PACING APPARATUS

Abstract: Pacing apparatus (10) primarily for use in swimming pools (11) comprising an elongated sealed and transparent housing (13) having located therein a plurality of lamps (21) which are illuminated in sequence from one end of the pool (11) to the other so that a swimmer may view the lamps (21) and maintain a desired pace of swimming in accordance with the rate of illumination of the respective lamps (21).

Description: "PACING APPARATUS" THIS INVENTION relates to pacing apparatus which in one aspect is particularly applicable for use in swimming training. It is desirable for swimmers, athletes or other persons, when undergoing a training programme, to ascertain the rate at which they are proceeding along a desired path, for example the length of a swimming pool or a circuit of a running track so that maximum benefit can be gained from a training programme. Commonly, the person who is supervising or training the swimmer or athlete uses a manually operated stop-watch and is able to inform the swimmer or athlete of a lap time at the end of each lap of the pool or circuit of a running track so that the rate of progress can be ascertained. It is however difficult for the person * in training to ascertain their rate of progress at an intermediate position along the training path other than by receiving oral instructions from the coach or trainer. Furthermore, with the above arrangements, the person in training must have a trainer in regular attendance so that progress can be constantly monitored. To overcome this disadvantage a clock having a large face or a digital clock is often employed and located in the vicinity of a swimming pool or training track so that the athlete or swimmer can personally monitor his or her progress. This arrangement, however, is not particularly satisfactory and does not allow constant monitoring without disrupting the training programme. The present invention aims to overcome or alleviate at least some of the above disadvantages by providing pacing apparatus which enables a swimmer, athlete or other person to constantly monitor his or her rate of progress along a desired path such as along the length of a pool or around an athletics track. The present invention also aims to provide apparatus for use in a training programme in which the pace of the athlete or swimmer in training can be varied or regulated to any desired extent either by the person in training or by a coach. With the above and other objects in view, this invention resides broadly in pacing apparatus including a plurality of indicating means adapted to be located at spaced apart positions along a desired path; means for actuating each said indicating means to render said indicating means operative and control means associated with said actuating means and operable to cause said indicating means to be rendered operative in sequence along said desired path at a desired rate determined by the desired pace to be maintained. In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which -illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein:- Fig. 1 illustrates the training apparatus of the present invention associated with a swimming pool; Fig. 2 illustrates a perspective view of one form of visual indicating means employed in the present invention; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the visual indicating means illustrated in Fig. 2; Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate in perspective and sectional view the general layout of a controller for the training apparatus; Fig. 6 illustrates the key pad functions of the controller; Fig. 7 illustrates the switching network for the visual indicating means; and Fig. 8 illustrates a circuit diagram of the controller for the apparatus. Referring to the drawings and firstly to Fig. 1 there is illustrated training apparatus 10 according to the present invention associated with a swimming pool 11. In this embodiment, the apparatus 10 includes a controller 12 associated with visual indicating means 13 which in this instance includes a sealed transparent or translucent flexible tubular member 14 which is located within the pool 11 to extend along the floor thereof as illustrated, or which alternatively is provided with a plurality of weights hanging therefrom so as to permit the buoyant tubular member 14 to be suspended at a desired depth within the pool 11. As shown, the tubular member 14 extends the full length of the pool and is preferably located centrally within a normal swimming lane of the pool. Preferably anchors (not shown)are provided at the ends of the tubular member 14 to maintain the member 14 fully stretched out for the pool length. Alternately, the member 14 may be attached to fittings located at opposite ends of the pool. As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the tubular member 14 is sealed at one end by a plug 15 and at its opposite end by a plug 16 which is apertured at 17 to receive a flexible electrical