EP3842602A1 - Device for marking borders of swimming pools - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the use of a thin plate (20) for marking the boundary of a swimming pool, the thin plate (20) having a flat front side (22) and a flat rear side (23) bounded by a narrow circumferential edge (21) the front side (22) being provided with a first marking and the rear side (23) being provided with a second marking different from the first marking, and wherein the thin plate (20) also has fastening means (24) for mounting the plate (20) on a ceiling structure (18), the fastening means being designed such that the plate (20) can be oriented perpendicular to the water surface (12) and parallel to a boundary (15) of the swimming pool. The invention also relates to an appropriately equipped indoor swimming pool.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for marking swimming pool boundaries, in particular in indoor swimming pools, as well as an indoor swimming pool equipped with such a device.

Swimming is generally promoted by sports medicine professionals as a particularly effective and joint-friendly endurance sport. Backstroke swimming, in which the swimmer lies flat with his back in the water in a stretched body position, is shown to be particularly advantageous. Backstroke is an asymmetrical swimming style in which the arms are extended alternately over the head into the water and pulled forward under the water, while the legs move up and down from the hips. Backstroke swimming in particular relieves the spine during sport and, due to the body tension required for backstroke swimming and the symmetrical sequence of movements, promotes posture as a whole; which strengthens the back muscles and stretches the chest.

The disadvantage of back swimming, however, is that orientation in the pool is only possible to a limited extent, so that it is particularly difficult to assess the end of the pool and back swimming is therefore always associated with a certain fear of impact on the edge of the pool. Frequent turning or overstretching of the head for better orientation can lead to tension and reduce the physiologically positive effects of backstroke swimming.

While breaststroke swimmers can always orient themselves well and floor markings are provided for the corresponding lanes in the swimming pool for crawl swimmers in sport-oriented swimming pools, which often also include markings that signal the end of the lane, there are none for back swimmers who swim with their eyes upwards appropriate guidance. There is therefore a need for an inexpensive and reliable guide for back swimmers that enables the back swimmer to swim the Reliably detect approaching a swimming pool boundary, and initiate appropriate measures, for example reversing the swimming direction or cushioning the impact on the pool edge by means of a suitable arm position. The present invention is therefore based on the technical problem of specifying a corresponding device, particularly suitable for back swimmers, for marking swimming pool boundaries.

This technical problem is solved by the use of a thin plate having the features of the appended claim 1 for marking a boundary of a swimming pool. Preferred developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

The present invention accordingly relates to the use of a thin plate for marking a boundary of a swimming pool, the thin plate having a flat front side and a flat rear side, which are bounded by a narrow circumferential edge, the front side being provided with a first marking and the The back is provided with a second marking different from the first marking, and wherein the thin plate also has fastening means for mounting the plate on a ceiling structure, the fastening means being designed such that the plate is perpendicular to the water surface and parallel to a boundary of the swimming pool is orientable.

A perpendicular orientation of the plate to the water surface of the swimming pool is to be understood as meaning that a plane corresponding to the front or back of the plate is oriented perpendicular to the plane of the water surface, or that a perpendicular to the front or back of the plate is oriented parallel to the water surface . With such an assembly, a section of the narrow circumferential edge points vertically in the direction of the water surface. A swimmer, in particular a back swimmer, can therefore only recognize the front or the back of the plate from his position from the surface of the water. Only in the brief moment in which the swimmer is directly below the plate does he look directly at the section facing the surface of the water of the narrow circumferential edge. At this moment, the perception of the plate changes from the visibility of the front to the visibility of the back and vice versa. The orientation of the plate parallel to a boundary of the swimming pool ensures that the swimmer can easily recognize the alignment of his longitudinal axis and thus the swimming direction with respect to the swimming pool boundary. According to the invention it is provided that the front and back of the plate are provided with different markings so that the front can be distinguished from the back. Due to this measure, it is possible, with appropriate assembly of the plate in a fixed relation to the pool boundary, to provide the back swimmer with an appropriate orientation so that, depending on whether the front or the back is visible from his position, he always knows whether he is is near the edge of the swimming pool. If the swimmer is located directly below the plate and the visibility of the front changes to the visibility of the rear, the swimmer can reliably assume that he is in the immediate vicinity of the pool boundary and take appropriate precautionary measures if the plate is installed accordingly To prevent impact with the pool boundary. A swimming pool boundary within the meaning of the present invention can be a conventional vertical swimming pool edge that protrudes vertically or beveled over the water surface. Swimming pool boundaries can, however, also end with the water surface in overflow pools or so-called infinity pools and are therefore particularly difficult to see for a back swimmer.

