Pull cord exerciser

Abstract

A pull cord exerciser including a main body and a cord reel pivotally disposed in the main body. A pull cord is wound on the cord reel. The cord reel is equipped with a restoring member for driving the cord reel to wind the pull cord which is pulled out. A frictional member is coaxially fitted with the cord reel. A one-way bearing is connected between the frictional member and the cord reel. When pulling the pull cord, the cord reel drives the cord reel to rotate. During the pulling travel, by means of the one-way bearing, the frictional member is one-way driven to create a frictional resistance between a frictional face of the frictional member and the main body so as to achieve an exercising effect.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention is related to a pull cord exercise a user of which is protected from getting hurt during back pulling of the pull cord.

[0002] The pull cords of a conventional pull cord exerciser are made of elastic material. A user must exert a force against the elastic force of the pull cords to achieve an exercising effect.

[0003] The pull cords generally have strong elastic pulling force for achieving better exercising effect. However, after extending the pull cords, a user must exert a considerably great force to stop the elastic pull cords from abruptly bounding back. Otherwise, the backward pulling force of the pull cords may hurt the user. Especially, with respect to a beginner, when pulling the pull cords, the user may fails to resist against the backward pulling force of the pull cords and get hurt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a pull cord exerciser in which a one-way bearing structure is connected between the cord reel and the frictional member. Only when a user pulls the pull cord to drive the cord reel to rotate, the frictional member is driven to make a frictional face thereof abrade against a frictional pad of the main body to create a resistance. However, when a restoring member drives the cord reel to wind the pull cord, the frictional member will not be driven so as to protect the user from being pulled and hurt during back pulling of the pull cord.

[0005] It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above pull cord exerciser in which the cord reel and the frictional member are coaxially pivotally mounted on a shaft. One end of the shaft is formed with a stop face. The other end of the shaft is formed with a threaded section passing through the main body to screw with an adjustment wheel. By means of rotating the adjustment wheel, the pushing force exerted by the stop face onto the frictional face is changed so that the frictional resistance between the frictional face and the frictional pad is changed to vary the exercising effect.

[0006] The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG. 1 is a perspective assembled view of the present invention;

[0008] FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view of the present invention;

[0009] FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1;

[0010] FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

[0011] FIG. 5 shows the use of the present invention in one state;

[0012] FIG. 6 shows resistance-to-travel curvatures of the present invention and a conventional pull cord exerciser;

[0013] FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the adjustment of frictional force of the present invention;

[0014] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and

[0015] FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 4. The pull cord exerciser of the present invention includes a main body 1 having an internal receiving space 11. In this embodiment, the main body 1 is formed by a frame body 101 and two side boards 102, 103. One side of the frame body 101 is equipped with a fixed member for a user to fix the main body 1. In this embodiment, the fixed member has a form of a handle 12. A shaft 13 is passed through the side boards 102, 103 of the main body 1 to pivotally mount a cord reel 2 in the receiving space 11. A pull cord 21 is wound on the cord reel 2. The pull cord 21 extends out of the frame body 101 in a direction opposite to the fixed member 12 to connect with a grip section 22.

[0017] The cord reel 2 has a cavity 23 in which a restoring member for pulling back the cord reel 2. In this embodiment, the restoring member is a coiled spring 24 having an outer end 241 and an inner end 242. The outer end 241 is hooked on the cord reel 2, while the inner end 242 is hooked on a pin member 25 disposed on the side board 102 of the main body 1. A pad plate 26 is disposed on the side board 102 corresponding to the coiled spring 24 to prevent the coiled spring 24 from colliding the side board 102 and producing noise.

