FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

The present invention relates to a sulky adapted to be con- nected to and drawn by a horse, which comprises an arrange¬ ment adapted to receive a driver in the sulky.

Such sulkies are used primarily for races, but they are also used for training horses, and the sulkies presently used have a said arrangement receiving the driver sitting onto a seat part with the legs diverging outwardly to the region of the respective shaft, through which the sulky is connected to the horse. The arrangement has support for the feet of the driver close to the respective shaft. The legs of the driver have to be kept sub- stantially straight in this sitting position. The reason for keeping the legs apart in this way is that it is in this way attempted to bring the driver as close as possible behind the horse for reduc¬ ing the air resistance for the carriage.

However, this sulky already known has a number of drawbacks. Firstly, the driving position to be assumed by the driver in the sulky is anatomically condemnable, since the substantially straight and diverging legs mean tensions in the muscles and loads primarily on the back of the driver, which easily results in all types of problems with the back of the driver, but also the legs and the knee joints are excerted in this driving position. The loads applied on the body of the driver will be especially high when driving on a ground being somewhat irregular, since the rest of the sulky is without resilient suspension and by that rigid.

Another drawback consists in that, should the horse drawing the sulky rear, the driver will fall off the sulky rearwardly and hit the ground by the seat or the back with a risk of very severe injuries with possible permanent physical disorders as a conse¬ quence thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a sulky of the type defined in the introduction, which to a large extent reduces the drawbacks mentioned above of sulkies already known.

This object is according to the invention obtained by arranging the arrangement in such a sulky to receive a driver in a sitting position with the feet on a substantially lower level than the seat and giving it means adapted to support at least the legs of the driver in this position.

A driver sitting in such a sulky will not receive any unacceptable loads upon his body any longer owing to the fact that the driver is sitting in a natural sitting position with the feet on a substan¬ tial lower level than the seat. Furthermore, in the case of rear¬ ing of the horse drawing the sulky the driver may land on the ground with his feet first, when lucky in a standing position, but in any case in a position resulting in a considerable reduction of the risk of severe body injuries of the driver. Another advantage of such a sulky is that it will get considerably easier for the driver to get on and off the sulky as a consequence of the posi- tion of the feet with respect to the seat.

"Sitting position" is here to be given a very broad meaning, and all types of positions between lying and standing, in which the thighs and the lower leg portions of the driver may have the most different inclinations in the room are included, but in which

at least a considerable part of the weight of the driver is trans¬ ferred to the sulky through the seat or the seat and the thighs of the driver.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention said means are adapted to support the legs of a driver and define a sitting position for the driver with substantially bent knees. Such a sitting position of the driver results in considerably lower loads on the body of the driver, especially on the rear sides of the thighs, the seat and the back, than in sulkies already known.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said means comprise members having support surfaces adapted to form support for the front side of at least parts of the legs of the driver sitting in the sulky and form counter-surfaces so as to make it possible for the driver to draw strongly rear- wardly in the reins, and according to a preferred further devel¬ opment of this embodiment said support surfaces of said mem- bers are adapted to form support for the front side of at least knee-near portions of the lower leg portions of a driver sitting in the sulky, and these support surfaces supporting said lower leg portions are directed with a substantial component of a per¬ pendicular thereto rearwardly opposite to the running direction of the horse. It is in this way possible for a driver to assume a substantial normal sitting position with the feet on a substan¬ tially lower level than the seat and at the same time be able to draw strongly in the reins, should this be required. Sometimes, i.e. when the horse is very keen to run, it is necessary to apply a drawing force in the reins in the order of the drawing force applied in the shafts through which the horse draws the sulky. For managing such a drawing force in sulkies already known the driver has been forced to nearly lie down straight rear¬ wardly, which for natural reasons is an extremely dangerous

position to have when falling off the sulky, for example as a consequence of a rearing of the horse.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the means comprise support members adapted to form support for defining a sitting position of the driver with the lower leg por¬ tions extending from the knees rearwardly with respect to the running direction of the horse at a substantial angle with re¬ spect to a vertical line through the respective knee. Thanks to the fact that the support members form support for defining such a sitting position of the driver, it will be possible for the driver to come very close to the horse without hitting against the legs of the driver with the hind legs of the horse, even if the driver has his legs relatively close together, so that the driver may come substantially just as close to the horse in this sitting position as in the conventional sitting position with diverging legs. It is a matter of course that the sitting position enabled by this embodiment of the invention, i. e. with the legs compara¬ tively close together and substantially just as close to the horse as previously, will result in a considerable reduction of the part of the air resistance of the carriage emanating from the driver. Since a horse may obtain speeds in the order of 50 km/h with¬ out any problem, it may be easily understood that this possible sitting position may result in a clear gain of time with respect to a conventional sitting position, and if it is only a question of one second for 1 000 meters, which most probably may be achieved, it would often decide whether a horse will win or come at the second place in a race and will therefor have a very great economical importance.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the support members are adapted to form support for defining a sitting position of the driver with the feet of the driver located substantially directly under the seat of the driver. A sitting posi- tion in which the driver may huddle together close behind the

