Folding Hurdle with Spring-Locked Pivot Legs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional athletic training hurdles lack a practical solution for easy storage and transportation, as they are typically bulky and difficult to fold, which hinders their portability and space efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The design of folding hurdles featuring pivotable legs with spring-biased buttons and lock holes allows the legs to transition between erected and folded positions, enabling the hurdle to be compactly stored and transported by allowing the legs to be coplanar with the horizontal bar, facilitating easy assembly and disassembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional hurdles are designed with fixed legs, then stability during use is improved, but portability and storage efficiency deteriorate due to bulkiness
Solution Approach 1:
The legs are designed to be dynamically changeable between fixed and folded positions through pivotable connections and locking mechanisms. The spring-biased buttons enable automatic locking in erected position for stability and easy release for folding, allowing the hurdle to adapt its structure based on operational needs versus storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The hurdle is divided into separable components with pivotable legs that can be independently positioned. The lock holes and spring-biased buttons create discrete locking positions that allow the legs to be segmented from the main body during storage while maintaining connection during use, resolving the contradiction between stability and portability.
2Volume of moving object
If hurdles are designed to be foldable for easy storage, then space efficiency is improved, but structural complexity increases due to additional folding mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The spring-biased buttons automatically engage with the lock holes to secure the legs in their folded or erected positions without requiring manual intervention. The springs provide automatic locking and unlocking functionality, reducing the complexity of the folding mechanism while maintaining ease of operation and reducing storage volume.
3Ease of operation
If simple pivotable connections are used for folding legs, then ease of folding is improved, but stability in erected position deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The spring-biased buttons act as intermediary elements between the pivotable leg connections and the lock holes. They provide a mediating mechanism that ensures stable locking in the erected position while maintaining ease of folding, as the springs automatically engage and disengage the locking positions without requiring forceful manual operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enables the hurdles to be efficiently stored and transported in a flat configuration, saving space and simplifying handling while maintaining stability in both erected and folded states, addressing the bulkiness issue of traditional hurdles.
Implementation Method 1
The first generally downwardly extending tube insert may include a laterally extending first spring-biased button. The first leg may include a first erected position lock hole configured to engage the first spring-biased button when the first leg is in an erected position and/or a first folded position lock hole configured to engage the first spring-biased button when the first leg is in a folded position.
Data Source
AI summary
Folding hurdles are disclosed. Some example folding hurdles may include a generally horizontal bar. A first leg may be pivotably coupled to a first end of the generally horizontal bar. The first leg may include a generally horizontally extending first foot and/or may be pivotable between an erected position in which the first foot is oriented generally perpendicular to the generally horizontal bar and a folded position in which the first foot is substantially coplanar with the generally horizontal bar. A second leg may be pivotably coupled to a second end of the generally horizontal bar. The second leg may include a generally horizontally extending second foot and/or the second leg may be pivotable between an erected position in which the second foot is oriented generally perpendicular to the generally horizontal bar and a folded position in which the second foot is substantially coplanar with the generally horizontal bar.