Spring stand

The invention relates to a spring stand to stand on to absorb impacts from waves when driving or standing in a boat and to ease foot, knee and back pain.

As alluded to above, standing behind the steering wheel of a boat subjects the feet, knees and back to shock from the absorption of the impact of the boat hull with the waves. An object of the present invention is to ease resultant pain to feet, knees and back by providing a shock absorber system on which the boat operator can stand.

The invention is a spring stand to stand on to absorb impacts from waves when driving or standing in a boat and to ease foot, knee and back pain resulting from such repetitive impacts. The spring stand may also be used in any other application to minimize impact shock to the back and lower body extremities of a person standing on a surface exposed to vibration and/or intermittent impact forces.

It is configured with a spaced-apart upper platform and lower stand support platform with two vertical stabilizer members near each side edge to minimize any forward, sideway and backward motion of the stand. A standard size platform may be about 24 inches×18 inches, but other sizes plus or minus 6 inches in either direction is anticipated. Of course, other foot print shapes anticipated such as square, round, rectangular, curved shapes, etc. There is an array of spaced-apart springs distributed between the upper and lower platforms serve as an example of a method of providing a shock absorber characteristic to the device. The lower platform has four or more spaced-apart footers to rest on the deck of the boat as well as drain holes to drain water that might splash inside the stand between the platform members. The lower platform will have vertically upright sides around the perimeter of the lower platform that are partially overlapped by vertical sides depending from the perimeter of the upper platform. The top surface of the upper platform has a non-slip surface applied to its surface. A preferable non-slip material is an overlying cushioned surface made from a foam base material or rubber base material or similar types of material that provides cushioning and at the same time helps prevent the person standing on the stand from slipping off the stand surface.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1-4 conceptually disclose an example of one embodiment of the present invention, which is a spring stand for minimizing impact shock to the back and lower body extremities of a person standing on a surface exposed to vibration and/or intermittent impact forces, and is depicted generally as 10.

The spring stand 10 comprises an upper platform 12 and a spaced-apart lower stand support platform 14, which is in an underlying relationship to the upper platform 12. The spring stand 10 also includes stabilizer means 16 for minimizing any forward, sideway and backward motion of the spring stand 10. The stabilizer means 16 is in mechanical communication with the upper platform 12 and the lower stand support platform 14. One example of such stabilizer means 16 for minimizing any forward, sideway and backward motion of the spring stand 10 comprises two vertical stabilizer members 16a, 16b as discussed below, each in mechanical communication with the upper platform 12 and the lower stand support platform 14 and each located near respective side edges of the upper and stand support platforms 12,14.

In the aforementioned example of such means 16, a larger hollow member or pipe/tube 16a depending from the upper platform 12 and a smaller member or pipe/tube 16b upwardly extending from tile bottom stand support platform 16 is provided, where the smaller member 16b is configured to telescope within the hollow portion of the larger member or pipe/tube 16a. For example, a ¾ inch tube or pipe may be used for the lower half of the stabilizer 16 and a 1 inch pipe/tube may be used for the upper half of the stabilizer. As the upper platform compresses toward the lower stand platform and vice-versa, the smaller half 16b of the stabilizer telescopes within the upper half 16a. The rigidity of the stabilizers 16 because of materials typical of such components (metal or polymeric composite materials or similar materials) minimizes any forward, sideway and backward motion of the spring stand 10. The height of each stabilizer 16 is preferably about ¼ inch longer than half the anticipated movement. The stabilizer bars 16a, 16b can be adapted so as to keep the upper and lower platforms 12,14 from separating from the specified height. The bars 16a, 16b can be detachable for adding or subtracting springs 18. There are many other ways known in the art to provide the stabilizer function described above. The above described example is only intended to describe one simple stabilizer means 16.