Claims
- 1. A method of exercising hands, comprising:
- providing a pair of flexible hollow handles;
- mounting a valve body to each of the handles;
- providing each of the valve bodies with a valve sleeve extending inward, and providing each of the valve sleeves with a side wall containing a sleeve slot;
- positioning a tubular valve stem in each of the valve sleeves, and providing each of the valve stems with a side wall containing a stem slot;
- mounting a conduit to each valve stem, interconnecting the valve stems with each other;
- placing a substantially incompressible fluid in the handles and conduit;
- rotating each of the valve stems relative to each of the valve bodies to selectively align each of the stem slots with one of the sleeve slots;
- grasping with a hand each of the handles; then
- squeezing one of the handles, causing fluid to displace from the handle being squeezed out through one of the sleeve slots and stem slots into the conduit, and causing fluid in the conduit to flow through the other of the sleeve slots and stem slots and into the other of the handles, the degree of alignment of each of the stem slot with the sleeve slot of the handle being squeezed determining the resistance to flow of the fluid.
- 2. A hand exercising apparatus, comprising in combination:
- a pair of flexible hollow handles, each having a closed end and an open end;
- a valve body mounted to the open end of each of the handles;
- each of the valve bodies having a valve sleeve extending inward, each of the valve sleeves having a side wall containing a sleeve slot;
- a tubular valve stem carried in each of the valve sleeves and protruding outward therefrom, each of the valve stems having a side wall containing a stem slot, each of the valve stems being manually rotatable relative to the valve bodies so as to selectively align each of the stem slots with one of the sleeve slots;
- a conduit mounted to each valve stem, interconnecting the valve stems with each other; and
- the handles and conduit containing a fluid such that alternately squeezing the handles causes fluid to displace from one handle out through one of the sleeve slots and stem slots into the conduit, and causing fluid in the conduit to flow through the other of the sleeve slots and stem slots and into the other of the handles, the degree of alignment of the stem slots with the sleeve slots of the handle being squeezed determining the resistance to flow of the fluid.
- 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:
- a collar rigidly mounted over each of the valve stems for grasping by a user to facilitate rotation of each of the valve stems relative to each of the valve bodies.
- 4. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the conduit mounts to each of the valve stems for rotation with each of the valve stems.
- 5. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein each of the valve sleeves has an open inner end in communication with the interior of one of the handles, and wherein each of the valve stems has a closed inner end which locates in the inner end of one of the valve sleeves and blocks flow of fluid through the inner end of the valve sleeves, requiring any flow of fluid to pass through the sleeve and stem slots.
- 6. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein there are two of the sleeve slots in each of the valve sleeves, each spaced circumferentially apart from each other, and wherein there are two of the stem slots in each of the valve stems, each spaced circumferentially apart from each other.
- 7. A hand exercising apparatus, comprising in combination:
- a pair of flexible hollow handles, each having a closed end and an open end;
- a valve body mounted in the open end of each of the handles;
- each of the valve bodies having a valve sleeve extending inward, each of the valve sleeves having a side wall containing a sleeve slot;
- a tubular valve stem carried in each of the valve sleeves, each of the valve stems having an inner portion located in one of the valve sleeves and having a side wall containing a stem slot, each of the valve stems being manually rotatable relative to the valve bodies so as to selectively align each of the stem slots with one of the sleeve slots;
- each of the valve stems having an outer portion protruding outward from one of the valve sleeves, the outer portion having an exterior;
- a conduit having two ends, each of which slides over the outer portion of each of the valve stems, interconnecting the valve stems with each other;
- a collar for each of the valve stems, each having an inner opening which has a contour that is the shape of the exterior of the valve stems and is larger by a clearance for sandwiching the ends of the conduit between the exterior of the valve stems and the collars to sealingly retain the conduit with the valve stems;
- alignment means on the inner opening of each of the collars and the exterior of each of the valve stems for requiring that each of the collars locate on one of the valve stems in no more than two rotational positions relative to the valve stem, each position being 180 degrees apart from each other;
- the handles and conduit containing a fluid such that alternately squeezing the handles causes fluid to displace from one handle out through one of the sleeve slots and stem slots into the conduit, and causes fluid in the conduit to flow through the other of the sleeve slots and stem slots and into the other of the handles, the degree of alignment of each of the stem slot with the sleeve slot of the handle being squeezed determining the resistance to flow of the fluid; and
- indicia means on the valve bodies and on the collars for indicating the degree of alignment of the sleeve and stem slots, the alignment means of the collars and valve stems assuring during assembly of the apparatus a correct correspondence between the indicia means and the sleeve and stem slots.
