Exercise devices – Gymnastic – Play area climbing or traversing arrangement
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-31
2003-04-08
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3764)
Exercise devices
Gymnastic
Play area climbing or traversing arrangement
C482S036000, C482S037000, C482S039000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06544145
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a movable artificial wall to be used for training for rock climbing or the like (hereinafter referred to simply also as “artificial wall”), and also relates to a free-climbing apparatus which has irregular-shape members on its wall surface and can be easily and freely changed in the shape of the wall surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Styles frequently used during free climbing which is climbing on a natural wall or an artificial wall for the purpose of athletic competition or sports are divided into artificial climbing and free climbing. In artificial climbing(also called aid climbing or artificial climbing), users positively utilize auxiliary tools such as stirrups, bolts, pitons, nuts, skyhooks(cliff-climbing) or ropes, whereas in free climbing, users merely use such tools as ropes for the purpose of avoiding dangers such as falls, and perform climbing on walls by means of the physical capabilities of human beings.
Artificial walls which are used for the free climbing are also called “climbing artificial structures” or “climbing walls”. The basic structure of such an artificial wall is such that holds which serve as handholds or footholds during the climbing are arranged on a concrete wall surface, and the wall surface is straight over its entire height and the holds in many cases are members which are randomly arranged and secured to the wall surface.
To make the artificial wall climbing far more interesting, attempts have been made to change the arrangement of members used as the holds or to employ various members as the holds. In recent years, it has been proposed to use a movable type of the artificial wall or an artificial wall having a wall surface on which an irregular shape is formed.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 347170/1999-A proposes a free-climbing artificial wall which can be installed even in a narrow place such as an indoor place. The free-climbing artificial wall is constructed in such a manner that an endless shutter having plural holds rigidly secured to its surface is rotatably supported at the top and bottom ends of a frame and the shutter can be rotated by driving means so that the surface moves downward, and the surface of the shutter constitutes a wall portion for the free climbing. The free-climbing artificial wall is provided with angle adjusting means for adjusting the inclination angle of the frame, and is constructed to enable the angle of the frame to be adjusted by the angle adjusting means during the rotation of the shutter.
Similarly, artificial walls provided with structures for rotating endless shutters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,919,117, 5,549,195 and 5,125,877. The art disposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,116 enables a user to use plural wall surfaces by rotating an apparatus provided with the plural wall surfaces, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,116 proposes an example which uses a hexagonal prism having six faces usable as climbing wall surfaces, respectively, and enables the hexagonal prism to rotate about the axis thereof so that the plural wall surfaces can be used.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 155961/1998-A proposes a free-climbing artificial wall having rock surfaces which are similar in shape and texture to actual rock surfaces. A plane panel of predetermined shape and curved panels having plural kinds of curved patterns are combined with one another and are closely adjacently fitted to a panel support metal of a skeleton structure which is built in advance, thereby constituting the climbing wall surface which covers the periphery of the skeleton structure. An artificial wall having similar irregularities is also proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,058.
There has been another type of movable artificial wall capable of changing the shape of its wall surface. This movable artificial wall is provided with plural square or rectangular plates and each of the plates is connected in series with others in a side-to-side fashion, and the inclination of the artificial wall can be changed at intermediate portions thereof.
Incidentally, in the present invention, the term “irregularity(unevenness)” or “irregular(uneven) shape” encompasses not only the formation of valley-like elongate recesses and ridge-like horizontal projections, but also the formation of recesses depressed from the surrounding and ridge-like shapes projecting from the surrounding. Accordingly, in the present invention, an elongate recess and a recess depressed from the surrounding are referred to simply as “recess” or “recess portion”, and a horizontal projection and a ridge portion projecting from the surrounding are referred to simply as “projection” or “projection portion”.
Since there has not heretofore been an artificial wall of a movable type which has an irregular surface shape, good results have not yet been achieved in climbing exercises or training with a high degree of freedom. Specifically, in prior art movable types of the artificial walls, climbing walls are nearly flat straight walls, and changing a wall surface is restricted to changing the entire angle of a climbing surface. Since the wall surface is fixed and unattractive, there is the disadvantage that if the users repeatedly use such a prior art artificial wall, they will lose interest.
Although the degree of difficulty can be changed by changing the positions of the holds, the range of variations of training is extremely restricted. In the case of the artificial wall having an irregular shape formed on its wall surface, a user can have the feeling of climbing on an actual rock surface, but needs to perform time-consuming procedures to change the shape of an irregularity or the positions of the holds.
Accordingly, it is difficult to immediately change the irregular shape in an athletic competition, and it is impossible to change the irregular shape while an athletic competition is in progress. In addition, in the case of a movable type of the artificial wall provided with plural plates, it is possible to change the inclination of the artificial wall, but it is impossible to form an irregular shape on the wall surface of the artificial wall.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a free-climbing apparatus having an artificial wall which has a far more interesting irregular wall surface. and which can be easily and freely changed in the shape of the wall surface.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a movable artificial wall which includes multiple plates each made of a plate of polygonal shape and connected to one another by connection means each of which provides pivotal connection between the sides of the multiple plates, the whole of each of at least two sides of one of the multiple plates being connected to the whole of one side of another of the multiple plates, the multiple plates being connected to one another so that the multiple plates are closely adjacently arranged about at least one vertex of at least one of the multiple plates. Preferably, the multiple plates are triangles.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a movable artificial wall which further includes driving means for turning the multiple plates about the connection means.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a free-climbing apparatus which includes the movable artificial wall, measurement means for measuring a relative position between the multiple plates, and a control device capable of communicating data with the measuring means and transmitting instructions as to driving and driving speeds to the respective driving means, the control device having a database which stores data as to deformation patterns for changing the shape of a wall portion of the artificial wall, and a function which controls the driving and the driving speed of the driving means on the basis of data stored in the database.
In accordance with the present invention, there is pro
Hocchi Seiji
Shiomi Kazuyuki
Yoshida Minoru
Amerson Lori Baker
Hakusan Corporation
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
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