horse with a very low air resistance may in this way be as¬ sumed.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the support members comprise elements adapted to receive the feet of a driver sitting in the sulky and keep them in a defined position. It has been found to be advantageous to arrange a so called foot rest so as to keep the lower leg portions in the pre¬ ferred position, since this has been experienced as comfortable for the driver.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the sulky comprises members adapted to arrange the elements for receiving the feet removable rearwardly while overcoming a re- sistance when applying forces thereon directed rearwardly with respect to the running direction of the horse. When the feet of the driver are located on a substantial lower level of the seat of the driver there is a theoretical risk that a horse running in lat¬ erally of the sulky from behind could hook into the legs of the driver would not this possibility to move the foot rests away rearwardly be there at possible strikes from the legs of such a horse against the legs of the driver.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said means comprise a part supporting the seat and the thighs and arranged with the support surface thereof downwardly in the running direction of the horse so as to keep the thighs of a driver sitting in the sulky inclining downwardly in this direction.

Such a position is very advantageous and makes it possible to come close to the horse and look thereover should this be needed but nevertheless have the lower leg portions extended in a desired direction.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention said means are adapted to support the legs of a driver and de-

fine a sitting position for the driver with the legs of the driver extending close to each other between the crotch and the feet. Such a position, means as explained above, that the legs of the driver constitutes a considerably smaller surface exposed to the wind than in a conventional driving position.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention lo¬ cated lastly on the sulky with respect to the running position of the horse in the sense that it allows a driver sitting in the sulky to move the legs from said supporting means and stand directly on the ground when there is a need thereof, such as because of a horse rearing. Thus, by such configuration of said arrange¬ ment the driver may starting from the driving position simply place himself on the ground when he or she finds this suitable.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said means comprise a part supporting the seat and the thighs arranged pivotably and adjustably into different fixed position about an axis being substantially horizontal when the sulky rests in the position of use on a substantial horizontal ground, said horizontal axis being substantially perpendicular to the running direction of the horse for changing the inclination of this part. Thanks to such a pivotability of the part supporting the seat and the thighs of said means it is possible to adapt this part to the size of the driver in questions so that smaller per¬ sons may be lifted up to such a position that they may look over the horse should this be needed.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said means comprise elements having support surfaces for the feet of the driver to rest upon, and these elements are arranged pivotably around an axis being substantially horizontally and substantially perpendicular to the running direction of the horse when the sulky is standing in a position of use on a substan- tially horizontal ground. The driver may by such a pivotability of

these foot rests get his feet comfortably supported without any tensions in the ankle-joints.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the sulky comprises an element, which is fixedly connected be¬ tween the shafts of the sulky in the running direction of the horse in front of the driver received in the sulky so as to protect the driver against possible rear-kicking of the horse. This makes it possible for the driver to assume a sitting position close behind the horse made possible by the invention without any risk of for that sake being hit by the hind legs of the horse, should the horse kick rearwardly.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the sulky comprises a spoiler-like apparatus having surfaces guid¬ ing the speed wind designed to be arranged in front of the driver sitting in the sulky, and which at the front are bent up¬ wardly and rearwardly from the shafts for guiding the speed wind above and past the head of the driver sitting behind the apparatus. The air resistance of the carriage horse, sulky and driver may by the arrangement of such a spoiler-like apparatus be further reduced. The spoiler-like apparatus is then, at least on the level of the head of the driver, preferably made of a transparent material, so that the driver has a good sight also when he is huddling together behind the spoiler-like apparatus.

