Exercise devices – User manipulated force resisting apparatus – component... – Utilizing weight resistance
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-04
2004-03-16
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3764)
Exercise devices
User manipulated force resisting apparatus, component...
Utilizing weight resistance
C482S102000, C482S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06705976
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to body exercise equipment.
Many units of exercise equipment have been disclosed or put into actual use in which a cable is drawn against a resistance source by an individual exercising with the equipment. Typically, these units of equipment include a handle attached to one end of a cable with a resistance source, such as weights, opposing the pulling of the cable. Different exercises can be performed by adjusting the vertical position at which the cable leaves the equipment. That adjustability, however, provides only a limited variety of exercises.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,855 discloses exercise equipment in which the handle, grasped by the individual using the equipment, can undergo three degrees of movement as it is positioned for a selected exercise. Although such equipment provides added adjustability, whereby many more exercises are possible, the particular arrangement disclosed in this patent, which includes mounting the handle on a telescoping arm, lacks sufficient strength and stability when constructed from conventional components or becomes very expensive to manufacture when special components are used to provide greater strength and stability.
In other exercise equipment sold by Eigin Exercise Equipment Corporation of Des Plaines, Ill., the handle grasped by the user is movable to the desired position by a trolley, which moves along a curved rod track. This equipment also provides added facility for a variety of different exercises. However, the framework support structure of this exercise equipment, particularly the single arced bar used to relocate the egress point, also provides only limited strength and stability when constructed from conventional components or becomes very expensive to manufacture when special components are used to provide greater strength and stability.
Only very light resistances can be used in this design or the framing and supports will bend and damage easily. It also requires the user to perform multiple steps to adjust the equipment for a desired exercise, particularly with regard to taking up the slack created in the cable when moving the egress point from place to place along the curved rod.
Other prior art that may be mentioned are the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
3,306,611
4,549,733
4,898,381
5,018,725
5,102,122
5,195,937
5,725,459
None of these is all that relevant to the present invention, except one, which is of some interest, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,122. This patent uses a movable trolley that must be repositioned for each egress point for the handle from the exercise equipment required for a desired exercise position and two additional steps to release the locking mechanism for the cable take-up means before repositioning the trolley and to lock it again after it is in a new position.
Cable-cross units of equipment now currently available, provide a single step movable trolley that repositions an egress point along a straight bar, typically vertical in position, and typically have two such trolleys oriented side by side and spaced so a user can train in between them. Such designs do not optimize the interaction with basic human movement, do not provide a full 360-degree training environment in which to train, particularly limited in delivering resistance from training vectors overhead as well as from below. Also, when switching from a linear track design to a curved track, cable slack and changes in length relative to the egress point and the cable end that connects to the attachment create a serious problem. To correct this problem a counterweight system as shown in patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,122 can be used (but which calls for added steps to reposition the trolley due to the need to manually release the cable take-up means, unlock the trolley, move the trolley, relock the trolley and then relock the cable take-up means.)
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The human body moves primarily in circular or rotating paths of motion as evidenced by Davinci's Study of Human Proportions. From a biomechanical standpoint, resistance exercise units of equipment designed with resistance delivery systems oriented along an arced pathway are inherently more biomechanically optimized than those that are not, thus offering tremendous advantages to the user. Also, the invention provides units of equipment that allow for the minimum number of adjustments, ease of use and orientation of the user to change the desired exercise parameters and shorten the work out time, the ability to preset or easily reset the attachments. The sequence of various exercises, are intuitively understood, safer to use, provide a greater range of resistance, service a wider range of users and a wider range of needs with the capability of providing an infinite number of resistance training possibilities and protocols, is handicapped and wheelchair accessible, provides a simple method to record their work and progress in three-dimensional space, is aesthetically pleasing and unique in appearance and provides a 360 degree workout environment.
It is an object of this invention to provide a line of advanced pulley system exercise units of equipment which provide the user all the benefits of free weight lifting yet are safer, more versatile and easier to use, are distinct in their product styling and design, can easily be customized to meet the demands of a wide variety of users with a wide variety of needs and provide a means whereby a user can perform more specific exercises on fewer units of equipment.
It is an object of this invention as well to provide more specifically tailored units of equipment using fewer parts.
It is another object of this invention to provide units of equipment that can also work in conjunction with a wide variety of attachments, with uniquely designed multipurpose benches and versatile, multipurpose chairs to greatly expand the variety of options they provide for the user and to appeal to the widest possible range of users.
It is also an object of this invention to allow for only one adjustment to be made, the selection of the desired resistance, in order to exercise any part of the body (excluding, of course, the changing of an attachment).
It is yet another object of this invention to provide means to position two or more fixed egress pulley means positioned along a variety of single or dual walls or framed structure, or single or dual tracks, rails, tubes or cylinders or other support means of a variety of shapes other than just a straight line (yet could include a variety of straight line and curved combinations) relative to a user pulling on a handle connected to a connecting means attached to a resistance means and having one or more cable take-up means which enable the user to perform an infinite variety of exercises for muscular development or rehabilitation on more ergonomically efficient, optimally comfortable, easier to use and understand, resistance exercise devices.
It is an object of this invention to provide safer and more stable and user-friendly resistance units of equipment, which are more economically feasible to manufacture by maximizing economies of scale due to more standardization of parts that can be used to create a wider variety of units of equipment and which exercise both the prime movers as well as the stabilizer muscles in the human body in an infinitely positionable and unrestrained way.
It is a further object of this invention to provide designs that also allow for the development of Total Body units which use a standard set of parts which can be used to create a whole line of exercise units of equipment utilizing various combinations and mixes of egress points along one or two of the various shaped paths as they are positioned relative to the user in unilateral and bilateral formations which themselves can be fixed or move relative to themselves to create varying points of egress for the user to grab onto attachments connected to the connector means allowing for the creation of a line of units of equipment which enables the user to train specific body parts in a wider
BVP Holding, Inc.
Hwang Victor
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
Milde & Hoffberg LLP
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