EP0004210B1 - Support for securing a jumping bar - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a retainer for obstacle bars, in particular of the kind used for training and competition in show jumping of horses.

We know that such obstacles are constituted by a movable bar, the ends of which rest on hoops which are integral with a frame making it possible to place them at the desired location of supports which offer staggered positions for these frames. For example, the supports consist of vertical posts, often called candlesticks, which are drilled with staggered holes. These supports can also be produced by means of horizontal or oblique bars also pierced with staggered holes.

For its part, the frame can be constituted by a cleat comprising one or two pins pluggable into the holes of the support. This frame may also include a collar enclosing the post and which is retained in staggered notches placed at the edges thereof.

In certain embodiments, the aforementioned arch has the shape of a quarter of a circle and it is integral with a part of the frame situated opposite the opposite post, so that the plane of this arch is vertical and parallel to the plane of symmetry of the obstacle.

The device thus produced has drawbacks, and even dangers, for the following reasons: the bar rests by simple pressing on the bottom of the arch, the upwardly curved ends of which prevent it from falling. It can only fall after being lifted over either end. This lifting can be normally caused by the shock of an anterior limb of the horse in upward movement to cross the obstacle. In this case, the bar, before falling, will further hamper the horse and may cause it to fall. But the danger increases when the horse touches the bar with an anterior or posterior limb in conditions such that the shock develops on the bar a force directed downwards. In this case, the bar cannot of itself escape the arches which support it, unless it breaks or bounces. The impact of the horse on the bar risks in all cases to unbalance it completely, causing dangerous falls. In particular, it is found that these falls frequently cause a fracture of the third phalanx of the horse and in any case make it restive. In addition, replacing the broken bars is expensive.

We sometimes try to overcome these faults by flattening the arch to be able to place the bar very close to one end and at the equilibrium limit, and to prevent it from accidentally falling, we are forced to press it against the internal faces of the candlesticks, which can lead to its jamming with the well-known dangerous consequences.

But another disadvantage, less serious moreover, presents itself: the height of the bar is not exactly fixed, and can vary when it is put back in place after it has fallen. The regularity of the jumping competition tests is affected.

The German utility model DE-U-70 05 100 overcomes these disadvantages. It comprises between the frame and the arch an intermediate piece articulated to the frame and the arch by two superimposed axes, parallel to the bar, both equipped with a torque limiter.

Thus, in the event of a fairly large impact on the bar, at least one of the torque limiters allows the arch to rotate around the corresponding axis, which allows the bar to escape from the arch.

This device is satisfactory, but has the drawback of being excessively complex and of implying a prohibitive cost price.

Also known from US-A-3,552,748 is a bar support for high jump or pole vault, which is articulated directly to the candlestick by a hinge. One of the hinge plates is fixed against the face of the candlestick which is parallel to the bar and opposite the jumper arriving towards the bar. The other hinge plate is fixed under a downward bent plate, which carries the bar. In normal service, return means such as spring or counterweight push the plate upwards, the two hinge plates then being perpendicular to each other.

In case of contact of the jumper with the bar, it can escape by sliding on the pads which possibly, if the shock is heavy, tilt against the return means.

This device is not suitable for show jumping by horses, because the ease with which the bar is thrown would very quickly teach horses to no longer respect the obstacle.

The present invention aims to provide a restraint for an obstacle bar of an acceptable or even favorable cost price, and which limits the risk of accident during a jump while requiring horses to respect the obstacle.

The invention, as characterized in the claims, solves the problem posed above.

At rest, the hinge is closed and its two plates are pressed against each other. A transverse impact causes the upper plate to which the U-shaped support is tilted, which lets the bar escape. This embodiment is simple and economical.

The trajectory which is thus imposed on the bar until it falls reconciles safety during the jump and respect for the obstacle by the horse before the jump.

The embodiment of claim 1 relates only to obstacles which must be crossed in the same direction during a route.

The improved embodiment of claim 2 allows the bilateral crossing of obstacles. In this embodiment at rest, the three plates are stacked one on the other.

If the two candlesticks or the like placed on either side of the bar are equipped with the device according to claim 3, the bar is contained in the interval between the two lateral support plates, and as these plates are integral with the U-shaped supports and tilt with them, any wedging of the bar against the candlesticks is made impossible.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the description which follows.

