Description

AUXILIARY APPARATUS FOR SWIMMING

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a swimming auxiliary apparatus and, more particularly, to a swimming auxiliary apparatus for producing buoyancy to enable a swimmer to float on water although an airtight air unit is broken and for enabling a swimmer to obtain a propelling force without requiring the swimmer to bend legs. Background Art

[2] The applicant of the present invention proposed a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus in Korea Patent Application No.2005-060261 as follows.

[3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus in use.

[4] Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus includes steering handles 16 and sandal binding units 19 for enabling a swimmer to swim on water. As shown in FIG. 1, in order to swim using the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus, a swimmer lies prone on the water, holds the steering handles 16 and puts his feet into the sandal binding units 19 after wearing sandals for swimming.

[5] FIG. 2 is a plane view of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus.

[6] As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus includes air units 10, poles 12, wing units each having a wing fixing member 14 and a wing 15, handle units 16, steering handles 16, sandal binders 18, sandals 19, and bottom supporters 20.

[7] FIG. 3 is a side view of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus.

[8] The air unit 10 of the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus is coupled to the pole 12 through air unit coupling members 11. The air unit coupling members 11 support the air unit 10 to be disposed above the pole 12 in order to allow a swimmer to submerge deeper in water and provide buoyancy at the same time. Also, the air units 10 have a structure to be adhered closely to the poles 12 when the swimming auxiliary apparatus is not in use. Therefore, a user can conveniently carry it around.

[9] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a wing unit of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus with wings unfolded, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a wing unit of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus with wings folded.

[10] As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the wing unit includes a wing 15a, a wing shaft 15b, a wing string 15c, a wing coupling member 15d, a wing string coupling member 15e, and a wing string fixing member 15f. The wing unit includes the wing strings 15c to fold and unfold the wings by water pressure and reduces the fractional force between the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus and water.

[11] The wing shaft 15b is the center of the wing unit, and the wings 15a are disposed at the left side and the right side of the wing shaft 15b. A plurality of wing strings 15c are connected to the wings 15a and the wing shaft 15b. The wing coupling member 15d connects the wing 15a to the wing shaft 15b. The wing string coupling member 15e connects the wing string 15c to the wing 15a, and the wing string fixing member 15f fixes the wing string 15c to the wing shaft 15b.

[12] Since the handles and the sandal binders interlock together according to the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus, a swimmer must bend not only arms but also legs to obtain a propelling force like the breaststroke, thereby providing the frictional force. Also, a swimmer is required to move a right arm and a right leg together, or a left arm and a left leg together. Therefore, the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus restricts a swimmer to make motions.

[13] The conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus provides buoyancy only through the air in the air unit. Therefore, the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus losses the buoyancy if the air unit is broken and the air leaked from the air unit. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[14] It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a swimming auxiliary apparatus including an air unit with Styrofoam inserted for providing buoyancy although the air is leaked from the air unit.

[15] It is another object of the present invention to provide a swimming auxiliary apparatus having handle- wing units moving along poles for providing a propelling force without requiring a swimmer to move arms and legs together.

[16] It is still another object of the present invention to provide a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit disposed at a tail end of the swimming auxiliary apparatus for allowing a swimmer to move legs in up and down or left and right with legs stretched out to obtain a propelling force, without restricting the swimmer to move the leg in front and in the rear only or without requiring the swimmer to bend legs. Technical Solution

[17] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a swimming auxiliary apparatus including two hollow and separable poles disposed at a right side and a left side; air units connected to the poles respectively and containing air, each of which includes an air unit coupling member and an air unit fixing member for connecting the air units to the poles and enabling the air unit to move vertically parallel and to move vertically; a pair of handle- wing units each having wing strings for allowing wings to be unfolded and folded by water pressure, wings for reducing fractional force made by water, and a handle for enabling a swimmer to hold; and

sandal binders formed at each of the poles to be bound or unbound with sandals worn by a swimmer, wherein each of the air units includes a buoyancy member made of material having strong buoyancy, the handle- wing units are connected to the poles and move in front and in the rear along the poles, each of the poles having a cross section formed in an non-circular shape to prevent the handle- wing units from being moved in up and down while moving along the poles, and the swimming auxiliary apparatus further includes tail wing units connected to rear ends of the poles and formed in a plate shape to produce a propelling force by pushing water while moving in up and down or left and right.

