Exercise devices – Involving user translation or physical simulation thereof – Occupant suspended from above for foot travel
Patent
1997-09-18
1999-03-23
Donnelly, Jerome
Exercise devices
Involving user translation or physical simulation thereof
Occupant suspended from above for foot travel
482907, 482 96, 482124, A63B 2102
Patent
active
058851909
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a hanging keep-fit apparatus in which two cable portions hang down from a cross bar, at the ends of each of which cable portions is provided a respective loop, wherein the cross bar is suspended pivotably at least about a horizontal axis.
A hanging keep-fit apparatus of that kind is already known from German patent specification No. 141 129. In that known apparatus the cross bar which is horizontal in the rest position is mounted pivotably about a horizontal pivot pin. Fixed to each of the ends of the cross bar is a respective cable portion which hangs down and which at the bottom has a loop for the person doing exercise.
The object of the invention is to improve a hanging keep-fit apparatus of the general kind set forth in the opening part of this specification and to enlarge the possible forms of movement for the person using the hanging keep-fit apparatus.
In accordance with the invention that is achieved in that the cross bar is suspended on at least one elastic cable which is preferably fixed at the longitudinal center to the cross bar.
The configuration according to the invention provides that the cross bar on the one hand is movable against the spring force of the elastic cable and in addition can rotate about a vertical axis. Accordingly the cross bar can assume practically any position in space, whereby the hanging keep-fit apparatus is very suitable for motion or kinetic training, for strengthening the muscles and joints with little application of force due to the lift action of the cross bar. The hanging keep-fit apparatus can be used in a lying or sitting position, also standing at the cross bar. Hands or feet are put into the loops, whereby it is possible to perform the most widely varying movement training exercises such as for example straddle vaulting, cycling, swinging up and down or backwards and forwards or blobbing up and down or bouncing for stress relief purposes. The cross bar itself can be used standing with the hands for stretching and pulling exercises.
It is advantageously provided that the cross bar is in the form of a cross bar tube through which--as is known per se--a cable is passed in one piece, the cable portions of which hang down at the respective ends of the cross bar tube. Passing a cable in one piece through a kind of cross bar is known per se from WO88/08730 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,555 A. The equipment shown in the last-mentioned specification is a piece of play equipment for children, in which cables are passed through a horizontal beam member around guide rollers. In that arrangement the cable portions do not issue from the ends of the beam member but laterally, which requires a more expensive structure. The apparatus shown in WO 88/08730 A1 also does not have a simple cross bar tube in accordance with the invention. Rather, the arrangement has a cross bar which is fixed horizontally to the ceiling and in the interior of which extend curved guides for a cable. The configuration according to the invention provides that one and the same person can hold the loops at the end of both cable portions of the cable which is guided in one piece, and move the cable in opposite directions through the cross bar tube if, in accordance with a further preferred embodiment, the cable is guided by the movable tube. In the event of the cable being immovably guided through the cross bar tube, that arrangement still affords the advantage that specific fixings are not required for the two cable portions, but the cable can simply be passed through the cross bar tube.
A simple and stable fixing of the elastic cable to the cross bar is possible by virtue of the elastic cable being passed around the cross bar and knotted fast thereto by means of a knot. In that case it is particularly advantageous if the knot is prevented from slipping laterally by a screw or hook which is screwed into the cross bar. The cables can also be fixed in the tube of the cross bar with the screwed-in hook or screw at the knot.
A further embodiment is characterized in that the elastic cab
REFERENCES:
patent: D144582 (1946-04-01), Rassnick
patent: 1585748 (1926-05-01), Wendelken
patent: 2625202 (1953-01-01), Richardson et al.
patent: 3677543 (1972-07-01), Richardson
patent: 4779867 (1988-10-01), Hinds
patent: 5399139 (1995-03-01), Malynowsky
patent: 5514059 (1996-05-01), Romney
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