DE29812450U1 - Protective padding for the upper and lower arm of a person, especially an athlete - Google Patents

Description

DR.STEPHAN G. BESZEDES
PATENT ATTORNEY

VNR: 101265

AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE ALSO AT THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

PROFESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE ALSO BEFORE THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

D-85201 DACHAU NEAR MUNICH

PO BOX 1168

D-85221 DACHAU NEAR MUNICH MÜNCHENER STRASSE 80 A

(only for express and parcels)

Federal Republic of Germany

TELEPHONE: 0 81 31/73 53 71

T=LSFAX: 0 81 31/8 51 41 (Group 2+3) Postbank Munich (bank code 700 100 SO)

Account No. 1 368 71-801 Bank account No. 906 370 at Sparkasse Dacnau

(Bank code 700515 40)

(VIA Bayern Landesbank

Girozentrale. Munich)

G7 244

Protection claims and description for utility model application

Schramm Sport GmbH

KWON martial arts equipment

Unterfeldring 3

85256 Vierkirchen

Federal Republic of Germany

concerning

Protective padding for the upper and lower arm of a person, especially an athlete

Description

The invention relates to a protective padding for the upper and lower arm of a person, in particular an athlete, with an upper arm part and a forearm protector.

In various sports, unhindered mobility of the wrist is a fundamental prerequisite for optimal sport performance. At the same time, in several of these sports there is a particular risk of injury in the wrist area due to impact from the opponent or hit player or from rackets that the hit players use to play the sport. This risk of injury requires special padding, but such padding in the wrist area hinders mobility in all solutions practiced to date.

In many martial arts, football and hockey, the area on the front of the wrist is particularly at risk during duels. In martial arts, at least the forearm area is padded with forearm protectors and the upper arm with upper arm protectors.

However, there is always a particularly vulnerable area around the elbow between the upper arm and the lower arm. Continuous padding that completely covers the vulnerable areas from the hand to the upper arm in every situation is, to say the least, uncommon. Such continuous padding would be compressed when the arm is raised due to the shortening of the inner tendon in the wrist area, and would be stretched when the arm is extended. Both processes involve at least some effort, which impairs the mobility of the arm and is therefore not acceptable in competitive sports, where 100% performance is required.

In general, the protective padding for the

The upper arm area and the padding for the forearm are two separate parts that are arranged as close together as possible so that when the forearm is raised as far as possible, they just touch each other above the elbow. However, this means that when the arm is stretched out, there is a gap of around 5 cm between the upper arm and forearm padding. This means that in combat situations, a particularly sensitive and vulnerable part of the body is unprotected, because this is when the arm is often fully stretched out.

The object of the invention is to propose a protective padding of the type specified at the beginning, with which protection of the area between the upper and lower arm can be ensured without hindering the person or the athlete.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the upper arm and/or the forearm has/have a tongue-like extension.

According to the principle of the invention, the protective padding for the upper arm and forearm overlap on the front of the upper arm or forearm in every combat or game situation. The overlap is only minimal when the arm is stretched, i.e. the tendon is maximally extended above the arm joint. The overlap is maximal when the forearm is fully raised. For this purpose, there is either a tongue-like extension towards the forearm on the upper arm part or on the protective padding on the upper arm side, or a tongue-like extension towards the upper arm on the forearm protector. However, it is also possible for both paddings, i.e. the upper arm part and the forearm protector, to each have a tongue-like extension - which is then generally shorter - which overlap. This ensures that the area between the upper and forearm is protected in every combat or game situation. At the same time, it is ensured that the athlete is protected by the protective padding according to the invention.

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is hindered.

Advantageous further developments are described in the subclaims.

It is possible to provide a first tongue-like extension on the forearm protector and a second tongue-like extension on the upper arm part.

A further advantageous development is characterized in that a first tongue-like extension is provided on the upper arm part and a second tongue-like extension on the forearm protector. According to this proposal, a (first) tongue-like extension is primarily attached to the upper arm part of the protective padding. The (second) tongue-like extension on the forearm protector is preferably shorter. The advantageous development mentioned makes it possible to use the forearm protector independently of the compatible upper arm protective padding or with any conventional protection suitable for the respective sport. The function of the system according to the invention is described accordingly below. In principle, however, the system can also be transferred to the opposite situation with a (slightly longer, first) tongue-like extension on the forearm protector (and a shorter, second tongue-like extension on the upper arm part).

