Springboard

Last updated

Diving from a springboard Diving.jpg
Diving from a springboard

A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type.

Contents

Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and the other end usually hangs over a swimming pool, with a point midway between the hinge and the end resting on an adjustable fulcrum.

Springboard materials

Modern springboards are made out of a single-piece extrusion of aircraft-grade aluminum. The Maxiflex Model B, the board used in all major competitive diving events, [1] is made out of such aluminum, and is heat treated for a yield strength of 340,000 kPa (49,000 psi). The slip-resistant surface of the board is created using an epoxy resin, finished with a laminate of flint silica and alumina in between the top coats of resin. This thermal-cured resin is aqua-colored to match the water of a clean pool. [2]

Adjustment of the spring constant

Adjusting fulcrum with foot prior to a dive AdjFulcrum.jpg
Adjusting fulcrum with foot prior to a dive

The spring constant of a springboard is usually adjusted by way of a fulcrum that is located approximately mid way along the springboard. Springboards are usually operated in a linear regime where they approximately obey Hooke's law. When loaded with a diver, the combination of the diver's approximately constant mass, and the constant stiffness of the spring(board) result in a resonance frequency that is adjustable by way of the spring constant (set by the fulcrum position). Since the resulting system is in an approximately linear regime, it may be modeled fairly accurately by a second order differential equation. Typically the resonance frequency can be adjusted over a range of a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. [3]

Adjusting the fulcrum

The fulcrum on competitive diving boards travels over a range of 0.61 metres (24 inches), [4] and is set by way of a foot wheel that is approximately 0.35 m (14 in) in diameter. [3] [5] [6] To stiffen the spring (as if tightening it), the foot wheel is usually turned counter clockwise. Some may find this counter intuitive, since usually things are tightened by turning clockwise. However, with a little experience, people realize the fulcrum moves in the direction the bottom of the foot faces when placed on the foot wheel.

Note – Standing behind or in front of the knob, rather than directly above it, will provide better leverage to move the fulcrum. This is accomplished by holding on to the hand rails and leaning the body a few degrees, then placing the foot as low as possible on the knob. In this way, it is possible to move even the most difficult fulcrum. [5]

Heights of springboards

Three-metre springboard (in full view) and one-metre springboard (partly out of view) ThreeMeter.jpg
Three-metre springboard (in full view) and one-metre springboard (partly out of view)

Springboards are usually located either 1.0 or 3.0 metres (3 ft 3 in or 9 ft 10 in) above the water surface. It is very seldom that one is mounted at a height other than these two standard heights.

Before around 1960, springboards, usually made of wood, were located at heights of either 3 metres (approximately 10 ft), or 6 metres (approximately 20 ft) above the water. American artist Norman Rockwell's painting titled Boy on High Dive (1947) shows a boy (Rockwel's youngest son, Peter) peering over a typical wooden springboard of the early 20th century era at the 20 feet height. [7]

Home springboards

After an incident in Washington in 1993, most US and other pool builders are reluctant to equip a residential swimming pool with a diving springboard so home diving pools are much less common these days. In the incident, 14-year-old Shawn Meneely made a "suicide dive" (holding his hands at his sides, so that his head hit the bottom first) in a private swimming pool and was seriously injured and became a tetraplegic. The lawyers for the family, Jan Eric Peterson and Fred Zeder, successfully sued the diving board manufacturer, the pool builder, and the National Spa and Pool Institute (NSPI) over the inappropriate depth of the pool. [8] [9] The NSPI had specified a minimum depth of 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) which proved to be insufficient in the above case. The pool into which Meneely dived was not constructed to the published standards. The standards had changed after the diving board was installed on the non-compliant pool by the homeowner. But the courts held that the pool "was close enough" to the standards to hold NSPI liable. The multimillion-dollar lawsuit was eventually resolved in 2001 for US$6.6 million ($8 million after interest was added) in favor of the plaintiff. [10] The NSPI was held to be liable, and was financially strained by the case. It filed twice for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was successfully reorganized into a new swimming pool industry association. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diving (sport)</span> Sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, usually while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potentiometer</span> Type of resistor, usually with three terminals

A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distance line</span> Line deployed by scuba divers for navigation

A distance line, penetration line, cave line, dive reel or guide line is an item of diving equipment used by scuba divers as a means of returning to a safe starting point in conditions of low visibility, water currents or where pilotage is difficult. They are often used in cave diving and wreck diving where the diver must return to open water after a penetration when it may be difficult to discern the return route. Guide lines are also useful in the event of silt out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Aquatics Centre</span> Public aquatic sports facility in Manchester, England

The Manchester Aquatics Centre, abbreviated MAC, is a public aquatics sports facility south of the city centre of Manchester, England, north of the main buildings of the University of Manchester near Manchester Metropolitan University. It was purpose built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and cost £32 million to build.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Aquatics Centre</span> Public aquatic sports facility in London, England

The London Aquatics Centre is an indoor facility with two 50-metre (164-foot) swimming pools and a 25-metre (82-foot) diving pool in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. The centre, designed by architect Zaha Hadid as one of the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, was used for the swimming, diving and synchronised swimming events. After significant modification, the centre opened to the public in March 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Knob State Park</span> State Park in Pennsylvania, United States

