CA1130728A

CA1130728A - Powered polo pony

Info

Publication number: CA1130728A
Application number: CA325,737A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Egon Theelen; Werner Wippig
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1978-04-22
Filing date: 1979-04-18
Publication date: 1982-08-31
Also published as: DE2817771A1; EP0005214A1; EP0005214B1; JPS54154636A

Abstract

Abstract A powered polo pony has a driving unit and at least two steered pairs of wheels, whose shafts are joined with the body and may undergo adjustment. A rest for the saddle may undergo adjustment to be at the height of the back of a horse or pony. There is a master switch or controller for controlling the speed and for braking by motion of the control part forwards or backwards and for being moved to the left or the right for steering to the side. A step-less gear system is joined with the rotor drive unit.

Description

113C~7Z8 The invention relates to a powered polo pony for playiny an imitation form of normal polo with a power drive so that it is not necessary for polo ponies to be used.
As is part of yeneral knowled~e,since the start of polo all players make use of specially trained ponies which are generally high in price.
As time went by it l~as turned out that in this res-pect there are shortcomin-Js, that is to say:-(a) polo players are not in the position of traininy for a complete year at tl~e time and normally trainin~
is onlv possible for ~ months in eacl- ycar and for playing the yame itsel~;
(b) every polo player is de~enclent on the conclition of the min~ and body of the pony and the degree to which the pony is ready to take part in polo;
(c) a true polo player has a need for at least three ponies and for this reason the amount of money needed by a player for starting up the sport is in no sense small, more speciall~7 because running payments have to be made for food and the like for the ponies.

1~30728 One purpose of the invention is that of making it possible for a player to take part in polo throughout the year and without being dependent on the effects of weather and the fact tlat ponies are living beings.
For this reason a "powered polo pony" has been de-signed, which may be used with normal riding saddles. ~n important point of the invention is that the polo player does not have to give up his normal saddle and has the feeling that normal conditions are being kept to and there is no need for him to any yreat degree to get used to an-other saddle and it is more readily possible for him to get used to his pony a~ain.
In the development of the present invention the star-ting point was that of designin~ a moviny highly articulated lower E)art, with the necessary to~ part for givinc3 the polo player the feeling that he is able to clo on usin~ his nor-mal sad~le.
For this reason the idea behind th~ present invention is that of so clesiyning the frame and runnincJ cJear that the polo player, when seated on the pony, is at the same distance from the c~round, on which the polo ball is resting or is being moved. Furthermore tl~ere is the measure in the present invention of the polo player's bein~J almost as free to make the necessary motions for the c3ame of polo, that is to say playing the ball to the left hand or ric~ht hand side, as is normally the case, so that all so far normal sorts of blows or stro~ of t~e c3~1e may be effected~.
The present invention is with respect to a powerecd polo pony with a driving unit and at least two steered pairs of wheels, whose shafts are joinecl with the body so as to make adjustloent possible, and the saddle rest i5 pl~c~ at a heigilt, as may he clesired, at the level 113~:)'7Zl~

of a short or tall polo pony, that is to say of a true pony or of a horse, and there is a master controller for the speed and for braking by moving the controlling part back-wards or forwards and for steering to the side by motion of the controlling part to the left or the right, and there is a gear unit, whose step-down effect may be steplessly controlled, and which is joined with the driving unit.
According to a broad aspect of the invention, there is thus provided a powered polo pony for imitation playing of normal polo with a driving unit and at least two steered pairs of wheels, whose shafts are joined with the body so as to make adjustment possible, and a saddle may be placed on the saddle support which is adjustable to the height of the back of a horse or a pony alternatively, and there is a master controller for the speed and braking, this being produced by motion of a controlling part forwards for the speed and backwards for braking, and for sideways control by motion of the controlling part to the left or to the right, and there is a gear unit whose step-down effect may be steplessly controlled and which is joined with the motor driving unit.
In the case of one working example of the invention the apparatus has two front and two back support wheels, of which the front wheels are placed at a slope outwards for meeting the effects of centrigugal force.
Furthermore the back wheels may be placed at a slope inwards.
In special cases, for increasing the stability, further support wheels may be present on the running gear of the apparatus. In the invention it is furthermore to have balancing weights within the body of the apparatus, which , _ _ - 113~72~

are joined with the body by arms, which may be joined by way of joints at the top and/or lower end for making possible movement to the side of the weights. Inside the body of the apparatus spring-worked switches may be present for controlling the speed and acted upon by the user's pushing against them with his thighs. Lastly the apparatus may have a hard-rubber supported or covered bumper right the way round it.
So with the apparatus of the invention it is possible for the game of polo to be played throughout the year. Furthermore the player is not dependent on the pony's being in a healthy condition. Lastly there is the good effect that there is no loss on the part of the player of his feeling for the normal pony so that he does not have to get used to it again after using the imitation pony of the invention for some time.

-3a-.