The ceiling structure can be designed in different ways. A ceiling structure in the sense of the present invention can be understood to mean any stationary device which spans the water surface of the swimming pool near the swimming pool boundary to be marked in such a way that the thin plate according to the invention can be attached to it in the desired orientation. It can, for example, be a support that spans the water surface of the swimming pool at a height at which the ceiling structure does not constitute an obstruction for users of the swimming pool. Such a carrier can also be used in an outdoor swimming pool, for example.

However, the invention is particularly preferably used in indoor swimming pools. In this case, the ceiling structure to which the marking is attached is preferably the ceiling of the indoor swimming pool itself.

The first and second markings on the front and back can be designed in any suitable manner that enables a swimmer, in particular from the perspective of a rear swimmer, to distinguish the front and back from one another. In a particularly simple example, the first and second markings are color markings of the front and back in different colors. The front and back can be designed in the respective color over part of or over the entire surface. A color scheme as is generally known from traffic lights is particularly preferred, namely the red / green scheme, with red generally being recognized as a warning. In order to be able to serve as a marking of the boundary of a swimming pool, the plate must of course be arranged above the water surface at a certain distance from the boundary to be warned against, this distance in particular being significantly smaller than the distance of the plate to an opposite one Limitation. If the front side of the plate is oriented towards the opposite boundary, that is to say towards the essentially free water surface, the front side is colored green, for example, while the rear side of the plate directed towards the boundary to be marked is colored red. When crossing under the plate, the back swimmer recognizes a color change from green to red and is thus warned of an impending impact at the boundary.

Additionally or alternatively, text and / or graphic symbols, such as "STOP" (on the rear side, which may be marked in red) and " GO " (on the front side, which may be marked in green), can also be provided.

The thin plate that can be used to mark the delimitation of a swimming pool can have a wide variety of shapes and sizes, as long as it is ensured that the different markings on the front and the back can be easily recognized from the perspective of a back swimmer. The plate can be round or elliptical, for example, as long as the fastening means ensure that an alignment perpendicular to the water surface and parallel to a boundary of the swimming pool can be guaranteed. However, the plate particularly preferably has a polygonal shape, in particular a square shape, in which the circumferential edge consists of straight sections (edges). The polygon particularly preferably has at least two opposite parallel edges, which enables a particularly simple orientation of the plate perpendicular to the water surface and parallel to a boundary of the swimming pool. For example, two fastening points can be provided on one of the two parallel, opposite edges, which are then fixed to the hall ceiling along an imaginary line that runs parallel to the corresponding boundary of the swimming pool. This ensures a corresponding parallel alignment of the plate overall, and the opposite edge points perpendicularly in the direction of the water surface. The thin plate is particularly preferably rectangular.

A "thin plate" in the context of the present invention is a plate whose thickness is small compared to its other dimensions (in particular its length parallel to the delimitation of the swimming pool and its height perpendicular to the water surface) and in particular less than 1/10 of the corresponding Dimensions is. A typical plate suitable for the present use may, for example, have a length of 50 cm and a height of 40 cm. The thickness of the plate is then typically less than 4 cm and preferably less than 2 cm.

The length of the plate parallel to the boundary of the swimming pool can be chosen so that the plate can be placed over a single lane of the swimming pool. In such a case, a special lane reserved or preferred for back swimmers in an indoor swimming pool could also be identified with the plate according to the invention. The color change effect can also be seen to a certain extent from neighboring lanes, so that even if the plate is attached that is not specifically intended for a certain lane of the swimming pool, back swimmers who do not swim directly below the plate will not be able to use a correspondingly narrow plate can benefit. However, the swimmers swimming offset to the plate have to look to the side, which impairs the usefulness of the plate for these swimmers. The plate can therefore also be made so wide that it spans several lanes of the swimming pool. In an Olympic swimming pool, for example, the lane width is 2.5 m, so that a plate that spans two adjacent lanes can have a length (parallel to the lane width) of 4 to 5 m, for example. It is also possible to provide several shorter plates next to one another for each lane or every other lane.

