WO2003005852A1

WO2003005852A1 - Bottom protection means for wandering stick

Info

Publication number: WO2003005852A1
Application number: PCT/SE2002/001376
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bo Lindgren
Original assignee: Arctic City Counting House Ab
Priority date: 2001-07-11
Filing date: 2002-07-11
Publication date: 2003-01-23
Also published as: EP1404191A1; SE523142C2; SE0102484D0; SE0102484L

Abstract

A bottom protection means for a wandering stick, formed as a hollow piece of tube (4) which can be mounted on a lower stick tube (1) or can in another way be attached to the lower end of said stick tube (1), and which to that end has an inner bore (2) in which the stick tube (1) is arranged for being mounted, and which at the bottom has a pin (6) of hard metal, and in which the piece of tube (4) is externally threaded (5) along a part of said piece of tube (4), and in which the bottom protection means further comprises a protection means (8) which is arranged for being threaded onto the threaded lower part (5) of the piece of tube (4) thereby connecting said protection means (8) in a desired height position on the threaded lower part (5) of the piece of tube (4), and which is formed with a bottom part (9) of rubber , plastic or a corresponding material and having a through bore (11), through which the hard metal pin (6) can be moved down and out of the bottom part (9) in that the entire protection means (8) is threaded up on the threaded lower part (5) of the lower piece of tube (4).

Description

BOTTOM PROTECTION MEANS FOR A WANDERING STICK

The present invention relates to a bottom protection means for the type of wandering stick which is now a days commonly used by persons of any age which exercise or otherwise walk on roads, streets, in the nature, on a ground covered by snow or ice etc. and of the type which is known by applicant's own patent in Sweden No. 0000716-1 or by EP 0 976 428, and which is formed as a preferably resilient stick comprising an outer tube and an inner tube and a point or pin provided in the lower part of the stick.

The pin of the stick is generally made by hard metal in order not to become worn quickly when used upon walking of asphalt, concrete, rock etc. Such a hard metal pin, however may give rise to an annoying sound when bumped against a hard substrate like asphalt, concrete, rock etc. It has therefore been suggested that the lower end of the wandering stick should be formed with a ferrule of a plastic material, rubber or another material which provides a good a skidding free contact surface against the substrate. There are, however, certain problems in using a ferrule of such rubber elastic material: the ferrule is rather quickly worn our, the metal pin of the stick may penetrate the rubber material, and the ferrule has to be exchanged rather frequently; for avoiding a quick wear of the rubber ferrule it may be useful to remove same when wandering on bare ground, on snow and ice etc. This is, however, a rather time consuming job and can be troublesome, and it may also be difficult to take care of the ferrule which has been removed from the stick, in particular since it may be soiled by asphalt, oil, excrements etc.

The basis of the invention therefore has been the problem of providing a bottom protection for a wandering stick, which is formed so that it may alternatively be used as a ferrule of a rubber of plastic material suited for use on a hard substrate, or as a bottom pin of hard metal suited for use on a soft substrate like in the woods and on the ground, on snow and ice etc.

