Patent Application
20240299796
This application includes material which is subject or may be subject to copyright and/or trademark protection. The copyright and trademark owner(s) has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trademark rights whatsoever.
The invention generally relates to adaptive resistance exercise machines. More particularly, the invention relates to exercise machines with bidirectional and adaptive resistance that can be proportional to the effort exerted by the user while providing adjustment to resistance parameters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,545 by Powell presents an eddy brake system with a magnetic circuit coupled to a rotor. The systems of Powell are not well suited for exercise machines do their mechanical complexity and use of numerous moving parts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,111 by Nakajima, U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,520 by Lamb, U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,517 by Gunther et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,520 by Lamb, U.S. Pat. No. 8,490,751 by Allington also present various magnetic control systems but are unduly bulky with numerous parts, having a footprint that is too large for commercial adaptation for a piece of gym equipment.
The present invention overcomes shortfalls in the related art by presenting an unobvious and unique combination, configuration and use of flexible members, pulleys, cables, drums, and various means of resistance to provide an exercise machine that is devoid of weights or plates and that provides adaptive and seamless perceived resistance in response to the effort exerted by a user.
In the related art, exercise machines often comprise physical weights, sometimes taking the form of plates that are retained by use of guide rails and are sometimes selected by use of a center pin. Plates or other physical weights used in exercise or by an exercise machine present a myriad of problems and dangers. A user's fingers can be damaged by the movement of plates and the use of physical weights adds to the footprint of the machine. Moreover, in mid use, a user may become fatigued but still must lower or content with a weight that is no longer manageable which sometimes causes injury to the user. Thus, what is needed is an exercise machine that stops pressing down upon a user when the user stops pressing. Such a system is not available with the traditional physical weight systems of the prior art.
The disclosed embodiments overcome the shortfalls in the related art by presenting a new machine that has a relatively small footprint by use of, inter alia, systems of adaptive load technology which constantly self-adjust to comport with the effort applied by the user. Unlike the related art which uses fixed resistance via noisy and bulky weights, the disclosed embodiments allow a user to stop the machine in mid motion in response to the user simply stopping effort. Thus, a user who is fatigued in mid motion does not risk injury by a weight or handle dropping downwardly.
The disclosed embodiments also overcome shortfalls in the related art by presenting a new exercise machine that provides both positive and negative resistance which is sometimes known as or referred to as push and pull resistance. Thus, a user may experience resistance in both an upper movement and downward movement while engaged in the same exercise. This provides an efficiency in exercise not available in the prior art.
Disclosed embodiments are efficient in construction, maintenance, ease of use and physical size or footprint. In one disclosed embodiment a single flexible member may be in a looped form and may be retained and or controlled by a drum. The flexible member may be looped several times around the drum, with the drum securing the flexible member via frictional attachment. Thus, as the drum is controlled by the surrounding systems, the flexible member may be instantaneously controlled with such control including stopping, a change in direction and variable resistance with such resistance dictated by the movement or effort exerted by the use. A user may access the flexible member by direct contact, a handle attached to the flexible member or by a myriad of other systems including a disclosed carriage system.
The term “flexible member” means and includes: cable, a chain and sprocket system, a belt and gear system, a V belt and sheave system or any other system or component having the requisite strength and flexibility to comport to a disclosed embodiment.
The term “drum” means and includes: an object having means of rotation or an object having an axis of rotation.
Disclosed embodiments may include the use of a disk or conductor disk attached to a drum. The movement and/or adaptive resistance of the conductor disk may be influenced by the movement of the drum and/or a resistance or absence of resistance applied to the conductor disk, with such resistance or absence of resistance applied by various means such as a magnetic system, electrical eddy currents, an electric motor, one or more magnets, frictional resistance viscous systems, wind resistance and other systems. A conductor disk may comprise or be made of material such as metal that may be influenced by a magnetic field.
Disclosed embodiments may include on or more magnets or other means of electrical current or eddy current that are near to or in electrical connection or magnetic connection to the conductor disk. Such a component, such as a magnet, may be supported near the conductor disk by means of adjustable positioning between the magnet and conductor disk. Alternatively, a conductor disc could be secured by adjustable means with respect to a fixed magnetic system.
Disclosed embodiments include the use of magnets, means of eddy currents, means of frictional resistance, viscous systems, wind resistance and electric motors.
Other disclosed embodiments are described and illustrated herein.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the associated drawings.
The following detailed description is directed to certain specific embodiments of the invention. However, the invention can be embodied in a multitude of different ways as defined and covered by the claims and their equivalents. In this description, reference is made to the drawings wherein like parts are designated with like numerals throughout.
Unless otherwise noted in this specification or in the claims, all of the terms used in the specification and the claims will have the meanings normally ascribed to these terms by workers in the art.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in a sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural or singular number, respectively. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application.
A user may pull the flexible member in an upward or downward direction by grabbing the flexible member directly or by use of any type of handle 112. A handle may be attached directly to the flexible member or may attach by use of a fastener 120 connecting to the flexible member to the handle.
The disclosed embodiment of
Means of adjusting the distance of a magnet from the conductor disk are optional but may include an adjustment rod 265 wherein the distance between the conductor disk and magnetic field may be adjusted.
Referring to
A sprocket 270 may be attached to the drum and the sprocket may be in rotational or chained attachment to the conductor disk 220.
The above detailed description of embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, while steps are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps in a different order. The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not only the systems described herein. The various embodiments described herein can be combined to provide further embodiments. These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the detailed description.
All the above references and U.S. patents and applications are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions and concepts of the various patents and applications described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.
These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description. In general, the terms used in the following claims, should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the above detailed description explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses the disclosed embodiments and all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims.
While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms.
