INERTIA LOAD MECHANISM OF A RECIPROCATING EXERCISE EQUIPMENT
In an inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment, a pendulum load mechanism is installed to an exercise link rod of a reciprocating exercise equipment, such that the pendulum load mechanism forms an inertia link and gives an exercise resistance. If the moving link rod of the reciprocating exercise equipment is at a moment of changing its exercise direction, the speed of changing direction of the pendulum load mechanism will be slowed down by the gravitational force, so that an exerciser's muscle has sufficient response time for the change of the exercise direction to eliminate a possible sport injury.
1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment, and more particularly to an innovative mechanism that prevents sport injuries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reciprocating exercise equipment refers to exercise and fitness equipment such as elliptical exercise machine, a rowing exercise machine, a treadmill, a dumbbell or a waist twisting exercise machine. As we all know, such exercise training equipments are nothing more than providing a reciprocating exercise such as a back-and-forth, up-and-down, lift-and-drop, pull-and-release, or left-and-right movement of a certain part of our body including hands, legs or waist. With reference to
As to the principle of mechanical exercise, an installation of the aforementioned conventional exercise mechanisms has its advantage on basic structure. As to the principle of physiological exercise, the characteristics and conditions of these mechanical exercises are major causes of sport injuries. Now, a treadmill is used as an example for the illustration as follows.
While an exerciser is doing a natural treadmill reciprocating exercise, the exerciser's leg is lifted to a maximum height and then lowered in an opposite direction, the moving speed slows down naturally or the movement may even stop, so that the exerciser's muscle has sufficient response time to line up with the change of a moving direction. Similarly, the above applies in a situation when the exerciser lowers a leg, stands stably or switches exercising another leg. In short, the speed of the exercise is faster when the reciprocating movement of the exerciser's body is situated at a linear displacement stage, and the speed of the exercise is slower when the reciprocating movement is carried out to a stage of maximum height and changes its moving direction, so as to comply with the physiological mechanism of exercising a human body and eliminate a possible sport injury.
The speed of a reciprocating movement can be maintained constant with the assistance of a conventional inertia load flywheel, but when the direction of the exercise's limbs is switched, there is no mechanism to retard the speed, and the inertia load flywheel produces a mechanical inertia driving vector. As a result, the exerciser's muscle has insufficient time for the preparation of responding to the change of a moving direction, and sport injuries may be resulted unnoticeably in this case, and exercisers do not know about the injury until they feel the pain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the shortcomings of the prior art including an appropriate design concept of the conventional reciprocating exercise equipment and the serious sport injury caused by doing exercising with the reciprocating exercise equipment such as the aforementioned circular flywheel with an inertia load, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally developed an inertia load exercise mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment in accordance with the present invention to overcome the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art.
It is a primary object of the invention to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing an inertia load exercise mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment wherein the principle of swinging a pendulum and its inertia load mechanism are adopted to replace the existing flywheel mechanism, and the invention fully complies with the natural exercising rhythm of a human body, and thus the invention can eliminate a possible sport injury.
According to an inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment of the invention, a pendulum load mechanism is installed to an exercise link rod of a reciprocating exercise equipment, such that the pendulum load mechanism forms an inertia link and gives an exercise resistance. If the moving link rod of the reciprocating exercise equipment is at a moment of changing its exercise direction, the speed of changing direction of the pendulum load mechanism will be slowed down by the gravitational force, so that an exerciser's muscle has sufficient response time for the change of the exercise direction to eliminate a possible sport injury.
The accomplishment of this and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and its accompanying drawings of which:
The technical measures and structural characteristics of the present invention will become apparent with the detailed description of preferred embodiments and related drawings as follows.
With reference to
While the pendulum 30 is swinging sideway to a maximum height, the speed of exercise is retarded naturally due to the gravitational force, and then the swinging speed driven by an exerciser is resumed after the pendulum falls in an opposite direction. In other words, the pendulum 30 provides a resistance effect to an exercise load due to its own weight, and also provides a basic condition for the pedal link rod 22 to produce an inertia movement. If the reciprocating movement of the pedal link rod 22 is situated at a unidirectional linear displacement stage, the speed of the exercise is accelerated due to the gravitational force of the pendulum 30 (or an inertia swing produced by the gravitational acceleration of a free falling object). If the reciprocating exercise is carried out to a stage of the maximum height and the direction of an exercise is changed, the speed of the exercise will be retarded naturally, so as to comply with the physiological mechanism of exercising a human body and eliminate possible sport injuries.
