SWIMMING PADDLE AND CUSTOM FITTING METHOD

• US 20130309922A1
• Filed: 05/20/2013
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Justin Pearson Smith
• Original Assignee: Justin Pearson Smith
• Inventors: Smith, Justin Pearson
• Granted Patent: US 9,492,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 441/56
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/096 automatically adjusted according to anthropometric data of the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/687 for others, e.g. keys, wallets, books
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 31/10 held by, or attachable to, the hands or feet
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 33/00 Swimming equipment attachable to the head, e.g. swim caps or goggles diving masks B63C11/12; breathing aids, e.g. snorkels, B63C11/18
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0036 Accessories for stowing, putting away or transporting exercise apparatus or sports equipment A63B47/00, A63B55/00, A63B60/56 take precedence

Abstract

A swimming paddle with an upper rounded swimcap-shaped edge terminating in side indentations that define cap-securing temples, and a central goggle-securing notch cooperating with a concave region in the lower edge to store goggles vertically on the paddle. The paddle may further include fingerpad-indexing holes extending through the body of the paddle from the inner face to the outer face, the holes sized to allow only the fingerpads of a swimmer'"'"'s extended fingers to partially protrude from the inner face. A method for custom fitting a swimming paddle to a particular swimmer'"'"'s hand includes generating a side-by-side image of the swimmer'"'"'s hand and a commonly-carried object such as a mobile phone in a common plane. The image is compared to stored dimensional data for the object to remotely determine the dimensions of the swimmer'"'"'s hand and manufacture a custom paddle.

Claims

1. A pair swimming paddles, each of which comprises:

a generally planar body, an outer face, an inner face with straps for releasably retaining a swimmer'"'"'s hand to the paddle palm-side against the inner face, and upper, lower, and side perimetric edges;

wherein the upper perimetric edge defines a primarily convex, rounded edge that generally conforms to the shape and size of a swim cap, whereby the swim cap can be mounted to the pair of swimming paddles when placed together in facing relationship.

2. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 1 wherein the perimetric edges define at least one concave notch for mounting the straps of swim goggles, whose straps are mounted around the perimeter of the pair of swimming paddles when placed together in facing relationship.

3. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 2, where the at least one concave notch is positioned in the upper perimetric edge and wherein the lower perimetric edge includes a concave central portion in general vertical alignment with the at least one concave notch.

4. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 1 wherein each paddle has fingerpad-indexing holes in the inner face communicating with the outer face, the fingerpad-indexing holes located to receive the fingerpads of a swimmer'"'"'s extended fingers when the swimmer'"'"'s hand is retained against the inner face of the paddle by the straps, the fingerpad-indexing holes are sized to mount the frontal fingerpad portions of the fingertips within the fingerpad indexing holes and to protrude toward the outer face, with the fingerpads in contact with inner edges of the fingerpad-indexing holes.

5. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 1 and further comprising a protrusion on one of both of the paddles and a hooking hole in the protrusion for loop or strap for carrying the two paddles with or without the swim cap mounted thereto.

6. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 5 wherein the paddles further have hooking holes for hanging, holding, or strapping the paddles out of water.

7. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 6 wherein the paddles further have surface area hoes that are designed into the paddle to adjust the surface area as needed to compensate for the other features and the user'"'"'s hand geometry.

8. The pair of swimming paddles of claim 7 wherein the paddles further have smooth flow holes that prevent waffling effect and that balance the forces (moment) and the overall surface area of the paddle for optimal flow.

9. A method custom making an article that is used in relation to a particular user'"'"'s hand, the method comprising:

creating a composite image of an object of known dimensions in adjacent juxtaposition to the user'"'"'s hand in a common plane;

transmitting the composite image or dimensions extracted there from, to a remote location; and

at the remote location, manufacturing the article based on the composite image to fit the user'"'"'s hand.

10. The method custom making an article according to claim 9 wherein the act of creating comprises placing a commonly-carried, relatively flat common object of known dimensions and a user'"'"'s hand or an image thereof in a common plane through which the object and hand can be imaged.

11. The method custom making an article according to claim 9, wherein the composite is an electronic image.

12. The method custom making an article according to claim 9, wherein the act of transmitting the composite is electronic.

13. The method custom making an article according to claim 9 wherein the act of manufacturing comprises determining the dimensions of the hand by scaling the image of the hand relative to the known dimensions of the object of known dimensions.

14. The method custom making an article according to claim 13 wherein the act of manufacturing further comprises storing two-dimensional dimension data for the object of known dimensions.

15. The method for custom making a swimming paddle according to claim 9 wherein the act of manufacturing further comprises placing fingerpad-indexing holes the paddle to comport with the fingerpads of a swimmer'"'"'s extended fingers when the swimmer'"'"'s hand is retained against the inner face of the paddle by straps.

16. The method for custom making a swimming paddle according to claim 15 wherein the act of manufacturing further comprises strategically placing holes in the paddle to reduce waffling of the paddles as water passes through and around the paddles in use and to balance the forces on the overall surface area of the paddle for optimal flow.

17. The method for custom making a swimming paddle according to claim 9 wherein the act of manufacturing further comprises computing the surface area of the user'"'"'s hand and scaling the surface area of the paddle as a function of the area of the user'"'"'s hand.

18. The method for custom making a swimming paddle according to claim 17 wherein the act of manufacturing further comprises strategically placing holes in the paddle to adjust the paddle square area to match the computed desired square area of the paddle.