What kind of exercise equipment is this?
May 22, 2020 3:00 PM Subscribe
Howdy! We're trying to identify if there's a specific name for this piece of exercise equipment you'd find in a public park, or how you'd think it could be used. It's a tall pole with notches, topped with 4 chains with padding. Pic inside.
Image of the equipment in question.
Naturally this won't be used *right now* - just a curiosity seen in a socially-distanced run.
Thanks for your input!
Image of the equipment in question.
Naturally this won't be used *right now* - just a curiosity seen in a socially-distanced run.
Thanks for your input!
I'm skeptical that this is "exercise equipment". It looks to be back in a corner of the park, pretty close to a fence, which is not exactly conducive to working out. Could it be a partially disassembled/abandoned old play structure part (like one corner of a square/rectangular thing) or something?
posted by pdb at 3:31 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by pdb at 3:31 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yandex seems to think it's either the Laputa robot from castle in the sky or "Latvian Children's Exercise Equipment."
posted by pmg at 3:52 PM on May 22, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by pmg at 3:52 PM on May 22, 2020 [4 favorites]
The logo on the pole seems to most closely resemble this manufacturer: https://www.kompan.us/
posted by subocoyne at 3:53 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by subocoyne at 3:53 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
How tall is the top of the pole? My initial guess was part of (or a really bad) disc golf target, but that seems very unlikely.
Still, I'm having a lot of fun searching around the Kompan website. Good eye subocoyne!
posted by Anoplura at 4:02 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Still, I'm having a lot of fun searching around the Kompan website. Good eye subocoyne!
posted by Anoplura at 4:02 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'd say you're supposed to grip the chains, maybe hang from them, and the blue mushroomlike thingies are there so you don't pinch your fingers on the links.
posted by signal at 4:09 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by signal at 4:09 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's definitely playground equipment. You can't see the base in the photo but I'm guessing it has a roundish bottom section like this: https://www.kompan.us/play/freestanding/supernova-carousels-spinners/junior-spica
posted by JauntyFedora at 4:13 PM on May 22, 2020
posted by JauntyFedora at 4:13 PM on May 22, 2020
Yes, I've narrowed it down to a piece of Kompan playground equipment that's probably from 2002-2006. From the examples I'm seeing though, it's looking more likely to be the remaining corner of a larger piece of equipment. I haven't found an example of a stand-alone piece that matches this.
Are there more of these in the same area?
posted by Anoplura at 4:20 PM on May 22, 2020
Are there more of these in the same area?
posted by Anoplura at 4:20 PM on May 22, 2020
Paging through the Kompan catalogue is good fun. Makes me wish I was a professional playground designer. But I don't see OP's item in there.
posted by McNulty at 4:20 PM on May 22, 2020
posted by McNulty at 4:20 PM on May 22, 2020
I'm digging through older PDF catalogs. My date range seems to be the era when that style post was common among most of their line, and they were using that chain-with-finger-protectors style. They seem to have switched almost entirely to rope and mostly to simpler posts sometime shortly after that.
I haven't found many catalogs though, so I could be off by several years...
posted by Anoplura at 4:25 PM on May 22, 2020
I haven't found many catalogs though, so I could be off by several years...
posted by Anoplura at 4:25 PM on May 22, 2020
Kompan seem to use the thick black posts and chains with grips in the Elements school-age sets, but I haven't seen a match for the exact piece anywhere and the descriptions don't really seem to suggest a name for it either.
posted by randomonium at 4:51 PM on May 22, 2020
posted by randomonium at 4:51 PM on May 22, 2020
I would ask a few neighborhood kids what they think.
posted by AugustWest at 5:24 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by AugustWest at 5:24 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
Standing alone like that, I would say it's close to a frisbee golf target.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:17 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 7:17 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
Would you put a frisbee golf target that close to a fence?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2020
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2020
If the combined might of AskMe can't help, the folk at r/whatisthisthing are surprisingly good at identifying all sorts of shit you'd never think was identifiable.
posted by penguin pie at 3:02 PM on May 23, 2020
posted by penguin pie at 3:02 PM on May 23, 2020
Would you put a frisbee golf target that close to a fence?
Not my fence, so sure: extra points for difficulty, in our House Rules!
Nah, if the chains were longer, maybe -- but those weird, child-hand-preserving things are definitely not for frisbees. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:01 PM on May 23, 2020
Not my fence, so sure: extra points for difficulty, in our House Rules!
Nah, if the chains were longer, maybe -- but those weird, child-hand-preserving things are definitely not for frisbees. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:01 PM on May 23, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
Is it definitively exercise equipment, as opposed to public sculpture?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:13 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]