GB2241901A - Exercising machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An exercising machine comprises a trestle with a spine 10 resting on a pair of adjacent legs 11. The spine carries a pair of seats 13 hinged to its adjacent edges. The seats may be pivoted from the horizontal to 90 degrees up. Rubber bands 23 are looped around pulleys (17, 19) on a beam 16 carried by the spine and the spine itself as well as anchor pulleys 21 on the spine. Handles (24) may be engaged with any one or more of the bands. By changing seats, changing the inclination of the seats, varying feet positions and varying the choice of rubber bands a large variety of exercises may be performed. <IMAGE>

Description

EXERCISING MACHINES BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION THIS invention relates to exercising machines of the kind in which a person exerts himself against a resilient resistance such as that caused by a rubber band.

Known machines of the kind in question tends to occupy a fair amount of space in use and when stored away. Also since many of them rely on movable carriages and the like the attitudes which a person can adopt during exercises are rather limited.

It would be an advantage to have a device which could increase the number of attitudes that can be adopted as well as decrease the space required by the device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION For use in exercising against a resilient resistance the invention provides a trestle incorporating a pair of seats hinged to it at adjacent edges transverse to the general direction of the resistance, each seat being adjustable to a number of positions between one extreme position in which it is horizontal and a second extreme position in which it forms a suitable acute angle above the horizontal.

The resistance is usually an elastic band to one end of which a suitable handle is attached which is looped under the seats and the other end of which is anchored on the trestle, the band being preferably so looped that it doubles back on itself and it is deflected so that on exercising the band is stretched back over the distance which it is doubled back.

The anchor point may be a pulley around which the band is looped and each end of the band may terminate on a handle and be looped around a doubling back pulley and a deflecting pulley.

In the preferred form of the invention there are a plurality of bands of different strengths, the end or ends of which or any combination of which may be engaged by the same handle or handles.

The trestle may have a hollow spine and anchor and deflection pulleys may be housed in the spine.

In one form of the invention the trestle has a spine to which the seats are pivoted and legs at each end of the spine, the legs having transverse projecting rests to support the trestle stably on the ground.

The seats may be supported in their positions other than the horizontal by means of stays that slide into the legs, the top ends of the stays engaging pivotally in slots on the seats and there being detents to hold the stays locked in a number of positions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a side view of a trestle rigged up as an exercising machine, Figure 2 is a top view of Figure 1 with the seats removed, Figure 3 is an underplan of Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a side view showing the trestle in a folded condition.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The illustrated machine is a trestle formed with an inverted channel shaped spine 10 supported on folding legs 11 and transverse floor rests 12. The legs 11 are tubular and hinged to the spine 10 and can fold into the position shown in Figure 4.

The spine 10 carries a pair of pivoted seats 13, pivoted at their adjacent edges. Each seat 13 is attached to a stay 30 which can slide up and down in a channel formed in a leg 11 with a latch 31 serving to detain the stay in a number of positions so that the inclination of the seat 13 may be adjusted from the horizontal to 90" up. The stay engages pivotally in a slot 32 on the seat and may be removed from that slot to fold the trestle into the Figure 4 position.

The spine 10 also is fitted with a transverse beam 16 which serves as a pulley support to which three deflecting pulleys 17 are connected on each side so that they can rotate freely.

At the other end inside the spine 10 there are doubling back pulleys 19 mounted on a pair of parallel shafts 20 while oppositely there are anchor pulleys 21 mounted on a single shaft 22. Three rubber bands 23 carrying stops at their ends and formed with eyes extend from a pulley 17 on one side, around a pulley 19 around the pulley 22, around a pulley 19 and around a pulley 17 on the other side.

Handles 24 can be hooked to eyes at the ends of a selected rubber band 23 or a selection of rubber bands. The bands 23 are chosen to be progressively stronger so that an exercising person can progress from working with a light resistance to a heavier resistance or so that different resistances can be chosen for different exercises.

Figure 3 shows a band 23 stretched to its maximum extent. If the distance between the shafts 19 and 21 is 800 mm, the distance between the shaft 21 and the handles 24 will be of the order of 1600 mm. This means that a machine occupying a length of just over 800 mm can be used to exercise in an area of about 1600 x 800 mm.

The pivotal movement of the seats 13 allows an exercising person to occupy a number of attitudes and positions with the legs pressed against the floor or against either one of the floor rests 12 or with legs stretched upwardly.

The invention thus provides a compact and relatively inexpensive machine on which a large number of exercises can be performed against a choice of one or more of three resistance elements.

Claims (10)

1.

For use in exercising against a resilient resistance a trestle incorporating a pair of seats hinged to it at adjacent edges transverse to the general direction of the resistance, each seat being adjustable to a number of positions between one extreme position in which it is horizontal and a second extreme position in which it forms a suitable acute angle above the horizontal.

2.

The trestle claimed in claim 1 in which the resistance is an elastic band to one end of which a suitable handle is attached which is looped under the seats and the other end of which is anchored on the trestle.

3.

The trestle claimed in claim 2 in which the band is so looped that it doubles back on itself and it is deflected so that on exercising the band is stretched back over the distance which it is doubled back.

4.

The trestle claimed in claim 3 in which the anchor point is a pulley around which the band is looped and each end of the band terminates on a handle and is looped around a doubling back pulley and a deflecting pulley.

5.

The trestle claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 having a plurality of bands of different strengths, the end or ends of which or any combination of which may be engaged by the same handle or handles.

6.

The trestle claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5 in which the trestle has a hollow spine and anchor and deflection pulleys housed in the spine.

7.

The trestle claimed in any one of the above claims which has a spine to which the seats are pivoted and legs at each end of the spine, the legs having transverse projecting rests to support the trestle stably on the ground.

8.

The trestle claimed in claim 7 in which the seats are supported in their positions other than the horizontal by means of stays that slide into the legs, the top ends of the stays engaging pivotally in slots on the seats and there being detents to hold the stays locked in a number of positions.

9.

The trestle claimed in either one of claims 7 or 8 in which the legs can be folded against the spine for stowing away purposes.

10.

For use in exercising against a resilient resistance a trestle substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.