1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of exercise equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to an exercise device having a cable and pulley system that offers two different levels of resistance at a pull point, independent of the amount of weight selected.
2. Background
Exercise equipment having a cable and pulley system for lifting a stack of weights has been in use for well over a century. Such equipment comes in a wide variety of designs for performing various exercises. One type of such exercise equipment, exemplified, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,504, is particularly suited for upper body exercises. This apparatus has an elongated upstanding frame and a carriage that is movable up and down along vertical posts of the frame. The carriage includes one or more pulleys around which a cable is reeved. The cable is further reeved around upper and/or lower pulleys on the frame and is coupled to a source of exercise resistance, such as a plurality of stacked weights. The cable exits the pulley on the carriage and is connected to a handle or similar pulling device. The height of the handle is readily adjustable by moving the carriage on the vertical posts and locking it into position at the selected height. This permits a wide variety of exercises to be performed for exercising muscle groups of the arms and upper body. The amount of exercise resistance is adjusted by selecting more or fewer stacked weights. The range of available exercise resistance is thus determined by the quantity of available weights.
It would be desirable to have exercise resistance selectable over a greater range without requiring a correspondingly greater number of stacked weights.
The present invention provides an apparatus for communicating exercise resistance comprising a carriage assembly with at least one upper and at least one lower pulley. First and second cable ends are reeved around the upper and lower pulleys, respectively, and are coupled to a source of selectable exercise resistance. An exercise member is selectively coupled to the two cable ends such that movement of the exercise member away from the carriage is subject to a first exercise resistance when only one of the cable ends is attached and is subject to a second, greater exercise resistance when both cable ends are attached.
In another embodiment, a set of upper and lower pulleys on a first carriage assembly have a cable end extending between the pulleys and another cable end attached to the carriage by a removable spring clip. The cable ends are coupled to a source of selectable exercise resistance. The cable end extending between the pulleys may be used with exercise handles or bars. An exercise member is associated with a second carriage assembly above or below the first carriage assembly. The cable end extending between the upper and lower pulleys can attach to the second carriage to provide a first exercise resistance to the exercise member. If more resistance is desired, the cable end attached to the first carriage may be removed from the first carriage and attached to the second carriage, providing a greater resistance.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods and devices are omitted so as to not obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail.
Referring first to
Backrest cushion 30 is attached to central upright 12, as are right handlebar assembly 32 and left handlebar assembly 34. Arm cushions 36, 38 are attached to handlebar assemblies 32, 34, respectively.
Carriage assembly 40 is slidably mounted on selector tube 26 and may be positioned at any desired height by means of pull pin 41 engaging with one of a plurality of holes (not shown) in the selector tube. Carriage assembly 42 is similarly slidably mounted on selector tube 28. A variety of weight resistance exercises may be performed using handles 44 and 46 that are operatively associated with carriage assemblies 40 and 42, respectively, as more fully described below. Exercise resistance is furnished by a selectorized weight stack 48. A shroud 49 may partially enclose weight stack 48.
Referring also to
Cable 68 is attached to floating pulley 60R and travels down and around low fixed pulley 70R. Cable 68 then travels upwardly and around high fixed pulley 72R and then back down and around pulley 74 on the top of weight stack 48. Again, the left side of the apparatus is a mirror image with cable 68 travelling upwardly from pulley 74, around high fixed pulley 72L, then downwardly and around low fixed pulley 70L, and then upwardly to where it is attached to floating pulley 60L.
From
Details of right side carriage assembly 40 are shown in
In a variation of the above-described embodiment, the carriage assemblies could each have two pulleys instead of four. In this case, it would be preferred that the two pulleys would be slightly offset from each other axially so that the cable from either pulley would clear the other pulley during use. In this variation, the upper end of the cable would be reeved around the upper pulley and the lower end of the cable would be reeved around the lower pulley. For example, this could be accomplished by modifying carriage assembly 40 shown in
Another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
When using the press bar 116 associated with the second carriage assembly, the second carriage assembly 114 is lowered from its stowed position at the top of the slider shaft and rested on top of the first carriage assembly 102. Attaching the first cable end to eye 122 on the second carriage assembly 114 with the second cable end attached to eye 124 on the first carriage assembly 102 as shown in
The configuration shown in
It will be recognized that the above-described invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the disclosure. Thus, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details, but rather is to be defined by the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4402504 | Christian | Sep 1983 | A |
6394935 | Lake | May 2002 | B1 |
7651443 | Fenster et al. | Jan 2010 | B1 |
20070037674 | Finn et al. | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20120065035 | Makula | Mar 2012 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
WO 2012012578 | Jul 2011 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20130065737 A1 | Mar 2013 | US |