Rotatable Play Device With Spring-Loaded Seats
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional swings offer limited play opportunities, primarily focusing on individual swinging motion without incorporating social interaction or additional dynamic movements like bouncing, which can lead to monotonous play experiences for children.
Innovation Solution
A rotatable play device featuring a central support post with a hub and arm assembly that allows seats to rotate in a circular path while incorporating springs for a bouncing motion, enabling shared and alternating or independent bouncing experiences, along with motion limiters to control the range of motion for safety and play variety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional swings are arranged in a row or circle, then children can swing together, but the play experience remains monotonous with only individual swinging motion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple swing seats onto a single rotating hub structure, merging individual swinging motion with collective rotational motion. This allows children to experience both personal pendulum swinging and shared circular rotation simultaneously, greatly enhancing play experience variety without requiring separate swing structures for each child.
Solution Approach 2:
The swing system transitions from static individual swings to a dynamic rotating hub configuration where seats can both swing pendulum-style and rotate circularly. The rotating hub introduces a new degree of freedom, allowing the system to adapt between different motion modes and providing versatile play experiences.
2Adaptability or versatility
If swings offer only individual swinging motion, then the structure remains simple, but social interaction and play diversity are limited
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple swing seats are merged onto a single rotating hub with arm assemblies, creating a shared play structure that facilitates social interaction. Children can swing together while rotating, share the bouncing motion through the hub connection, and engage in cooperative play, all enabled by the integrated hub-and-arm mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating hub structure serves multiple functions: it supports individual swinging, enables collective rotation, provides shared bouncing motion through springs, and allows children to interact socially. This multi-functional design maximizes social play opportunities without requiring separate structures for each function.
3Adaptability or versatility
If springs are added to provide bouncing motion, then play dynamics increase, but device complexity and structural requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Spring elements are integrated into the existing hub and arm assembly structure, merging the bouncing function with the rotational and swinging mechanisms. The springs are positioned within the hub or attached to arms, sharing structural components rather than adding separate bouncing mechanisms, thereby reducing overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring mechanism serves multiple purposes: it provides bouncing motion for individual seats, contributes to the rotational dynamics of the hub, and enables shared vertical motion between opposing seats. This multi-functional spring system enhances play dynamics while utilizing the existing structural framework.
4Reliability
If motion limiters are added to control range of motion, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Motion limiting functionality is extracted as a separate controllable feature from the main swing mechanism. Motion limiters are positioned to constrain the rotational or swinging range independently, allowing safety control to be adjusted or removed without affecting the core swing and rotation functions, thereby minimizing added complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Motion limiters act as intermediary components between the driving force and the swing seats, mediating the range of motion to ensure safety. These limiters can be simple mechanical stops or adjustable constraints that interface with the existing arm or hub structure, providing safety control with minimal additional complexity.
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
Enhances play experience by combining rotational and bouncing motions, providing shared social interaction and varying play dynamics, suitable for children of different ages and abilities, while ensuring safety through controlled motion limits.
Implementation Method 1
The arm assembly may be associated with a spring element. As an occupant of a seat pushes his or her body weight onto the arm assembly, the spring element may become compressed. The spring element may then provide the arm assembly with a reciprocal motion which causes the seat to bounce, i.e. move up and down.
Implementation Method 2
As an occupant of a seat pushes his or her body weight onto the arm assembly, the spring element may become compressed. The spring element may then provide the arm assembly with a reciprocal motion which causes the seat to bounce
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a rotatable play device that comprises a central support post, a hub rotatably mounted to an upper end of the central support post, and an arm assembly attached to the hub and comprising a plurality of arms, a seat being suspended from the distal end of each of the plurality of arms. Rotation of the hub about the central support post causes the plurality of seats to rotate around the central support post in a substantially circular rotation path. Each of the seats may also be configured to move up and down by way of a spring assembly or a plurality of springs. Two or more seats may share the up-and-down movement in an alternating manner or each seat may be configured to have an independent up-and-down movement. In addition, each of the seats may optionally be configured to swing in substantial alignment with the circular rotation path and/or to swing outward due to centripetal forces created by the circular rotation path.