The quantity of installed pendulums 30 may vary according to actual need or economic consideration, such as an application of a single pendulum 30 with two pedal link rods 22, or one pendulum 30 for each pedal link rod 22 to achieve the expected effect and performance. If more than one pendulum 30 is installed, a link module can be used to link each pendulum 30 as shown in
With reference to
With reference to
When the handle 61 and the rotating disc 62 are moving in opposite directions (while we are doing a waist twisting exercise), each link gear 64, 65, 66 installed at the bottom of the two modules will be rotated reciprocally in an expected way due to the link relation. Similarly, the vertical axle 63 and its transversal bevel gear 631 are rotated with the rotation of the link gear 66 accordingly, so that the pendulum 69 driven by the longitudinal bevel gear 68 produces a movement to left and right sides in a semicircular path, and this embodiment achieves the same expected exercise effect as the foregoing embodiments.
Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiments 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. An inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment, characterized in that a pendulum load mechanism is installed to a connecting link rod of said reciprocating exercise equipment, such that said pendulum load mechanism constitutes an inertia link and gives a resistance effect of an exercise load.
2. The inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment as recited of claim 1, wherein said pendulum load mechanism comprises a pendulum, an axial connecting point used for positioning, and a swinging arm, such that said pendulum is swung to left and right sides in a substantially semicircular path.
3. The inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment as recited in claim 1, wherein a magnetic induction plate is installed at a side of said pendulum load mechanism, and a magnetroresistance mechanism is installed at a position adjacent to said magnetic induction plate, such that when said magnetic induction plate is displaced with said pendulum, said magnetic induction plate is passed through an area of magnetic forces produced by said magnetroresistance mechanism to generate an exercise resistance, and an adjusting control mechanism is provided for adjusting the distance between said magnetroresistance mechanism and said magnetic induction plate to adjust said exercise resistance.
4. An inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment, characterized in that an end of a pedal link rod of said reciprocating elliptical exercise equipment is pivotally coupled to a pendulum having a specific weight, and said pendulum is restricted by a swinging arm and an axial connecting point of said swinging arm to swing to left and right sides in a substantially semicircular path, and said pedal link rod produces a back-and-forth inertia displacing movement.
5. The inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment as recited in claim 4, wherein a magnetic induction plate is installed at a side of said pendulum, and a magnetroresistance mechanism is installed at a position adjacent to said magnetic induction plate, such that when said magnetic induction plate is displaced with said pendulum, said magnetic induction plate is passed through an area of magnetic forces produced by said magnetroresistance mechanism to generate an exercise resistance, and an adjusting control mechanism is provided for adjusting the distance between said magnetroresistance mechanism and said magnetic induction plate to adjust said exercise resistance.
6. An inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment,
- wherein a waist twisting exercise equipment 60 comprises a handle, a rotating disc and a vertical axle;
- wherein a plurality of link gears are pivotally coupled to the base and disposed at the bottom of the handle, the rotating disc and the vertical axle respectively; and
- wherein a transversal bevel gear is installed at the top of the vertical axle, and a longitudinal bevel gear is provided for driving and swinging a pendulum so as to achieve a semicircular swing to the right and left sides.
7. The inertia load mechanism of a reciprocating exercise equipment as recited in claim 6, wherein a magnetic induction plate is installed at a side of said pendulum, and a magnetroresistance mechanism is installed at a position adjacent to said magnetic induction plate, such that when said magnetic induction plate is displaced with said pendulum, said magnetic induction plate is passed through an area of magnetic forces produced by said magnetroresistance mechanism to generate an exercise resistance, and an adjusting control mechanism is provided for adjusting the distance between said magnetroresistance mechanism and said magnetic induction plate to adjust said exercise resistance.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 22, 2008
Publication Date: Jan 28, 2010
Inventor: Leao Wang (Taichung)
Application Number: 12/177,150