~L~3~7~3 One working- example o the invention will now be presented in full details using the figures.
Figure 1 is a side view of a powered polo pony.
Fiyure 2 is a view from the front.
Figure 3 is a view looking down on the pony, the user or rider not being given in the figure, to make it sirnpler.
The apparatus of the invention is an imitation polo pony, which at the ends of the legs has wheels of a spe-cial design and which are s~ecially place~. Part numher 1 is used for the front part of the powered polo pony while

2 is used for the driving unit with a gear unit whose step-down effect may be steplessly controlled. Stabilizing weights 3 are placed under the belly of the polo rony on arms 7. These stabilizing weights firstly have the ~urpose of lowering the center of gravity of the apparatus. The arms 7 may have joints at their top and/or lower ends so that the center of gravity may be~ move~l sideways for acljustment.
The body 4 of the powere~i polo IpOnv iS SO ll}:e tlle form of a livinc3 pony, at least in tlle important t~arts, that a normal polo 9acldle ~3 may he place(l on it. r~ecausc 1or polo saddles special forms have been ~esic~necl it will be seen that the chanc3eover from a polo pony to the ap~aratus of the invention is made mol-e readily possible for the plaver.
The group of controls is numbered 5 (see furthermore fi-gure 3). This group of controls has all necessary instruments, such as an instrument giving the num~er of kilometers run, an ignition lock with the starter, a check lamp, and all necessary instruments for seeing that the func-tion of the apparatus is ta}ing place in the desired ~lay.
For controlling the powered polo pony a single master controller or switch with a ball han~le 6 is placed ~ ~3~7~l3 on the group o~ instr~ents, which is designed like the nec3c of a horse, and the head of a horse.
With the master controller it is possible for the apparatus to be run at a slower or a ~Jreater speed depen-dent on the de~ree of motion of the con~rol stic~, the design being SUCil that on moviny the stick forwarcls the apparatus is run more quickly and on pullincJ it Dackwards it is bra]~ed, if necessary till it is stopped. Furthermore it is possible for the upper parts of the apparatus on the runninc~ gear, that is to say in the form of a ~ony body, to be so desic3necl that the speed is increasecl ~y pusllinc3 the thighs ayainst the body ant~ acting on switches worked by s~rings. In this case these switches will be placed in the imitation pony body~
Furthermore the master controller is able to ~e movec~
to the left and to the riyht so that on the control stick's beiny moved to the left the apparatus is steerecl to the left, and is steerecl to the right on moviny the stick to the right. The steerirlC,J motion is to a dearee dependent on the de~ree of movtng the control sticl;, that i5 to say on its ~ngle.
The general design oE such nlaster controllers is part of knowledge in the art an~ in fact, they have been used in cranesand the like for a loncJ time.
For driving the powerec~ polo pony it is possible to make use of an electric motor or an internal combustion engine using gasoline or gas; for this reason any sort o~ driving system is possible. The motor or engine is joined with a gear system whose step-down effect may be controlled steplessly so that no clutch is needed and, dependent on the design of the control stick, the apparatus may be speecled up or slowed down till it is stopped.

1~3072~3 A rf,ore specially important point is the design and placing of the wheels. The front wheels 9 have, in the case of the embodiments of the invention figured, a smaller c~is-tance between them than the bac]c wheels 10 and r as ~ill he seen rror~ figure 2, are placed sloping outwarc.s, while the back wheels 10 are placed slo~ing inwards so that, with this system, corners ~ay be taken very safel~7, because a part of the centrifugal forces produced are taken u, by the earth by way of the wheels. As will be seen in figure 1 the system has two shock absorbers~. As will he seen from the gelleral view of figures 1-3 tlrle snock absorbers are pl~ce~ slopinq outwards.
For makinc3 figure 3 simpler the slopirlg positioninCJ
of the wheels 9 and 10 is not taken into account.
The user or ricier is numberec~ 12 whilc the polo sticlc is numbered 13.
The apparatus is more s~-~ecially so desi~ned that the heic~ht of the saclclle ~ is generallv the saMe as th~
height of the sadcilc on a living ~olo pony.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu-sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A powered polo pony for imitation playing of normal polo with a driving unit and at least two steered pairs of wheels, whose shafts are joined with the body so as to make adjustment possible, and a saddle may be placed on the saddle support which is adjustable to the height of the back of a horse or a pony alternatively, and there is a master controller for the speed and braking, this being produced by motion of a controlling part forwards for the speed and backwards for braking, and for sideways control by motion of the controlling part to the left or to the right, and there is a gear unit whose step-down effect may be steplessly controlled and which is joined with the motor driving unit.

2. A polo pony as claimed in claim 1, with two front and two back support wheels, of which the front wheels are at a slope in order to take up centrifugal forces.

3. A polo pony as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in the case of which the back wheels are at an inward slope.

4. A polo pony as claimed in claim 1, in the case of which under the body of the apparatus balancing weights are placed joined with the body by arms.

5. A polo pony as claimed in claim 4, in the case of which the arms are joined with the top and/or lower end by way of joints for making possible sideways motion of the weights.

6. A polo pony as claimed in claim 1, having a hard-rubber covered or supported bumper round it.