The material of the plate for the use according to the invention can also be any, as long as the different markings for the front and back can be applied reliably and permanently. The plate can for example consist of a wood material, plastic or metal suitable for such environments.

The invention also relates to an indoor swimming pool which has a swimming pool with a circumferential boundary and a ceiling, with at least one thin plate for marking the boundary being arranged on at least one boundary of the swimming pool at a certain distance from the boundary above the water surface Plate has a flat front side and a flat rear side, which are bounded by a narrow circumferential edge, the front side being provided with a first marking and the rear side being provided with a second marking different from the first marking, and the thin plate also Has fastening means for mounting the plate on the ceiling of the indoor swimming pool, the plate being mounted so that the plate is oriented perpendicular to the water surface and parallel to the boundary of the swimming pool which is to be marked by the plate. The distance between the plate and the boundary to be marked is preferably between 1 and 5 m, particularly preferably between 1 and 2 m (measured in the projection of the plate onto the plane of the water surface), so that the swimmer is at the appropriate distance from the boundary, So, for example, if he swims under the plate at a distance of 2 m from the boundary, the can recognize corresponding color change of the plate from, for example, green to red.

The swimming pool of the indoor swimming pool is preferably rectangular, with two opposite, shorter front-side boundaries and two opposite, longer side boundaries, the corresponding lanes for the swimmers running parallel to the longer sides of the swimming pool. In such a case, the markings according to the invention of the boundary of the swimming pool then relate to the two opposite, shorter end-side boundaries of the swimming pool. Preferably, therefore, at least one thin plate is provided as a corresponding marking in front of the shorter frontal boundaries of the swimming pool, so that a swimmer is warned of the corresponding boundaries of the swimming pool at every reversal point of his path.

Fig. 1

eine perspektivische Ansicht eines Schwimmbeckens, das mit einer dünnen Platte zur Markierung einer Begrenzung des Schwimmbeckens ausgerüstet ist;

Fig. 2

eine Ansicht des Hallenbades der Fig. 1 aus einer anderen Perspektive;

Fig. 3

eine Seitenansicht der erfindungsgemäßen Markierung in einem Hallenbad;

Fig. 4

eine Variante der Fig. 1, in welcher mehrere dünne Platten zur Markierung der Begrenzung des Schwimmbeckens vorgesehen sind; und

Fig. 5

eine weitere Variante der Fig. 1, in welcher die dünne Platte mehrere Bahnen überspannt.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings shows:

Fig. 1

a perspective view of a swimming pool, which is equipped with a thin plate for marking a boundary of the swimming pool;

Fig. 2

a view of the indoor swimming pool Fig. 1 from a different perspective;

Fig. 3

a side view of the marking according to the invention in an indoor swimming pool;

Fig. 4

a variant of the Fig. 1 in which several thin plates are provided to mark the boundary of the swimming pool; and

Fig. 5

another variant of the Fig. 1 , in which the thin plate spans several tracks.

Referring to Fig. 1 one can see a swimming pool 11 which is filled with water, which defines a water surface 12. The swimming pool 11 is surrounded by a boundary 13, which in the example shown consists of straight sections, and with two opposite longer, lateral boundaries or pool edges 14 and two opposite shorter frontal sides Boundaries or pool edges 15 (where in Fig. 1 only the upper front boundary 15 is shown). The lanes that a swimmer will usually take then run parallel to the longer pool edges 14, so that a back swimmer in particular runs the risk of suddenly hitting the pool edge 15 when approaching the shorter pool edges 15. In the example shown, a back swimmer 16 is shown, which swims in a direction shown by an arrow 17. The view of the back swimmer 16 is directed upwards in the direction of a ceiling structure 18, on which a thin plate 20 is provided at a distance d of approximately 2 m as a marking of the front boundary 15. The plate 15 has a circumferential edge 21 which has a flat, flat front side 22 and a rear side 23 opposite the front side (see Fig. Fig. 2 ) limited. In the example shown, the circumferential edge consists of straight sections 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d, each of which is opposite to one another in pairs. Fastening means 24 are provided on the straight upper edge 21b, with which the plate 20 is fastened to the ceiling structure 18 such that the edges 21b, 21d run parallel to the pool edge 15, while the edges 21a, 21c are oriented perpendicular to the water surface 12. In Fig. 1 the swimmer 16 is still on its path in front of the plate 20 (as seen in the projection of the plate 20 onto the water surface) and can therefore only see the front side 22, which can be filled in a green color, for example.