• - la Figure 1 est, dans le premier mode de réalisation, la vue en élévation de profil du dispositif, après coupe partielle suivant I-I de la Figure 2 ou de la Figure 3,
• - la Figure 2 est la vue en plan de ce dispositif,
• - la Figure 3 est la vue de face du côté du support en U,
• - la Figure 4 est la vue de dos du côté des broches,
• - la Figure 5 est une vue en perspective du dispositif monté sur le chandelier,
• - la Figure 6 est une vue analogue à la Figure 3, le support en U étant en position de basculement à 90° environ,
• - la Figure 7 est, dans le deuxième mode de réalisation, une vue de face du dispositif du côté du support en U,
• - la Figure 8 est analogue à la Figure 7, avec le support en U en position intermédiaire de basculement vers la droite,
• - la Figure 9 est analogue à la Figure 8, avec basculement semblable vers la gauche.

In the accompanying drawings, given by way of nonlimiting examples, the two aforementioned embodiments of the invention have been shown:

• FIG. 1 is, in the first embodiment, the side elevation view of the device, after partial section along II of FIG. 2 or of FIG. 3,
• - Figure 2 is the plan view of this device,
• FIG. 3 is the front view from the side of the U-shaped support,
• - Figure 4 is the back view from the side of the pins,
• FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the device mounted on the candlestick,
• FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3, the U-shaped support being in the tilting position at approximately 90 °,
• FIG. 7 is, in the second embodiment, a front view of the device from the side of the U-shaped support,
• - Figure 8 is similar to Figure 7, with the U-shaped support in the intermediate position of tilting to the right,
• - Figure 9 is similar to Figure 8, with similar tilting to the left.

In the first embodiment of the invention, described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, the retaining device is of the type in which the frame comprises a metal cleat constituted by a straight pin 1 with its extension 1a, and by a pin 2 parallel to the previous one, bent at right angles in its part 2a welded to the spindle 1. A support 6 in the shape of a U is placed at the front of the cleat, its median plane is vertical in the normal operating position, and perpendicular to the plane of pins 1 and 2, also vertical and forming plane of symmetry of support 6.

According to the invention, the U-shaped support 6, which develops substantially on a semicircle, is welded to the upper plate 5 of a simple hinge whose axis 3 parallel to the pin 1 ends at the front by a head 3a, and at the rear by a frustoconical collar 3b, obtained for example by stamping. The lower plate 4 of the hinge is welded to the extension 1a of the spindle 1 and serves as a stop for the plate 5 in the normal service position. A vertical plate 7, serving as a lateral support for the obstacle bar, is welded to the upper plate 5 of the hinge, parallel to the U-shaped support 6. An elastomer strap, placed between the U-shaped support 6 and the plate 7, surrounds the two plates 4 and 5 and the axis 3 of the hinge, passing in the extension 1a of the spindle 1. In service, the pins 1 and 2 are threaded in the staggered holes 10 of a candlestick 21, or other (FIG. 5), and the obstacle bar 9 is placed in the support 6 and can come into abutment at its end against the plate 7.

The operation of this device and its advantages over the known technique are clearly shown in Figure 6: if the bar 9 receives, from a horse crossing the obstacle, a shock following F coming from the left, the U-shaped support 6 pivots according to G around the axis 3 of the hinge and immediately lets the bar 9 escape. The elastomer strap 8 is extended by the spacing of the plates 4 and 5 and recalls, towards the normal operating position, the whole device as soon as the fall of the bar 9. As the side support plate 7 for the bar 9 rocks with the U-shaped support 6, any friction of the bar 9 against the bent part 2a of the spindle 2, and a fortiori against the candlestick 21 , is made impossible.

The safety restraint device provided by the invention is thus retractable and automatic.

On the other hand, the device with a single articulation axis considered, does not react to a shock coming from the right of Figure 3, and this has two consequences: on the one hand, an obstacle thus equipped can only be crossed in one direction ; on the other hand, to equip the two chandeliers facing each other, you need a device that reacts to the left and a second device that reacts to the right, which means that you have to have both types of devices in store.

With the second, preferred, embodiment illustrated in Figures 7 to 9, these constraints are eliminated. In this embodiment, the simple hinge of the first embodiment is replaced by a double hinge, folded in Z and comprising a lower horizontal plate 4, welded to the extension 1a of the spindle 1, and which carries the axis 3 of a first hinge, the second plate 15 of which also belongs to a second hinge with an axis 13, parallel to the axis 3. This second hinge comprises an upper plate 16 which carries, at the same time, the U-shaped support 6 and the plate 7 of lateral support of the bar. The elastomer strap 18, placed as in the first mode between the support 6 and the plate 7, surrounds all of the three plates 4, 15 and 16 of the double hinge and the two axes 3 and 13 thereof, thus than the extension 1a of pin 1.

