Footrest
A footrest which is adapted to be used by a person for exercise, enjoyment and relaxation. The footrest included an arcuate upper surface for contact by the feet of the user and motion enabling means for allowing the user to move the footrest virtually omnidirectionally. The footrest incorporates a mechanism to ground the unit if excessive force is applied to it exceeding a preselected amount. The grounding mechanism includes preloaded compressed springs which allow one element of the footrest to inhibit the motion enabling means upon application of a preselected force or a given displacement.
This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/993,929, filed on Jun. 8, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety hereinto by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis present invention relates to footrests, and more particularly, to a footrest of a type which is adapted to be movable, rather than fixed in place, for exercise and relaxation purposes, by a person using the footrest.
Footrests typically are of the fixed variety in which no movement of the footrest itself is intended during the time the feet of the user are supported thereby. In the variety of footrests that are designed to be moved by the feet of the user, such movement is generally greatly limited to a small set of movements, typically, a simple and in-line, rocking motion which does little by way of providing exercise or relaxation or amusement to the user.
In order to address the limited variety and ranger of motions generally provided to a user by footrests, the footrest of the invention is provided with structural parts which allow its user easily to move the footrest using his/her feet while being seated in a position generally above and to one side of the footrest. Movement of the footrest is accomplished by the user's application of a directed force through his/her feet to the top cover of the footrest.
Even more specifically, the footrest of the invention is designed to be used by a person seated above and to one side of the footrest, with the feet of the user resting on the top of the footrest. In such position and as a result of the unique motion-enabling structure of the footrest of the invention as, will be described hereinafter, the user is empowered to move the footrest continuously and omnidirectionally from one position to another and, in addition, optionally to rock and/or tilt the footrest in a manner as will be described hereinafter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe distinguishing features and advantages of the mobile footrest of this invention over previous attempts at providing analogous capabilities in like products will be apparent from an understanding of the operation thereof gleaned from the hereinafter description and the attached documents and supplemental information.
In the soft or “air” version, the footrest of the invention will be seen to comprise a foot contacting upper cover. The cover is comprised of a mesh membtrane stretched tautly across a rigid support rim defining an oval central opening. The membrane allows air communication with the interior of the footrest and also provides a relatively soft and resilient surface for contact with the user's feet. The cover of the soft or “air” version further includes a foam insert to support and cushion the membrane on a contoured main body. The main body operates to tie together the cover on the upper side of the unit with a frame on the lower side of the unit. The frame of the product serves to support a set of standard motion enabling rolling devices for produce omnidirectional motion of the unit under the influence of the feet of the user. The omnidirectional motion generatring devices are shown as a set of casters for enabling the unit to be easily and omnidirectionally moved by the feet of a user located generally above and to one side of the unit. Many standard forms of these devices may be employed for this purpose. While omni directionality of motion is the preferred form, other motion enabling devices which produce a somewhat more restricted set of motions may be substituted.
The air version of the footrest of the invention also includes a mechanism for grounding the unit when a preselected downwardly directed force is applied to it. This grounding mechanism takes the form of a resilient mounting arrangement, which when unstressed or stressed below a preselected force level or when subject to some other condition such as a not exceeding a specific displacement, allows the unit to move omnidirectionally and, when stressed at or above the preselected level or subject to a displacement beyond a preselected amount, prevents the unit from moving, by forcing a part of the unit into contact with the floor or other support surface or releasing into action some other grounding, braking or stopping mechanism that prevents the unit from moving.
The hard version operates substantially the same way as the soft version. The main difference is that the user's feet in the hard version rest on a hard plastic shell. Friction increasing surfaces may be located on portions of the shell contacted by the user's feet to allow the user to maneuver the unit more easily.
