Fitness treadmill

Abstract

A fitness treadmill consists mainly of a base, two sliding rail sets and two stepping boards; each of the rail set is formed by two rails in symmetrical shape; each rail has an upper rail strip assembled on the lower rail strip and the upper and lower rail strips are implemented with one or more than one guiding section based on the stepping board moving method; whereas the two stepping boards are respectively installed with front rollers and rear rollers on the two sides for each of the stepping board set to be assembled to each sliding rail set so that the rear rollers are pressed against the upper rail strip and the front rollers are pressed against the lower rail strip for the front and rear rollers to roll along the upper and lower rails and guiding section.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a fitness treadmill, particularly a fitness treadmill structure design with special dual rail and stepping board structure.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

The structural features of conventional treadmill is to install two pieces of movable stepping boards on the machine, allowing user to perform exercises similar to running and jogging while avoiding the vibration caused by impinge and resulting in burden to joints. However, there are several ways to drive the direction, height, or angle of the stepping boards. Some install weight distribution wheel at chosen place, and linking cranks are installed on both sides of the weight distribution wheel. The stepping boards are then connected to the cranks and hence could cause feet exercise alternatively. Others install a bobbing rod on both sides of the erecting pole of the machine. The stepping boards are respectively pivoted at the bottom of the bobbing pole. Hence when stepping on the stepping boards the legs could exercise due to the swinging motion. Still there is a treadmill install a curved single rail before assembling the stepping boards on the rail presenting sliding motion so that user could step on it and exercises.

The above mentioned many treadmills of different kinds of structures. Their common problem is in that user cannot perform running exercise, particularly the sing curved rail and the swinging exercise structures that can only allow user to swing the leg. The muscles on the feet and legs could not exert force and therefore hard to achieve the effect of real exercise. Whereas the treadmill installed with weight distribution wheel has complicated structure that is not only difficult to store away but also costs dearly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a fitness treadmill that makes use the upper rail, lower rail, and stepping board assembled to the upper and lower rails design so as to allow stepping board perform to and fro rail with action similar to running in order to achieve the result of really exercising both feet as well as avoiding the sport injury of knee burden. And with the upper and lower rails design it is possible to alter the shape of the rails as desired to achieve different exercise result.

The secondary purpose of the present invention is to provide a fitness treadmill design that is installed with two handrails for user to hold on and keep the body balanced. The two said handrails are connected to the two sides of the base; each handrail is installed with a holding section for holding purpose, and a lateral bar is connected in between the two handrails.

The other purpose of the present invention is to provide a fitness treadmill design that could install two rocking rods on the treadmill. The two said rocking rods are long rods that are pivoted at selected places on the lateral bar between the two handrails. A pulling strip is installed at the bottom of each rocking rod so that one end of the pulling strip is pivoted to the rocking rod and the other end is pivoted to the stepping board. In other words, the two rocking rods and the two stepping boards are jointly connected so that when the hands are holding the rocking rods the effect of swinging both arms while running can be achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is the top perspective view of the overall structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is the bottom perspective view of the overall structure of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is the perspective view of the separate parts of the partial structure of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is the side view of the overall structural features of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is the illustration of the handrails and rocking rods of the present invention at folded state.

FIG. 6 is the illustration of the pulling strip and sliding wheel of the present invention in action.

FIG. 7 is the illustration of the present invention in the actual application.

FIG. 8 is the second illustration of the upper sliding rail structure of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is yet another embodiment of the assembly method of the stepping board of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the fitness treadmill of the present invention consists of a base 1, two sliding rail sets 2, and two stepping boards 3, and depending on the requirement of implementation two handrails 4 and two rocking rods 5 can be additionally installed, where

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the base 1 is for stabilizing the fitness treadmill and assembly of the sections described below comprising a front base 11 and a rear base 12. The said front base 11 consists of a lateral strip 111; each of the two sides is pivoted to a connecting board 112; inner side of the pivoted connecting board and the center of the lateral strip 111 is installed with a rail fixture 113; said rail fixture 113 can be in the form of a plate, each of the top ends can be installed with a U shape fixing part 114 that allows the upper rail 211 and the lower rail described above can be connected to the selected area of the fixing part 114. And behind the lateral strip 111 between each of the rail fixture 113 is installed with a pulley seat 115 corresponding to the stepping board 3; each of the two pulley seats is installed with a vertical pulley 116 and a horizontal pulley 117; apiece of pulling rope 118 is installed between the vertical and horizontal pulleys 116 & 117 through the two pulley seats 115 wherein the two free ends of the pulling rope 118 can be extended to each stepping board 3 for connection. The said rear base 12 can consist of just a lateral strip 121; the lateral strip is installed with several protruding plates 122 for the rail to connect to.

FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show the two sliding rail sets 2, wherein each of the rail sets consists of two rails 21 in parallel with each other. Each rail 21 is installed with an upper rail 211 laid on top of a lower rail 212. The said upper rail 211 is made of bent electrolytic steel pipe. There is one or more than one guiding sections 211A on the bend is used for guiding a stepping board 3 at a specific sliding angle. FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 show the physical shape of the said guiding section 211A, which constitute the front section extending upward of the rail 211 forming a curve at the top. The foremost point extending downward, which is the guiding section 211A in the shape of V. The rear section of the upper rail 211 can also be extended horizontally. The said lower rail 212 can be composed of roast paint steel pipe, and also can be bent with one or above one guiding sections 212A. Again, the front end of each lower rail 212 can be installed with a front stopping part 213 and a selected part of the rear section of the upper rail 211 is installed with a rear stopping part 214 for the traveling end of the stepping board 3 described below. With the two sliding sets 2 installing on the base 1, the front ends of upper and lower rails 211 & 212 are connected to the rail fixture 113 of the front base 11, and the rear end is connected to the protruding plate 122 of the rear base 12, forming the structure of the two sliding rail sets 2 cross connecting to the front and rear base 11 & 12.

FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 respectively shows the stepping board 3 constitutes the board 31 for the foot to step on, the front and each of the rear of the two sides of the board 31 are installed with rollers, i.e. comprising two front rollers 32 and two rear rollers 32; the front and rear rollers 32 & 33 can be formed by connecting axes 33 & 33′, then the axes 33 & 33′ again connected to board 31 into rotating condition; also the bottom on the two sides of the board 31 of each steeping board 3 respectively can be installed with a hooking strip 34. With this, the two stepping boards 3 are assembled on to the two sliding rail sets 2, wherein the two rear rollers 32′ are pressed against the upper rail bar 211 and the front rollers are pressed against the lower rail bar 212; the said hooking bar 34 is hooked to the bottom of the lower rail bar to prevent the stepping board 3 from pricking upward; and each of the two free ends of the above stated pulling rope 118 is hooked to the bottom of the stepping board 3, so that the sliding mode of the two stepping boards 3 is restrained by the pulling rope 118 (such as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7) presenting the to and fro sliding movement. In this way, the stepping board 3 is slanting at an ergonomic angle and when the front and rear rollers 32 & 32′ are rolling on the upper and lower rail bards 211 & 212 the stepping board 3 can vary its angle according to the above stated guiding section 211A & 212A so that when the user is stepping on the machine the naturally running movement could meet the ergonomic action (as shown in FIG. 7).

As shown in FIG. 1 & FIG. 3, the two handrails 4 can be of steel or other piping material, consisting of a holding section 41 bending at the upper section and a pivoting section 42 close to the bottom end; the two handrail 4 pivoting section 42 is pivoted to the pivoting board 112 on the two sides of the front base 11 in the form of rotating state, and at the location close to the pivoting section 42 a fast rotating fixture 43 is installed so that the handrail 4 can be fixed at a proper angle. And at the selected symmetrical section of the handrail 4 can be connected with a lateral bar, the body of the lateral bar 44 is installed with two pivoting base 441 for connecting to the rocking pole described below.

FIG. 1 & FIG. 3 show two rocking poles 5. Each of the rocking pole 5 are both made of steel pipe of other pipe material; the body of the rocking pole 5 is installed with a pivoting part 51, wherein the pivoting part 51 is connected to the pivoting base 441 of the lateral bar 44 stated above to form swinging state; the upper section of the rocking pole 5 is a holding section 52, whereas close to the bottom end each is installed with a pulling strip 53 of metallic material, so that one end of the pulling strip 53 is pivoted to the rocking pole 5 and the other end is pivoted to the bottom of the stepping board 3, so that the two rocking pole 5 and the two stepping boards 3 constitute linking action. When the hand is holding the holding section 52 of the rocking pole 5 and the feet are stepping on the stepping boards 3 for sliding action the effect of arm swinging action while running can be created (as shown in FIG. 7).

With the above structural characteristic design of base 1, sliding rail set 2, stepping board 3, handrail 4, and rocking pole stated above, particularly the structure of the said two sliding rail set 2 and stepping board, the fitness treadmill of the present invention is created, allowing user to engage in the indoor running exercise. As the sole of the foot palm is always in contact with the stepping board 3 when using the present invention, unlike the conventional treadmill where the foot might knock against the track, therefore the burden of the knee and ankle joint could be avoided and the sport injury can be prevented. In particular, each sliding rail 21 of the two sliding rail set 2 of the present invention consists of an upper rail strip 211 and a lower rail strip 212. Therefore, the design of the present invention is not only in the light and simple structure and relatively more economic in manufacturing cost but also in bent-knee stepping exercise that could further manifest the performance of fitness exercise. More over, as the rocking pole of the present invention can be pivoted to the lateral bar 44 and the lateral bar 44 can be connected to handrail. The said handrail 4 adopts the method of pivot connection to the front base 11 close to the bottom, hence after loosening of fast rotating fixture 43 the two handrail 4 and the two rocking pole 5 could be folded back (as shown in FIG. 5) in order to reduce its size for the ease of storage.

