Patent Application
20140014604
The present invention relates to urban sports furniture comprising various embodiments of gymnastic equipment for exercises and stretching, manufactured in a modular manner, including a media display panel with a single base which is easy-to-level and a platform delimiting its area. The sports furniture is intended for installation in public areas with the exploitation of publicity exposed on the faces of its media display panel.
At present, there are various pieces of sports equipment installed in public areas, such as squares, beaches and parks. The vast majority thereof is installed in a fixed and definitive manner at the places, and for each type of exercise there is a separate piece of equipment. In this way, there have to be various pieces of equipment installed separately from each other in a single place, so that a user can exercise various groups of muscles.
Patent of invention PI0800318-1, entitled “Aparelho de Ginástica Móvel e Portátil com Barra Fixa e Barras Parallelas Conjugadas” (Movable and Portable Gym Apparatus with Conjugated Fixed Bar and Parallel Bars), relates to a piece of sports equipment that conjugates a fixed bar with a pair of parallel bars on a single gymnastic apparatus. This apparatus is dismountable, movable, portable, light and easy to install, being composed of tubes and/or metalons. Due to these characteristics, it can be easily transported and rapidly assembled. It has its fixed bar adjustable in height and does not damage the floor, since it does not need to be fixed thereon.
International patent application WO2011/007026, entitled “Exercise Bench for Spaces for Public Use”, likewise relates to a piece of sports equipment with an exercise bench designed specially to be placed at public use spaces. It is further intended to provide an element for practicing exercises that can be integrated, as a decorative element, with the space for public use, such as parks and gardens, in which it is installed. The bench comprises a number of vertical, horizontal and transversal rods, besides two support plates, gripping bars, and cylindrical bars. The most outstanding characteristic is the fact that it can be understood as a new interpretation of the known Rietveld chair on a larger scale, as a monument or even as an urban sculpture.
The urban sports furniture proposed herein differs from PI0800318-1 and WO2011/007026, especially in that it is manufactured in a modular manner with a single base that is easy to transport and install, and includes a media display panel conjugated to the pieces of sports equipment. This panel has the objective of displaying publicity media to passers-by and drivers on highways and streets, near which the piece of furniture is installed, obviously besides exposing them to the users of the equipment.
Additionally, the urban sports furniture provided allows, in various embodiments, the simultaneous use of the equipment for up to five users, whereas PI0800318-1 and WO2011/007026 comprise, at most, two users at the same time. Further, the exercise and/or stretching apparatuses that compose the piece of urban sports furniture are conjugated into a single piece. The absence of movable or adjustable parts brings the advantage of longer durability, that is, resistance to vandalism and ease of maintenance, which results in reduction of expenditures with the equipment.
More and more urban centers need leisure areas for the population. And in these leisure areas the existence of means for the inhabitants to practice exercise to achieve well-being is fundamental. Starting from this need, the present invention presents, in the various embodiments described, a piece of sports equipment that provides various types of physical exercises and/or stretching, conjugated to a media display panel. The piece of sports equipment and the media display panel are arranged on a single base, which is easy to level, transport and install, thereby creating a delimited, safe and specific space for its users. Such equipment will be called urban sports furniture from now on.
The development of the various embodiments comprises a main structure of the equipment, wherein the media display panel is installed perpendicularly. Both the main structure of the equipment and the media display panel are fixed by means of screws, rivets, weld or any other means of mechanical union to the structural elements that form the single base of the equipment.
The urban sports furniture comprises, in at least one embodiment, the use by up to five users simultaneously, providing them with the following options of utilization:
The media display panel that comprises the urban sports furniture presents a rectangular structure with its sides of longer length in the vertical position. It is fixed by means of arms with a vertical column of the sports equipment and also on structural elements that compose the equipment base.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Various embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
As can be seen in the embodiment described in
The diameters of the parallel-bar exercise grips 6, of the triceps-exercise grips 8 and of the bar-exercise grips 5a-c are determined so as to concentrate the user's force on the muscle group aimed at by the exercise, instead of concentrating force on the user's hands, which may happen if the grips have diameters that are smaller than those specified.
The grips of the parallel-bar exercise 6 and of bar exercise 5a-c should be at a height from the base that enables the user to extend one's arms with up to 10% more than the average height of a standard user, thus enabling a broad use of the equipment by the population.
The distance between the vertical columns 10 should be such that the grips for parallel-bar exercise 5b and the grips for triceps exercise 6, fixed on their central axles will have a distance between axles suitable for a user of average height.
On the main lower horizontal cross-bars 12, one fixes two side wings 16 and two central wings 17a-c, which form the base 4 of the equipment. These wings 16, 17a-c may also be dismountable, thus facilitating the transportation and assembling of the urban sports furniture 1.
One should observe that the urban sports furniture 1 may also be embodied with other pieces of sports equipment at the place of the main structure 2, for instance, by including a table for abdominal exercises or one for supine exercises. The main structure 2 may further be configured as a bicycle rack, with the corresponding bicycle securing devices at the place of gym equipment. The structure 2 may further be configured as a rack for keeping surf boards, windsurf boards, kite-surf boards and body-boards, etc. The modular manufacture of the urban sports furniture enables various types of sports to be performed in the same region, for example, an exercise structure 2 as described above for physical exercises and stretching, and a rack for keeping boards, for instance, assembled on the same beach.
The urban sports furniture 1 has always, as constituent elements, a single base 4, which facilitates the leveling, enabling one to install the equipment at places without previous preparation, such as beaches, lawns, unleveled ground areas, a main structure 2, which may assume various forms of sports equipment, being described above an embodiment, and a media display panel 3.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