Further advantages as well as advantageous features of the in¬ vention appear from the following description and the other de¬ pendent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the appended drawings, below follows a de¬ scription of preferred embodiments of the invention cited as ex- amples.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view from behind of a sulky accord- ing to a first preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a side-elevation view of the sitting arrangement of the sulky according to Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view from the front and obliquely from the top of the sulky according to a second pre¬ ferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 4 is a perspective side view of the sulky according to Fig. 3 connected to a horse, and

Fig. 5 is a side-elevation view of the sitting arrangement of a sulky according to a third preferred embodiment of the invention with a driver received therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

A sulky according to a first preferred embodiment of the inven- tion will now be explained while simultaneously referring to Fig. 1 and 2. The sulky 1 has in a conventional way two shafts 2 for connection to a horse (see fig 4). The shafts 2 are preferably shaped according to the shape of the horse for receiving a horse therebetween immediately in front of an arrangement 3 adapted to receive the driver in the sulky and which constitutes

the most essential part of the present invention. The shafts 2 are connected to a body or framework 4 of the sulky, which has a transversal carrying beam 5 and on which two wheels 6 are rotary journalised. Said arrangement 3 is adapted to receive the driver in a sitting position and has for this sake a part 7 supporting the seat and the thighs and which here is formed by a seat and "part supporting the seat and the thighs" means, ac¬ cordingly, here and in the claims, that it may also be the case that only the seat of the driver rests on the part in question, since also for example a conventional chair has to be consid¬ ered to support a part of the thighs of a person sitting thereon. The part 7 supporting the seat and the thighs is preferably ar¬ ranged pivotably about a pivot axis located in the region of the front limitation of the part with respect to the running direction of the horse for adjustment of the inclination thereof between different fixed positions, so that the rear part thereof for exam¬ ple may be pivoted upwardly for a short driver, so that this may look over the horse. It is preferably also displaceable forwardly and rearwardly for adjustment according to the length of the legs of the driver with respect to the members described be¬ low for defining the sitting position of the driver.

The sitting arrangement also has support members 8, here in the form of substantially flat cushions located at a small mutual distance with support surfaces adapted to form support for the front side of knee-near portions of the lower leg portions of a driver sitting in the sulky, said support surfaces supporting said lower leg portions being directed with a substantial component of a perpendicular thereto rearwardly opposite to the running di- rection of the horse, and it appears from the figures that said perpendicular has an angle of approximately 45° to a vertical line, but other angles are also conceivable, in which larger an¬ gles result in a better spurn for the driver for drawing strongly in the reins, but the lower leg portions will then instead point more downwardly and closer to the horse. The support members 8

are carried by the beam 5 of the framework and a cross bar 9 arranged between the shafts. A bun-like hill 16 is arranged be¬ tween the support members 8 for forming lateral supports for the knee-near portions of the body of the driver, which is espe- aily important in changes of the direction, such as when run¬ ning through curves.

The sitting arrangement 3 comprises also elements 10 having support surfaces for the feet of the driver to rest upon and for keeping them in a defined position. These foot rest elements are arranged pivotably around an axis substantially perpendicu¬ lar to the running direction of the horse and being substantially horizontal when the sulky stands in the position of use on a substantially horizontal ground while overcoming a resistance rearwardly when forces are applied thereon, which are directed rearwardly with respect to the running direction of the horse. This resistance is in the present case provided by a member in the form of a traction spring 17 for each single foot rest element 10. The member 17 is adapted to keep the foot rest element in a position (see Fig. 2) pivoted forwardly to a maximum in ab¬ sence of considerable forces directed rearwardly, said position being defined by a stop member 18. The foot rest elements 10 are also designed to form protections for the lower leg portions of the driver against tramping from behind by receiving the heals of the driver on support portions 20 and the portions 21 of the foot rest elements running upwardly form such a protection. The stop member 18 is for this sake also adapted to prevent pivoting of the element 10 forwardly upon influence from a horse coming from behind from occurring. Should considerable forces directed rearwardly be applied on any of the foot rest elements from behind in beside the driver, the force of the spring member 17 may be overcome and the element 10 may be moved away rearwardly, so there is no risk that the legs of the driver hook into the legs of the horse. The elements 10 are located substantially directly under the position in which the

seat of a driver sitting in the sulky is intended to be located. The elements are adapted to support the two feet of the driver comparatively close to each other. The sitting position in which a driver sitting in a sulky is sitting with substantially bent knees in the sulky and the feet on a substantially lower level than the seat is defined by the sitting arrangement 3. The sitting ar¬ rangement is also so adapted that it supports the legs of a driver so that a sitting position is defined for the driver with the legs of the driver extending close to each other between the crotch and the feet. The position of a driver sitting in the sitting arrangement reminds to a great deal of the so called "egg posi¬ tion" assumed by a downhill skier for reducing the air resistance to a minimum. A driver sitting in the sulky according to the in¬ vention may in this way huddle together behind the horse, so that when the horse with the sulky and a driver is viewed di¬ rectly from the front the driver will be substantially completely hidden by the horse and form a wind catch being neglectable with respect to the conventional driving position with diverging legs.