[0018] A sleeve 27 is disposed between the cord reel 2 and the shaft 13. One end of the sleeve 27 opposite to the cavity 23 is formed with a dent 271. A frictional member 3 is coaxially fitted in the dent 271. The outer circumference of the frictional member 3 is formed with multiple grooves 32 for receiving therein roller pins 31. The frictional member 3 contacts with the sleeve 27 via multiple roller pins 31. One end of the groove 32 is deeper, while the other end thereof is shallower, whereby the sleeve 27 and the frictional member 3 together form a one-way bearing structure. One end of the frictional member 3 is a large diameter end 33 extending out of the dent 271. The end face of the large diameter section 33 is formed with a frictional face 34. A frictional pad 35 is disposed on the side board 103 of the main body 1 corresponding to the frictional face 34. When pulling the pull cord 21, the cord reel 2 drives the frictional member 3 to create a sufficient frictional force between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad 35.

[0019] One end of the shaft 13 distal from the frictional face 34 of the frictional member 3 is formed with a differential section 131 with larger diameter. The side board 102 is formed with a differential hole 104 corresponding to the differential section 131 for the differential section 131 to pass therethrough. Therefore, the shaft 13 cannot be rotated. One face of the differential section 131 adjacent to the cord reel 2 is formed as a stop face 132. The other end of the shaft 13 opposite to the differential section 131 is formed with a threaded section 133 passing through the side board 103 to screw with an adjustment wheel 14. By means of rotating the adjustment wheel 14, the shaft 13 is driven and displaced, whereby the stop face 132 provides a pushing force to change the frictional resistance between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad 35.

[0020] The main body 1 is further equipped with a guiding mechanism 4 including two corresponding pulleys 41, 42 pivotally disposed on inner circumference of the frame body 101. The pull cord 21 is passed through the space between the two pulleys 41, 42 and then conducted out of the frame body 101. Accordingly, when the pull cord 21 is pulled out or wound, the two pulleys 41, 42 guide the pull cord 21 to reduce resistance against the pull cord 21.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 5, a user can at the same time use two pull cord exercisers. In use, the user can step on the handles 12 and hold the grip sections 22 of the pull cords 21 with both hands. When the user pulls the pull cords 21 to drive the cord reels 2 to rotate, the coiled springs 24 are wound up. The coiled springs 24 via the roller pins 31 drive the frictional members 3 to rotate. The frictional faces 34 of the frictional members 3 abut against the frictional pads 35 on the side boards 103. Therefore, when the user pulls the pull cords 21, the user must exert a force against the frictional force between the frictional faces 34 and the frictional pads 35 so as to achieve an exercising effect. When the user no more exerts the force, the restoring force of the coiled springs 24 will drive the cord reels 2 to wind the pull cords 21. During the back travel of the cord reels 24, the frictional members 3 will not be driven so that the coiled springs 24 only need to pull back the pull cords 21. Therefore, the coiled spring 24 can have low torque to avoid additional load on the user. Accordingly, when the pull cord 21 is pulled back, the user only needs to slightly exert a force against the restoring force of the coiled spring 24. This protects the user from getting hurt when the pull cord is pulled back.

[0022] Moreover, the frictional resistance between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad 35 created when pulling the pull cord 21 is constant no matter how long the pulling travel of the pull cord 21 is. That is, the frictional resistance is always T1 as shown in FIG. 6. In contract, the resistance of the elastic pull cord of the conventional exerciser is increased with the increment of the pulling length. That is, the resistance of the elastic pull cord is as shown by curvature T2 of FIG. 6. Therefore, the pull cord exerciser of the present invention can achieve better exercising effect.

[0023] In addition, a user can rotate the adjustment wheel 14 to adjust the pushing force of the stop face 132 of the shaft 13 against the frictional member 3 as necessary as shown in FIG. 7. Accordingly, the frictional force between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad 35 can be changed. The greater the pushing force exerted onto the frictional member 3 is, the greater the frictional resistance between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad 35 is. Accordingly, a user can exercise to a greater extent. When it is desired to lower the frictional resistance, the adjustment wheel 14 is reversely rotated.

[0024] During pulling of the pull cord 21, the pull cord 21 snugly passing through the gap between the two pulleys 41, 42 is guided by the pulleys 41, 42 so that the resistance against the pull cord 21 during pulling is reduced.

