OBSTACLE FOR EQUESTRIAN SPORTS"

Field of the invention

The objet of this invention is an obstacle for equestrian use, composed by inflatable barriers.

"Jump" means one or more barriers supported at one or both the ends by a specific support called wing or upright.

The present invention also relates to an obstacle for equestrian sports composed by at least one inflatable barrier fixed and supported only by wing or upright magnetic supports.

State of the art

In equestrian sports, in horse centers, particularly in those mainly design for show-jumping, wooden or plastic barriers are generally used. These barriers are then fixed to the wings or uprights, made of wood, steel or other rigid structure, through an adequate support system with plate or bracket which projects from the pole of the wing or upright and onto which the barrier rests.

These structures are not only subjected to wear and deterioration, but also difficult and bulky to be moved, and constitute one of the major injury for both horses and riders, impacting on them whilst jumping or accidentally falling near the barrier.

Partially to overcome these problems, inflatable barriers have been provided, i.e. inflatable planks resting on the brackets projecting from the wings or uprights. Examples of these barriers are described in the patent documents GB2306117 and DE8714265.

The proposed solution with these barriers neither solves completely the problems of safety in case of fall nor facilitates the phases of mounting, disassembling, transporting and storing the obstacles, as the bulkiest and most dangerous parts are the supports of the barriers.

Brief description of the invention

The object of the present invention is to solve the above highlighted problems, providing an obstacle for equestrian sports that is safe for the users (both horses and riders), easy to be mounted, demounted and transported, as well as stored in a warehouse.

This and other objects, that will be clearer below, are obtained through an obstacle for equestrian sports comprising

at least one barrier with structure that can be filled at least partially with an adequate gas, preferably air, and designed to be filled at least partially with said gas when in use, forming at least partially an outer surface that can be deformed reversibly when hit; at least one support for said barrier (preferably two opposite supports for the ends of the barrier) again with structure that can be filled at least partially with gas (preferably air), and designed to be filled at least partially with said gas when in use, forming at least partially an outer surface that can be deformed reversibly when hit; the filling gas of said at least one support can be equal to or different from the filling gas of the barrier but, in both cases, it is preferably air.

According to the invention, a barrier is preferably an element extending mainly longitudinally.

According to a preferred embodiment, two supports are adequately present in the form of wings or uprights designed to support said at least one barrier at the ends.

Obviously, gas filling occurs under a greater pressure than the ambient pressure, i.e. the gas contained inside the barrier and the barrier supports is at a greater pressure than the ambient pressure; gas filling (i.e. "inflating") of the barriers and the supports is preferably performed by means of common compressors or pumps.

According to a preferred embodiment, the obstacle comprises magnetic coupling means for connecting said at least one barrier with said at least one support.

In a preferred configuration these means comprise a plurality of first magnetic areas aligned from the top downward, according to a continuous or discontinuous distribution, provided on at least one face of said at least one support or wing facing said at least one barrier; for completing these means at least one complementary second magnetic area is provided on at least one end of said at least one barrier.

In case of two opposite wings or uprights, the barrier will have, at the two opposite ends, a second magnetic area designed magnetically to be connected to a first magnetic area obtained on the corresponding wing, practically realizing a system for magnetically releasing the barriers from, and coupling them to, the wings.

Thanks to this magnetic releasing and coupling system all the projecting parts, such as the steel or plastic barrier-holders, are eliminated, and the racks along the wings are replaced with a series of magnets preferably arranged longitudinally on the surface of the inflatable wing, preferably a real "Flexible Magnetic Strip (i.e. FMS)", thus simplifying all the operations for coupling, releasing, and positioning the barriers. According to a preferred embodiment, the magnets are disk-shaped.

According to some preferred embodiment, the magnetic coupling means for connecting said at least one barrier with said at least one support (preferably two opposite) have the function of single support for the barrier; the at least one barrier is practically supported and connected to at least one support (wing or upright) only by means of the magnetic attractive force between the magnetic element/s of the barrier and the complementary magnetic element/s of the at least one support; in other words, the barrier ends do not rest on a structure, but are magnetically supported and connected only by the tips (once a barrier end has been magnetically supported and connected to the support, the lower space immediately below the barrier end is free, i.e. the end touches and/or rests on nothing).

More in general, according to some preferred embodiments, between said at least one support and said at least one barrier there is only a magnetic link, i.e. said at least one barrier is supported and connected to said at least one support only by means of magnetic coupling means.

According to some preferred embodiments, the at least one barrier and the at least one support are two distinct elements, with the at least one barrier that can be connected to the at least one support through magnetic means. According to some preferred embodiments, the at least one support substantially presents a single area for resting on the ground, preferably through a single base.

According to some embodiments, the at least one support is inflated with air for all its hollow inner part, and also the at least one barrier is preferably inflated with air for all its hollow inner part.

In other embodiments, the at least one support is filled partially with water and partially with air. In other embodiments the at least one support is filled partially with sand or other granular inert material and partially with air.

Thanks to this invention, the usual installations of show-jumping, constituted by rigid barriers resting on a connection integral with the wings, can be replaced with a system of inflatable supports and barriers that maintains the necessary shape and hardness typical of all the jumps, with the advantage that these inflatable structures are not dangerous in case of accidental impact or fall.

