Mechanical Bull Rodeo Style Safety Concept – Seat Sensor Shut Off Innovation
In retirement, I have traveled to every city in the United States with more than 10,000 residents. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t avoid small towns, I went to so many I can’t even count, even though I didn’t get to all of them, it took me seven years of RVing just to make sure I got to every city of 10,000+ people or more. Two areas that I really enjoyed were West Texas and South Texas. The people are very nice there, and the cowboy is alive and well. Perhaps the most fun place to visit is a two-step Texas bar and grill establishment, and there are quite a few.
That’s where all the fun and action is, and as long as you’re not trying to pretend to be something you’re not, or yelling, you can have a lot of fun even as a stranger. One of the best things are mechanical bulls, and you might think they’re safer than a normal bull, and maybe they are, but they’re not as safe, at least not all of them, as you think they might be. Most of them have automatic shutoffs once the rider is down. But in some of the older bars, they have the old style mechanical bull rodeo style set up without the automatic shut off.
If you get thrown from one of these, you expect to be thrown from a decent distance because if you try to stand up again, it’s likely to come back and kick your butt and rear-end you. Not only is it embarrassing, but let me tell you; hurts. Just because some of the locals can ride the mechanical bull on the highest setting, doesn’t mean you can too, and it can be fun for a few seconds, but often ends with a crash landing even on the mats. And you’d better get out of the way quick.
It seems that the ones with the automatic shut off are based on weight, and when there is no more weight on the mechanical bull, the spring pops up and shuts it off. Still, on some it takes a bit of time to turn off and therefore these systems may require a seat sensor to be turned off using a fiber optic cable under the seat. Immediately turn off the power and completely stop the system. This could increase the cost of the mechanical bull, but it could also help the bar and grill with its insurance policy, although each rider signs a waiver to ride the bull at their own risk. Please consider all this and think about it.
