CA2644932A1

CA2644932A1 - Harness sling apparatus with palm hooks for water skiers

Info

Publication number: CA2644932A1
Application number: CA2644932A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Curtis Bateson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-11-12
Filing date: 2008-11-12
Publication date: 2010-05-12

Abstract

This invention relates to a detachable grip apparatus for water-skiing. It provides a water-ski harness with arm slings, palm hooks and loops arranged to give the water skier a mechanical handhold assist on a water-ski tow rope crossbar handle. The apparatus reduces fatigue in the skier's hands and forearms, and prevents loss of the water-skier's grip of the handle during high acceleration pull-out from a beach, dock, or an initial submerged position for the water-skier.
The apparatus also reduces hand callousing problems that are commonly experienced by those who actively pursue the sport. The apparatus passes acceleration forces to the waist via a harness to which the slings are attached at the rear. At the other end of each sling is attached a palm hook. A loop affixed to the back of each palm hook is placed around a corresponding middle finger to secure the palm hook in position. Upon the water-skier falling, both palm hooks unhook from the tow rope crossbar handle.

Description

HARNESS SLING APPARATUS WITH PALM HOOKS FOR WATER-SKIERS
SPECIFICATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The sport of water-skiing has become widely known, especially to those who frequent camps, summer homes, and resorts on lakes. While water skiing is an individualistic sport, in order to perform it the individual requires a power speed boat with sufficient horsepower to bring the water-skier to his feet in the water and pull him about over the body of water. The power boat has to be equipped with a tow rope mount. The tow rope's leading end is connected to the mount. The rope's trailing end is typically bifurcated to define a pair of end portions that are made fast to opposite ends of a crossbar handle to be grasped by the water skier. The power boat is operated by the boat driver.
Common safety regulations require that the boat also include an observer to watch the water skier and act as a communicator between the water-skier and the driver.

To start the run, the water-skier equips himself with a pair of water-skis, and in an appropriate start position at near shore or at dockside, wearing a life preserver, the skier grasps the tow rope crossbar handle. The water-skier may be at rest in an appropriate position in the water awaiting pull up by the power boat when it starts, or he may be standing on a pier or dock for a so-called jump start when the power boat gets under way. In any event, the forward movement of the boat as it accelerates to towing speed brings the water skier into a water-skiing position in which he is leaning rearwardly and his skies are inclined upwardly against the water. As the pulling force of the tow rope handle is transmitted via the skier's arms and torso to his legs and the water-skis, it moves him through the water. If the water skier is a novice, the ski run ordinarily involves pulling the water-skier behind the boat's wake at a relatively slow speed. More advanced skiers will ride the wake on either side of the boat at twenty miles per hour or more, and eventually could learn to operate a single "Slalom" ski.

Expert skiers will have learned the various water ski skills that are concerned with such things as barefooting (which involves no skies at all), Slalom course traversing for fun or competition, which involves using a single ski on which the water skier balances both feet in order to enhance his steering efforts, and jumping, which involves the use of two skis for jumping off an elevated ramp. In most instances, the water skier receives his forward movement thrust by gripping with his hands a conventional tow rope crossbar handle. Thus, the coupling that the water-skier uses at the tow rope crossbar handle is crucial. Except for some special water ski performances, where, for instance, the tow rope handle may be held between the skier's legs, the retention of the tow bar in the water-skier's hands is essential up until a fall into the water, in which case a release of the bar is important to prevent the skier from being injured or drowned by being dragged through the water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The subject invention relates to palm gripping assist devices and load distributing waist harnesses.

2 A number of different systems exist for securing a rider to a tow handle.
These systems generally fall into one of two categories: those in which the tow handle is attached directly to the hands or wrists of the rider, and those in which the tow handle is attached directly to the waist of the rider, usually at a central point.

The first category, systems in which the tow handle is attached directly to the hands or to the wrists of the rider, tend to be unbalanced in the vertical plane, and the rider is pulled downward as the boat starts or accelerates. There is also a considerable amount of strain on the wrists, the hands and the back, and it requires considerable strength for riders to pull themselves up from the water.