Preferably, the upper arm part is designed as an upper arm protector. It is also advantageous to design the first tongue-like extension to be longer than the second tongue-like extension.

In any case, it is advantageous if the tongue- _like extension or extensions are designed to be slightly bendable. The tongue-like extension must conform to the very narrow radius when the arm is raised and to the almost

flat transition from the forearm to the upper arm. Preferably, the tongue-like extension is designed as soft foam protective padding. Such soft foam protective padding meets the requirements described.

There are basically two options for overlap:

(1) The tongue or tongue-like extension of the upper arm part slides under the forearm protector. In this case, it is advantageous if the forearm protector has a tunnel-like recess that matches the cross-section of the tongue, within which the tongue-like extension can be moved lengthwise. The guidance of the tongue or tongue-like extension is perfectly guaranteed, as it is guided on all sides between the body surface and the tunnel walls.

(2) The tongue or tongue-like extension of the upper arm part slides over the forearm protector. It is advisable to provide a guide device in this design as well. Such a guide device can, for example, consist of a rail-like recess in the longitudinal direction of the forearm protector and a suitable slide-like attachment on the inside of the tongue-like extension, in each case in the overlap area. In this design, the tongue-like extension is of course not guided on all sides, but only on three sides. This does not prevent it from being bent away from the surface of the forearm protector into the room. According to the invention, however, this bending away, which would lead to unacceptable functional impairments, should be reliably prevented. If the tongue-like extension

should always rest on the surface of the arm or the lower arm guard, it must still be pressed against the upper arm and forearm guard with considerable tension even when the arm is in the most extended position, so that it does not flutter uncontrollably during rapid arm movements when exercising. To ensure this, an advantageous development of the invention proposes that the curvature of the tongue-like extension be designed in such a way that it is less than the curvature of the upper side of the arm in the most extended position.

However, the pressure in the most bent position, i.e. when the arm is raised, is very high due to the high bending stress in the tongue or tongue-like extension. This causes a relatively high friction between the tongue-like extension and the forearm protector. This high friction can cause jamming, which can sometimes prevent the arm from moving freely when raised. In addition, it must be assumed that the tongue or tongue-like extension gradually weakens due to the constant bending stress during use, which means that after longer use it tends to hang away from the arm. If it then receives a blow from above in a duel so that it is compressed or bent away, the arrangement will quickly become unusable. To prevent this, a further advantageous development is characterized by the tongue or tongue-like extension and the forearm protector being connected to one another by an elastic band. The system is designed so that the tongue-like extension is always connected to the forearm protector by an elastic band.

- &iacgr;&ogr; -

is pulled towards the forearm protector. In the stretched position, the tongue-like extension is pulled relatively strongly towards the forearm protector. In the bent arm position (i.e. with the tip of the hand raised), the elastic band pulls the tongue-like extension relatively weakly towards the forearm protector. The natural curvature of the tongue-like extension is set tightly and oriented towards the minimum possible radius of the upper arm-forearm transition. The tongue-like extension is therefore not pressed against the forearm protector by its own tension. There is no danger that the tongue will stick out from the arm over time due to fatigue.

The protective padding is advantageously made of a plastic, preferably an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer.

Embodiments of the invention are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings,

Fig. 1 a protective padding for the upper and lower arm in an angled position in a lateral sectional view,

Fig. 2 the padding according to Fig. 1 with the forearm extended,

Fig. 3 the padding according to Fig. 1 and 2 with the forearm raised,

Fig. 4 shows a modified embodiment of a

Protective padding for upper and lower arm in angled position and

Fig. 5 a perspective view of the

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entire upper and forearm protection in an angled position.

As shown in Fig. 1 to 3, the protective padding for the upper and lower arm of an athlete consists of an upper arm part 3 and a forearm protector 2. The forearm protector 2, which is basically designed in a conventional manner, is attached to the forearm 1 of the athlete as usual using retaining straps 5. The forearm protector 2 shown differs from a normal forearm protector by a tongue-like extension 21, which is connected to the forearm protector above the actual protective area approximately in the middle (viewed from the front). The tongue-like extension 21 is so short that the function as a conventional forearm protector (without the associated upper arm protector 3) is not impaired.

