US20170203144A1

US20170203144A1 - Direction-reversing device and exercise equipment

Info

Publication number: US20170203144A1
Application number: US15/355,041
Authority: US
Inventors: Ching-Yu YEH
Original assignee: Preventive Medical Health Care Co Ltd
Current assignee: Preventive Medical Health Care Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-01-14
Filing date: 2016-11-17
Publication date: 2017-07-20

Abstract

A direction-reversing device includes a frame, two side wheels, a reverse wheel module, a flexible member and a tension adjusting mechanism. The side wheels are pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively. The reverse wheel module disposed at the frame includes two reverse wheels. The reverse wheels are coaxially disposed to the frame and perpendicular to the side wheels. The flexible member is wound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels. The tension adjusting mechanism disposed at the frame includes at least one fastener. The fastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame is for changing a relative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module. Therefore, a tension of the flexible member is changed accordingly.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,455, filed Jan. 14, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a direction-reversing device and an exercise equipment. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a direction-reversing device and an exercise equipment for reciprocating exercise.
Description of Related Art
High knee skips is a common exercise. Through lifting the legs up to hip height, the abdominal muscle and the hip muscle can be trained effectively. The high knee skips not only can improve the metabolism and the blood circulation, but also can improve the body curve.
However, the steppers or treedmills in the market cannot assist a user to do high knee exercise. Without the assistance of exercise apparatus, the user needs to do high knee skips himself. Therefore, the exercise strength is limited. Hence, some practitioners developed a high knee exercise equipment for assisting the user to do high knee skips.
The high knee exercise equipment includes a supporting frame, a seat, a handle and two pedals. The user sits on the seat with his/her legs laying on the pedals and swing his/her two legs toward opposite direction. The high knee exercise equipment allows the pedals to swing to a specific height so that the user can lift the legs up to hip height to achieve the exercising effect of high knee skips.
Because the legs need to swing toward different direction, a direction-reversing device is needed for the high knee exercise equipment. But the conventional direction-reversing device has a disadvantage of unsmooth motion and the swinging resistance of the pedals is hard to be adjusted. As a result, the high knee exercise equipment is inconvenient.
Base on the aforementioned problems, how to improve the structure of the direction-reversing device and manufacture an exercise equipment having better performance becomes a pursuit target for practitioners.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a direction-reversing device includes a frame, two side wheels, a reverse wheel module, a flexible member and a tension adjusting mechanism. The side wheels are pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively. The reverse wheel module disposed at the frame includes two reverse wheels. The reverse wheels are coaxially disposed to the frame and perpendicular to the side wheels. The flexible member is wound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels. The tension adjusting mechanism disposed at the frame includes at least one fastener. The fastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame is for changing a relative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module. Therefore, a tension of the flexible member is changed accordingly.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an exercise equipment includes a supporting frame, a direction-reversing device, and two lever sets. The direction-reversing device disposed on the supporting frame includes a frame, two side wheels, a reverse wheel module, a flexible member and a tension adjusting mechanism. The side wheels are pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively. The reverse wheel module disposed at the frame includes two reverse wheels. The reverse wheels are coaxially disposed to the frame and perpendicular to the side wheels. The flexible member is wound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels. The tension adjusting mechanism disposed at the frame includes at least one fastener. The fastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame is for changing a relative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module. Therefore, a tension of the flexible member is changed accordingly. The two lever sets are connected to the two side wheels of the direction-reversing device, respectively. The two lever sets are linked with the direction-reversing device for swinging reciprocately and reversely.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:

FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the direction-reversing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A shows a cross-sectional view of one using state of the direction-reversing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3B shows a cross-sectional view of another using state the direction-reversing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a direction-reversing device according to another embodiment the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a three dimensional view of an exercise equipment according to further another embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing device and lever sets of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing device 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the direction-reversing device 100 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the direction-reversing device 100 includes a frame 200, two side wheels 310, 320, a reverse wheel module 400, a flexible member 600 and a tension adjusting mechanism 500. The side wheels 310, 320 are pivotally disposed on two sides of the frame 200, respectively. The reverse wheel module 400 disposed at the frame 200 includes two reverse wheels 410, 420. The reverse wheels 410, 420 are coaxially disposed to the frame 200 and perpendicular to the side wheels 310, 320. The flexible member 600 is wound around the side wheels 310, 320 and the reverse wheels 410, 420. The tension adjusting mechanism 500 disposed at the frame 200 includes at least one fastener 510. The fastener 510 connecting the reverse wheel module 400 to the frame 200 is for changing a relative position between the frame 200 and the reverse wheel module 400. Therefore, a tension of the flexible member 600 is changed accordingly.
Through the configuration of the side wheels 310, 320, the reverse wheels 410, 420 and the flexible member 600, the side wheel 310 can rotate at a first direction while the side wheel 320 rotates at a second direction opposite to the first direction. Moreover, the tension of the flexible member 600 can be adjusted by changing the relative position between the frame 200 and the reverse wheel module 400 with the tension adjusting mechanism 500. Therefore, a goal of doing reversing-exercise can be achieved, and advancements of simple structure and adjustable tension can be enhanced. The structure of the direction-reversing device 100 will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.
The frame 200 can be made of metal material which has enough mechanic strength to prevent deformation. The frame 200 can include a main body 220, a hollow 210, at least one fastening hole 240 (shown in FIG. 3A), two bolt holes 250 (shown in FIG. 3A) and four slotted holes 230. According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the frame 200 includes two fastening holes 240. The main body 220 has a rectangular prism shape and includes a first wall (not labeled), a second wall (not labeled) and a third wall 223 (shown in FIG. 3A). The second wall is opposite to the first wall, and the third wall connects both the first wall and the second wall to form the hollow 210. Two of the slotted holes 230 are disposed at the first wall. The other two of the slotted holes 230 are disposed at the second wall, and the fastening holes 240 and the bolt holes 250 are disposed at the third wall 223 in parallel. An axis of each of the fastening holes 240 is perpendicular to an axis of each of the slotted holes 230. The slotted holes 230, the fastening holes 240 and the bolt holes 250 are all communicated with the hollow 210.
The side wheel 310 is pivotally disposed at one side of the frame 200 and the other side wheel 320 is pivotally disposed at the opposite side of the frame 200. The two side wheels 310, 320 are disposed coaxially along the central axis I1 of the side wheels 310, 320.
The reverse wheel module 400 includes two reverse wheels 410, 420 and an axle 430. The axle 430 connects the reverse wheels 410, 420 and is disposed inside the frame 200. More particularly, the axle 430 is a rod structure and is disposed in the hollow 210. The reverse wheel 410 is pivotally disposed at one end of the axle 430, and the other reverse wheel 420 is pivotally disposed at the other end of the axle 430. The two reverse wheels 410, 420 are disposed coaxially along the central axis 12 of the reverse wheels 410, 420, which is perpendicular to the central axis I1. The axle 430 includes two pin holes 431 and two threading holes 432. The pin holes 431 and the threading holes 432 are disposed at the body of the axle 430. Precisely, each of the pin holes 431 and the treading holes 432 is a through hole, and an axis of each of the pin holes 431 is perpendicular to an axis of each of the threading holes 432.
The tension adjusting mechanism 500 includes two fasteners 510. The fasteners 510 are engaged with the threading holes 432 through the fastening holes 240, respectively. To be more specific, each of the fasteners 510 is a bolts with an outer thread (not labeled), and each of the threading holes 432 has an inner thread (not shown) corresponding to the outer thread. When the fasteners 510 are rotated in the threading holes 432, the axle 430 can be moved forward or backward coordinating with the rotation of the fasteners 510.
The tension adjusting mechanism 500 can further include two screws 530 and two bolts 520. Each of the positioning pins 530 is coupled with one of the pin holes 431 and two of the slotted holes 230 which are corresponding to each other, and each of the bolts 520 is inserted into the frame 200 to push against the axle 430. In detail, the screw 530 passes through one slotted hole 230 on the first wall of the main body 220 to insert into the pin hole 431, and passes through another slotted hole 230 on the second wall of the main body 220 to come out. Each of the bolts 520 passes through each of the bolt holes 250 to abut an outside surface of the axle 430. Therefore, the axle 430 can be held on an expected position.
The quantities of the fastener 510 the fastening hole 240, the bolt hole 250, the slotted hole 230, the threading hole 432, the pin hole 431 the screw 530 and the bolt 520 mentioned above are exemplary and will not be limited thereto.
The direction-reversing device 100 can further include two secure structures 700. Each of the secure structures 700 is disposed at each of the side wheels 310, 320 to restricting the flexible member 600 and includes two holes 710, a pad 720, two screws 730 and two connecting elements 740. The two connecting elements 740 of each of the secure structures 700 are disposed at two sides of the side wheel 310 or two sides of the side wheel 320, respectively. The holes 710 are disposed at the pad 720. Each of the screws 730 passes through each of the holes 710 to engage with each of the connecting elements 740 so as to fix the pad 720 on the side wheel 310 or the side wheel 320. The pad 720 abuts against the flexible member 600 to prevent the flexible member 600 from loosening. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the pad 720 can further include a rough surface 721 (shown in FIG. 3A) facing toward the flexible member 600. The rough surface 721 can increase the friction between the flexible member 600 and the pad 720 and facilitate for holding the flexible member 600 on the side wheel 310 or the side wheel 320 tightly. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the flexible member 600 is a belt, but the flexible belt can be a cable, a wire or a cord and will not be limited thereto.
