Patent ID: 8444531
Filing Date: 2013-05-21
Classification: A63B

Abstract:
1. A safety collar for a vault box installed into a horizontal surface in front of pole vaulting standards, the vault box having a front, a rear, a left side, and a right side, the vault box forming a recess having a bottom surface that slopes downwardly from front to rear, an outwardly sloping rear wall, an outwardly sloping left wall that converges from front to rear, and an outwardly sloping right wall that converges from front to rear, the safety collar comprising: (a) a cushioned sheet of material adapted to overlie the horizontal surface adjacent to the rear, the left side, and the right side of a vault box, the sheet having a front, a rear, a left side, a right side, and a bottom defining a horizontal plane, the sheet having an opening at the front between the left side and right side that converges and extends part way to the rear of the sheet, the opening adapted to overlie a portion of the recess of a vault box, the opening having a rear inner wall, a left inner wall, and a right inner wall; (b) a left wing descending from the left inner wall below the horizontal plane defined by the bottom of the sheet and extending from the front of the opening part way to the rear inner wall of the opening, the left wing adapted to extend downwardly against a left wall of a vault box part way to a bottom surface and part way to a rear wall of a vault box; and (c) a right wing descending from the right inner wall below the horizontal plane defined by the bottom of the sheet and extending from the front of the opening part way to the rear inner wall of the opening, the right wing adapted to extend downwardly against a right wall of a vault box part way to a bottom surface and part way to a rear wall of a vault box.