Patent Application
20240017118
The present invention relates primarily to exercise equipment, and more specifically a means for affixing weight to bars, pipes, rods, etc.
The Following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
At present, the most used material for adding weight to bars, pipes, rods, etc., for free-weight resistance training applications is, by far, iron. This is because of iron's inherent efficiency and durability. Iron offers a lot of weight in a relatively small package, and it can withstand the repeated impact exercise weights must endure. To utilize these benefits in resistance training applications, manufactures must pour melted iron into molds to form “plates” so that the iron weight can then be conveniently slid on and off bars, which offer users “adjustability,” a very important attribute given that most users change weights as frequently as every set of exercise they perform (e.g. in-between sets of bench-presses, squats, dead-lifts, etc.).
However, the form of iron that is used in exercise applications is also a highly in-demand raw material used in myriad commercial applications, especially industrial. And because this form of iron must first be mined as iron ore, then extracted with kilns or furnaces at temperatures 1,500° C. (2,730° F.), or higher, it is very costly to produce, and does not become materially more affordable when it is “used,” and sold in secondhand markets.
As of the time of filing this application, the lowest prices for the conventional 45 lb iron plate were: $79.99 ($1.78/lb) at Dick's Sporting Goods (sporting goods retailer with 729 stores in the U.S. as of Apr. 30, 2022), $62.99 ($1.40/lb) at Walmart, and $150 for a pair of two (2) 45 lb plates ($1.67/lb) on Craigslist.org, one of the most efficient markets for secondhand exercise equipment in the U.S. (search query used: “45 lb plate”; location: South Florida; number of listings having iron plates: 26).
Another significant downside of iron is its cost and difficulty transporting. Weight is one of the biggest variables in determining shipping costs. And heavy weight itself is inherently cumbersome. Small gyms and individuals that want the benefits of iron must therefore bear this additional shipping cost themselves, further adding to their total cost for weight for free-weights.
For these reasons, iron is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, expenditure for the free-weight training component in exercise facilities, particularly for smaller end-users with home gyms, and especially for those in third world countries that have relatively limited access to such difficult to make and transport products.
Many have attempted to solve this problem using alternatives to iron like water, sand, and concrete but these alternatives had significant problems—for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,343 to Cafiero (1996) and South Korean patent 0018224 to Su Ji attach plastic bottles to bars; U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,422 to Elmore (1990) and international patent 075027 to Bliddal (2005) provide bars with empty compartments; U.S. Pat. No. 0,221,174 to Lin (2014) utilizes empty tires to be filled various grains, and slid onto a bar; and a product currently being marketed on Amazon.com by the HybridSack Store relies on putting water or sand in a bag (“Portable Water & Sand Weightlifting bag (77/120 Lbs) Adjustable Fitness Weights Dumbbell Beach Workout Sandbag Waterbag”). Another option currently being marketed by Stainaz Molds on Etsy.com, “Olympic Weight Plate Molds for Concrete, 5 Mold Set (45lb, 35lb, 25lb, 10lb, 5lb, +10 PVC Sleeves),” has a $100 price tag, and relies on mixing and pouring concrete. All of these patents, and any other alternatives utilizing water, sand, or concrete, heretofore known, suffer a number of disadvantages:
(a) Density to volume ratio. Where iron has a weight of 7.87 grams per cubic centimeter, water only weighs 1 g/cm3, which means almost 8 times the volume of water is required to get the same amount of weight as iron per cubic centimeter. As for sand, even relatively fine and heavy beach sand still only weighs 1.53 g/cm3.
(b) Inconvenience in assembly. The user must fill containers with sand or water, or, in the case of concrete, which has a higher density of 2.41 g/cm3, the user must mix and pour each concrete plate.
(c) The adjustability-sturdyness-shipping paradox. Any compartments having the adjustability of iron plates, which can be easily slid on and off a bar (e.g. the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 0,221,174 to Lin (2014) that utilizes empty tires) are relatively voluminous and therefore relatively expensive to ship. Anything else that does not require shipping a voluminous package (e.g. South Korean patent 0018224 to Su Ji that relies on thin plastic bottles the user already has, or must purchase separately) lacks sturdiness and convenient adjustability. Concrete molds, the lightness and low volume of which substantially offset its shipping cost, lack in sturdiness, as bare concrete in relatively thin plate form is highly susceptible to chipping and breaking upon impact (even if rebar is used, the exterior is still relatively fragile).
