MAGNETIC PULLEY RESISTANCE EXERCISER
A wearable exercise pulley comprising: an electrically conducting disc rotatable about an axis of the disc perpendicular to the plane of the disc; a cable coiled around the axis, which when pulled to uncoil the cable from around the axis causes the disc to rotate; at least one magnet that produces a magnetic field, which penetrates the disc and generates eddy currents in the disc when the disc is rotated; and a spring that operates to coil the cable around the axis.
The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application 61/590,346 filed on Jan. 25, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDEmbodiments of the invention relate to exercise equipment
BACKGROUNDVarious and sundry exercise equipment for exercising the body and maintaining aerobic and strength fitness and health are ubiquitous. Known equipment spans a large gamut that includes relatively simple elastic bands, which an exerciser stretches to exercise and strengthen muscle sets, free weights of various degrees of finish, and stationary exercise machines of different levels of sophistication which a person mounts to peddle, pull, or push against resistance. Wearable resistance suits and harnesses that resist various body motions are also known for use in exercising, training and/or strengthening muscle groups and/or aerobic stamina.
SUMMARYAn aspect of an embodiment of the invention relates to providing a wearable, lightweight, portable, and relatively small exercise pulley comprising a pull cable coupled to an eddy current “brake” and a return spring. The eddy current brake operates to generate torque that opposes the pull cable being pulled out of the exercise pulley. The return spring operates to pull the cable into the exercise pulley after it is pulled out. A person using the exercise pulley may exercise by repeatedly pulling on the pull cable with a pulling force that overcomes the torque generated by the eddy current brake to pull the cable out of the exercise pulley, and then relaxing the pulling force to allow the return spring to return the pull cable back into the exercise pulley.
In an embodiment of the invention, the torque with which the eddy current brake resists the pull cable being pulled out from the exercise pulley is adjustable. Optionally, the torque is adjustable so that a pulling force applied by the person to the pull cable to pull it out from the exercise pulley is adjustable between about 0 N (Newtons) to about 300 N.
According to an aspect of an embodiment of the invention, the exercise pulley comprises a connector for mounting the exercise pulley to a pulley holder, which may be attached to a pulley support so that the exercise pulley may be securely mounted to the holder and thereby to the support. When mounted to a pulley support, the exercise pulley is held substantially stationary relative to an exerciser's body so that the exercise pulley may be used to exercise. The pulley support may by way of example, comprise a wearable “exercise harness”. Optionally, the exercise harness comprises a vest harness, hereinafter also referred to as an “exercise vest”, having pulley holders to receive the exercise pulley connector at different locations on the vest. Optionally, the exercise harness comprises a belt harness, hereinafter also referred to as an “exercise belt” to which the pulley can be mounted at different locations of the belt. Optionally, the exercise harness comprises a leg harness, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
In an embodiment of the invention, the pulley holder may comprise a “grip handle” that enables the exercise pulley to be held in one hand by a person while the person pulls on the pull cable with the other hand. Optionally, the grip handle is configured to be held by the person's foot while he or she pulls on the pull cable.
In the discussion, unless otherwise stated, adjectives such as “substantially” and “about” modifying a condition or relationship characteristic of a feature or features of an embodiment of the invention, are understood to mean that the condition or characteristic is defined to within tolerances that are acceptable for operation of the embodiment for an application for which it is intended.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Non-limiting examples of embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to figures attached hereto that are listed following this paragraph. Identical structures, elements or parts that appear in more than one figure are generally labeled with a same numeral in all the figures in which they appear. Dimensions of components and features shown in the figures are chosen for convenience and clarity of presentation and are not necessarily shown to scale.
In the following detailed description, external features of an exercise pulley in accordance with an embodiment of the invention are discussed with reference to
A person working out with exercise pulley 20 exercises by repeatedly pulling pull cable 21 out of exercise pulley 20 with a pulling force that opposes resistance generated by the pulley to the pull cable being pulled out. A return spring in the exercise pulley operates to pull the cable into the exercise pulley after it is pulled out.
