using ties 150 as shown.
Referring now to
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The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/913,991, title TRAMPOLINE ENCLOSURE WITH ARCHED ACCESS DOOR, incorporated herein by reference as if set out in full.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60913991 | Apr 2007 | US |
