Exercise devices – Having specific electrical feature – Equipment control
Patent
1993-03-11
1994-03-08
Apley, Richard J.
Exercise devices
Having specific electrical feature
Equipment control
482 5, 482 6, 482119, A63B 2400
Patent
active
052922936
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for enabling an individual to undertake physical exercise and training with the aid of a pedal drive mechanism.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The prior art includes an indoor machine known as a bicycle ergometer which essentially comprises a pedal drive mechanism mounted on an immobile stand. Such a machine, however, does not offer the chance to control or program one's exercises. However, this known machine hardly motivates one to exercise as it can never give the user a sensation of speed similar to that which he would experience when riding a bicycle on a road.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
To help to overcome this lack, the present invention provides a physical exercise apparatus comprising a stand on which are mounted a rotary member mounted so as to be able to turn freely about a horizontal pin, an inertia flywheel coupled to the rotary member, and a strap clamped around part of the perimeter of the inertia flywheel, and attached at one end to a pin fixed to the stand and attached at its opposite end to the end of a spring, the other end of the spring being connected to an adjustable traction device mounted on the stand in such a way as to exert a predetermined tensile force on the spring and strap.
In the apparatus according to the invention, the rotary member is coupled mechanically to the inertia flywheel, and the apparatus also comprises a microprocessor mounted on the stand to produce a control signal for the adjustable traction device, the control signal representing the predetermined adjustable difficulty of a leg of a simulated journey, the microprocessor being organized so as to store the theoretically required torques for a number of predetermined simulated legs and, in response to a signal representing the effective torque, to generate a second signal representing the required change of torque to reach the theoretically required torque for the corresponding simulated leg, the second said signal being used to control the adjustable traction device.
The said rotary member may be coupled to the chainring of a bicycle designed for mounting on the apparatus or be coupled to a chainring which is itself fixed to the apparatus.
The inertia flywheel is coupled mechanically to a device for measuring the change in the drive torque relative to the braking force exerted by the inertia flywheel and for producing an electrical signal representing said change.
In an illustrative embodiment, the device for measuring the change in the drive torque relative to the braking force comprises a drive pinion designed to be driven by a pedal drive mechanism and a pulley coupled mechanically to the inertia flywheel, said pulley being also coupled to the drive pinion by means of a number of compressed springs, each spring being held between a first ball fixed to the drive pinion and a second ball fixed to the pulley, a number of first annular segments fixed to the perimeter of the pulley and a number of second annular segments fixed to the perimeter of the pinion, the said first and second annular segments being arranged in such a way that the mutually confronting ends of each first annular segment and the consecutive second annular segment are separated, forming a slot which is proportional to the braking force, and a device for measuring the length of said slots and for producing electrical signals representing the change in length of said slots.
The microprocessor is connected up to receive the electrical signal representing the change in the drive torque relative to the braking force and is programmed to determine the gear change required to travel a simulated leg of a journey and overcome the simulated gradient it represents.
Different exercise programs may be stored in the microprocessor, each program comprising a sequence of levels having different degrees of difficulty both of braking force (simulating a gradient) and of distance or duration. In this way the user has the sensation of following a real road journey and is able to select any stored pro
REFERENCES:
patent: 4786049 (1988-11-01), Lautenschlager
patent: 4934692 (1990-06-01), Owens
patent: 5029846 (1991-07-01), Hao
Apley Richard J.
Meroni, Jr. Charles F.
Richman Glenn E.
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