The construction and operation of the mobile footrest of the invention first will be generally described with reference to the
The footrest includes a cover 11 which presents a soft, airy feel to the foot of the user. The cover 11 has a mesh, air penetrable upper contact surface 12 which is softened by an foam cushion 14 underneath and adjacent the mesh surface 12 in areas directly outside a central oval region of the footrest. The footrest includes a plurality of motion enabling means 24 that allow a user to move the footrest with a great degree of freedom. The motion enabling means 24 may comprise a plurality of casters 25 protruding from the bottom of the footrest so as to rest on the floor or other horizontal support surface. The casters 25 or equivalent structure provide a user with the ability to move the unit virtually omnidirectionally or at least in multiple directions to thereby create a large set of motions for the user to enjoy and experiment with while seated. By applying a force of appropriate magnitude and direction to the upper surface 11 of the unit with his/her feet, the user can control the direction, range and rate of movement of the unit. The movement of the footrest may be intermittent or continuous along the floor or the horizontal support surface in response to changes in direction and force applied by the feet of the user to the top surface of the footrest. The movement of the footrest is translational in nature, i.e., as a unit along the support surface. Alternatively, the motion of the footrest may be rotational in nature, such as by rocking or tilting of the unit, as will be explained hereinafter. The above flexibility of multi-directional translational motion along with rotational motion by the footrest provides a degree of exercise, amusement and relaxation for the user not found in footrests of the prior art.
In greater detail and referring now to
Opposite ends 16 of the arch or inverted U section of the saddle shaped main body 15, along with corresponding adjacent areas of the of the frame 20, are turned upwardly in the direction away from the casters so as to allow the user to tilt the unit by pressing down on one foot harder than the other, as illustrated in
The main body 15 has appropriately shaped lands and shoulders that extend circumferentially and downward in the direction of the periphery of the unit to maintain the generally convex shape of the upper side of the product as viewed from above. The main body is generally in the shape of a saddle with a U shaped cross-section and forms a central oval opening that is generally concentric with the openings formed by the rim and insert. The casters 25 are supported in a caster frame 20. For this purpose, the casters 25 each have an upstanding projection 26 which frictionally interfits, in a conventional fashion, into appropriately shaped cylindrical recesses in the underbody of the frame 20.
As mentioned hereinbefore, a grounding arrangement prevents the footrest from moving on its casters 25 if a downwardly directed force exceeding a preselected level is applied to the unit. The grounding arrangement is achieved by mounting the inner frame 20 a fixed distance from the floor by virtue of the caster/frame support explained above, but floating the main frame 15 with respect to the caster frame 20 on preloaded compressed springs 37. As best seen in
A heating unit using the same structure as the cooling unit but with the addition of a heating coil 140 and suitable connections to the diffuser is shown in
Finally, an alternative construction which is less expensive and less complicated is shown in
This invention can be constructed using known materials and methods such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,368 and the patents made of record during the examination of that patent, which are incorporated hereinto by reference. One method and construction, among others, for attaching the mesh contact surface to a supporting frame is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,917, in the name of Sava Cvek, and the disclosure of that patent is incorporated hereinto by reference.
While the preferred arrangement for the footrest is to use a soft mesh foot contacting surface, it is also possible to employ a hard upper surface which gives a more direct control of the footrest.
Claims
1. A footrest adapted to move in response to the application of force via the feet of a user sitting in a chair and positioned to one side of and generally above the footrest comprising, multi-directional, motion enabling means mounted on said footrest and adapted to support said footrest on a horizontal surface whereby said user may move said footrest in multiple directions from a first position to a second position in a continuous motion.
2. A footrest including an upper surface accessible to a user seated in a position generally above and to one side of the footrest, said upper surface including a central opening covered by a mesh membrane, motion causing means projecting in contact with a support surface on which said footrest is resting, said membrane and said motion causing means adapted in response to the feet of the user to move said footrest along said support surface in a continuous manner from a first position to a second position.
3. A footrest which is movable through contact with the feet of a user, said footrest including motion causing means carried by the footrest for rolling on the floor to allow the footrest to move in multiple directions under manipulation by the feet of the user and disabling means responsive to some detected condition of force or displacement to immobilize the footrest until said condition is removed.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 8, 2009
Publication Date: Dec 29, 2011
Inventors: Branko Lukic (Menlo Park, CA), Steven Takayama (Atherton, CA), Steven P. Vassallo (Redwood City, CA)
Application Number: 12/653,119
International Classification: A47C 16/02 (20060101);