(d) Unwieldy. Alternatives to iron like bags or bladders the user can fill with a given material are not suitable for most exercises.
(e) Complex and costly manufacturing. In an effort to provide many of the attributes of iron, particularly adjustability and sturdiness, present alternatives to iron require complexity that increases the cost of manufacturing and thus the price to the end-user.
(f) Cost per pound. At present, on average the total cost per pound for alternatives to iron that provide sufficient density, adjustability, convenience, sturdiness, relatively low volume for shipping, practicality, and low-cost manufacturing do not justify the supplantation of the relatively expensive iron plates on a meaningful level for the millions of consumers around the world whose overall health and fitness could benefit from such a product.
In accordance with one embodiment a weight-adding apparatus comprises a frame with a shelf sandwiched between two parietals wherein predetermined weights approximately the size and shape of bricks, pavers, and the like, may be placed, and through-holes in the parietals allow for the removable attachment of the frame to a bar, pipe, rod, etc.
Accordingly, several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: a frame for placing and stacking a predetermined weights roughly the size and shape of bricks and pavers, the latter of which having a ≈1.96 g/cm3 density and average ≈$00.15/lb current price, that may be conveniently and removably attached to a bar, pipe, rod, etc., in such a way as to a provide a user a lower cost alternative to iron that may be used in free-weight resistance training applications similar to iron plates. Thus providing a user relative density, ease of assembly, adjustability of weight, sturdiness, relatively low weight and volume for shipping, ease of manufacture, and practicality. These and other benefits of one or more aspects will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description.
The terms “left,” “right,” “top,” “bottom,” “front,” “rear,” “side,” “height,” “width,” “upper,” “lower,” “interior,” “exterior,” “inner,” “outer,” and the like as may be used herein, merely describe points or portions of reference and do not limit the present invention to any particular orientation or configuration. Further, terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., merely identify one of a number of portions, components and/or points of reference as disclosed herein, and do not limit the present embodiment to any particular configuration or orientation. In addition, identical components or portions of the disclosed embodiment are identified with identical reference numerals.
An embodiment of the frame for the weight-adding apparatus is illustrated in
The components of the frame 100 may be made of durable plastic. However, one of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the components may be fabricated from other rigid and durable materials (e.g. durable silicone, stainless steal, etc.).The parietals are typically 1.25 cm to 2.5 cm in thickness, and have overall dimensions roughly 41 cm long by 25 cm high, but may be many different sizes, shapes, or thickness. For example, the parietals 102, 104 may be thinner and smaller if a more durable material is used, such as metal.
An embodiment may include rubber shock-absorbers 112, 212, 114, 214, 116, 216 which may adhere to the bottom of each parietal with an adhesive. However, other shock-absorbing material may be used instead of rubber, such as silicone, and/or attached in other ways, such as snap-on, screw-in, etc., or shock-absorption may be omitted all together (e.g. if the frame is composed of a material durable enough to not require additional protection, or if a user's floor already has a material to mitigate impact to the frame 100).
In an embodiment, both parietals may be identical with the exception of the left parietal 102 having a central lower through-hole 118 near its bottom, and the right parietal 104 may have a central circular protrusion 218 near its bottom approximately slightly smaller than the lower central hole 118 of the left parietal. The protrusion of the right parietal 218 typically has a beveled edge. Therefore, when more than one frame is removably attached to a bar the lower central protrusion 218 on the right parietal 104 of the frame may be inserted into the lower central hole 118 in the left parietal 102 of an additional frame. Thus, additional frames may engage each other in a manner to limit the rotation of each frame in relation to the other.