A torque created by eddy currents in an eddy current disc comprised in exercise pulley 20, which is shown in
Magnetic rotor 40 may be rotated on rotor turret 51 to move the magnetic rotor towards or away from the stator to respectively increase or decrease the magnetic field to which the eddy current disc is exposed and corresponding torque that opposes pull cable 21 being pulled out of exercise pulley 20. For a given speed with which pull cable 21 is pulled out from exercise pulley 20, a larger pull force is required to pull the pull cable out of the exercise pulley the closer magnetic rotor 40 is to magnetic stator 30. Magnetic rotor 40 optionally comprises protruding “finger” ridges 42 configured to facilitate holding and turning the magnetic rotor. Components and features of exercise pulley 20, and operation and adjustment of the exercise pulley, are discussed below with reference to
A pulley connector 60, shown in
Lock plate 70 optionally comprises a slide channel 71 into which slide frame 61 may be inserted, and a snap arm 72 having a lock ridge 73 for locking the slide frame, and thereby the exercise pulley, to the lock plate. When the slide frame is fully inserted into the slide channel, lock ridge 73 catches on an inside frame edge 64 (
It is noted that because slide frame 61 is square, exercise pulley 20 may be mounted to lock plate 70 in each of four different angular orientations separated one from the other by a rotation angle of 90° relative to a direction parallel to lock ridge 73. The orientations and their uses are discussed below with reference to
Exercise pulley 20 comprises magnetic stator 30 referred to above, a cable spool 80 on which pull cable 21 is wound, a conductive eddy current disc 90, a return coil spring housing 100, a coil spring 101, a spring housing cover 102, rotor mount 50 referred to above, a magnet support annulus 110, and a rotor cover plate 120. The magnet support annulus and rotor cover are components of magnetic rotor 40 referred to above and shown in
Magnet support annulus 110 comprises a plurality of optionally seven disc shaped magnets 111. Each magnet 111 is snapped into place between, and held on magnet support annulus 110 by, optionally three, cantilever, toothed prongs 112. Magnet support annulus 110 has an inner rim 113 on which snap teeth 114 are formed and an outer rim 115 on which snap teeth 116 are formed. Snap teeth 114 and 116 match snap lock recesses 122 and 124 in central cylinder 121 and outer rim 123 of rotor cover plate 120 (
Once assembled, magnetic rotor 40 may be mounted to rotor mount 50 by threading the magnetic rotor onto rotor turret 51.
Conductive eddy current disc 90 shown in
Magnetic stator 30 is closed by rotor mount 50 by snapping snap teeth 55 (
By way of numerical example, in an embodiment of the invention an overall diameter of exercise pulley 20 is less than or equal to about 18 cm (centimeters). Optionally, the overall diameter is less than or equal to about 15 cm. In an embodiment of the invention the overall diameter is less than or equal to about 12 cm. Conductive eddy current disk 90 is formed from aluminum is optionally about 3 mm (millimeters) thick and has a diameter less than or equal to about 15 cm. Optionally, the diameter of the conductive eddy current disk is less than or equal to about 12 cm. In an embodiment of the invention the conductive eddy current disc has a diameter less than or equal to about 9 cm. Optionally, pulley cable 22 has a diameter of about 2 mm and is wound up on a portion of cable spool 80 having a diameter, a “coiling diameter”, less than or equal to about 4 cm.
In an embodiment of the invention, a pair of magnets 111 and 33 when directly opposite and closest to each other generates a magnetic field in eddy current disc 90 having a magnitude that is greater than or equal to about 0.18 gauss. Optionally, the magnets generate a magnetic field having magnitude greater than or equal to about 0.20 gauss. Optionally, the magnets generate a magnetic field having magnitude greater than or equal to about 0.22 gauss. In an embodiment of the invention, each magnet 111 (
Assume a 9 cm diameter aluminum conductive eddy current disc 90, and a magnetic field generated by a pair of magnets 33 and 111 having magnitude of about 0.23 gauss, and a coiling diameter equal to about 4 cm for cable spool 80. If pulley cable 20 is pulled out of exercise pulley 20 at a speed of about 1.6 cm/s, the eddy current disc rotates at about 8 rpm and a pulling force having magnitude of about 300 N is required to pull pull cable 21 out of the exercise pulley.
It is noted that in the above discussion, a magnetic field to which conductive eddy current disc 90 is exposed is increased or decreased by appropriately rotating magnetic rotor 40 to adjust a pull force required to pull cable 21 out of exercise pulley 20. However, practice of the invention is not limited to adjusting a required effort by changing distances of magnets from the conductive eddy current disc. For example, the pull force may be increased or decreased by moving magnets 33 and/or magnets 111 radially, towards or away from an axis of conductive eddy current disc 90 about which the disc rotates. Moving the magnets towards the axis reduces a torque, which is to be overcome to pull pull cable 21 out from exercise pulley 20.
Optionally, the lock plates are attached to the vest so that when the exercise vest is worn by an exerciser, lock ridges 73 (
Any of various devices and methods may be used to attach lock plates 70 to the breastplate and/or back plate. For example, rivets and/or screws may be used to attach the lock plates to the breastplate or back plate. To support the rivets and/or screws and resist tearing, the breastplate or back plate may be made from a robust natural or synthetic fabric and comprise an internal support layer (not shown) optionally made from a suitable plastic.