The second category comprises systems in which the handle is attached directly to the waist of the rider. These systems are suitable for beginners but they lack the direct manual control that advanced riders desire. The attachments in these systems also tend to be at only central point on the waist of the rider. This arrangement provides only minimal lateral stability as the boat turns, causing the rider to wobble from side to side.

In many sports activities, it is desirable for the participant to utilize specially designed tools for aiding in gripping, dispersing stress, and protecting the participant's hands from unwanted effects from the sport such as blisters or calluses. This is especially true for sports which require gripping or holding an implement of the sport for extended periods of time. An example of this is U.S. Patent No. 5,898,944, which discloses a glove for use in a sport which requires swinging a sports implement which includes a palm strap extending across the palm portion of the glove which is attached to the glove by a first end at the wrist area and extends to a second end which includes two openings for inserting the wearer's

3 fingers. A protrusion is attached transversely to the palm strap for wrapping around the implement of the sport. The combination of the palm strap and the protrusion is to transfer forces from swinging of the implement to the wrist of the wearer, and therefore, to allow the wearer to use less force in gripping the implement, thereby, helping to create a whipping action with the implement. Another example of this type of invention for use in any sport that involves gripping an object that is subjected to a pulling force, is U.S. Patent No. 5,809,570, which discloses a glove for securing a grip around a roundish-like object, such as a water skiing tow bar. The gripping device is an elongated, flat, sliding, strap loop having an anchor at one end in the form of a wrist cinching strap. The front of the friction or gripping pad continues in a loop which lays back over the gripping pad and extends to the underside of the wrist and attaches to a plastic sleeve which snugly fits around the user's wrist to keep the top strap properly located above the grip strap. The strap is to transfer the forces required to secure the object to the wrist strap, thereby, transferring a portion of forces required to gripping the object. A glove with tow grip assist straps specifically for water-skiing is shown in U.S. 4,400,831. It discloses a glove arrangement for water skiing for enabling the water skier to establish through his grip on the tow rope crossbar handle a finger controlled structural purchase that couples, through the glove arrangement, the skeletal structure of his arms to the tow rope handle in bypassing relation to the muscles of his hands and forearms, in which the glove for each hand is a hand cover of the usual finger glove configuration and includes a palm portion and a wrist portion in which a palm side strapping is affixed to the glove on its palm or gripping side that extends across the glove palm portion longitudinally thereof and along and between the glove finger portions and wrist portion on the palm side of same, and has a protuberant rib extending crosswise of the strapping and the finger portions adjacent the area of the first finger joints of the finger portions, which rib in use provides a finger controlled over center type socket forming purchase on the handle, and a wrist strapping anchored to the glove palm side strapping adjacent the

4 glove wrist portion at the palm side of same, and at one end of the wrist strapping, with the wrist strapping being proportioned to be wrapped firmly around the glove wrist portion when the water skier applies the glove to his hand, and with the other end of the wrist strapping and the glove including self adhering means for holding the glove wrist strapping in place while the skier is using the glove.

Additionally, there are harness or jacket attachment means for assisting with a bar grip. U.S. Patent No.

5,449,309 shows a belt harness with a central front strap for wrapping around a water-ski tow bar. U.S.
Patent No. 4,745,870 shows a windsurfing jacket with sleeve straps and boom hooks to transfer the load of the windsurfer sail and boom through to the arm support braces and across a shoulder brace.
None of the prior technology provides the features of the present invention.
There is a need for a harness which may be attached around the waist of the wearer and which assists in reducing the effort required to hold onto a water-ski tow rope crossbar handle by transferring the forces required to the wearer's waist, yet enables quick easy, and safe disengagement from the tow rope crossbar handle in case of the user's falling down. The vertical and lateral instability of present systems, and the difficulty for the riders of pulling themselves out of the water and continuing on top of the water over long distances without excessive hand, wrist, arm and shoulder strain are common problems for water sports participants today.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a detachable grip apparatus for water-skiing. It provides a water-ski harness with arm slings, palm hooks and loops arranged to give the water skier a mechanical handhold assist on a water-ski tow rope crossbar handle. The apparatus reduces fatigue in the skier's hands and forearms, and prevents loss of the water-skier's grip of the handle during high acceleration pull-out from a beach, dock, or an initial submerged position for the water-skier. The apparatus also reduces hand callousing problems that are commonly experienced by those who actively pursue the sport.

