Claims
- 1. A convergent exercise machine, comprising:a support frame; a support frame member coupled to the support frame; an arm pivot axle coupled to the support frame member, said arm pivot axle positioned in a first plane; a seat assembly comprising a seat bottom pad and a seat back adapted to hold a user in position for exercising, whereby said user's shoulder joints are positioned substantially in a second plane, said second plane being substantially parallel to the first plane at a displacement perpendicular to the first plane; the first plane being located further into an exercise stroke than the second plane, said exercise stroke being a pushing stroke in a direction away from the support frame member; a pair of exercise arms, each having a first end rotatably attached to the arm pivot axle; said pair of arms adapted to move in a convergent motion; a handle assembly pivotably coupled to a second end of each exercise arm by a handle assembly pivot and adapted to be grasped by the user, wherein the arm pivot axle is positioned to define a machine-determined circular exercise motion path coincident with a movement of the handle assembly pivot from start to finish of said exercise motion path; said handle assembly being adjustable to define the size of the circular exercise motion path; each of said exercise arms being independently pivotal relative to the other exercise arm to allow the user to exercise one arm at a time; said exercise motion path being in a third plane which is at a fixed angle relative to said first and second planes; wherein said handle assembly pivot comprises a wrist joint accommodating pivot, said wrist joint accommodating pivot being disposed perpendicular to said third plane, whereby the exercise motion path for said wrist joint accommodating pivot is continuously in said third plane; and whereby rotation of the user's wrist joint is substantially constrained by the wrist joint accommodating pivot to move in an abduction-adduction, side-to-side, motion.
- 2. The machine of claim 1, wherein the handle assembly further comprises:a handgrip stirrup which is offset from the wrist joint accommodating pivot; said handgrip stirrup comprising a handgrip; said offset being adapted to substantially position a user's hand so that a handgrip of a handgrip stirrup may be gripped by a user's hand to position said wrist joint accommodating pivot substantially in line with a user's wrist joint, and whereby rotation of the user's wrist joint is substantially constrained by the wrist joint accommodating pivot to move in an abduction-adduction, side-to-side, motion.
- 3. The machine of claim 1, wherein the handle assembly pivot is a wrist joint accommodating pivot, the displacement of the first and second planes is between 4 and 6¼ inches, and the diameter of the circular exercise motion path ranges from 26 to 38 inches.
- 4. The machine of claim 3, wherein the displacement of the first and second planes is about 5⅝ inches.
- 5. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handle assembly comprises a wrist joint accommodating pivot, the machine is a chest press machine adapted to receive the user facing away from the support frame member, the arm pivot axle and the support frame member being positioned in a plane backwardly declined from a vertical plane at an angle which is less than 45 degrees, the handle assembly having a handgrip portion offset from the wrist joint accommodating pivot and adapted to position the user's wrist joint substantially in line with the wrist joint accommodating pivot, the support frame member further comprising a pivot support member connected between the support frame member and the arm pivot axle, wherein the pivot support member is positioned in a plane forwardly inclined from a horizontal plane at an angle which is less than 45 degrees.
- 6. The machine of claim 5, wherein the angle the arm pivot axle and the support frame member are positioned in the plane backwardly declined from a vertical plane is about 10 degrees.
- 7. The machine of claim 5, wherein the angle the pivot support member is positioned in the plane forwardly inclined from the horizontal plane is about 10 degrees.
Parent Case Info
This application claims the benefit of the Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/015,866 filed on May 22, 1996.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/859,942, filed May 22, 1997, now abandoned, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/015,866, filed May 22, 1996, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
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653426 |
Mar 1993 |
AU |
658291 |
Feb 1963 |
CA |
1226506 |
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FR |
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Mar 1987 |
WO |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/015866 |
May 1996 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/859942 |
May 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/467564 |
|
US |