Foldable and Highly Portable Yoga Mat

Information

  • Patent Application
  • 20240416172
  • Publication Number
    20240416172
  • Date Filed
    June 19, 2023
    a year ago
  • Date Published
    December 19, 2024
    3 days ago
  • Inventors
    • Costa Ruiz; Inna (Wixom, MI, US)
Abstract
A new type of high performance and highly portable yoga mat is presented with this patent application. Many yoga practitioners are people who want to keep exercising wherever they go. A good yoga mat is heavy and has a big size not suitable for taking outside home. With this invention a solution was found to make a quality yoga mat which can be compressed and folded to the approximate size of a yoga block. The key to achieving this goal is to use two different kinds of cuts applied on a surface with two layers of material attached to one another.
Description
PRIOR ART
Background

Yoga is among other sports very popular these days, practiced by about 10% of the Americans and about up to 5% of Europeans to support physical and mental health. Yoga is practiced on yoga mats, which are mostly 24 inch×72 inch and rolled in one big piece. Due to the relatively big size and weight (natural products of rubber are very heavy with up to 6 lbs), the mats are not suitable for travel or to take them for a workout outside home. The portable mats on the market are often made of a cheap material and are very thin, so that knees and back are hurt easily. To solve these problems a folding method and a material not used until now for this purpose were invented to allow a portable and high-quality mat.


SUMMARY OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

In some embodiments the mat is made either of natural or artificial felt or other foldable and cushioning materials.


In some embodiments the mat is composed by two layers attached to each other. The folded the mat has a similar size like two yoga blocks. To avoid folding lines, a new cutting procedure is introduced, in which always one layer of the mat is cut and the other can stay complete.





BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS


FIG. 1 shows an overview of front side cut layout and folding lines of the mat.



FIG. 2 shows an overview of back side cut layout and folding lines of the mat.



FIG. 3 shows the folding procedure overview of the mat.



FIG. 4 shows a parallel double cut type of the mat.



FIG. 6 shows a parallel double cut type of the mat when the mat is folded.



FIG. 5 shows a single cut type of the mat.



FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of the side view of the mat when it is folded.





DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions depict only example embodiments and are not to be considered limiting in scope.


Any reference herein to “the invention” is not intended to restrict or limit the invention to exact features or steps of anyone or more of the exemplary embodiments disclosed in the present specification.


Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention, which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Unless otherwise expressly defined herein, such terms are intended to be given their broad, ordinary, and customary meaning not inconsistent with that applicable in the relevant industry and without restriction to any specific embodiment hereinafter described.


It should be understood that the steps of any such processes or methods are not limited to being carried out in any particular sequence, arrangement, or with any particular graphics or interface. Indeed, the steps of the disclosed processes or methods generally may be carried out in various sequences and arrangements while still falling within the scope of the present invention.


The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments, are synonymous, and are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including, but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes, but is not limited to”, etc).


The term “coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical contact. However, “coupled” may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still cooperate or interact with each other.


As discussed earlier, there is a need for a yoga mat that is foldable and compact, lightweight and which has high structural integrity in order to avoid deformation while yoga practice. The present disclosure seeks to solve these and other problems.


Some embodiments of the mat consist of two layers of felt or a material with similar properties. The approximate thickness of each layer may range up to 0.2 inch (0.5 cm).


An overview of an example embodiment of the cuts and folding lines execution is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 shows an example embodiment of the front side of the mat and FIG. 2 shows the back side of an example embodiment. Each layer shall have cut and folding lines as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. Folding lines are represented by the number 101 with dash-dot line. The cutting line types are represented by the numbers 102 (single straight line) and 103 (double parallel straight line).


The cutting line 102 is performed by cutting through one layer of the mat. The cutting line 103 is performed by making a parallel double cut through one layer of the mat.


A representation of an example embodiment of a completely folded mat is shown in FIG. 7. In FIG. 6 a real example of a single cut of the type 102 is shown. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show a real example of a double cut type 103 and the folding line on the other side of the mat.


The procedure to fold an example embodiment of the mat is described in FIG. 3. From left to right the different steps are shown. The first step is to fold the mat using the middle folding line along the direction in which the mat has the longest length. After that the mat is folded like an accordion until it is formed to a compacted block.

Claims
  • 1. An exercise mat, comprising: a plurality of substantially semi flexible panels coupled by specially designed cuts in succession to one another which are then folded in a specific way described in FIG. 3, allowing the mat to have the approximate size of two yoga blocks.
  • 2. The exercise mat of claim 1, using felt as material for the whole mat or parts of it.
  • 3. The exercise mat of claim 1, further comprising two layers of felt or other materials with similar thickness attached to one another.
  • 4. The special type of cutting necessary to fold the mat applied to sport practice mats: the single cut through one layer of the mat described in FIG. 6 and the double parallel cut through one layer of the mat described in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.