[
Lists Home |
Date Index |
Thread Index
]
>
> I'm not sure that teaching your kid to patent how to play is a valuable
> lesson. A valuable lesson would have been teaching the kid to share his
> invention with all the other kids in the playground. Maybe Corporate
> America could learn that lesson, too.
>
> -- Ron
>
Or to have a sense of humor... If you actually read the text of patent
#6,368,227 (it was lunchtime, what can I say (:-), you'll see that it's a
pretty decent work of satire (esp. the last paragraph). See for yourself. An
excerpt is attached.
Then again, if you don't defend a patent you could lose all rights to it.
You could head for the park today and force the young inventor to come after
you with a legal writ (:-)
Ramin
----
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A few basic types of swings have been around for generations. Perhaps the
most common is one that includes a seat suspended between two ropes or
chains that are hung from a tree branch or other substantially horizontal
support. These swings are often found in side-by-side sets of two or three
or more on, for example, a school playground.
Young children often need help to climb onto a swing, and may need a push
(sometimes even an "underdog" push) to begin swinging. Others may be able to
begin the swinging movement on their own by pushing with their feet against
the ground, and once moving may coordinate the motion of their legs and body
in what may be called "pumping" to sustain the movement of the swing. When
swinging in this manner, the user travels along a path as generally shown in
the cross-section of FIG. 1. Another method of swinging on a swing involves
twisting the seat around repeatedly so that the chains or ropes are wound in
a double helix. When allowed to unwind, the swing spins quickly, which can
be entertaining for the user.
These methods of swinging on a swing, although of considerable interest to
some people, can lose their appeal with age and experience. A new method of
swinging on a swing would therefore represent an advance of great
significance and value.
...
Lastly, it should be noted that because pulling alternately on one chain and
then the other resembles in some measure the movements one would use to
swing from vines in a dense jungle forest, the swinging method of the
present invention may be referred to by the present inventor and his sister
as "Tarzan" swinging. The user may even choose to produce a Tarzan-type yell
while swinging in the manner described, which more accurately replicates
swinging on vines in a dense jungle forest. Actual jungle forestry is not
required.
Licenses are available from the inventor upon request.
---
|
