Patent Application
20090227433
The present invention generally relates to the field of exercise equipment, and more particularly relates to an apparatus for providing resistance while using an exercise device.
Personal health and fitness has become increasingly popular over the recent years. As a result, health club memberships and personal fitness equipment sales have increased. Personal fitness equipment is especially popular because it allows individuals to exercise on their own time while in the convenience and privacy of their own homes. Exercise equipment generally uses weights as the primary source of resistance. However, other sources of resistance such as flexible bands or hydraulics can also be used. Flexible bands are often found on exercise equipment so that a user is not required to maintain and store bulky weights.
Items such as springs are generally not used as a source of resistance for exercise equipment. This is because many spring motors have a very short life expectancy and are not suitable for repetitive use. Additionally, spring motors generally do not exert any resistance at their resting position. Therefore most spring motors would not provide an experience similar to that of using free-weights or stacked weights.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a resistance apparatus for use with exercise devices is disclosed. The resistance apparatus includes an axle an outer housing for rotatably mounting the axle therein. At least one inner housing includes an opening for receiving the axle therethrough so that the inner housing is fixably mounted on the axle. The inner housing is rotatably mounted inside the outer housing to permit rotation of the inner housing along with the axle within the outer housing. At least a first tensioned member is disposed within the inner housing. The first tensioned member includes a first end and a second end. The first end of the tensioned member engages an engagement area of the inner housing. The second end of the tensioned member engages an engagement area of the outer housing. The tensioned member creates a rotational restoring force between the inner housing and the outer housing.
In another embodiment a resistance apparatus for use with exercise devices is disclosed. The resistance apparatus includes a first resistance cartridge and at least a second resistance cartridge. The resistance apparatus also includes an axle. The first resistance cartridge and the at least second resistance cartridge are co-axially aligned with respect to each other and are fixably mounted to the axle. The axle includes a groove along the axial direction that receives an engagement member slidably mounted within the groove. The engagement member selectably engages at least one of the first resistance cartridge and the at least second resistance cartridge.
In yet another embodiment an inner housing for use within a resistance apparatus is disclosed. The inner housing comprises an outer portion that is substantially circular. An inner portion includes an opening for receiving an axle therethrough so that the inner portion is fixably mounted on the axle. At least a first tensioned member is disposed within the inner portion. The first tensioned member includes a first end and a second end. The first end of the tensioned member engages an engagement area on an inner area of the outer portion. The second end of the tensioned member is adapted to engage an engagement area of an outer housing that maintains the inner housing. The tensioned member creates a rotational restoring force between the inner housing and the outer housing.
The accompanying figures where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, and which together with the detailed description below are incorporated in and form part of the specification, serve to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present invention.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting; but rather, to provide an understandable description of the invention.
The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term plurality, as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term another, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms including and/or having, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term coupled, as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
The materials used to construct the present invention are metal, however, other materials including plastics, metal alloys, composites, ceramics, and other inorganic or organic materials or combinations thereof may be used.
Although the invention is described in terms of an exemplary embodiment, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art that various modifications, rearrangements, and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims appended hereto.
An advantage of the various embodiments of the present invention is that resistance apparatus comprising tensioned members is presented. The tensioned members do not fatigue very quickly, thereby giving the user a reasonable lifespan. Another advantage is that the tensioned members such as wound springs are torqued. This allows the user to experience instant resistance. State differently, the tensioned members provide resistance from a resting point all the way to and end point of rotation. The resistance apparatus can be configured so that additional tensioned members can be and selected, thereby providing a variable degree of resistance to the user.
Exercise Resistance Apparatus
According to one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
Each of the resistance cartridges 106, 108 include a tensioned member 310 (
In one embodiment, one end 120 of the second outer portion 104 is mechanically coupled to an outer facing portion 122 of the pulley mechanism 112. Therefore, when the pulley mechanism 112 rotates so does the second outer portion 104. The second outer portion 104, in one embodiment, houses an axle/shaft 224, as shown in
The axle 224, in one embodiment, can selectively engage a tensioned member 310 by adjusting the position of a sliding member 226. For example, the sliding member 226 includes an extending portion 228 that extends into the second outer portion 104 through a slot 130 and is coupled to or engages a portion 232 of the axle 224. In one embodiment, the portion 232 of the axle 224 is an engagement member 234 disposed in a groove 236 (e.g., keyway) on the axle 224. In one embodiment, the groove 236 is disposed on the axle 224 in the axial direction.