The apparatus passes acceleration forces to the waist via a harness to which the slings are attached at the rear. At: the other end of each sling is attached a palm hook. A loop affixed to the back of each palm hook is placed around a corresponding middle finger to secure the palm hook in position. Upon the water-skier falling, both palm hooks automatically unhook from the tow rope crossbar handle.

The waist belt harness should have two length adjustable slings adjoined by carabiners to the back of the waist harness. This enables water-skiers to adjust the apparatus for individual fit.

A key aspect of the invention are the palm hooks that are shaped and curved so as to allow capture of the tow rope crossbar handle, but to not continue gripping in the event of the water-skier releasing pressure on the handle when falling. A finger attachment loop is attached to the elongated support which enables one or more fingers to be secured to the hook support, the finger attachment enabling rearward flexing of the hook support by a hand movement created by rearward bending at the wrist, and creating a pulling motion instantly disengaging the hook shaped end portion from the tow rope crossbar handle. The finger attachment loop is made of strong but stretchable material, and is sized to be snugly attached around a finger of the user in order to keep the palm hook on the hand of the user.

6 The apparatus pulls the water-sport rider substantially from the waist which reduces strain on the rider's arms and reduces the tendency of the rider to be pulled down as the boat accelerates forward.
The present invention solves both the vertical and the lateral stability problems inherent in other systems while making it easier for riders to pull themselves out of the water and reducing strain on the arms and upper body. It does so because the hooks and the straps are arranged so as to pull the rider from both sides of the waist and by both wrists simultaneously. Because the nylon strap arm slings extend from both hand grips and attach to clips around opposing sides of the waist harness, the apparatus provides better lateral stability than other tow systems which only attach to the waist at one point. Thus the rider's entire body is pulled synchronously and smoothly without vertical or lateral instability and without undue strains on any one part of the body.
Additionally, because of the palm hooks, the rider maintains a solid manual grip on the tow handle and can easily steer with minimal arm strain.

The palm hooks are shaped with an overall crossbar overlapping curvature of greater than ninety degrees but less than 180" degrees of rotation. The palm hooks thus have an appropriately narrow range of effectiveness for grabbing the tow crossbar, which facilitates a release when the rider flexes his wrists away from the gripping orientation of the palm hooks on the crossbar. Each palm hook is thus shaped and curved with an overall crossbar overlapping curvature of greater than ninety degrees but less than 180" to fit around almost half the circumference a ski tow crossbar, to allow capture of the crossbar and pulling of the palm hook by the crossbar, yet to enable release by the palm hook of the crossbar upon pulling the palm hook away from the crossbar substantially perpendicular to a direction of pulling by the crossbar.

7 To summarize, the detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus should comprise:
a) a waist harness that can be fastened about a waistline of a user;

b) one or more one arm slings joined to the waist harness, each arm sling being extendable from the waist harness to a hand of the user;

c) a palm hook joined to each arm sling, the palm hook extending from the arm sling into a curvate portion to fit partially around a crossbar to be gripped by the user.

Each palm hook is made of strong, rigid material.

The device could provide some of its advantages with just one such arm sling;
however, a symmetry of balance and distribution of pulling force is optimally achieved by having a matching pair of such arm slings, one for the left arm and one for the right arm, joined to each other and the waist harness at its rear area, the left arm sling passing through a left rear loop affixed to the waist harness and the right arm sling passing through a right rear loop affixed to the waist harness. The waist harness should have padding built in to distribute pressure and protect a user's back and sides from excess pressure from the arm slings. The apparatus is thus symmetrical with regard to the left arm sling to and the right arm sling, joined at a central rear area of the waist harness, and can symmetrically distribute pulling force on a left side, rear, and a right side of the waist harness. The rear end of each arm sling can be sewn over into a loop and attached to the other by means of one or two carabiners.

8 The arm slings should be length adjustable, to fit multiple body sizes among water sports enthusiasts, by means of a buckle through which a strap can be slid when pressure on the strap is lessened, each harness end strap fitting through a buckle and then being secured by complementary mechanically adhesive patches.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a perspective view of apparatus of the invention before it is strapped to a water-skier.
Figure 2 is a front view of the apparatus strapped to a user.