According to other aspects of the invention, the fluid filling said at least one barrier and/or said at least one support is conveniently a gas, preferably air. In other embodiments the fluid can obviously be a liquid, for example water. For instance, the support/s can be filled with water (preferably maintaining part of the volume free of the liquid, to facilitate deformation), whilst the barrier can be filled with air, or the contrary can be (or both can be filled with water).

According to the invention both the barriers and the supports (wings or uprights) are preferably made mainly of linen synthetic rubber material, so as to ensure the necessary mechanic and resistance features so that they can be inflated with air or other inert gas through a specific pneumatic valve.

As already mentioned, these barriers are preferably connected with the wings only by means of magnetic supports arranged at the ends of the barrier, connected to a rack of magnets longitudinally arranged along the wing in such a number as to have sufficient regulations and a fast and safe support and releasing system.

The module forming the inflatable wing can substantially be of two types: a module to be inserted on a base (for example a steel or concrete base), and a module with incorporated base. In this obstacle system the inflatable wing modules and/or barrier modules are mainly formed by modules of high-resistant plastic material, that are inflated so as to offer shape and inertia completely similar to those currently used. These modules are very economical to be produced, easy to be transported and, once deflated, absolutely easy to be stored; they do not require maintenance and maintain their characteristics over the time.

In the configuration with incorporated base, the wing is preferably formed by an inflatable truncated cone (truncated conical wing) with a side orthogonal to the rest surface and with a ballast, arranged at the base, integral with it and making the structure stable. According to a preferred embodiment the used material is a high-resistant synthetic coated fabric with covers, at the ends, ensuring the module pneumatic seal.

The FMS is arranged on the side perpendicular to the base of each module, ensuring a perfect adherence with the magnetic ends of the barriers, that will be supported by it.

In the configuration with modules to be applied to outer base, the wings are formed by an inflatable tubular structure, with a magnet at the base that, once inserted in the base, will make this support fixed and stable.

In this case again the FMS is welded on at least one side, for defining the barrier fixing and supporting positions.

Thanks to the presence of the FMS this system is really safe; in fact, thanks to its flexibility the FMS can adapt to all the possible deformations of the inflatable wing, both in the truncated conical configuration and in the traditional configuration with steel support.

Combining the use of the FMS and the above described inflatable structures makes the obstacle system particularly safe, with specific accident- preventing features, easy to be installed, thanks to the combination of elasticity and resistance of the used materials and the lack of projecting support structures.

In other embodiments, the series of magnets applied to the support can be also constituted by single magnetic elements, spaced from one another along the support and directly fixed to it (i.e. without forming part of an FMS). Adequately, in some preferred embodiments there is no direct contact between the magnets of the barrier and those of the supports, but there is a sufficiently balanced magnetic interaction to give the same inertia and resistance against releasing as the traditional barriers resting on the supports by means of an adequate bracket. Through adequate sheaths it is advantageously possible to increase the magnetic interaction distance, so as to modulate the resistance against release.

In other configurations the barrier can be constrained only at one end, whilst the other one rests on the ground. In this case again all the accident- preventing features of the system are preserved. All the system has been designed to make the best in terms of versatility and ease of use.

Suffice to say that the barrier height can be changed without the need of moving from a wing to the other to adjust the barrier holders, as occurs in the currently used systems; all can be performed with a simple and single gesture.

The barriers can be colored or covered by adequate sheaths in the most various colors.

According to another aspect of the invention, the at least one support of the at least one barrier of the obstacle can also be not inflatable, i.e. it can be of the traditional (rigid) type, and the barrier can be connected and supported only by magnetic attractive means, such as in the above illustrated examples, so that the barrier ends are only supported by the magnetic force between magnetic elements present at the ends of the barriers and magnetic elements present on the support.

Brief description of drawings

For the sake of greater clarity, the description of the invention continues with reference to the attached drawings, given just by way of non limiting example, wherein:

• figure 1 is a longitudinal schematic view of the inflatable barrier according to the invention;

• figure 1a is an enlarged detail of the section of the barrier end;

• figure 1 b is an enlarged detail, cut-away according to the transverse plane Ill-Ill of figure 1 , of the barrier according to the present invention;

• figure 2 is a perspective view of a support made of steel or other metal with cylindrical seat;

• figure 2a is a top view of a support made of steel or other metal with cylindrical seat;

• figure 2b is a side view of a support of steel of metal with cylindrical seat;

• figure 3 is a front view of an inflatable wing according to the present invention;

• figure 3a is a side view of an inflatable wing according to the invention;

• figure 3b is a top view of an inflatable wing according to the invention;

• figure 3c is a cut-away detail of the base of the inflatable wing according to the invention;

• figure 4 is a front view of the truncated conical inflatable wing according to the invention;

• figure 4a is a side view of the truncated conical inflatable wing according to the invention;

• figure 4b is a top view of the truncated conical inflatable wing according to the invention;

• figure 5 is a front view of the Flexible Magnetic Strip (FMS);

• figure 5a is a side view of the Flexible Magnetic Strip (FMS);

• figure 5b is a perspective view of the Flexible Magnetic Strip (FMS);

• figure 6 is a schematic front view of an obstacle according to the present invention with inflatable wings on metal supports;

• figure 7 is a schematic front view of an obstacle according to the invention with truncated conical inflatable wings.