Between the parietals of an embodiment may include six (6) inserts positioned with their face perpendicular to the frame: a horizontal front structural insert 120 near the bottom, a front bottom-shelf insert 122, a front back-of-shelf insert 124 that may be perpendicular to the bottom-of-shelf insert 122, a rear back-of-shelf insert 126 that may be perpendicular to a rear bottom-of-shelf insert 128, and a horizontal rear structural insert 220 near the bottom of the rear half of the frame 100.
An embodiment may include three (3) pins for attaching the parietals together (enlarged in
The left parietal 102 may have a front dedicated-pin-hole 136, middle dedicated-pin-hole 138, and rear dedicated-pin-hole 140 to contain the end of the pins 130, 132, 134,. The right parietal 104, may also include a front dedicated-pin-hole 236, middle dedicated-pin-hole 238, and rear dedicated-pin-hole 240. Each of these six (6) holes may be the same size, and approximately slightly larger than the elongated central portion of the three (3) pins 130, 132, 134.
The right parietal 104 may have a front-opening 142 roughly half its surface area, and a symmetrical rear-opening 144. The left parietal may also have the same symmetrical front-opening 242 and rear-opening 244.
The holes and openings in the parietals 102, 104 in an embodiment, except holes designated for pins, may be beveled on both the inside and outside faces of each parietal 102, 104 to avoid snagging and personal injury. The roughly arch-shaped outer edges of the parietals may also be beveled on the inside and outside faces of the parietals to avoid snagging and personal injury. The bottom of the parietals 102, 104 are typically flat, but may be altered to facilitate shock-absorption or the addition of shock-absorbing material, if used (e.g. grooves or recesses for placement, adhesion, and/or attachment of a shock-absorbing material).
Also illustrated in
Turning to
As illustrated in
Turning to
Both ends of pin 130 may also be beveled so that the circumference at the beveled end of each pin 408, 408′ is just smaller than its dedicated-pin-holes 332, 334, 336, as shown on the right parietal illustrated in
Thus, referring to
The manner of using the weight-adding apparatus is similar to that of weight plates. Namely, one slides the frame 100 of the weight-adding apparatus on and off a bar, pipe, rod, etc. 502, longitudinally and perpendicular to the bar via its upper through-holes 110, 110′. Also similar to weight plates, which conventionally come in 5, 10, 25, and 45 lb increments, the weight-adding apparatus enables one to place predetermined weights 504, 504′ approximately the size and weight of conventional bricks, pavers, and the like, on its shelves 122, 128 in increments of two (2), one (1) on each side to maintain a center of gravity 146, 246 oriented towards the ground. The approximate weight of the average, brick, paver, and the like is 5 lbs. Therefore, one may use the frame 100 typically approximating 2-5 lbs on its own, without any additional weight, or use bricks, pavers, and the like, to add weight in increments of approximately 10 lbs (≈2-5 lbs for the apparatus itself +≈10 lbs, ≈20 lbs, ≈30 lbs, and ≈40 lbs), then exercise with it as one would with plates on a bar, pipe, rod, etc.
The user may removably attach the apparatus by gripping it via any of its dedicated openings 142, 144, 242, 244 or by holding onto its handle 106 parallel to the bar to prevent pinching fingers, which is common with iron plates that have handles parallel to each adjoining plate, if they have handles at all.
Prior to use, the user may secure the apparatus along a bar's longitudinal axis with any clips that are typically used for the same purpose when plates are used, such as the conventional and ubiquitous “spring clips.”
Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of various embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of a possible embodiment. For example, the parietals can be other shapes, such as triangular, rectangular, trapezoidal, etc.; the parietals, shelves, and/or overall structure can be connected or reinforced alternatively with rivets, bolts, screws, hinges, couplings, etc.; there can be no protrusions or recesses for interlocking additional frames, or a plurality of protrusions and recesses at different locations for interlocking additional frames; the shelves can be at various angles, such as flat with a latching mechanism to secure the additional weights added; hooks can be used instead of holes as a means for removably affixing the parietals to a bar, pipe, rod, etc.; and the apparatus can be used for different applications all-together (other than exercise), in which additional resistance is needed.
Thus the scope of embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the example embodiment given.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/222,489, filed 2021 Jul. 16 by the present inventor, which is incorporated by reverence in its entirety.
