Patent Application
20130203560
1. Fields of the Invention
The invention relates to an electric treadmill with a folding mechanism by use of two swivel pieces, and more particularly, to a treadmill that permits a stable support in a folded-up position. Moreover, the entire volume of the treadmill in the folded-up position is effectively reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 12/815,409 titled “electric treadmill with a folding mechanism by use of a swivel piece”. According to the prior art, the supporting assembly has to be mounted near the middle portion of the base frame for maintaining the folding and supporting stability. Moreover, the folding peak of the base frame is not at an optimal folding angle perpendicular to the ground. Therefore, the entire volume of the treadmill in a folded position can't be effectively and considerably reduced. Moreover, people tend to worry about the fact that the base frame folded in an inclined position may fall down in an unexpected way, thereby affecting the safety. Thus, a further improvement is required.
An object of the invention is to provide an electric treadmill with a folding mechanism in which collapsible components are deliberately so small dimensioned that they can be interposed between a base frame and a handrail frame in a concentrated manner, thereby achieving an optimal folding angle and increasing the tightness between the components. In addition to drastically reducing the vibration in use, the stability in supporting the base frame is improved as well.
According to the invention, an electric treadmill with a folding mechanism includes a handrail frame pivotably mounted at both sides of the front end of the base frame. A guide plate having a sliding groove, two link plates, and a positioning plate attached to the handrail frame are provided between both sides of the base frame and the handrail frame. The guide plate is connected to a sliding support of a ground-touching roller. The sliding support is pivotably coupled to the bottom of the base frame. According to the assembly of the above-mentioned components, when the base frame is lifted in a folded position, a slide pin of the link plates is movable in the sliding groove of the guide plate until the base frame is folded in an upright position.
The accomplishment of this and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and its accompanying drawings of which:
The present invention will now be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings that show various embodiments of the invention.
Referring to
A guide plate 21 having a sliding groove 20, two link plates 30, 31, and a positioning plate 40 attached to the handrail frame 14 are provided between both sides of the base frame 11 and the handrail frame 14. The guide plate 21 is connected to a sliding support 51 of a ground-touching roller 50. Moreover, the sliding support 51 is pivotably coupled to the bottom of the base frame 11. According to the assembly of the above-mentioned components, when the base frame 11 is lifted in a folded position, a slide pin 32 of the link plates 30, 31 is movable in the sliding groove 20 of the guide plate 21 until the base frame 11 is folded in an upright position.
The link plates 30, 31 are pivotably secured to corresponding pivots 11A, 11B of the base frame 11.
The sliding support 51 is pushed by a telescopic cylinder 60. The telescopic cylinder 60 provides an auxiliary push in folding up the base frame 11 and fulfills a positioning effect when the base frame 11 is located in a folded position. This art belongs to the prior art and is not the characteristics of the invention so that no further descriptions thereto are given hereinafter.
In order to ensure a smooth operation of the above-mentioned components, an elastic element 22 is interposed between the guide plate 21 and a handrail positioning plate 40.
Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiments of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