Description of an embodiment of the invention

With reference to the above mentioned figures, and first of all in figure 6, it is possible to note that the jump (10), object of the invention, is mainly constituted by three elements: the two wings or uprights (11) (with cylindrical section), the two prop bases (12), made preferably of metal, to which the wings are fixed (preferably reversibly), and one or more inflatable barriers (13). Similarly, in figure 7 there is the same configuration, but with the truncated conical wings with ballasted base (14).

It should be noted that between the ends (15) of the barrier (13) and the wing (11) or (14) according to the considered configuration, there are no support elements, but only a plurality of magnet elements (18), arranged preferably according to a vertical extension and designed to couple with a magnetic element (19) arranged at a corresponding end (15) of the barrier (13). The barrier (13) is practically supported only by the magnetic force (obviously without considering the substantially vertical friction force generated between ends (13) of the barrier (15) and stop (11 , 14) in the reciprocal contact area) and rests on nothing.

In the described example, the plurality of magnetic elements (18) is formed on an above-described FMS (16) acting as magnetic support for the barriers (13).

In figure 5 the FMS (16) is shown, constituted by a series of magnetic disks (18) inserted and sewn, adequately spaced from one another, between two strips of synthetic material. This FMS will be then applied on the wing, becoming integral with it, and constitute the only support element for the barriers.

It should be noted that the FMS does not modify the system's elasticity properties, as it does not constitute a rigid element, but a flexible one.

Figure 1 shows a side view of the inflatable barrier (13) to understand how it has been designed: the main body is constituted by a tubular structure in reinforced linen synthetic rubber material (20) with a sufficient thickness to resist all the mechanical stresses in the show ring.

This structure is provided, at its ends, with an adequate protective sheath

(21).

As it can be noted in the detail of figure 1a, inside the above-mentioned sheath (21) a magnetic disk (19) is installed with adequate attractive force and polarity, that will interact with the magnets inserted in the FMS (16).

Obviously, in other embodiments this sheath (21) can be not present, and the magnet (19) can be fixed on the barrier surface or inside the barrier.

At this point the barrier (13) can be inflated through the valve (22), so as to assume its final shape.

This element can be produced in adequate length measures.

Analogously, figure 3a shows a side view of the above described wing; in this case again, in addition to the protective sheaths (23) for the ends, an adequate valve (22) is inserted, allowing to inflate the entire module.

The metal base (12) is constructed by giving the adequate rest surface and the weight necessary for the stability of the entire system, and is provided with a cylindrical housing structure (25), into which the lower end of the wing

(11) will be inserted, inside which an adequate magnet (26) will be inserted, dimensioned so as to give the adequate attractive force with the same base

(12) .

The truncated conical wing (14) has a base (24) that is sufficiently wide to ensure the stability of the system and that will be adequately ballasted with a module in heavy material, so that it can be also adequately transported, and inflated with inert gas through the adequate valve (22) located above.

In this case again the FMS (16) is glued in longitudinal direction along the inner side orthogonal to the ground line, so as to ensure the adequate changes in height of the barriers (13).

The construction ease of this system guarantees a complete safety, as it is constituted by inflatable elastic modules that will deform as a result of any stresses.

Furthermore, these modules are not mechanically, but only magnetically connected to one another, and are deigned so as to give such an interaction to allow their release at a preset safety threshold allowing the laying of the entire system and ensuring the accident-preventing proprieties.

According to other aspects, also the following obstacles and elements of obstacles are object of the invention: obstacles for equestrian purposes, comprising inflatable modular elements, allowing a fast installation, and a fast system for releasing, coupling and placing again the barriers with a single operation; obstacles comprising inflatable modular elements that are safe in case of accidental impact or fall, and that can be therefore used also singularly for equestrian exercises and not only to form a show-jumping system; obstacles comprising inflatable modular elements connected to one another only by means of magnetic interaction; an inflatable modular element made of reinforced synthetic material with magnetic poles at its ends so that it can be installed and applied also on other structures that can magnetically interact with it; an inflatable wing made of reinforced synthetic material with a magnet at its base for possible applications and installations on other structures that can magnetically interact with it; a truncated conical inflatable wing with side orthogonal to the ground, that can be used also singularly in riding schools for specific exercises.

Obviously, the advantages of the magnetic connection and support between barriers and wings also exist when the wings (and, more in general, the supports) are of the traditional type, i.e. of the rigid type, or anyway of the type that cannot be inflated with air or filled with water.

Modifications and variants can be made to the finding, without however departing from the protective scope of the present invention; furthermore, all the details can be replaced with other equivalent details, according to the needs and to the state of the art.

Where the characteristics and the techniques mentioned in any claims are followed by references, these references have the only purpose of increasing readability of the claims, and do not limit the interpretation of each element identified by these references just by way of example.