Here's what this box would look like ... I didn't draw the curved top edges becuz they're difficult to draw. So just imagine that every top edge is rounded with about a half-inch radius.
- Safety Box (proposed).JPG (37.59 KiB) Viewed 12650 times
When the vaulter plants his pole, it's guided into the center 4 cm of the backstop ... everything else remains the same, and vaulters will SEE a difference in the box dimensions, but they won't FEEL any differences when they plant their pole or as the pole bends during their swing.
To manufacture this, you can roll the edges over a rounded vice/jig ... instead of the square ones used for standard boxes. This can be either hot-rolled or cold-rolled (mfr's choice - cold-rolled would be less expensive). You then cut the 2 side edges of the stopboard at a 45 degree angle, and the 2 side planes at a 45 degree angle. Then you weld the two 45 degree angles together to form the box with perfectly flared/flanged/rounded corners.
I estimate the cost of this box to be not much more than existing boxes. If it weren't for the curved top edges, there would be NO additional manufacturing cost ... in fact it would save some material! It can still be manufactured out of steel, aluminum, or even Skydex material (partially - as per the Skydex patent).
This box will also benefit from having a box collar ... preferably one like the SafetyMax, where the collar covers the top edges entirely (except on the stopboard and on the first couple inches of the side plates ... where the pole needs room to bend. THIS IS WHERE THE CURVED EDGE IS MOST CRITICAL. Of course if the pit butts up against the box, then the collar is somewhat redundant ... but realize that the bottom inch or so of the pit where it's touching the box edge provides almost no protection whatsoever.
There are 3 reasons why this box is safer ...
1. If a vaulter lands on a top edge, the impact of his landing will be spread over the radius of the flanged edge. While this might not seem like a significant improvement, there would definitely be less chance of serious injury if your head, shoulder, foot, or other body part strikes a top edge. Since the box is smaller than most body parts, this is ALMOST ALWAYS a hazard in most serious box accidents. Even if the reduction in the seriousness of an injury is small, it might make the difference between life and death. This statement sounds overly dramatic, but it's true ... without any exaggeration whatsover!
2. There is less room in the deepest part of the box for your body to land. For example, if your head or shoulder were to land in the deepest part of the box, some of the impact would be absorbed by the side plates. In most cases, a falling athlete that strikes a top edge will also strike the upper part of at least one side plate ... thus absorbing even more of his impact. In a standard box, NONE of the impact is absorbed by the side plates.
3. It provides a wider side angle for the pole to bend (approx 135 degrees instead of the standard 120 degrees). While this advantage is contentuous (in the PVP SafetyMax thread), for those rare vaults where a vaulter is out of control and overbends his pole, this feature improves safety without adding any additional cost ... and without giving any significant advantage to record-breakers that use this new box.
Kirk