- 8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein each of the alignment means comprises:
- at least one noncircular portion on the exterior of each of the valve stems and a mating shaped noncircular portion on the inner opening of each of the collars.
- 9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein each of the valve stems contains two of the noncircular portions.
- 10. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein each of the valve bodies has an exterior wall protruding outward from the handle, and wherein each of the collars has an exterior wall that extends to the exterior wall of one of the valve bodies and wherein the indicia means comprises:
- indicia on one of the exterior walls of the collars and valve bodies.
- 11. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein each of the valve bodies has a conical surface over which the open end of one of the handles extends, the conical surface containing a plurality of circumferentially extending ridges for gripping the handle; and wherein the apparatus further comprises:
- a compression sleeve which extends over the open end of each of the handles and sandwiches the open end of each of the handles between the compression sleeve and the conical surface of each of the valve bodies.
- 12. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the conduit is transparent, the apparatus further comprising:
- a floating element received within the conduit, the element being visible from the exterior of the conduit to indicate the direction of fluid flow.
- 13. A hand exercising apparatus, comprising in combination:
- a pair of flexible hollow handles, each having a closed end and an open end and containing a liquid;
- a pair of valve bodies, each having an inner portion containing a plurality of circumferentially extending ridges, the open end of each of the handles sliding over the inner portions;
- a compression sleeve sliding over the open ends of each of the handles and compressing the open ends of the handles between the inner portions of each of the valve bodies and the compression sleeve;
- each of the valve bodies having a valve sleeve with an inner end extending into the handle, each of the valve sleeves having a side wall containing a sleeve slot;
- a tubular valve stem carried in each of the valve sleeves, each of the valve stems having an inner portion located in one of the valve sleeves and having a side wall containing a stem slot, each of the valve stems being manually rotatable relative to the valve bodies so as to selectively align each of the stem slots with one of the sleeve slots;
- closure means located inward of each of the sleeve and stem slots for requiring any of the liquid flowing into and out of each of the handles to flow through the sleeve and stem slots when aligned;
- each of the valve stems having an outer portion protruding outward from one of the valve sleeves, the outer portion having an exterior containing a plurality of circumferentially extending ridges, the exterior of the outer portion having a noncircular contour when viewed in transverse cross section;
- a transparent conduit having two ends, each of which slides over the outer portion of each of the valve stems, interconnecting the valve stems with each other;
- a collar for each of the valve stems, each having an inner opening which has a contour that is the shape of the exterior of the valve stems and is larger by a clearance for sandwiching the ends of the conduit between the exterior of the valve stems and the collars to sealingly retain the conduit with the valve stems;
- whereby alternately squeezing the handles causes liquid to displace from one handle out through one of the sleeve slots and stem slots into the conduit, and causes liquid in the conduit to flow through the other of the sleeve slots and stem slots and into the other of the handles, the degree of alignment of the stem slot with the sleeve slot of the handle being squeezed determining the resistance to flow of the liquid;
- a floating element received within the conduit, the element being visible from the exterior of the conduit to indicate the direction of fluid flow; and
- indicia means on the valve bodies and on the collars for indicating the degree of alignment of the sleeve and stem slots, the noncircular exterior of the valve stems assuring during assembly of the apparatus a correct correspondence between the indicia means and the sleeve and stem slots.
- 14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the noncircular exteriors of the valve stems each have two circular portions interconnected by two flattened portions.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/315,913, filed Feb. 27, 1989, "Hydraulic Hand Exerciser", now abandoned, inventor Link H. Davis.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
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315913 |
Feb 1989 |
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