Education and demonstration – Physical education – Developing or testing coordination
Patent
1983-06-16
1986-03-25
Skogquist, Harland S.
Education and demonstration
Physical education
Developing or testing coordination
272 2, 434247, G01M 900, A63B 7102, A63G 3116
Patent
active
045780374
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus for supporting a human body in a floating condition, and in particular to a skydiving simulator, that is to say an apparatus for simulating the free fall conditions experienced by a human body falling through the air at its terminal velocity.
Until recently, it was possible for a person to experience free fall conditions (that is to say to practise skydiving) only during a parachute descent and before the parachute had opened. Skydiving is a stimulating pleasurable activity, and requires the development of special skills, particularly the muscular control and co-ordination necessary to vary the orientation of the body. Obviously, considerable practice is necessary to acquire such skills. Unfortunately, the cost of skydiving is considerable, as each parachute jump is itself extremely expensive, and results in only a few minutes in free fall conditions. As each parachute jump takes a considerable time (as it involves initial preparations, and the landing and taking-off of the aircraft concerned), it is not usually possible for a skydiver to make more than three or four jumps a day. Consequently, it can take a considerable time for a skydiver to learn the necessary skills to produce a high quality of performance. This problem is often exacerbated by bad weather, as, for safety reasons, skydivers only operate when the weather is good. Thus, although the sport of skydiving is becoming increasingly popular, its popularity is limited by the considerable expense involved, and the time taken to learn the necessary skills.
Another problem limiting the popularity of skydiving is that it is a relative dangerous sport. Moreover, many people are too timid to jump out of an aircraft just for the sake of a few minutes pleasurable experience.
In an attempt to reduce the costs and dangers of skydiving, skydiving simulators have been built. Such skydiving simulators are basically vertical wind tunnels. Unfortunately, all the known simulators are extremely costly to build, being of a solid and permanent construction. Consequently, although the known simulators do reduce the cost and dangers of skydiving, they are still relatively expensive, and so very few have been built.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a skydiving simulator which is simple and cheap to manufacture, and which is easily transportable from site to site.
The present invention provides a skydiving simulator comprising a framework, a flying chamber supported within the framework, the flying chamber having an air inlet at the base thereof and an air outlet at the top thereof, and means for producing an upward stream of air within the flying chamber, wherein the flying chamber is made of tensioned sheet material.
The flying chamber of this simulator is easily removable from the framework, and the framework is demountable, so that the entire simulator can be taken down and transported to another site.
In a preferred embodiment, the flying chamber has a lower section whose side walls are substantially vertical, and an upper section whose side walls are inclined at a small angle to the vertical, the side walls of the upper section being divergent with respect to the central longitudinal axis of the flying chamber. Advantageously, the side walls of the upper section make an angle of between 10.degree. and 15.degree. with the side walls of the lower section. Preferably, said angle is 12.degree.. The lower section of the flying chamber constitutes a flying section, and the upper section constitutes a diffuser section for slowing down the velocity of the air, and hence preventing a flyer rising too far up the flying chamber.
Advantageously, the side walls of the lower section of the flying chamber are made of transparent material. This permits the interior of the flying section to be observed from outside.
In a preferred embodiment, the flying chamber is made of a plurality of identical strips of sheet material which are joined together along their longitudinal edges. Advantageously, the longitudinal edges of the strips a
REFERENCES:
patent: 4457509 (1984-07-01), St-Germain
Montgomery Ward Catalog, 1963 Fall & Winter, pp. 1476, 1477 only.
Dickson Thomas
Macangus Alexander
Finkelstein Don B.
Skogquist Harland S.
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