Patent Application
20210308545
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The disclosure relates to personal positioning device and more particularly pertains to a new personal positioning device for providing a person running on a treadmill with tactile feedback as to their position on the treadmill. This will retain the person a proper distance from a front kick plate of the treadmill.
The prior art relates to personal positioning devices such as harness devices and the like that assist a person in being properly positioned during a particular activity.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising the providing of a treadmill that includes a running platform and a frame extending upwardly from a front end of the running platform. A strap is extended around a person on the treadmill and is attached to the frame such that the strap loosely engages the person. In this manner the person is loosely held in place on the treadmill.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The method further includes extending a strap 30 around a person 24 positioned on the treadmill 12 and attaching the strap 30 to the frame 16 such that the strap 30 loosely engages the person 24. The strap 30 is made of conventional strap material, such as nylon or other similar material, and has a first end 32 and a second end 34 each engaged with the frame 16. More particularly, the first 32 and second 34 ends may be engaged with the handle(s) 20 so that the strap 30 extends rearward of the frame 16. The strap 30 extends around only a portion of the person 24 such that the strap 30 abuts a backside of the person 24. That is, the strap 30 is not wound completely around the person 24 but only rests on their backside, such as adjacent to a lower back area of the person 24 and along their sides. Thus, should the person fall, the strap 30 will not hold the person 24 on the treadmill 12.
The strap 30 may have an adjustable length and may further include a pocket 36 for receiving a free end 38 of the strap 30 which is loose and used to adjust the length of the strap 30. A conventional slip buckle 40 may be used, for example, though any conventional structure used to adjust a length of a strap or belt may be utilized. The strap 30 will have a greatest length between 5.0 feet and 10.0 feet from the first end 32 to the second end 34 and a width equal to between 0.25 inches and 2.0 inches.
Each of the first 32 and second 34 ends comprising loops 42 that are releasably engaged to the frame 12. Each of the loops 42 may be removable from a remaining portion of the strap 30 as is shown in
The strap 30 may further include a first portion 44 and a second portion 46 releasably attached together by a coupler 48. This allows the strap 30 to be opened up to allow the person 24 to uncouple themselves from the strap 30 without bending down to move the strap 30 over their head. Additionally, such a structure provides the person 24 with an opportunity to swap different straps, such as those which may include different padding located at central area of the strap, to change strap portions 44, 46 having different length, or to allow padding to be slid onto or off of the strap 30. The coupler 48 may also act as a safety release and will typically be positioned less than 12.0 inches from the first end 32.
In use, the strap 30 is attached to the frame 16 as indicated above and typically the coupler 48 is opened to allow a person to step onto the treadmill 12 and then close the coupler 48 so that the strap 30 abuts the backside of the person 24. The person 24 then adjusts a length of the strap 30 to place the person at a selected distance from the frame 16. When the person 24 then begins to run, the strap 30 will provide them feedback as to their position on the treadmill 12 to prevent them from moving laterally on the treadmill 12, to far rearwardly or too near a front kick plate 22.
Additionally, the device 10 may be provided as a kit including measuring band 50 that the person 24 may place on their waist to help measure their progress as they tone their midsection. The measuring band 50 includes a hook and loop connector 52 to retain the band 50 in position while providing measuring indicia 54 indicating the circumference of the person's waist.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