Figure 3 is a rear view of the apparatus strapped to a user.
Figure 4 is a side view of the apparatus strapped to a user.

Figure 5A is a perspective front view of the palm hook attached to a finger loop on the hand of the user.

Figure 5B is perspective rear view of the palm hook of Figure 5A being placed over a tow crossbar.
Figure 6 is a perspective rear view of the palm hook of Figure 5B.

9 Figure 7 is a perspective side view of the palm hooks of the apparatus being released from the tow crossbar.

DETAILEI) DESCRIPTION

Referring to Figures 1, 2, and 3 the waist harness 1 can be attached around a user's waist by means of a buckle (unshown in Figure 1- shown as 20 in Figure 2) on the front of left harness end 34 and right harness end strap 32 which fits through the buckle and is then secured by complementary mechanical adhesive patches 31 and 32, leaving area 34 on the front of the waist harness.
At the back of waist harness 1 are sewn two loop straps 2 and 3, through which harness sling ends 35 and 36 are passed and joined via carabiners 6 and 7. The left arm sling 4 is adjustable to fit alongside the individual user's arm by means of the left length adjustment buckle 8. Likewise, the right arm sling 5 can be adjusted as to its length by means of the right length adjustment buckle 9. The leading sling ends 37 and 38 pass through aperature 16 and 17 in palm hooks 12 and 13 respectively. The palm hooks can be retained in the proper position in the user's palms by means of finger loops 14 and 15, enabling each palm hook end to rest on a tow crossbar.

In Figure 2, the apparatus has been donned by a user 22 around his waist 21.
Referring to Figure 3, the rear of the waist harness 1 is shown below a back area 31 around the waist of the user 22. The right finger loop 15 has been placed on the user's right middle finger 41 and the left finger loop 16 has been placed on his left middle finger 42.

The finger loops can be made of strong but stretchable material such as nylon reinforced elastic. The waist harness can be made of durable nylon layers enclosing padding. The arm slings can be made of ballistic nylon. The palm hooks can be made of any suitable rigid material such as aluminum or strong plastic.

Referring to Figure 4, the sling apparatus has been adjusted for the length of the arms 52 of the user 22, such that the tow crossbar 51 can be gripped by the palm hook ends 18 and 19 while the arm slings 4 and 5 transfer pressure to the waist harness 1 and thereby to the waist area below the back area 31.

In Figures 5a and 5b the right palm hook 13 is shown position on the palm 23 of the user. The finger loop 15 is crucial in positioning the palm hook correctly, in order to enable gripping of the tow crossbar 51 via the palm hook end 19. In Figure 6, the finger loop apertures 61 and 62 are shown through which the finger loop 15 is sewn to secure it to the palm hook 13.

When the water-skiing user falls, as shown by Figure 7, his wrists 71 and 72 flex, causing the finger loops 14 and 15 to pull the palm hooks 12 and 13 off the tow crossbar 51.

The extent and curvature of the palm hooks should be less than semi-circular, such that the palm hook ends 18 and 19 do not extend more than half way around the circumference of the tow crossbar 51.
This assists in the release of the tow crossbar 51 upon the water-skiing user falling. But he curvature of the palm hooks should extend at least a quarter-turn around the tow crossbar 51, in order to enable the user to grip the crossbar 51 with the palm hooks 12 and 13 during towing.

In the drawings, a smoothly curved palm hook has been shown, which fits a typical tow crossbar.
However, the apparatus could use palm hooks having a series of straight segments that are each bent with respect the next, in order to achieve the desired overall curvature, particularly if the tow crossbar were likewise faceted.

It will be apparent that the apparatus can be used for other sports or situations in which it is desired to assist gripping of a bar while diffusing strain associated therewith, yet enable easy release of the bar upon the user falling or simply deciding to let go, such as wakeboarding, windsurfing, kite-surfing or similar sports. The apparatus could be integrated into a water-skiing flotation vest or life jacket.