supply cable 18 therethrough. Preferably and as shown in Fig. 3, the flexible cable 18 passes through a sealing gland plug 19 which is operable to compress an 0-ring seal 20 between the end plug 16 and the cable 18 so as to ensure the interior of the tubular member 14 is fully sealed. Of course, any convenient means may be used to seal the end plugs 15 and 16 to the tubular members such as by clamps or adhesives. Located at spaced apart intervals along the tubular member 14 in this instance at one metre spacings are a plurality of light emitting devices 21 which in this instance comprise 12V IOW festoon lamps or bulbs. The lamps 21 receive current through the wires 22 of the cable 1-8 and as shown the wires 22 are preferably tied off at each end on to anchors 23 fixed to the respective end plugs 15 and 16 to prevent the displacement of the lamps 21 from their fixed positions. The controller 12 is operative to apply current sequentially to the respective lamps 21 so that the respective lamps are illuminated in turn and in sequence from one end of the pool 11 to the opposite end thereof and from the opposite end of the pool to the first end and so on at a desired rate so that a person say in swimming training can determine the pace required to keep up with the respectively lit lamps 21. •Similarly where the apparatus is to be applied for athletics training, the tubular member 13 and lamps 21 may be arranged around say "the full lap of a running track so that the athlete when running can ascertain the pace required to keep up with the lamps as they are switched on and off in sequence. As shown in Figs. 4 and'5, the controller 12 includes an outer casing 24 having mounted therein transformers 25 for supplying both current for the illumination of the lamps 21 and also for supplying a microprocessor board assembly 26 which is operable in conjunction with a key pad 27 mounted on an external face of the casing 22 to control the switching of the lamps 21. The controller 12 also includes a liquid crystal display 28 to enable desired measurements to be presented as well as to enable the operator to enter certain commands into the microprocessor. Also located within the casing 22 are power supply and drive circuits 29 for the lamps 21 which include thyristors 30 which carry out the desired switching functions. As shown, an isolation shield 31 is located within the housing 24 so that the main supply- circuits are fully isolated from the drive circuits for the lamps 21 for safety purposes. Also associated with the controller 12 are a start pad 32 on the pool blocks or coping at the starting end of the pool, a touch pad 33 at the opposite end of the pool and a touch pad 34 again at the starting end of the pool (see Fig. 1) . Each pad includes a pressure responsive normally open switch which is closed when touched. In the case of the starting pad 32 the switch contacts open as soon as a swimmer leaves the starting blocks. The microprocessor 35 on the microprocessor ' board 26 is software programmed to carry out the switching functions required under control of the key pad 27 which as shown in Fig. 6 is a 12 key telephone style key pad with each key having two functions, either functioning in accordance with the number printed on the key or exerting a control function as indicated. When a selected key is depressed, the valve corresponding to the control function of that key is displayed. For example, if lap key 5 in Fig. 6 is pressed the time taken to swim the previous / * lap is displayed on the liquid crystal display 28. Having displayed a value, the value may then be changed by using the UP and DOWN keys (keys 3 and 9) whilst a new value may be entered by using the SET key (key 1) in conjunction with the ENTER key. The other keys function in the following manner: the START DELAY (key 4) provides a display of the delay between the indication of the start as sensed by the start pad 32 or alternatively by manual depression of a switch, say by a starter or coach, and the time the first lamp 21 in the tubular member comes on. This compensates for the fact that people dive faster than they swim and may be increased or decreased by keying in the required start delay. For example, if a 2.5 second start delay is required, the START DELAY key 4 is depressed and the keys 2 and 5 then depressed with the ENTER key to enter a 2.5 second delay so that the first lamp 21 will not be switched on until 2.5 seconds after a start is sensed. A similar function is provided by TURN DELAY key 7 which when depressed results in a display of the time delay between touching the turn pad 33 at the end of the pool and resumption of the normal sequencing of the lights 21 in the opposite direction to compensate for loss of time in turning at the end of a lap. The TURN DELAY timing may also of course be varied in accordance with the turning time exhibited by different swimmers. The LAP key 2 is operative when depressed to provide a display of the current time which has