[0025] Alternatively, a user can hold the handles 12 with both hand and fit his/her feet into the grip sections 22 and stretch his/her feet to pull the pull cords 21 to exercise. Alternatively, the user can respectively hold the handle 12 and the grip section 22 with both hands to pull the pull cord 21 to exercise. Still alternatively, the handle 12 can be fixed on a wall or other article and the user can hold the grip section 22 with one hand to pull the pull cord to exercise.

[0026] A one-way bearing structure is formed between the sleeve 27 of the cord reel 2 and the frictional member 3 so that only when the user pulls the pull cord 21 to drive the cord reel 2, the frictional member 3 will be driven to make the frictional face 34 abrade against the frictional pad 35 of the main body 1 to create a resistance. However, when the coiled spring 24 drives the cord reel 2 to wind the pull cord 21, the frictional member 3 will not be driven so as to protect the user from being pulled and hurt during back pulling of the pull cord 21. Furthermore, by means of rotating the adjustment wheel 14, the pushing force of the stop face 132 can be changed so that the force exerted by the frictional face 34 against the frictional pad 35 can be changed. Accordingly, the exercising effect is variable.

[0027] The above embodiment is only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiment can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the fixed member 12A has a form of a transverse beam and the grip section 22A also has a form of a transverse beam. A user can step on the fixed member 12A with both feet and hold two ends of the grip section 22A with both hands to pull the pull cord 21 for exercising. This can achieve the same effect as the first embodiment.

[0028] FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, in which a spring 15 is disposed between the adjustment wheel 14A and the side board 103A for resiliently pushing the adjustment wheel 14A. Therefore, in normal state, the shaft 13A keeps pushing the frictional member 3 by a certain force to make the frictional face 34 abut against the frictional pad 35. This can also achieve the same effect as the first embodiment.

Claims

1. A pull cord exerciser comprising a main body having an internal receiving space, a fixed member being disposed on the main body for a user to fix the main body, a cord reel being pivotally disposed in the receiving space via a shaft, a pull cord being wound on the cord reel, the pull cord extending out of the main body in a direction opposite to the fixed member to connect with a grip section, the cord reel being equipped with a restoring member, the restoring member serving to drive the cord reel to wind the pull cord which is pulled out, a frictional member being coaxially fitted with the cord reel, a one-way bearing being connected between the frictional member and the cord reel, one end of the frictional member being formed with a frictional face, whereby when pulling the pull cord, the cord reel drives the frictional member to create a frictional resistance between the frictional face 34 and the main body.

2. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the restoring member is a coiled spring received in a cavity of the cord reel, the coiled spring having an outer end and an inner end, the outer end being hooked on the cord reel, while the inner end being hooked on a pin member disposed on the main body.

3. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main body is further equipped with a guiding mechanism including two corresponding pulleys disposed in the receiving space of the main body, the pull cord being passed through a gap between the two pulleys and then conducted out of the main body, whereby when the pull cord is pulled out or wound, the two pulleys guide the pull cord to reduce resistance against the pull cord.

4. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of the frictional member is a large diameter end having an end face serving as the frictional face.

5. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein a frictional pad is disposed in the receiving space of the main body corresponding to the frictional face of the frictional member so as to provide a sufficient frictional force between the frictional face and the frictional pad.

6. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of the shaft distal from the frictional face of the frictional member is formed with a differential section with larger diameter, the main body being formed with a differential hole corresponding to the differential section for the differential section to pass therethrough, whereby the shaft cannot be rotated along with the cord reel or the frictional member, one face of the differential section adjacent to the cord reel being formed as a stop face, the other end of the shaft opposite to the differential section being formed with a threaded section passing through the main body to screw with an adjustment wheel, whereby by means of rotating the adjustment wheel, the shaft is driven and displaced and the stop face provides a pushing force to change the frictional resistance between the frictional face and the main body.

7. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 6, wherein a spring is disposed between the adjustment wheel and the main body for resiliently pushing the adjustment wheel, whereby in normal state, the shaft keeps pushing the frictional member by a certain force to make the frictional face thereof abut against the frictional pad.