This invention pertains to the stroke training of competitive swimmers. The basic principle of an effective stroke is to move the arm and hand in such a manner as to generate the most forward thrust throughout all the phases of the hand and arm positions of each official style of stroke. To accomplish this, the swimmer must vary the speed, and position (location and orientation) of his hands and arms at different stages of the stroke. The ultimate objective therefore, is to determine the optimum variations, i.e., stroke form, for the swimmer. This means that the thrust generated must be sensed or determined.
Prior art devices for sensing thrust have all been in the form of hand paddles, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,765,042, 3,698,026, 2,812,138, and 3,397,414, whereby, the swimmer's sensitivity to the position of the hand and the thrust delivered is supposed to be accentuated by the additional amount of water the paddle is able to catch compared to the bare hand, and by the slippage and resistance of the paddle as it is moved correctly or incorrectly through the water. Aside from the fact the actual effectiveness of such paddle devices is yet undetermined and is disputed among coaches vis-a-vis the multitude of controversy over the manner the paddle should be strapped to the hand, such prior art devices possess the following critical disadvantages.
A. There is no absolute measure of the actual thrust generated in quantitative physical units. PA1 B. Providing no absolute or even direct measurement of the thrust, a swimmer is not given any information as to whether or not the maximum thrust the swimmer is capable of generating is actually achieved. PA1 C. There is no way a coach on the pool deck can remotely ascertain how effective the swimmer is stroking. PA1 D. The arm of the swimmer is also capable of contributing to the thrust, yet the paddles in no way indicate the propulsion generated by any part of the arm. PA1 E. The best the paddles can do is to accentuate the sense of touch in giving the swimmer an indication of stroke effectiveness. This is one of man's least reliable senses and therefore no real positive feedback is provided to the swimmer If the swimmer has a sharp sense of touch with respect to the water, a rare ability, paddles will contribute nothing more.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a stroke training apparatus which avoids the aforementioned problems of the prior art.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device with transducers worn on the swimmer's hand and/or arm that translates the amount of hydrodynamic thrust generated by a swimmer's arm and/or hand into electrical signals.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide the swimmer with a direct and positive feedback as to the thrust his stroke is generating by an electronic device that transforms the electric signals generated by the above mentioned transducers into an audio frequency tone that varies in frequency as a function of the amount of thrust generated as he is stroking, and the tone is heard by the swimmer through a miniature earpiece speaker.
Yet, another object of the present invention is to provide the swimmer with an audio signal feedback while swimming so the swimmer can find, learn, and develop the indivdualized stroke style that achieves the maximum thrust for forward propulsion that a given individual is capable of as a function of his particular physiology, for each official competitive stroke.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device worn by the swimmer that transmits by radio frequency, the electric signals from the transducers to a remote monitor on the pool deck that records, meters, and graphs the thrust delivered throughout the swimmer's stroke in quantitative units of measure or coach analysis and instruction.
These and other objects, features and advantges will, in part, be pointed out with particularity and will, in part, become obvious from the following more detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form an integral part thereof.