Springfree Trampoline is a company that manufactures recreational trampoline products and accessories. The design was created by Keith Vivian Alexander, a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.[1]
After analysing trampoline data in 1992, Alexander noted three impact zones affecting jumper safety in the George Nissen trampoline design. These were:
Alexander's goal was to increase the trampoline's safety by re-engineering the spring technology. In 1999, Alexander released his first prototype utilising glass-reinforced plastic rods, and the first commercial versions began selling in late 2004. In 2009, Springfree Trampoline won an Australian Design Award.[2]
The Springfree trampoline's design includes the use of glass-reinforced plastic rods articulating below the jumping surface, as opposed to the radiating steel spring coils of a Nissen trampoline. The jumping surface is lowered around 450mm below the jumping surface of a traditional trampoline, and the base's rigidity is derived from a tubular steel assembly with angled supports.