A lower area 238 of the extending portion 228 is either mechanically coupled to or engages the engagement member 234. As the sliding member 226 moves in a lateral direction on the second outer portion 104, the engagement member 234 also moves in a lateral direction within the groove 236 formed along the axle 224. In this embodiment, as the engagement member 234 is positioned into the first outer portion 102, the engagement member 234 sequentially engages each tensioned member 310 within the resistance cartridges 106. The term “engages” means that the tensioned member is mechanically coupled to the axle 224 so as to rotate. In this embodiment, the axle 224 remains stationary in the lateral direction. For example, a first end 240 and a second end 242 of the axle 224 are coupled to one end 344 (
However, it should be noted that the axle 224 can be configured to slide in and out of the first outer portion 102 for selectively engaging a tensioned member 310. In this embodiment a separate engagement member 234 is not required since the axle 224 can include various portions (not shown) that engage a tensioned member 310 when the axle 224 is slid into the first outer portion 102. It should also be noted that in another embodiment, the axle 224 remains within the first outer portion 102 and only the engagement member 234 extends into the second outer portion 104. Also, in another embodiment, the second outer portion 104 is not required. For example, the axle 224 can be configured to include various areas (not shown) that selectively engage the tensioned members 310 of the resistance cartridges 106, 108, to be mechanically coupled to turn with the axle 224.
In this embodiment, the axle 224 remains within the first outer portion 102 and is coupled to an end portion (not shown). This end portion can be rotated, thereby rotating the axle 224. As the axle 224 rotates the various areas (not shown) can sequentially or selectively engage one or more of the tensioned members 310 to provide varying degrees of resistance to the user. It should be noted that other components can be used such as cams and/or solenoids for selectively engaging one or more tensioned members 310.
In one embodiment, the outside end 472 has an open/hook type configuration that engages an attachment area 480 on an inside wall 482 of the torque setter 358, as shown in
The extending member 588 of the resistance cartridge 106 receives the extending member 490 of the torque setter 358. The extending member 588 also includes a recessed 586 area or a groove that engages the inner end 474 of the tensioned member 310.
After the torque setter 358 has been coupled to the resistance cartridge 106, the tensioned member 310 can be tuned to a given degree of resistance. For example, the torque setter 358 can be rotated a number of times to further wind and place tension on the tensioned member 310. The tensioned member 310 experiences tension as the torque setter 358 is wound because the outer end 472 of the tensioned member 310 is engaged by the attachment area 480 of the torque setter 358 and the inner end 474 is engaging the recessed area 586 of the resistance cartridge 106, which remains stationary as the torque setter 358 rotates. Therefore, as the torque setter 358 is wound the tensioned member 310 becomes tighter according to Hook's Law.
Once the torque setter 358 has been wound a desired number of times, the rolling member 368 is placed within the lateral groove 370 of the resistance cartridge 106. The lateral groove 370 is disposed on a lower portion 557 (or upper portion depending how the cartridge 106 is oriented) of the cartridge 106 as shown in
The helical grooves 364 in combination with the lateral groove 370 and the rolling member 368 defines a limit of rotation of the torque setter 258 housing within the resistance cartridge 106 and hence, the range of the tensioned member operates within a force versus displacement curve. In one embodiment, to keep the force/resistance constant the range is limited to a substantially linear range of the curve. For example,
Additionally, because the torque setter 358 and tensioned member 310 have been wound a given number of times, the torque setter/tensioned member unit has a given torque range. For example, if the tensioned member 310 has a limit of 20 winds, the torque setter 358 can be wound 20 times and then the rolling member 368 inserted into the lateral groove 370. In the above example, the 4 helical grooves 364 roll over the rolling member 368 four times, thereby placing the torque setter 358 and tensioned member 310 at 16 winds when the torque setter 358 is at a resting position. In this example, the torque range of the torque setter 358 and tensioned member 310 is 16/20 winds. In other words, the torque setter 358 begins at 16 winds and has a final position at 20 winds. Therefore, the tensioned member 310 is torqued even when resting so that a user experiences instant resistance similar to free-weights.
Continuing with the above example, torque setter 358 is configured so that 4 revolutions allow the connector 116 to be pulled out about 4 feet from the pulley mechanism 112. If less length or more length is desired, the torque setter 358 can be made larger so that one revolution travels more distance. The torque setter 358 can also be made wider to accommodate additional helical grooves, which also allows for more revolutions. In one embodiment, each end 559, 561 of the helical groove 364 includes a stopping mechanism 563, 565 such as (but not limited to) a metal pin. These stopping mechanisms 563, 565 prevent damage to the resistance apparatus 100. For example, if a user accidently lets go of the connector 116, the tensioned mechanism 310 return to its resting position very quickly. A stopping mechanism 563 at the first end 559 of the helical groove 364 provides a reinforced stopping area that catches the rolling member 368 to stop the torque setter 358 from rotating beyond its resting position. The stopping mechanism 565 at the second end 561 prevents the torque setter 358 from traveling beyond the final rotation of the torque setter 358.
Non-Limiting Examples
Although specific embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, those having ordinary skill in the art will understand that changes can be made to the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is not to be restricted, therefore, to the specific embodiments, and it is intended that the appended claims cover any and all such applications, modifications, and embodiments within the scope of the present invention.
The present patent application is related to co-pending and commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/750,093, Attorney Docket No. 504-P0001, entitled “Foldable Exercise Device”, now [pending], filed on May 17, 2007, the entire teachings of which being hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