It is noted that in the above discussion exercise pulley 20 is attached to a harness, such as a harness shown in
In the description and claims of the present application, each of the verbs, “comprise” “include” and “have”, and conjugates thereof, are used to indicate that the object or objects of the verb are not necessarily a complete listing of components, elements or parts of the subject or subjects of the verb.
Descriptions of embodiments of the invention in the present application are provided by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The described embodiments comprise different features, not all of which are required in all embodiments of the invention. Some embodiments utilize only some of the features or possible combinations of the features. Variations of embodiments of the invention that are described, and embodiments of the invention comprising different combinations of features noted in the described embodiments, will occur to persons of the art. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims.
Claims
1. A wearable exercise pulley comprising:
- an electrically conducting disc rotatable about an axis of the disc perpendicular to the plane of the disc;
- a cable coiled around the axis, which when pulled to uncoil the cable from around the axis causes the disc to rotate;
- at least one magnet that produces a magnetic field, which penetrates the disc and generates eddy currents in the disc when the disc is rotated; and
- a spring that operates to coil the cable around the axis.
2. An exercise pulley according to claim 1 wherein the disc has a diameter less than or equal to about 15 cm
3. (canceled)
4. An exercise pulley according to claim 1 wherein the disc has a diameter less than or equal to about 9 cm
5. An exercise pulley according to claim 1 wherein the at least one magnet comprises at least one first magnet on a first side of the plane of the disc and at least one second magnet on a second side of the plane of the disc.
6. An exercise pulley according to claim 5 and comprising a first magnet housing that comprises the at least one first magnet and maintains the at least one first magnet at a fixed distance from the plane of the disc, and comprising a second magnet housing that comprises the at least one second magnet and is moveable relative to the first magnet housing to change a distance of the at least one second magnet from the plane of the disc.
7. (canceled)
8. An exercise pulley according to claim 6 wherein the second magnet housing is moveable relative to the first magnet housing by rotation about the disc axis to change a distance of the at least one second magnet from the plane of the disc.
9. An exercise pulley according to claim 8 and comprising a threaded turret, wherein the first magnet housing is formed having a hole comprising threads matching the threads on the turret, and wherein the turret is threaded into the hole, and the first magnet housing is rotated to move the at least one second magnet along the turret towards or away from the plane of the disc.
10. (canceled)
11. An exercise pulley according claim 6 wherein at a closest distance of the second at least one magnet to the plane of the disc, the at least one first magnet and at least one second magnet produce a magnetic field at the disc equal to about 0.18 gauss.
12. An exercise pulley according to claim 11 wherein the closest distance is equal to about 5 mm.
13. An exercise pulley according to claim 11 wherein at the closest distance, a pulling force greater than or equal to about 300 N is required to uncoil the cable and rotate the disc at an angular speed of at least 8 rpm.
14. An exercise pulley according to claim 1 and comprising a connector for attaching the exercise pulley to a matching pulley holder wherein the connector and matching pulley holder are configured so that the exercise pulley may conveniently be attached to, and detached from, the holder.
15. (canceled)
16. An exercise pulley according to claim 14 wherein the connector and pulley holder are configured so that the exercise pulley may be mounted to the pulley holder at each of a plurality of discrete angles relative to a reference direction perpendicular to the disc axis.
17. An exercise pulley according to claim 16 wherein adjacent discrete directions are separated by a same angle of rotation.
18. An exercise pulley according to claim 17 wherein the number of discrete directions is four, and adjacent directions are separated by 90°.
19. An exercise pulley according to claim 14 wherein the pulley holder is attached to a pulley support so that the exercise pulley may be mounted to the pulley support by mounting the exercise pulley to the pulley holder, and wherein the pulley support comprises a wearable harness.
20. (canceled)
21. An exercise pulley according to claim 19 wherein the harness has attached thereto a plurality of pulley holders.
22. An exercise pulley according to claim 19 wherein the harness comprises a harness selected from the group consisting of: a vest harness, a belt harness and a leg harness.
23-25. (canceled)
26. An exercise pulley according to claims 19 and comprising a handle so that the exercise pulley may securely be held in one hand while pulling the cable with the other.
27. An exercise apparatus comprising:
- an exercise pulley according to claim 14; and
- a wearable exercise harness comprising at least one pulley holder.
28. An exercise pulley according to claim 27 wherein the harness has attached thereto a plurality of pulley holders.
29-31. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 24, 2013
Publication Date: Jan 8, 2015
Inventors: Asaf Manor (Tel Aviv), Eldan Ker (Tel Aviv)
Application Number: 14/373,903
International Classification: A63B 21/00 (20060101); A63B 21/018 (20060101);