Harness for working animal – Stirrups – Safety
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-21
2001-09-04
Swiatek, Robert P. (Department: 3643)
Harness for working animal
Stirrups
Safety
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282872
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to improvements in saddlery and more particularly to a stirrup having a portion formed to pivot relative to a base so as to provide an auxiliary step when pivoted to a position below the base to thereby be accessible to assist a rider in mounting a saddle and which portion further functions as a safety device providing a breakaway portion for the stirrup to permit release of a rider's foot in the event the rider falls from the saddle, thus preventing possible serious injury.
2. History of the Related Art
Conventional stirrups used with saddles are generally designed to be adjustably supported at varying vertical relationships with respect to the saddles by stirrup leathers or straps. The straps include an adjusting mechanism, such as a buckle, which allow the straps to be vertically adjusted to suit individual riders so that the stirrup is conveniently positioned for being engaged by the riders foot not only when mounting a saddle, but while riding. In some instances, however, the stirrup strap is not sufficiently adjustable to permit the stirrup to be easily accessible, especially if the mount is a large horse or the rider is an individual who cannot easily place their foot within the stirrup for purposes of mounting.
In this respect, in applicant's previous U.S. Pat. 5,809,754, an auxiliary step for a stirrup is disclosed wherein the step is pivotable relative to the base of the stirrup to provide a platform deposed below the stirrup for use in facilitating mounting. Once mounted, the auxiliary step is designed to automatically pivot upwardly so as not to obstruct the normal use of the stirrup.
A further problem often encountered with conventional stirrups is that a rider's foot may become caught or entangled within the stirrup in the event the rider falls from the saddle. Such entanglement of a rider's foot within a conventional stirrup can result in severe physical injury as the rider can be dragged for some distance.
In view of the foregoing, there remains a need to provide a stirrup which not only functions to provide an assist or auxiliary step for assisting a rider mounting a saddle but which also functions as a safety or breakaway stirrup to prevent rider injury by assuring that the rider's foot may be easily separated from the stirrup in the event of a fall. A number of patents have been directed to providing safety or breakaway stirrups, by way of example: U.S. Pat. No. 932,886 to McClure; U.S. Pat. No. 1,008,552 to Dolan et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,087,503 to Neidigh; U.S. Pat. No. 1,186,751 to Douthitt et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,480,314 to Szymanski; U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,798 to Taylor; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,413 to Bostock et al. Each of the disclosed safety stirrups has a portion designed to pivot relative to a base. In most of these patents, a side element is pivotally mounted to the remaining portion of the stirrup such that, if pressure is applied laterally relative to the base of the stirrup, an individual's foot will cause the pivotable portion of the stirrup to open thereby providing an opening through which a rider's foot may pass in the event of a fall. However, none of these patents provides a stirrup which can also be utilized as an assist step to facilitate mounting. In addition, there are features in the various prior art structures which are not desirable for the anticipated use as safety stirrups because the elements which are pivoting to allow an opening in the stirrup may themselves become obstructions thus possibly resulting in rider injury even though a portion of the stirrup opens to potentially release a rider's foot.
In view of the foregoing, there remains a need to provide a safety stirrup having portions which pivot away in the event a rider should fall from a saddle thereby releasing the riders foot and which also provides an auxiliary assist step to facilitate mounting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a safety breakaway and mounting assist stirrup which includes a base portion having an elongated opening formed therein in which a base portion of an outer side element of the stirrup is pivotally mounted. The outer side element is mounted about a pivot shaft and include a main body which extends upwardly to form an outer side of the stirrup. A step is secured to or integrally formed to an outer end of the main body of the outer side element such that the step extends generally horizontally with respect to the base of the stirrup when the outer side element is pivoted to a position such that the step is disposed below the base of the stirrup. In this position, the step may be used to facilitate mounting. In the preferred embodiment, a free end of the step is somewhat bifurcated so as to facilitate closure of the step with a free end of an inner fixed side of the stirrup to thereby form a top portion of the stirrup when the outer side element is pivoted to an upper raised position. The inner side element of the stirrup is fixed with respect to the base and extends upwardly to an outer free end portion which is engagable with the outer free end portion forming the step of the pivotal side element of the stirrup.
The invention further provides a spring or other resilent element for normally urging the pivotable outer side element of the stirrup into the raised position and a latch member for maintaining the outer side element in the lowered position to provide an assist step. The latch member is preferably formed by a pivotable catch or pawl which is mounted so as to extend inwardly by gravity from one of the opposing walls of the stirrup base on either side of the opening formed in the base. The pawl is engaged within the notch by tilting the stirrup after the outer side element has been pivoted to lower the step into a lower deployed position. The pawl is retained in position to lock the step in the deployed position by the force of the spring urging the outer side element toward its raised position. When a rider engages the step to mount the saddle, the outer side element will pivot slightly beyond its deployed and locked position thereby releasing the pawl which will fall by gravity from engagement within the notch thereby allowing the outer side element to be pivoted to the raised position by the spring.
In the preferred embodiment, an outer end portion of the base of the stirrup includes a C-shaped opening for receiving a portion of the outer pivotable side element when the outer side element is pivoted to the closed or raised position.
The stirrup further includes a mounting element which is connected to an upper portion of the inner side element of the stirrup so as to be slightly off-centered toward the inside of the stirrup to thereby facilitate the manner in which the stirrup hangs relative to the saddle. The mounting element is designed to be secured to a conventional stirrup strap associated with the saddle. The positioning of the mounting element of the stirrup slightly off center causes the stirrup to tilt somewhat outwardly toward the outer side element to facilitate the opening of the stirrup in the event a rider falls from the saddle.
In other embodiments of the invention, a further spring locking element may be provided between the free ends of the fixed and pivotal side elements of the stirrup which will provide resistance to prevent premature opening or pivoting of the pivotable side element during the normal use of the stirrup.
This spring locking element will yield, however, to allow the opening of the outer side element in the event a rider's foot applies sufficient pressure to the outer side element, such as when a rider falls.
To further control the orientation of the stirrup of the present invention, a torsion device is secured within opposing segments of the stirrup strap. The torsion element includes upper and lower clamps that engaged with the strap and an elongated torsion rod which may be manually twisted. By applying a predetermined twist to the to
Dowell & Dowell , P.C.
Swiatek Robert P.
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