Treadle assembly of an exercise equipment

Abstract

A treadle assembly of an exercise equipment including treadles each with a pair of connection ears for pivotally attaching the treadles to corresponding treadle planks of the exercise equipment. A soft elastic element is fitted at the front and rear sides between the treadles and the treadle planks, respectively. Accordingly, the treadles are subject to an angle change with the force acting on the treadles due to the effect of the soft elastic elements.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Fields of the Invention

The invention relates to a treadle assembly of an exercise equipment, and more particularly to a treadle assembly that undergoes a proper angle change with the up and down movement of the treadle plank of the exercise equipment in adjustment to the soles of both feet of the operator for protecting his ankle joints from injuries.

2. Description of the Related Art

The soles of the feet of the operators are subject to a certain angle change with the up and down movement of the treadle plank of the exercise equipment when an operator takes exercise on a treadmill or an elliptical cross trainer. For example, the soles of the feet tend to be raised while they rise, and they tend to be downwardly inclined when they sink.

It's never seen that any means for adjusting the change of the treading angle is fitted to the treadle of the conventional exercise equipment. Therefore, the operator has to be forced to adjust himself to the angle change of the treadle. When the operator only uses the exercise equipment for a short time, the aforementioned design may not pose an injury risk to the operator. However, the ankle joints of the long-term operator would be subjected to exercise injuries due to the mechanic compulsory force caused by the unnatural positions for a long time. Most of the operators who do not realized the potential hazard would get unknown injuries in the area of the ankle joints in the future. If it's true, the manufacturers of the exercise equipment must be responsible for it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a treadle assembly of an exercise equipment that protects the ankle joints of the long-term users from potential injuries, thereby achieving more safety in operation.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a soft filling material like rubber with ductile, compressional and resilient elasticity is employed for producing a proper synchronic deformation of the treadle by application of force to the treadle, thereby resulting in proper angle change in adjustment of the soles of the operator's feet. Of course, the filling material brings the treadle in original position when the external force is removed. In this way, the ankle joints of the operator can be properly protected from injuries.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accomplishment of this and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and its accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a cutaway view of the preferred embodiment of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

First of all, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the treadles 10 includes a pair of connection ears 12 for pivotally attaching the treadles 10 to corresponding treadle planks 22 of the exercise equipment 20. A soft elastic element 30 is fitted at the front and rear sides between the treadles 10 and the treadle planks 22, respectively. The treadles 10 are subject to an angle change with the force acting on the treadles 10 due to the effect of the soft elastic elements.

Based on the assembly of the above-mentioned components, as shown in FIG. 2, the treadles 10 can swivel on the pivot of the connection ears 12. Thus, the treadles 10 undergoes a proper angle change with the up and down movement of the treadle plank 22 of the exercise equipment 20 in adjustment to the soles of both feet of the operator for protecting his ankle joints from injuries.

Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A treadle assembly of an exercise equipment, comprising treadles, the treadles each having a pair of connection ears for pivotally attaching the treadles to corresponding treadle planks of the exercise equipment, a soft elastic element being fitted at the front and rear sides between the treadles and the treadle planks, respectively,

so that the treadles is subject to an angle change with the force acting on the treadles due to the effect of the soft elastic elements.