Advantageous Effects

[18] A swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an air unit with Styrofoam inserted. Therefore, the swimming auxiliary apparatus can provide buoyancy although the air is leaked from the air unit.

[19] The swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention include handle- wing units that move along poles. Therefore, a swimmer can obtain a propelling force without moving the arms and legs together.

[20] The swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes a tail wing unit disposed at the rear end of the swimming auxiliary apparatus. That is, a swimmer can obtain a propelling force by moving legs up and down or left and right with the legs stretched out. Therefore, the swimming auxiliary apparatus according to the present embodiment reduce the frictional power generated by motion made in a front to rear direction or vice versa by a swimmer with legs bent. Brief Description of the Drawings

[21] The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[22] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus in use;

[23] FIG. 2 is a plane view of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus;

[24] FIG. 3 is a side view of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus;

[25] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a wing unit of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus with wings unfolded;

[26] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a wing unit of a conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus with wings folded;

[27] FIG. 6 is a plane view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[28] FIG. 7 is a side view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit

coupled in a vertical direction according to an embodiment of the present invention; [29] FIG. 8 is a side view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit coupled in a horizontal direction according to an embodiment of the present invention; [30] FIG. 9 is a side view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus the air unit coupling member is arranged vertically from the air unit and the pole according to an embodiment of the present invention; [31] FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view of an air unit with buoyancy material layers according to an embodiment of the present invention; [32] FIG. 11 is a front cross-sectional view of an air unit with buoyancy material pipes according to an embodiment of the present invention; [33] FIG. 12 is a rear view of a handle-wing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention; [34] FIG. 13 is a top view of a handle- wing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention; [35] FIG. 14 is a side view of a tail wing unit 160 according to an embodiment of the present invention; [36] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit disposed at a vertical direction according to an embodiment of the present invention in use; [37] FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for describing how to use the swimming auxiliary apparatus with hands; and [38] FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit disposed at a horizontal direction according to an embodiment of the present invention for describing how to use the swimming auxiliary apparatus with legs.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention [39] Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, which is set forth hereinafter. [40] FIG. 6 is a a plane view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [41] As shown in FIG. 6, the swimming auxiliary apparatus according to the present embodiment includes air units 110, air unit coupling members 120, poles 130, handle- wing units 140, sandal binders 150, and tail wing units 160. [42] Hereinafter, the constituent elements will be described in detail with reference FIG. 7 through FIG. 13. [43] FIG. 7 is a side view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit

coupled in a vertical direction, and FIG. 8 is a side view of a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing unit coupled in a horizontal direction.

[44] The swimming auxiliary apparatus according to the present embodiment shown in

FIG. 7 will be compared with the conventional swimming auxiliary apparatus shown in FIG. 2. The conventional air unit 10 of FIG. 2 has a structure of containing air in the inside of the air unit 10 in order to provide buoyancy. On the contrary, a buoyancy material is inserted into the air unit 110 according to the present embodiment in order to sustain a predetermined level of buoyancy although the air is leaked from the air unit 110 due to the breakage of the air unit 110.

[45] It is preferable to use material having strong buoyancy as the buoyancy material. For example, Styrofoam is used as the buoyancy material in the present embodiment.

[46] Diverse sizes and types of buoyancy members can be inserted into the air unit 110 through various methods. For example, a plurality of Styrofoam layers 113 are inserted into the inside of the air unit 110 as shown in FIG. 10. The Styrofoam layers not only sustain the buoyancy of the air units but also make only air in the Styrofoam layers 113 to be leaked when the air unit is broken.