In Fig. 2 the position of the swimmer after crossing under the plate 20 is shown so that from his perspective the (for example) red back 23 of the plate is visible, which clearly indicates to him that he is immediately in front of the boundary 15 of the pool and that he is corresponding Take precautions to avoid impacting the boundary 15.

In Fig. 3 FIG. 13 is a side view of a variant of the pool boundary marker of FIG Fig. 1 shown. The principle of the thin plate 20 arranged parallel to the swimming pool boundary 15 to be marked and perpendicular to the water surface 12 remains unchanged. In contrast to the marking of the Figures 1 and 2 however, if the swimming pool 11 is now in an indoor swimming pool 10, no separate support is required for mounting the thin plate 20, but the plate 20 can be mounted directly on the ceiling 19 of the indoor swimming pool 10. In addition are as in Fig. 3 shown, fastening means 24 are provided, which in this embodiment comprise a left and right suspension 24a, 24b, which can be hung, for example by means of hooks in corresponding ceiling hooks provided in the appropriate orientation to the pool edge. One recognizes in particular in the side view of Fig. 3 that due to the small thickness of the plate 20 (viewed in the swimming direction) a sudden change in color from green to red occurs when the swimmer passes below the plate 20, which very precisely signals to the back swimmer that the front boundary 15 is about to be reached.

In the Figures 4 and 5 are variants of the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2 shown, with several shorter plates 20a-20f ( Fig. 4 ), or a longer plate 20g ( Fig. 5 ) are attached to the ceiling structure of the swimming pool. In the case of the Fig. 4 .

List of reference symbols

10

Indoor swimming pool

11

Swimming pool

12th

Water surface

13th

Limitation of the swimming pool

14th

lateral boundaries or pool edge

15th

frontal boundaries or pool edge

16

Back swimmer

17th

arrow

18th

Ceiling structure

19th

Hall ceiling

20th

thin plate

20a-f

short thin plates

20g

long thin plate

21

surrounding border

21a, b, c, d

straight edge sections

22nd

flat front

23

flat back

24

Fasteners

24a, b

left and right suspension

d

distance

Claims (10)

Use of a thin plate (20) to mark the boundary of a swimming pool, wherein the thin plate (20) has a flat front side (22) and a flat rear side (23) which are delimited by a narrow circumferential edge (21), the front side (22) being provided with a first marking and the rear side ( 23) is provided with a second marking different from the first marking, and wherein the thin plate (20) also has fastening means (24) for mounting the plate (20) on a ceiling structure (18), the fastening means being designed such that the plate (20) is perpendicular to the water surface (12) and parallel to a boundary (15) of the swimming pool can be oriented. Use according to claim 1, wherein the ceiling structure (18) spans the swimming pool in the form of a beam. Use according to claim 1, wherein the ceiling structure (18) is the ceiling (19) of an indoor swimming pool (10). Use according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first and second markings comprise colored markings of different colors. Use according to claim 4, wherein the front side is marked green and the rear side is marked red. Use according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first and second markings comprise text and / or graphic symbols. Use according to one of Claims 1 to 6, the thin plate having a polygonal, in particular rectangular, outline. Indoor swimming pool (10), which has a swimming pool (11) with a circumferential boundary (14, 15) and a ceiling (19), with at least one boundary (15) of the swimming pool at a certain distance (d) from the boundary above the At least one thin plate (20) is arranged on the water surface to mark the boundary (15), the thin plate (20) having a flat front side (22) and a flat rear side (23) bounded by a narrow circumferential edge (21) the front side (22) being provided with a first marking and the rear side (23) being provided with a second marking different from the first marking, and wherein the thin plate (20) also has fastening means (24) for mounting the plate on the ceiling (18) of the indoor swimming pool, the plate (20) being mounted so that the plate is perpendicular to the water surface (20) and parallel to a boundary (15) of the swimming pool (11), which are marked by the plate should, is oriented. Indoor swimming pool according to Claim 8, characterized in that the specific distance (d) between the thin plate and the delimitation (15) of the swimming pool is in the range from 1 to 5 m. Indoor swimming pool according to one of claims 8 or 9, characterized in that the swimming corner (11) is rectangular with two opposite shorter end boundaries (15) and two opposite longer side boundaries (14), the two opposite end boundaries (15) each having at least one thin plate (20) for marking the boundaries (15) are provided.

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