The tongue-like extension 21 is very thin over a significant part of its width and is therefore flexible. This makes a significant contribution to ensuring that it does not cause any discomfort during sporting activities. The tongue-like extension 21 contains a rail-like recess 211 which takes up the greater part of its total width and which leaves only a small part of the wall thickness of the protective padding at its base.

In principle, this tongue-like extension 21 could be avoided if the tongue-like extension 31 of the upper arm part 3 were extended accordingly and the rail-like guide device were moved to the actual protection zone. However, the rail-like recess 211 would weaken the protective effect there. One would then either have to make the rail-like recess 211 very narrow or split it into two or more narrow individual rails spaced apart, or one would have to reduce the basic wall thickness of the forearm protector 2 at the location of the rail-like recess 211.

to such an extent that the lower arm protector 2 would still meet the protection requirements despite the depression. However, these measures would make the overall structure very thick and, in conjunction with the tongue 31 of the upper arm part 3, greatly over-dimensioned, because the tongue 31 would then lie over the protective zone of the lower arm protector 2, which is already thickened in the splint area. For these reasons, it is advantageous to provide the tongue-like extension 21 as shown in Figs. 1 to 3.

The tongue-like extension 31 of the upper arm part 3 overlaps the tongue-like extension 21 of the forearm protector 2 and its upper central area. On the inside of the tongue-like extension 31 of the upper arm part 3 there is a slide-like elevation 311 which fits with sufficient tolerance into the rail-like recess in the tongue-like extension 21 of the forearm protector 2. The slide-like elevation 311 can be designed as a separate component and connected to the tongue-like extension 31. However, it is also possible to design the slide-like elevation 311 as one piece with the tongue-like extension 31. The longitudinal extensions of the rail-like recess 211 and the essentially equally long slide-like elevation 311, which can also be referred to as a slide-like attachment, are dimensioned such that the slide-like elevation 311 is still guided in the rail when the arm 4a is fully extended (Fig. 2) and that the slide-like elevation 311 does not yet strike the end of the rail 211 when the arm 4b is fully raised (Fig. 3).

The lengths of the tongue-like extensions 31, 21 on the upper arm part 3 and on the forearm protector 2 are dimensioned in such a way that even when the arm is completely stretched, at least the rail-like recess 211 is still covered. The length of the tongue-like extension 31 of the upper arm part 3 must therefore be at least approximately twice as long as the length of the slide-like elevation 311 on the inside of the tongue-like

like extension 31. The length of the tongue-like extension 21 on the forearm protector 2, on the other hand, is only as long as the length of the rail-like recess 211 or even shorter if this rail-like recess 211 extends a little further into the circumference of the actual forearm protector 2.

The slide-like elevation could also sit on the tongue-like extension of the forearm guard. In this case, the corresponding, compatible recess would be provided on the inside of the tongue-like extension on the upper arm guard. However, since the tongue-like extension on the forearm guard 2 is rather thin and flexible, while the tongue-like extension on the upper arm guard is rather stable, this variant is possible but less preferred.

The tongue on the upper arm part 3 is preferably strongly curved, preferably approximately as much as the radius of the crook of the arm with the forearm raised as far as possible (Fig. 3), but possibly even more. This means that the tongue-like extension 31 only rests pressure-free on the forearm protector when the forearm is fully raised (Fig. 3), but protrudes in any other arm position. Close to the upper end of the tongue-like extension 31 there is an elastic band 6 attached which runs around the tongue 31. It is also possible to attach two individual elastic bands symmetrically on either side of the tongue 31. The two ends 6a, 6b of the surrounding band or the free end of the two individual bands are attached to the forearm protector 2. This can be done according to Fig. 5 by simply looping the lower straps 5 of the forearm protector 2 through eyelets 61 on the free ends 6a of the elastic band 6 or the elastic bands.

The length and tension of the elastic band or elastic bands are adjusted so that the tongue 31 on the upper arm part 3 is pulled against its curvature towards the forearm protector 2 and in every position with at least a small

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is pressed against it.

With an arrangement according to Fig. 1 to 3, it is possible to ensure that the contact pressure of the tongue 31 is very uniform in every position of the arm 4 and thus never so high that the tongue 31 gets stuck due to high friction. When the arm 4a is completely stretched (Fig. 2), the elastic band 6 or the elastic bands are greatly stretched so that they exert a correspondingly high force on the tongue 31. This high force is desired because the tongue 31 must be stretched almost flat and thus strongly deformed. When the forearm 4b is raised (Fig. 3), on the other hand, the elastic band or the elastic bands 6 are shortened to the maximum so that they can only exert a small force, which is however sufficient because the tongue 31, with its own curvature, rests automatically on the forearm protector 2 in this position.