[47] As another example, a Styrofoam pipe 116 may be embedded into the air unit 110 as shown in FIG. 10. The Styrofoam pipe 116 prevents air from being leaked from the air unit if the Styrofoam pipe 116 is not broken although the air unit 110 is broken. The Styrofoam pipe 116 also can provide a predetermined level of buoyancy although the Styrofoam pipe 116 is broken and the air is leaked.

[48] The air unit coupling members 120 connects the air unit 110 in parallel with the pole

130 and enables the air unit 110 to move vertically.

[49] When each of the air unit coupling members 120 is arranged horizontally from the air unit 110 and the pole 130 as shown in FIG. 8, the air unit 100 is closely adhered to the pole 120 so as to allow a swimmer to conveniently carry the swimming auxiliary apparatus around when the swimming auxiliary apparatus is not in use.

[50] When each of the air unit coupling members 120 is arranged vertically from the air unit 110 and the pole 130 as shown in FIG. 9, the air unit coupling member 120 makes the air unit 110 to be disposed above the pole 130 so as to allow a swimmer to submerge into water deeper and create buoyancy at the same time.

[51] Each of the handle- wing units 140 is movably coupled to the pole 130 between an air unit coupling member 120 disposed at a front part of the pole 130 and the other air unit coupling member 125 disposed at a rear part of the pole 130. That is, the handle-wing units 140 are movable along the poles 130 in front and in the rear. It is preferable that the handle- wing unit 140 may be formed in a non-circular shape to prevent the hand- wing unit 140 from being moved in up and down while the handle- wing unit 140 moves in front and in the rear.

[52] A tail coupling member 133 formed in a polygonal column shape is disposed at a rear end of the pole 130. The tail coupling member 133 is connected to the tail wing unit 160.

[53] It is preferable that the tail coupling member 133 may have a polygon column shape which has a cross section having an up part and a down part or a left part and a right part identical in size and shape. For example, the tail coupling member 133 has a polygon column shape having a square cross section or an octagon cross section.

[54] FIG. 12 is a rear view of a handle- wing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 13 is a top view of a handle- wing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[55] The handle- wing unit 140 has a structure of unfolding the wings 147 and pushing water back by the unfolded wings 147 while the handle- wing unit 140 is moving along the pole 130 in front and in the rear so as to produce a propelling force. As shown in FIG. 12, the handle- wing unit 140 includes a handle 141, a pole coupling member 143, a wing shaft 145, wings 147, and wing strings 149.

[56] The handle 141 is a member receiving power from a user to move the handle-wing unit 140.

[57] The pole coupling member 143 has a structure for connecting the handle-wing unit

140 to the pole 130. The pole coupling member 143 includes a hole coupled to the pole movably along the pole 130 in front and in the rear.

[58] The handle 141 is disposed at one of a left side and a right side, and the wing shaft

145 is disposed at the other side. The pole coupling member 143 is formed to be longer than the wing shaft 145 in a front to back direction in order to prevent the wing shaft 145 from being bent toward the pole 130 by the pressure applied to the wing 147.

[59] The hole coupled to the pole 130 has the same shape of the pole 130. The hole coupled to the pole 130 and the pole 130 are formed in an non-circular shape in order to prevent the handle- wing unit 140 from being moved in up and down while the handle- wing unit 140 is moving in front and in the rear.

[60] The wing shaft 145 is formed in a shape of a plate having one end connected to the pole coupling member 143. The wing shaft 145 is connected to the wing 147 unfolded or folded according to the movement of the handle- wing unit 140 and the wing strings 149 for controlling the limitation of unfolding the wing 147.

[61] The wings 147 are coupled to the upper part and the lower part of the wing shaft 145 toward the front in a shape of '<'. The wings 147 are folded by water pressure when the handle- wing unit 140 moves along the pole 130 in a forward direction by a pushing motion of a user. The wings 147 are unfolded by water pressure when the hand wing unit 140 moves along the pole 130 in a backward direction by a pulling motion of a user.

[62] It is preferable to form the wings 147 to have a rear side longer than a front side coupled to the wing shaft 145 in order to receive less water resistance.

[63] As shown in FIG. 12, the wing strings 149 are connected between a part of the wings

147 not connected to the wing shaft 145 and the wing shaft 145 for defining the limitation of unfolding the wings 147.

[64] The swimming auxiliary apparatus according to the present embodiment includes four wing strings 149. However, the number of the wing strings 149 can vary according to conditions of connecting between the part of the wings 147 not connected to the wing shaft 145 and the wing shaft 145.

[65] FIG. 14 is a side view of a tail wing unit 160 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[66] As shown in FIG. 14, the tail wing unit 160 is connected to a rear end of the pole 130 and moves in up and down, and left and right along the movement of the pole 130, so as to produce a propelling force like the typical web foot. The tail wing unit 160 includes a pole fixing member 161, a supporting member 163, a wing plate 165, and a throat 167.

[67] The pole fixing member 161 connects and fixing the tail wing unit 160 to the pole

130. The pole fixing member 161 has a cylindrical shape internally having a groove corresponding to the polygon column shape of the tail coupling member 133.

[68] The inside of the pole fixing member 161 and the outside of the tail coupling member 133 are formed in a polygon column shape which has a cross section having an up part and a down part or a left part and a right part identical in size and shape. Therefore, the tail wing unit 160 can be coupled vertically to the pole 130 as shown in FIG. 7. Also, the tail wing unit 160 can be coupled horizontally to the pole 130 as shown in FIG. 8 by rotating the tail wing unit 160 at 90°.

[69] The supporting member 163 strengthens the connection of the pole fixing unit 161 and the wing plate 165 which pushes or pulls the water to produce a propelling force. The supporting member 164 prevents the wing plate 165 from being moved in left and right from the coupling part of the pole fixing unit 161 and the wing plate 165.

[70] The wing plate 165 is connected to the pole fixing member 161 and the enhancing member 164. The wing plate 165 produces a propelling force by pushing water back while moving along the movement of the pole 130. The wing plate 165 has a shape of a plate having a wider rear part and a narrow part that is connected to the pole fixing member 161 and the supporting member 163.

[71] The throat 167 has a groove shape and is formed at the center of the rear part of the wing plate 165. The throat 167 reduces the water resistance by letting water passing through the throat 167 when the wing plate 165 pushes water.

[72] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a swimming auxiliary apparatus having a tail wing

unit disposed at a vertical direction according to an embodiment of the present invention in use.

[73] As shown in FIG. 15, a swimmer lies prone on the water, holds the handle-wing units

140, and puts feet into the sandal binders 150 after wearing sandals. Then, the swimmer moves the hands in front and in the rear, and moves the feet in the left and in the right to produce the propelling force to swim on the water.

[74] As shown in FIG. 16, when a swimmer pushes hands forwardly, the wings 147 are folded by the water pressure. Then, the handle- wing unit 140 moves forwardly along the pole 130 while the water resistance is reducing. When a swimmer pulls the hands backwardly, the wings 147 are unfolded by the water pressure and the handle- wing unit 140 moves to the rear along the pole 130 while pushing water back. Therefore, the propelling force is produced.

[75] In order to change a direction, a swimmer stops a hand at a turning direction and moves the other hand and leg at the opposite side to produce the propelling force in the turning direction while swimming forward.

[76] FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a swimming auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for describing how to use the swimming auxiliary apparatus with legs.

[77] Referring to FIG. 17, if a swimmer moves feet in up and down after connecting the tail wing unit 160 horizontally to the swimming auxiliary apparatus according to the present embodiment, the poles 130 and the tail wing units 160 connected to the poles 130 move in up and down along the movement of the swimmer's feet. As a result, the tail wing units 160 push the water back identically to typical webfeet and produce the propelling force.

[78] While the present invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.