The within-described invention may be embodied in other specific forms and with additional options and accessories without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presently disclosed embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalence of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

HARNESS SLING APPARATUS WITH PALM HOOKS FOR WATER-SKIERS

I claim:

1. A detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus comprising:
a) a waist harness that can be fastened about a waistline of a user;

b) at least one arm sling joined to the waist harness, the arm sling being extendable from the waist harness to a hand of the user;

c) a palm hook joined to each arm sling, the palm hook extending from the arm sling into a curvate portion to fit partially around a crossbar to be gripped by the user;

d) a finger attachment loop joined to each palm hook, the finger attachment loop being sized to be snugly attached around a finger of the user in order to keep the palm hook on the hand of the user.

2. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which a left arm sling is extendable from a left side of the waist harness along a left arm of the user, and a right arm sling is extendable from a right side of the waist harness along a right arm of the user.

3. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which the left arm sling and the right arm sling are linked to each other at a rear area of the waist harness.

4. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which the left arm sling passes through a left rear loop affixed to the waist harness and the right arm sling passes through a right rear loop affixed to the waist harness.

5. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 4, in which a rear end of the left arm sling is attached to a rear end of the right arm sling by means of at least one carabiner.

6. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which each arm sling is length adjustable.

7. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 6, in which each arm sling is length adjustable by means of a buckle through which a strap can be slid when pressure on the strap is lessened.

8. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 7, in which a harness end strap fits through a buckle and is then secured by complementary mechanically adhesive patches.

9. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which each palm hook is shaped and curved to fit around almost half the circumference a ski tow crossbar, in order to allow capture of the crossbar and pulling of the palm hook by the crossbar, and in order to enable release by the palm hook of the crossbar upon pulling the palm hook away from the crossbar substantially perpendicular to a direction of pulling by the crossbar.

10. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which each palm hook is shaped with an overall crossbar overlapping curvature of greater than ninety degrees but less than 180"
degrees of rotation, in order to have an appropriately narrow range of effectiveness for grabbing the tow crossbar and for facilitating a release when a user's wrists are flexed away from a gripping orientation of the respective palm hook on the crossbar.

11. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which a finger attachment loop is attached to an elongated support portion of the palm hook which enables one or more fingers to be secured to the palm hook, and enables a rearward bending of a user's wrist to disengage the palm hook from a tow rope crossbar.

12. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which each finger attachment loop is made of strong but stretchable material.

13. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which the waist harness has padding built in to distribute pressure and protect a user's back and sides from excess pressure from the arm slings.

14. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which each palm hooks is made of strong, rigid material.

15. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which the waist harness is has flotation built in.

16. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which the waist harness is part of a flotation vest.

17. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 1, in which the waist harness is part of a life jacket.

18. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which the apparatus is symmetrical with regard to the left arm sling to and the right arm sling, and are joined at a central rear area of the waist harness, in order to symmetrically distribute pulling force on a left side, rear, and a right side of the waist harness.

19. The detachable harness and sling bar-gripping apparatus of Claim 2, in which a) the left arm sling and the right arm sling are linked to each other at a rear area of the waist harness;
b) the left arm sling passes through a left rear loop affixed to the waist harness and the right arm sling passes through a right rear loop affixed to the waist harness;

c) a rear end of the left arm sling is attached to a rear end of the right arm sling by means of at least one carabiner;

d) each arm sling is length adjustable, by means of a buckle through which a strap can be slid when pressure on the strap is lessened, each harness end strap fitting through a buckle and then being secured by complementary mechanically adhesive patches;

e) each palm hook is shaped and curved with an overall crossbar overlapping curvature of greater than ninety degrees but less than 180" to fit around almost half the circumference a ski tow crossbar, in order to allow capture of the crossbar and pulling of the palm hook by the crossbar, and in order to enable release by the palm hook of the crossbar upon pulling the palm hook away from the crossbar substantially perpendicular to a direction of pulling by the crossbar;

f) each finger attachment loop is attached to an elongated support portion of the palm hook which enables one or more fingers to be secured to the palm hook, and enables a rearward bending of a user's wrist to disengage the palm hook from a tow rope crossbar;

g) each finger attachment loop is made of strong but stretchable material;

h) the waist harness has padding built in to distribute pressure and protect a user's back and sides from excess pressure from the arm slings.

i) each palm hook is made of strong, rigid material.

j) the apparatus is symmetrical with regard to the left arm sling to and the right arm sling, and are joined at a central rear area of the waist harness, in order to symmetrically distribute pulling force on a left side, rear, and a right side of the waist harness.