Apparatus for simulating a “high five”

It is a big sporting weekend in Australia. Some unfortunate fans will, however, be watching the televised NRL and AFL grand finals on their own. According to Albert Cohen, the inventor of US Patent 5,356,330, this can lead to unique difficulty. The background portion of the patent describes the problem in the following terms:

“During a televised sporting event, a “high five” is commonly shared between fans to express the joy and excitement of a touchdown, home run, game-winning basket, birdie or other positive occurrence. Unfortunately, as known in the art, a “high five” requires the mutual hand slapping of two participants, wherein a first participant slaps an upraised hand against the elevated hand of a second participant. As such, a solitary fan is unable to perform a “high five” to express excitement during a televised sporting event.”

Fortunately for those sole viewers, Mr Cohen developed an apparatus for simulating a high-five. In the words of the abstract of the patent the apparatus comprises “a lower arm portion having a simulated hand removably attached thereto, an upper arm portion, an elbow joint for pivotally securing the lower arm portion to the upper arm portion, and a spring biasing element for biasing the upper and lower arm portions towards a predetermined alignment.”  Problem solved!