elapsed since the lap has started. The INCREMENT key 8 displays the time between actuation of respective lamps 21 in the sequence so as to indicate the rate of switching of the lamps 21. As an alternative, the INCREMENT key can be replaced by a key which enables the required lap time to be entered into the-microprocessor to thereby set the rate of operation of the lamps 21 in an alternative manner. The CANCEL key may be used with the SET key if an error is made so that the controller will return to the point before the set key was pressed. In the present embodiment, the lamps 21 are connected in the manner shown in Fig. 7, with one looped common wire 36 to reduce losses and four "live" wires 37 each of which receives current in turn, four wires being provided to ensure that the wires and lamps 21 may fit within the tubular member 12. In this arrangement, of course, it is necessary to have every fifth lamp 21 in parallel so that each time current is applied to a wire 37, more than one lamp is on at the same time. However, as the lamps 21 are spaced apart a considerable distance, this will not cause any great difficulty as the lit lamps 21 other than the one required to be followed will not be within the viewing range particularly in swimming pool applications. Each live wire is controlled by a respective thyristor 30 in this case a SCR which is actuated by the microprocessor 35. In this embodiment and as shown in Fig. 8 the microprocessor comprises a 68705P3 type which contains an internal EPROM that stores the programme, an internal RAM and a timer. Input/output is via three bi directional PORTS designated PORT A, PORT B and PORT C. All lines of PORT A of the microprocessor are configured as output lines to drive the liquid crystal display 28 (LCD) and keyboard 27. Specifically, terminals PAO to PA3 output a BCD digit 'code to select which character to display. Associated with each of these terminals is a respective BCD to 7 segment decoder driver for the LCD, each decoder in this case being a CD4056 type. Terminals PA4 to PA6 select the digit position 1 to 5 in the LCD in which the character is to be displayed. For this purpose, the terminals PA4 to PA6 are connected to a 14514 6-16 decoder used as a 3 to 8 decoder. Terminal PA7 selects the decimal point for a particular digit. Data is latched into the 4056 decoder drivers on the falling edge of the select line so selecting the non-existent digit.000 will latch the data. For PORT B, the terminals PBO to PB3 control the operation of the lamps 21 in sequence by causing the respective thyristors 30 to turn on. For this purpose, one of the output terminals PBO to PB3 is active at any one time so as to turn one thyristor 30 on which applies drive current to a selected lamp or paralleled lamps 21. In this instance, the active terminal is low whilst the other three terminals are high and the respective terminals become low in sequence to cause sequencing of the lamps 21. Terminal PB4 comprises an input connected to the touch pad 34 at the starting end of the pool and a low input into terminal PB4 is interpreted as touching of the touch pad 34 by the swimmer. Terminal PB5 comprises an input connected to the touch pad 33 at the far end of the pool whilst terminal PB6 is connected to an input start switch either comprising the starting pad 32 or a manually "actuated switch, or both in parallel. Terminals PCO to PC2 of PORT C comprise the inputs from the keyboard 27 which are used in conjunction with terminals PAO to PA3 to scan the keyboard 27. The other connections to the microprocessor comprise pin 2 which is tied high to a 5 volt supply to prevent interrupts occurring, pin 7 whichis tied low to earth and ORed with an internal clock to provide timing, pin 28 which provides power for re-set via a luF capacitor located in parallel with an optional switch to ground for resetting. Pins 4 and 5 are connected to a 3.2768 MHz crystal which allows 100 interrupts per second which is necessary for time keeping. Pin 6 is used for programming the internal EPROM. The LCD has a 30-40 Hz square wave for operation provided by the 555 clock whilst diodes and resistors prevent damage if two keys are pressed simultaneously. It will thus be seen that using the keyboard in conjunction with the microprocessor, the user may control the speed of sequencing of the lights to any desired degree as well as alter the speed of sequencing during the training programme. Furthermore, use of the touch pads at the ends of the pool enables a record to be kept of the last lap time, as well as causing the sequency of the lamps to be reversed, whilst many other variations can be made to the training programme by entering different start delays, turn delays or rates required into the microprocessor. In order to make the lamps 21 more visible, transparent or translucent coloured bands may be located about or within the tubular member adjacent each lamp 21 so that when submerged in a swimming pool illumination of the