It gets very easy to get on and off the sulky according to the in¬ vention and owing to the fact that no parts of the sulky are in the region between the wheels of the sulky located behind the position the feet of a driver are intended to be located in, the driver may whenever he so wishes frankly just jump down from the sulky and place himself on the ground, which may be of in¬ terest when a horse shows tendencies to rearing or is rearing. Would the driver fall off the sulky will he land on his feet and not as previously on his bottom or back and possibly hit the ground with the head. Furthermore, the loads on the back of the driver are reduced considerably in this pleasant driving position with substantially bent knees. By the fact that the sup¬ port members 8 together with the foot rest elements 10 define a sitting position of the driver with the lower part extending from the knees and rearwardly with respect to the running direction

of the horse in a substantial angle with respect to a vertical line through the respective knee, it is also obtained that the driver can sit substantially just as close to the horse as in the con¬ ventional sitting position without any risk that the hind legs of the horse may hit the driver during normal running, so that also in this respect the air resistance will not be influenced in the di¬ rection of an increase. For preventing that the horse in such a close localisation of the driver behind the horse can strike the driver in possible rear-kicking, such as illustrated in Fig. 3, the sulky is provided with an element rigidly connected between the shafts 2, which is so arranged in the running direction of the horse in front of a driver received in the sulky that possible rear kicking from the horse will hit this element and not reach the driver.

An alternative embodiment of the arrangement adapted to re¬ ceive the driver is illustrated in Fig. 3, 4 and 5 and this differs from the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 and 2 primarily by the fact that the bun-like hill 16 is not there and that the element 10 for supporting the feet of the driver are designed differently. More exactly, the foot rest elements 10 are arranged displace¬ able with respect to the rest of the arrangement through a tele¬ scopic device not shown for adaption of the position of the ele¬ ments to the length of the lower leg portions of the driver sitting in the sulky. The telescopic-like member may in the telescopic device be locked into different fixed positions. The direction of the holder holding the foot rest elements 10 is so that the sup¬ port surfaces of the support members 8 will define the angle of the lower leg portions of the driver. The foot rest elements have portions 13 supporting the iβs for preventing sliding of the feet of the driver off from the uiemnts 10.

Furthermore, a sulky according to a third preferred embodiment of the invention is schematically illustrated in Fig. 5 and this differs from the sulky shown in Fig. 3 and 4 by the arrangement

of a spoiler-like apparatus 14 with speed wind guiding surfaces in front of the sulky between the shafts and these surfaces are designed to cover the space between the shafts at the rear end thereof with respect to the running direction of the horse in front of a driver sitting in the sulky. These surfaces are bent up¬ wardly in the front thereof and rearwardly from the shafts so as to guide the speed wind above and past the head of a driver sitting behind the apparatus. The driver should from the position in Fig. 5 lean forwardly-downwardly for obtaining this. However, it would be completely possible to modify the spoiler-like appa¬ ratus so that the portions 15 bent upwardly gets an extension being substantially more directed rearwardly. The part of the air resistance of the carriage emanating from the driver may by arranging such a spoiler-like apparatus be further reduced.

Preferably are at least the surfaces of the apparatus located in front of the face of the driver of a transparent material.

The invention is of course not in any way restricted to the pre- ferred embodiments described above, but many possibilities to modifications thereof would be apparent to a man skilled in the art in this field without departing from the basic idea of the in¬ vention.

It would for example be possible in the existence of a spoiler¬ like apparatus discussed above to prolong this further down¬ wardly towards the foot position of the driver so as to guide all the speed wind past the driver.

The different angles of the thighs and the lower leg portions of the driver may as already mentioned vary quite a lot within the scope of the invention. The different parts included in the sitting arrangement could also be modified a great deal with respect to the design thereof without changing the basic function thereof for this sake.

The part supporting the seat and the thighs could have another appearance and be substantially seat supporting and allow the thighs of the driver to be moved together, in which the members supporting the lower leg portions and/or the foot rest elements may then offer substantially continuous support surfaces for both lower leg portions and the feet, respectively.

With respect to the patent claim definition with respect to the pivotability of the foot rest elements this is also intended to comprise the pivotability thereof by pivoting the holder 12 with respect to said framework close to the front end thereof.

The foot rest elements could be moved away rearwardly in an- other way than through pivoting, but they could also be fixedly arranged.

It would also be possible to modify the sulky so that the spoiler¬ like apparatus also extends downwardly around the legs of the driver and the driver could then sit inside a trough-like con¬ struction.