In addition, the characteristic of the present invention is in that the structure of the said two sliding rail set 2 and the structure of stepping board 3 and assembly style design. However, the embodiment is not limited to the above examples and could also change its shape according to the need of the exercise, etc. As shown in FIG. 8, the front section of the said rail strip 211 can be installed as the first guiding section 211B with the shape bending upward, whereas the rear section can also be installed as the second guiding section 211C bending upward; also, the front section of the lower rail strip 212 constitutes the first guiding section 212B with the same curve, whereas the rear section of the second guiding section 212C is horizontal. In this way the stepping board 3 assembled according to above example can generate another running action effect (such as the angle of the two steeping board 3 shown in FIG. 8); or as shown in FIG. 9 the assembly method of the said steeping board 3 also can be changed to rear roller 32′ pressed against the lower rail strip 212, wherein the structure of the front roller 32 pressing against the upper rail strip 211 can also achieve the same effect as the above stated structure.

Claims

1. A fitness treadmill with characteristics comprising a base, two sliding rail set, and two stepping boards, wherein:

a base, which is the assembly for stabilizing treadmill and providing two sliding rail set installed on its top;

two sliding rail set, where in each sliding rail consists of two rail in symmetrical shape; each rail consists of an upper rail assembled on the lower rail, with a gap formed between the upper and lower rails; said upper rail is bent with one or more than one guiding section for guiding stepping board sliding angle; said lower rail is also bent with one or more than one guiding section for guiding stepping board sliding angle; with this the two rails constitute a symmetrical rail set for the two rail set to be assembled on the base;

two stepping board, wherein each is a board installed with two front roller and two rear roller; the two stepping boards are assembled on the two sliding rail set so that the two rear roller pressed against on the upper rail strip forming connection, whereas the two front rollers pressed against the lower rail strip forming connection; the front and rear rollers could roll on the respective upper and lower rail strips for each stepping board to generate variations in angle during sliding movement.

2. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the said base consists of a front base and a rear base; the front base constitutes a lateral strip; the each of two sides of the lateral strip is installed with a pivoting board; the inner side of each pivoting board and the center of the lateral strip is installed with a rail strip fixture which allows the upper rail connects to the front of the lower rail. And the rear base also constitutes with a lateral strip; the lateral strip is installed with several protruding plates for the upper trail strip to connect to the rear end of the lower trail strip.

3. The fitness treadmill claimed in 2, wherein the back of the lateral strip of the said front base is installed with two pulley seats corresponding to two stepping boards; each pulley seat is installed with a vertical pulley and horizontal pulley. And a piece of rope is installed through the two pulley seats between the vertical and horizontal pulleys so that the two free ends of the pulling rope extends to each stepping board for connection.

4. The fitness treadmill claimed in 2, wherein the said rail strip fixture is in plate shape and forming U-shape fixing section at the top as the fixing part for the connection of upper rail strip and lower rail strip.

5. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the shape of the guiding section of the said upper rail is to extend the front section of the upper rail strip forming a curve shape at the top, and the foremost end extends downward and bent into guiding section in V-shape, whereas the rear end of the upper rail strip is extending horizontally.

6. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the guiding section of the said lower trail strip is the front section of the lower rail strip extending upward in curve shape.

7. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the said upper rail is installed with the first guiding section and the second guiding section; the shape of the first guiding section is to bend the front section of the upper rail strip upward in curve shape whereas the shape of the second guiding section is to bend the rear section of the upper rail strip upward in curve shape.

8. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the front section of the said lower rail is installed with a front stopping part that uses the front and back stopping-parts as the stopping point for the roller's movement.

9. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the bottom of each of the said stepping board is installed with a hooking strip for hooking the bottom of the lower rail strip.

10. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the two front rollers and the two rear rollers respectively are connected with an axis for the connection of axis and stepping board to form rotating state.

11. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein the two handrails can be installed; each handrail can be made of steel pipe comprising a holding section at the bending part of the upper section and a pivoting section near the bottom end so that the pivoting sections of the two handrails connect to the pivoting boards on the two sides of the front base to become rotating form, and near the pivoting section a fast rotating fixture is installed for the handrail to be fixed at proper angle; and between the selected locations of the symmetrical parts of the two handrails a lateral rod is connected; the body of the lateral rod is installed with two pivoting seats for connecting to the rocking pole described below.

12. The fitness treadmill claimed in 1, wherein two rocking poles are installed; each of the rocking poles is long pole of steel pipe or other pipe material; the body of the rocking pole is installed with a pivoting part for the pivoting part to connect to the pivoting seat of the above stated lateral rod to form swinging state; the upper section of the rocking pole is a holding section, whereas near the bottom end of each is installed with a metallic pulling strip for one end of the pulling strip to pivot to the rocking pole and the other end pivot to the bottom of the stepping board will cause the two rocking poles and the two stepping boards to move jointly. When the hand is holding the holding section of rocking pole and the foot is stepping on the board for sliding movement, the arm swinging effect during running can be achieved.