This arrangement also ensures that the tongue 31 is always pulled upwards by the elastic band 6 with a certain component in every arm position 4, 4a, except when the forearm 4b is pulled up as far as possible, which effectively supports the sliding of the slide-like elevation 311 in the rail 211.

The special feature of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is that the tongue 32 of the upper arm part 3 can be moved lengthwise in a tunnel-shaped recess 22 on the inside of the forearm protector 2. In this embodiment, the elastic bands are not required. However, with this arrangement it must be ensured that the tongue 32 cannot jam in the tunnel 22. The risk of jamming increases if the forearm protector 2 is fitted very tightly and the tunnel volume is reduced as a result. Safe operation is ensured if the forearm protector material is sufficiently stiff, if the cross-section of the tongue 32 is relatively small and if the tongue 32 has a sufficiently large free play in the tunnel-like recess 22.

In this embodiment, the volume of the slide 321, which is displaceable in the tunnel-like recess 22, is identical to the volume of the tongue-like extension 32 of the upper arm part 3. This limits the thickness and extent of the tongue-like extension 32 in comparison to the embodiment according to Figs. 1 to 3, in which the extent and thickness and thus the padding in the transition from the upper arm to the forearm can be selected completely freely.

According to Fig. 4, it may be useful to assist the sliding of the tongue 32 in the tunnel-shaped recess 22 by connecting the end of the tongue 32 to the inside of the forearm protector 2 at the end of the recess 22 via an elastic band (not shown in the drawing). The elastic band is best connected to the forearm protector 2 with a Velcro fastener. It must have sufficient stretch to follow the entire movement path of the arm with a small increase in force.

The upper and lower arm protectors according to the invention can also be connected to hand protectors. The tongue-like extension 21 of the lower arm protector can thus merge into a protective padding of a hand protector. The connection can also be made via an extension of the lower arm protector under the fastening of the hand protector on the arm.

Claims (16)

1. Protective padding for the upper and lower arm of a person, in particular an athlete, with an upper arm part ( 3 ) and a forearm protector ( 2 ), characterized in that the upper arm part ( 3 ) and/or the forearm protector ( 2 ) has/have a tongue-like extension ( 31 , 21 ; 32 ). 2. Protective padding according to claim 1, characterized in that a first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) is provided on the forearm protector ( 2 ) and a second tongue-like extension ( 21 ) is provided on the upper arm part ( 3 ). 3. Protective padding according to claim 1, characterized in that a first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) is provided on the upper arm part ( 3 ) and a second tongue-like extension ( 21 ) is provided on the forearm protector ( 2 ). 4. Protective padding according to claim 3, characterized in that the second tongue-like extension ( 21 ) merges into a protective padding of a hand protector. 5. Protective padding according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the upper arm part ( 3 ) is designed as an upper arm protector. 6. Protective padding according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) is longer than the second tongue-like extension ( 21 ). 7. Protective padding according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tongue-like extension ( 31 or 21 ) or the tongue-like extensions ( 31 , 21 ), in particular the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ), is or are designed to be easily bendable, preferably as soft foam protective padding. 8. Protective padding according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tongue-like extension ( 31 ) or the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) is pushed under the forearm protector ( 2 ). 9. Protective padding according to claim 8, characterized in that the forearm protector ( 2 ) has a tunnel-like recess ( 22 ). 10. Protective padding according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the tongue-like extension ( 31 ) or the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) is pushed over the forearm protector ( 2 ). 11. Protective padding according to claim 10, characterized in that the forearm protector ( 2 ) has a guide device. 12. Protective padding according to claim 11, characterized in that the guide device is designed as a rail-like recess ( 211 ). 13. Protective padding according to one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the tongue-like extension ( 31 ) or the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) has a slide-like attachment ( 311 ). 14. Protective padding according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inherent curvature of the tongue-like extension ( 31 ) or of the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) is less than the curvature of the upper side of the forearm in the most extended position. 15. Protective padding according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tongue-like extension ( 31 or 21 or 32 ) or the first tongue-like extension ( 31 ) and the forearm protector ( 2 ) are connected to one another by an elastic band ( 6 ; 6 a, 6 b). 16. Protective padding according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is made of an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer.