Patent Application
20240189659
The present invention is related to a fitness and entertainment device that utilizes gyroscopic precession effect to generate autonomous yawing motion, and more particularly to a device capable of performing the “gyroscopic precession effect” at any time in an expected direction only by continuously driven by the user, such as only through the simple application of pressure by the user or the transfer of the user's center of gravity. Meanwhile, it can be achieved without any external force or auxiliary power. In addition, the device can be operated repeatedly and is able to sensitively adapt to the transfer of the user's center of gravity to create the yawing motion immediately such that the user can experience an excellent fitness and entertainment effect of riding like flying and floating in the air.
The “angular momentum direction” specifically refers to an invisible natural angular momentum force generated along with the object's central axis of rotation when rotating. This force is in a right-angle relationship with the direction of motion of the object. Due to the force of angular momentum, the object is able to maintain the so-called “dynamic rotational balance”. A common example of this physical effect is the stable upright state of a rotating gyroscope. Additionally, the magnitude of the angular momentum force is positively correlated with the rotation rate of the object. In order to embody this invisible angular momentum force for facilitating the explanation of the technical features and usage features of the present invention, the term “angular momentum direction” is specially used to represent it in the description.
As mentioned above, the “gyroscopic precession effect” specifically refers to that when a rotating object is in the dynamic rotational balance state and if there is an external force disturbs the “angular momentum direction”, the object will begin to move as precession physically along the disturbed side.
The above-mentioned physical phenomena are basic physical knowledge, and these are not the technical characteristics of the claims of the present invention. Therefore, no further details will be given hereinafter.
Therefore, after an overall search for sports equipment or entertainment devices in the market today, it is worth mentioning that the gyroscope is applied to both of the product commonly known as “SEGWAY Balance Car” and the present invention. However, as we all know, the “SEGWAY Balance Car” is not only expensive in manufacturing, but also the purpose of using a large number of gyroscopes is to detect and obtain the dynamic balance of the car body. In other words, the gyroscope is used as a posture detection instrument that senses the deviation direction of the user's body posture (center of gravity). Thereafter, the above mentioned detection result is used as the basis for the corresponding operation of the electric motors in the wheels on both sides of the car. Briefly speaking, it only allows the gyroscope to display its proper gyroscopic effect and detection function without taking advantage of the aforementioned “angular momentum direction”, “gyroscopic precession effect” or other performances.
Furthermore, the gyroscopes and the electric motor used in this “Segway Balancing Car” must rely on external power supply to maintain the operation. Once the power supply fails, the whole car is useless. Especially when it is used as a walking tool, related tragic accidents may cause countless casualties due to the lack of the safety protection device design. Therefore, it can be only discontinued in the end.
Moreover, several spinning bikes projects known as “REALRYDER” are disclosed, for example, in the U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/235,199 and U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/398,934. It can be seen therefrom that by changing the center of gravity of the user's body, the frame and the flywheel can tilt left and right synchronously, thereby simulating the turning action similar to riding a bicycle. However, after the technical features of the above-mentioned prior art are studied in detail, it can be found that it only allows the user to feel the inclination of the body, but the overall structure does not reach the true state of the so-called turning. In other words, this product only provides a “pretending” state that appears to be turning, but in fact it is just a creative gimmick.
The conventional spinning bike also generates angular momentum and maybe achieves a natural homing effect during operation. However, it can only be used to balance the bike frame. No other additional functions can be achieved.
A first object of the invention is to provide a fitness and entertainment device by use of gyroscopic precession effect of a flywheel to generate autonomous yawing motion, and more particularly to a device capable of performing the “gyroscopic precession effect” at any time in an expected direction only by continuously driven by the user, such as only through the simple application of pressure by the user or the transfer of the user's center of gravity. Meanwhile, it can be achieved without any external force or auxiliary power. In addition, the device can be operated repeatedly and is able to sensitively adapt to the transfer of the user's center of gravity to create the yawing motion immediately such that the user can experience an excellent fitness and entertainment effect of riding like flying and floating in the air. In this way, it can truly present the same actual turning action as when riding a bicycle, and even make the user feel like riding, flying and floating in the air, thereby experiencing an excellent fitness and entertainment effect.
A second object of the present invention is to make full use of the automatic stability maintenance function of angular momentum, and to show instant steering performance when receiving a deflection moment in the “angular momentum direction”. Therefore, the user can experience the infinitely increased fun of using the present invention while performing gorgeous dance-like movement with the rapid rhythm and the proficient operation skills of the user's core muscles.
According to the invention, the fitness and entertainment device mainly includes a rotatable base that can firmly support all components, an upright frame fixed on the rear side of the rotatable base, and a suspended frame pivotably attached to the top of the upright frame. The suspended frame includes a pivotal shaft, a seat cushion, a pair of grip handles, a pair of pedal cranks, an arc-shaped wing and a flywheel driven by a chain drive system. The upright frame is provided with a stopper composed of several pulleys at the place corresponding to the arc-shaped wing. A ground-attaching support shaft is disposed at the rotational center of the rotatable base. After the user continues to step on the pedal cranks to make the flywheel rotate until the appropriate physical inertia and the stable angular momentum are obtained, the torsional deflection may be applied to the “angular momentum direction” located at the rotation axis of the flywheel by pressing on the grip handles or shifting the user's own center of gravity at any time. At this time, the suspended frame immediately carries out the “gyroscopic precession effect” in the expected direction to which the pressure is applied. Meanwhile, the suspended frame together with the rotatable base starts to rotate around the ground-attaching support shaft in the expected direction; and when the user wants to stop the suspended frame or to rotate it in another direction, he only needs to put his body's center of gravity or exert force on the grip handles to make the suspended frame tilt back or lean to the other side, thereby obtaining the desired yawing motion effect.
Referring to
The rotatable base 10 is provided for firmly supporting all components and includes a rotation-assisting wheel 11 on each end edge. A ground-attaching support shaft 12 is disposed at the center of rotation.
The upright frame 20 is fixed at the rear side of the rotatable base 10 and includes an arc-shaped shell 21 at the top thereof. A cross tube 22 and a hollow sleeve 23 is fitted to the arc-shaped shell 21. A stopper 25 composed of a number of pulleys 24 is positioned at the bottom of the upright frame 20.
The suspended frame 30 is pivotally attached to the arc-shaped shell 21 at the top of the upright frame 20 and includes a pivotal shaft 31, a seat cushion 32, a pair of grip handles 33, a pair of pedal cranks 34, an arc-shaped wing 35 and a flywheel 36. The pivotal shaft 31 is fitted into the cross tube 22 and the hollow sleeve 23 to create a pivotal connection in the arc-shaped shell 21. The arc-shaped wing 35 of the suspended frame 30 is disposed at a position corresponding to the stopper 25 composed of the pulleys 24. The flywheel 36 is driven by a chain drive system 40.
The composition of the above-mentioned components is shown in
The above-mentioned chain drive system 40 includes a number of related components such as the pedal cranks 34, a large chainring 41, a transmission chain belt 42, a small driven chainring 43, etc., so that the flywheel 36 can be driven to rotate rapidly according to the expected driving direction. In addition, in order to prevent the chain drive system 40 from the dangerous situations during operation, it is usually provided with a safety cover 50 to cover the chain drive system 40. Since all these components belong to the basic structure, no further details will be given hereinafter.
Referring to
Furthermore, the suspended frame 30 abuts against the corresponding stopper 25 of the upright frame 20 only via the arc-shaped wings 35. Therefore, with the assistance of the pulleys 24, the suspended frame 30 can freely slide left and right, so that the frame set 30 is in a deflectable state. In addition, the shear stress at the pivotal shaft 31 of the suspended frame 30 can also be naturally counteracted. In particular, the curved wings 35 can be used for counterweight during assembly. More specifically, by adding a counterweight (not shown) on an appropriate side, the suspended frame 30 can be kept in a static hanging state in which the left and right sides of the suspended frame 30 are balanced after assembly.
In fact, when the flywheel 36 begins to spin in place, the physical angular momentum also begins to be generated. When a certain speed is reached, the suspended frame 30 will stably straighten due to the corresponding angular momentum. It should be noted that the angular momentum required for the stable straightening of the frame set 30 is positively related to the weight of the user. As the flywheel 36 continues to spin rapidly, the user's action for deflecting the center of gravity to the left or right will apply a moment deflection to the “angular momentum direction”. Therefore, the overall device will immediately perform the “gyroscopic precession effect” in the deflected direction. At the same time, the existing angular momentum will also resist the deflection external force at any time, thereby pushing the suspended frame 30 back to the righting direction. In this way, the user may use the force of the core muscles to constantly fight against the angular momentum. In particular, the faster the rotation speed of the flywheel 36, the greater the reaction force, such that the user can obtain excellent exercise effect and control pleasure.
As shown in
In order to allow the user to quickly slow down or stop the operation of the flywheel 36 under any necessary conditions, a braking mechanism 60 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention is provided between the two grip handles 33 of the suspended frame 30 (that is, adjacent to the top of the flywheel 36), thereby ensuring that the user's safety is taken into account. Since the braking mechanism 60 and its related components are necessary and common configurations of flywheel spinning bikes in the market, the relevant details are not detailed hereinafter. It should be noted that in order to avoid confusion caused by too many numbers in the drawings, some drawings are only marked with corresponding reference signs for specific key points. In this way, it is easy to clearly understand the specific contents of the certain parts in the description.
The main function of the rotation-assisting wheels 11 on the end edges of the base 10 in the above-mentioned embodiment is to reduce the frictional force with the ground so that the whole device can rotate in place. In order to overcome any potential unevenness of the ground itself, the overall device according to another embodiment in
As shown in
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.