Blue Knob State Park is a 6,128-acre (2,480 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Kimmel, Lincoln, and Pavia townships in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The average annual snowfall at the park is about 12 feet (370 cm). The park is named for Blue Knob, the second highest mountain in Pennsylvania at 3,146 feet (959 m). It is the location of Blue Knob All Seasons Resort, the ski slope in Pennsylvania with the highest elevation. Blue Knob State Park is just off Interstate 99 on Pennsylvania Route 869 west of Pavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sleeman Sports Complex</span> Sporting and entertainment facility located in Brisbane, Queensland

The Sleeman Centre is a sporting and entertainment facility located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Located on Old Cleveland Road in the suburb of Chandler, the Centre is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Brisbane's CBD and is home to an aquatic Centre, velodrome, sports arena, gymnastics training hall, gymnasium, and auditorium. The centre offers a range of services to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep Eddy Pool</span> Historic public pool in Austin, Texas

Deep Eddy Pool is a historic man-made swimming pool in Austin, Texas. Deep Eddy is the oldest swimming pool in Texas and features a bathhouse built during the Depression era by the Works Progress Administration. The pool began as a swimming hole in the Colorado River, became a resort in the 1920s, and is today a popular swimming pool operated by the City of Austin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diving watch</span> Watch designed for underwater diving

A diving watch, also commonly referred to as a diver's or dive watch, is a watch designed for underwater diving that features, as a minimum, a water resistance greater than 1.1 MPa (11 atm), the equivalent of 100 m (330 ft). The typical diver's watch will have a water resistance of around 200 to 300 m, though modern technology allows the creation of diving watches that can go much deeper. A true contemporary diver's watch is in accordance with the ISO 6425 standard, which defines test standards and features for watches suitable for diving with underwater breathing apparatus in depths of 100 m (330 ft) or more. Watches conforming to ISO 6425 are marked with the word DIVER'S to distinguish ISO 6425 conformant diving watches from watches that might not be suitable for actual scuba diving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moana Pool</span> Swimming pool in Dunedin, New Zealand

Moana Pool is the largest swimming pool in the southern half of New Zealand's South Island. It is located at the corner of Littlebourne Road and Upper Stuart Street close to Otago Boys' High School, on the slopes of Roslyn, overlooking the centre of the city of Dunedin. The pool complex can be seen from much of the city, and commands extensive views over central and coastal Dunedin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Rawls</span> American swimmer and diver

Katherine Louise Rawls, also known by her married names Katherine Thompson and Katherine Green, was an American competition swimmer and diver. She was the United States national champion in multiple events during the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan Am Pool</span> Swimming facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Pan Am Pool is an indoor swimming facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada built for the 1967 Pan American Games. It is located in southwest Winnipeg and consists of three pools: two are used for competitive swimming and one is a children's "kiddie pool".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James E. Martin Aquatics Center</span> Auburn University swimming complex

The James E. Martin Aquatics Center is a swimming complex on the Auburn University campus in Auburn, Alabama. It is the home pool of the Auburn University and Auburn High School swimming and diving programs. The Martin Aquatics Center has hosted the NCAA Men's (1998) and Women's (2003) Swimming and Diving Championships, as well as the US Open in 1995, 2000, and 2005. In 2002, Sports Illustrated rated the Martin Aquatics Center indoor pool the third-fastest pool in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming pool</span> Artificial water basin for swimming

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground or built above ground, and may be found as a feature aboard ocean-liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic, composite or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diver trim</span> Balance and orientation skills of an underwater diver

The trim of a diver is the orientation of the body in the water, determined by posture and the distribution of weight and volume along the body and equipment, as well as by any other forces acting on the diver. Both static trim and its stability affect the convenience and safety of the diver while under water and at the surface. Midwater trim is usually considered at approximately neutral buoyancy for a swimming scuba diver, and neutral buoyancy is necessary for efficient maneuvering at constant depth, but surface trim may be at significant positive buoyancy to keep the head above water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metre sea water</span> Unit of pressure equal to one tenth of a bar

The metresea water (msw) is a metric unit of pressure used in underwater diving. It is defined as one tenth of a bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Introductory diving</span> Non-certification scuba diving experience

Introductory diving, also known as introductory scuba experience, trial diving and resort diving are dives where people without diver training or certification can experience scuba diving under the guidance of a recreational diving instructor. Introductory diving is an opportunity for interested people to find out by practical experience at a relatively low cost if they would be interested in greater involvement in scuba diving. For scuba instructors and diving schools is it an opportunity to acquire new customers. An introductory diving experience is much less time-consuming and costly than the completion of autonomous diver training, but has little lasting value, as it is an experience program only, for which no certification is issued. Introductory scuba diving experiences are intended to introduce people to recreational diving, and increase the potential client base of dive shops to include people who do not have the time or inclination to complete an entry-level certification program.

References

  1. Franklin, Woody. "Why a Diving Board Has Holes". About.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  2. duraflexinternational.com Archived July 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 The Physics of Springboard and Platform Diving
  4. "Sports".
  5. 1 2 "Diving Fulcrum". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  6. Duraflex International/Coach woody Franklyn: diving board construction.
  7. "Boy On HighDive, Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post Cover 1947". Best-Norman-Rockwell-Art.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  8. 1 2 Brown, AmyJo (January 30, 2004). "No Diving?". Pool & Spa News. Archived from the original on March 4, 2004. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  9. "Deep Impact: Back Yard Danger". 60 Minutes II . CBS News. June 2, 1999. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
  10. Appeals Court State of WA, Docket Number:18036-1-III Title: Shawn Meneely, et al. v. S. R. Smith, Inc., et al.