As seen in Figures 8 and 9, the double hinge restraint thus produced, can pivot as well if the impact on the bar 9 comes from the left (Figure 8) as if it comes from the right (Figure 9). In both cases, as soon as the bar 9 has escaped, the elastic strap 18 brings the whole of the double hinge together. normal operating position (Figure 7), in which the bar can be replaced.

The device thus constituted therefore offers perfect security, whatever its mode of use.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the two embodiments given by way of examples, and it is possible to bring to it variants of forms and execution.

Thus, the U-shaped support 6 can have a different shape from a semicircle. It could only extend over a third of a circle, as in the case of FIGS. 7 to 9, or even be constituted by two parallel branches joined by a common perpendicular.

Likewise, the retaining device instead of being made of metal could be made of wood or rigid plastic.

Other fixing methods than the two-pin system can be provided for fixing the retainer to the candlestick. For example, the lower spindle 1 could be replaced by a fork horizontally enclosing the candlestick. Likewise, the U-shaped support can be articulated on a tenon of square or rectangular section intended to be engaged in a mortise among a set of such mortises staggered along a post or the like. The axis of articulation of the U-shaped support could also be carried by a collar surrounding the candlestick and engaged in notches thereof.

Finally, the means used to bring the U-shaped support back into the service position could also be constituted by a helical spring disposed around the axis 3 or else by two magnetized parts respectively secured to the plates of the hinge.

• - En cas de chute de la barre, celle-ci ne tombe pas loin, quelles que soient la direction et la force de la poussée, en raison du mouvement de rotation autour de la charnière et du caractère enveloppant du support en U.
• - Dans tous les cas, l'énergie cinétique du choc n'est jamais transmise aux chandeliers qui ne tombent plus.
• - Le dispositif de retenue réagit toujours de la même façon pour la même intensité et la même direction du choc sur la barre.
• - Si le choc sur la barre est faible, celle-ci ne tombe plus et est ramenée automatiquement en place.

In conclusion, the following advantages of the invention will also be mentioned:

• - In the event of the bar falling, it does not fall far, whatever the direction and force of the push, due to the rotational movement around the hinge and the enveloping nature of the U-shaped support.
• - In all cases, the kinetic energy of the shock is never transmitted to the candlesticks which no longer fall.
• - The restraint always reacts in the same way for the same intensity and the same direction of the impact on the bar.
• - If the impact on the bar is weak, it no longer falls and is automatically brought back into place.

Claims (5)

1. A retaining device for an obstacle rail comprising a mounting-piece (1, 1a, 2, 2a) which is intended to be fixed in a desired position on a side-post (21) or like structure, the said mounting-piece carrying a U-shaped member (6) which serves as a support for the rail (9), the U-shaped support (6) being capable of pivotal displacement about at least one axis (3) of the mouting-piece which is parallel to the rail (9), between a normal service position in which the U-shaped support (6) serves to support the rail (9), and a position in which the U-shaped support (6) allows the rail (9) to escape, characterized in that the axis (3) belongs to a hinge comprising a plate (5, 16) secured to the U-shaped support (6) and a plate (4) fixed to the mounting-piece (1, 1a, 2, 2a) and intended to serve as a rest stop for the rail support (6).

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the support (6) for the rail (9) is secured to the first plate (16) of a double hinge having parallel hinge-pins (3, 13), the second plate (15) of the said hinge connecting the two hinge-pins and the third plate (4) being rigidly fixed to the mounting-piece and servings as a rest stop for the rail support (6).

3. A device in accordance with one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises a small plate (7) constituting a lateral thrust-bearing member for the rail (9), being parallel and rigidly fixed to the U-shaped support (6), and placed between the said support and the mounting-piece.

4. A device in accordance with one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises an elastomer band (8) placed around the plates (4, 5, 15, 16) of the hinge.

5. A device in accordance with one of claims 3 or 4, comprising two insertable pins (1, 2) and characterized in that it comprises a hinge-plate (4) rigidly fixed to the extension (1a) of the lower pin (1) and a hinge-plate (5, 16) connected to the first and carrying the U-shaped rail support (6) and the small lateral bearing plate (7).

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