lamps will be clear. Furthermore, if desired, magnifying substances may be associated with the lamps to increase the light brilliance. In the arrangement described above, the tubular member 21 is located in a submerged attitude within the pool. and if desired may be located in a recess in the floor of the pool. In an alternative arrangement, a housing for the lamps 21 which is sealed from the water in the pool may be integrally formed during pool construction. Similarly a plurality of discrete lamps may be moulded into the pool floor or wall during construction. The tubular member 21 may also be mounted on the floating lane markers of the pool at the water level of the pool so that the swimmer can ascertain the desired pace to be maintained by turning his or her head to one side observing the lamps 21 during the normal breathing actions. Alternatively, if the apparatus 10 is to be used say for back stroke training, the tubular member 21 may be suspended over the swimming pool and extend from one end of the pool to the other. Of course, when the apparatus is used for athletic training, the tubular member 21 is simply looped about the track to function in a similar manner as above. Whilst the embodiment described above employs incandes¬ cent light bulbs other lighting means may be employed, for example semi-conductor light sources such as light emitting diodes, or alternatively, fibreoptic techniques, may be employed to provide the required light sequencing. In an alternative arrangement all the light emitting devices may be initially in an on attitude and switched off one after the other. It will thus be seen that the present invention provides apparatus particularly suitable for use in training programmes where a desired pace is required to be maintained. The apparatus of course may be operated without the need for a trainer, with. the user merely selecting the desired pace, selecting the required start and turn delays and simply following the lights to programmed so that the pace may be increased or reduced over later laps of a training schedule. Whilst the apparatus described above has used a software programmed microprocessor, similar control functions may be achieved using hardware systems such as counters to cause actuation of the thyristors and lamps. It will thus be understood that whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example, various modifications and variations may be made to the above described embodi¬ ments by persons skilled in the art without departing from the broad scope and ambit of the invention as herein defined in the appended claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Pacing apparatus including a plurality of indicating means adapted to be located at spaced apart positions along a desired path; means for actuating each said indicating means to render said indicating means operative and control means associated with said actuating means and operable to cause said indicating means to be rendered operative in sequence along said desired path at a desired rate determined by the desired pace to be maintained. 2. Pacing apparatus according to Claim 1 and including an elongated sealed housing adapted to be extended along said desired path and wherein said indicating means are supported within said housing. 3. Pacing apparatus according to Claim 2 wherein said elongated housing comprises a transparent or translucent tubular member and wherein said indicating means comprise respective light emitting means. 4. Pacing apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and associated with a swimming pool or the like and wherein said indicating means are located at spaced apart positions along the length of the swimming pool and there being provided first starting switch means at one end of said swimming pool adapted to be actuated to cause commencing of actuation of said indicating means in response to a swimmer commenc¬ ing movement along said path. 5. Pacing apparatus according to Claim.4 wherein said control means is operative to provide an adjustable delay between actuation of said first switch means and actuation of the first said indicating means along said path. 6. Pacing apparatus according to Claims 4 or ' 5 and including second switch means at the respective opposite ends of said pool and adapted when engaged by a swimmer to cause reversal of the direction of sequential actuation of said indicating means so that said pacing apparatus is operative for respective laps of said pool. 7. Pacing apparatus according to Claim 5, wherein said control means is operative to provide an adjustable delay between actuation of said second switch means and actuation of the first said indicating means in the opposite direction along said path. 8. Pacing apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Inventors: GREVES RONALD STANLEY, GREVES, RONALD, STANLEY
Applicants: GREVES RONALD STANLEY, GREVES, RONALD, STANLEY
Application year: 1985
Main classification: A63B69
IPC codes: A63B69