According to the invention the bottom protection means for the wandering stick is formed as a hollow piece of tube which can be slided onto the lower stick tube or otherwise be attached to the lower end of said stick tube, and which, for the purpose, has an inner bore in which the stick tube can be fixed, and which at the bottom has a pin of hard metal. Said piece of tube is threaded exteriorly along a part of the piece of tube. The bottom protection means further comprises a protection means having a nut for connecting of the protection means to the threaded lower part of the piece of tube, and it is formed with a bottom part of rubber, plastic or a corresponding material having a through bore, through which the hard metal pin can be moved down and out of the bottom part in that the entire protection part is moved up onto the threaded bottom part of the lower piece of tube, using the threads thereon. The bottom part preferably can be conically widened, for instance into bell shape, and the bottom part thereof can be bow formed so as to provide the best possible support in various angle positions of the wandering stick.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which figure 1 shows the bottom protection means in a perspective view before being applied to the lower part of the wandering stick. Figure 2 is a vertical cross section view through the lower part of the wandering stick and through the bottom protection means before being threaded onto the bottom protection tube. Figure 3 correspondingly shows the apparatus according to the invention with the hard metal pin expelled out of the bottom protection means, and figure 4 shows the apparatus adapted for use on a hard substrate. In figure 1 the actual main part of the wandering stick is shown only diagrammatically in the form av the lower tube part 1 of the stick, which part is adapted to be introduced in a central bore 2 of the bottom protection means 3. The bottom protection means can be secured in any suitable way on said tube part 1 , like by means of glue, by a clamp connection means, by means of rivets, by being solder or weld connected. The bottom protection means is formed by a piece of tube 4 having said central through bore 2 and it is externally threaded along a lower part 5 thereof. At the bottom said piece of tube arranged to carry a hart metal pin 6 in a support 7 therefore, which support is solidly anchored in the lower end of the piece of tube. Onto the externally threaded lower part 5 of the piece of tube a ferrule 8 is adapted to screwed and to be adjusted into a correct vertical position, that is either so that the hard metal pin 6 projects out of the lower side of the ferrule, as shown in figure 3, or so that the hard metal pin 6 is protected by being introduced in the ferrule 8. The lower and outer part 9 of the ferrule 8 is made of some plastic or rubber material of suitable type for permitting wandering on a hard substrate without appearance of undesired thrust noises. In the illustrated case the rubber part 9 of the ferrule 8 is conically widened, and the bottom 10 thereof is convexly rounded for giving the best possible friction against the substrate at different angular positions of the wandering stick. The rubber portion 9 of the ferrule is formed with a through bore 11 for allowing a penetration of the lower part of the piece of tube 4 with the hard metal pin. At the upper part, and preferably along at least a part of the bore 11 of the lower part of the ferrule said ferrule is threaded for allowing a thread connection of the threaded part 5 of the piece of tube 4. The threaded part of the rubber material 9 of the ferrule provides a sort of locking portion for the ferrule, so that it does not become threaded down unintentionally. The ferrule 8 also preferably can be formed with a metal nut 12 at the upper part thereof, which upon need can co-operate with a locking nut (not shown) at the threaded part 5 of the piece of tube 4 and for safely locking the ferrule in desired position.

In figure 3 is thus shown an axial cross section view through the apparatus according to the invention, in which the ferrule is screw threaded upwards on the threaded portion 5 of the piece of tube 4, so that the hard metal pin projects underneath the bottom 10 of the ferrule. This is the correct position for use of the wandering stick in the forest and on ground, on snow and ice and on other places where there is desired to have a pin like contact between the ground and the wandering stick.

In figure 4 is shown how the ferrule 8 is threaded down so that the rounded bottom 10 thereof is located underneath the hard metal pin. This is the position when using the wandering stick on a hard substrate like asphalt, concrete or rock, or on places where there is a risk that the hard pin might damage the substrate. REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 lower tube part

2 central bore (of 3)

3 bottom protection means

4 piece of tube

5 threads

6 hard metal pin

7 support (for 6)

8 ferrule

9 rubber part (of 8) 0 rounded bottom 1 through bore 2 nut

Claims

C L A I M S

1. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick, formed so that it can alternatively be used at wandering on a hard substrate or at wandering in the woods and on ground or on snow and ice, characterized in that said bottom protection means for the wandering stick is formed as a hollow piece of tube (4) which can be displaced on a lower stick tube (1) or in another way be attached to the lower end of said stick tube (1), and which to that end has an inner bore (2) in which the stick tube (1 ) is arranged for being mounted, and which at the bottom has a pin (6) of hard metal, and in which the piece of tube (4) is externally threaded (5) along a part of said piece of tube (4), and in that the bottom protection means further comprises a protection means (8) which is arranged for being threaded onto the threaded part (5) of the piece of tube (4) thereby connecting said protection means (8) in a desired height position on the threaded lower part (5) of the piece of tube (4), and which is formed with a bottom portion (9) of rubber , plastic or a corresponding material and having a through bore (11), through which the hard metal pin (6) can be moved down and out of the bottom part (9) in that the entire protection means (8) is threaded up on the threaded lower part (5) of the lower piece of tube (4).

2. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick according to claim 1 , characterized in that the protection means (8) is made of plastic or rubber.

3. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick according to claim 2, characterized in that the protection means (8) is conically widened in the direction downwards, for instance in a bell shape.

4. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick according to claim 1 , 2 or 3, characterized in that the bottom part (10) of the protection means (8) is convexly rounded.

5. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protection means (8) is internally threaded for being capable of being screwed up and down on the externally threaded part (5) of the pieced of tube (4).

6. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protection means (8) is formed so that it has a certain thread locking action.

7. A bottom protection means for a wandering stick according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protection part (8) has a nut (12) at the upper end thereof, which can upon need co-operate lockingly with a locking nut at the threaded part (5) of the piece of tube (4).