TIGHTROPE DEVICE

• US 3,580,568 A
• Filed: 07/29/1968
• Issued: 05/25/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/1968
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Guthrie B. Stone
• Original Assignee: Guthrie B. Stone
• Inventors: Stone, Guthrie B.
• Application Number:
  US04/748,353
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• US Class Current: 482/34
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 4/00 Balance beams

Abstract

A stout rope is glued or otherwise fastened in a groove atop the upper edge of a support rail which is about 6 inches high and an inch more or less in cross section. The lower edge of the support rail is retentively but removably seated in keeper notches provided in upper edge portions of longitudinally spaced transverse footlike blocks.

Claims

1. A simulated portable and foldable tightrope device capable of use indoors or outdoors comprising a support member embodying a first horizontally elongated wooden board, a second horizontally elongated wooden board like said first board, said boards being rectangular in cross section and having upper and lower longitudinal edges, the lower edges being straight and flat from end-to-end, the upper edges having like open-ended grooves, adjacent inner ends of said boards abutting each other and being foldably joined by operatively attached hinge means, a stout length of rope seated in said grooves and secured to said boards and bridging the joint at the hingedly connected inner ends of said boards, a plurality of longitudinally spaced surface engaging and elevating blocks for said support member, said blocks being disposed at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the respectively cooperable boards and having upper edges each provided with a centrally located keeper notch, the lower edges of said boards being snugly but removably seated in cooperating ones of said keeper notches.

2. The simulated tightrope device defined in and according to claim 1, and wherein said blocks are identical and shiftably adjustable along the respectively cooperable boards.

3. For physical development use indoors or outdoors, a portable simulated tightrope device through the medium of which the user can attain amusement, achieve poised balance skill and exercise comprising, in combination, an elongated portable support member embodying elevated elongated end-to-end coplanar duplicate sections having adjacent inner ends united by complemental hinge means, said hinge means permitting said sections to be folded together in compact relationship for convenient handling, carrying and out of the way storing, said sections having upper and lower longitudinal edges, the lower edges being straight and flat from end-to-end, the upper edges having like open-ended grooves, said grooves providing seating and supporting ridge for a rope, a single length of rope comparable in length to the overall length of said sections when in use, a lower longitudinal edge portion of said rope being retentively seated and secured in said grooves and having terminal free ends which are flush with the corresponding outer ends of said sections, and a plurality of readily attachable and detachable support member elevating and retaining blocks.

4. For physical development use indoors or outdoors, a portable simulated tightrope device through the medium of which a user can attain amusement, achieve poised balancing skill, and exercise comprising:

an elongated portable support member which is stable when it is properly placed for use atop a floor, the ground or equivalent support surface, said support member being elevated and supported by a plurality of readily attachable and detachable blocks and having an upper lengthwise edge which when is use is disposed in a horizontal plane above the level of said support surface, said support member embodying elongated end-to-end coplanar sections having adjacent ends united by complemental hinge means, said hinge means permitting said sections to be folded together in compact relationship for convenient handling, carrying and out-of-the-way storing, said sections being of limited vertical cross-sectional dimension, the upper edges of said sections being provided with an open-ended elongated groove of a predetermined cross-sectional dimension, said groove providing a seating and supporting ridge for a rope, and a single length of rope comparable in length to the overall length of said sections when in use, said rope being amply stout that it can be satisfactorily traversed either barefooted or with slippers or shoes on, and a significant lower longitudinal edge portion of said rope being retentively seated and secured in said groove.