FIG. 3A shows a cross-sectional view of one using state of the direction-reversing device 100 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3B shows a cross-sectional view of another using state of the direction-reversing device 100 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3A, a distance between the central axis 12 of the reverse wheels 410, 420 and the third wall 223 of the frame 200 is D1. If a user wants to adjust the tension of the flexible member 600, the bolts 520 can be loosed first, and then the fasteners 510 can be rotated to change the relative position between the reverse wheels 410, 420 and the frame 200. As shown in FIG. 3B, the reverse wheels 410, 420 can be moved backward to change the distance, and the tension of the flexible member 600 becomes larger, that is, after adjusting the tension of the flexible member 600, the distance between the central axis I2 of the reverse wheels 410, 420 and the>third wall 223 of the frame 200 is defined as D2, and the distance D2 is smaller than the distance D1 which means a distance between the side wheels 310, 320 and the reverse wheels 410, 420 in FIG. 3B is farther than that in FIG. 3A. Moreover, because of the configurations of the screws 530 and the slotted holes 230, the axle 430 can be moved forward or backward along a horizontal line to prevent tilt occurring between the axle 430 and the frame 200. When the axle 430 is at the expected position, the user can tighten the bolts 520 to secure the axle 430. A force comes from the bolts 520 will push the axle 430 far away from the fastening holes 240 to make sure that the fasteners 510 are tightly engaged with the fastening holes 240 and the threading holes 432. Hence, the relative position of the reverse wheels 410, 420 will not be changed arbitrarily while the user is operating the direction-reversing device 100.
FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a direction-reversing device 100 b according to another embodiment the present disclosure. The direction-reversing device 100 b includes a frame 200 b, two side wheel (not labeled), a reverse wheel module 400 b, a flexible member (not labeled) and a tension adjusting mechanism 500 b. The structure of the frame 200 b, the side wheels, the reverse wheel module 400 b and the flexible member are similar to the structure of the frame 200, the side wheels 310, 320, the reverse wheel module 400 and the flexible member 600 described in FIGS. 1 to 3B, but structure of the tension adjusting mechanism 500 b are different. To be more specific, in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3B, the tension adjusting mechanism 500 includes bolts 520, but in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the bolts 520 are omitted.
FIG. 5 shows a three dimensional view of an exercise equipment 110 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing device 100 a and lever sets 800 a of FIG. 5. The exercise equipment 110 includes a supporting frame 910 a, a direction-reversing device 100 a and two lever sets 800 a. The direction-reversing device 100 a is disposed on the supporting frame 910 a. The two lever sets 800 a are connected to the two side wheels 310 a, 320 a (shown in FIG. 6) of the direction-reversing device 100 a,respectively. The two lever sets 800 a are linked with the direction-reversing device 100 a for swinging reciprocately and reversely.
To be more specific, the exercise equipment 110 can further include a handle 920 a, a seat base 930 a, and a case 940 a. The handle 920 a is disposed at the supporting frame 910 a for the user to hold during operating the exercise equipment 110. The seat base 930 a is disposed at the supporting frame 910 a for the user to sit. The direction-reversing device 100 a can further be covered by the case 940 a for dust proof. The lever sets 800 a are disposed outside of the case 940 a for the user to step on. Hence, the user can do high knee exercise, with one knee swinging toward the first direction while another knee swinging toward the second direction, via the assistance of the direction-reversing device 100 a.
As shown in FIG. 6, the direction-reversing device 100 a includes a frame 200 a, two side wheels 310 a, 320 a, a reverse wheel module 400 a, a flexible member 600 a, and a tension adjusting mechanism 500 a. The structures and configurations of the frame 200 a, the reverse wheel module 400 a, the flexible member 600 a and the tension adjusting mechanism 500 a are similar to the frame 200, the reverse wheel module 400, the flexible member 600 and the tension adjusting mechanism 500 as describing in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, and will not describe again herein. The side wheels 310 a, 320 a include grooves 311 a, 312 a for disposing the flexible member 600 a, so that the flexible member 600 a can be holed at a proper position for rotating with each of the side wheels 310 a, 320 a. Of course, the fabrication for securing the flexible member will not limited to the aforementioned secure structures 700 in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 and the aforementioned grooves 311 a, 312 a.
Each lever set 800 a includes a lever 810 a and a pedal 820 a. The two levers 810 a are connected the side wheel 310 a and the side wheel 320 a, respectively. The pedals 820 a are pivotally connected to the levers 810 a. Through the configuration of the lever sets 800 a, the user can put his/her feet on the pedals 820 a, respectively, so as to rotate the levers 810 a and the side wheels 310 a, 320 a. Because the flexible member 600 a is wound around the side wheels 310 a, 320 a and the reverse wheel module 400 a, the side wheel 310 a can rotate at the first direction while the side wheel 320 rotates at the second direction. Therefore, the feet of the user can swing toward opposite directions, respectively, and achieve a goal of reversing-exercise.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A direction-reversing device, comprising:

a frame;

two side wheels pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively;

a reverse wheel module disposed at the frame, and comprising:

two reverse wheels coaxially disposed to the frame, the reverse wheels being perpendicular to the side wheels;

a flexible member wound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels; and

a tension adjusting mechanism disposed at the frame, comprising:

at least one fastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame;

wherein the fastener is for changing a relative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module, and a tension of the flexible member is changed accordingly.

2. The direction-reversing device of claim 1, wherein the frame comprises at least one fastening hole, and the reverse wheel module further comprises:

an axle connecting the reverse wheels,, the axle being disposed inside the frame and comprising at least one threading hole corresponding to the fastening hole;

wherein the fastener is engaged with the threading hole through the fastening hole.

3. The direction-reversing device of claim 2 wherein the axle further comprises at least one pin hole, the frame further comprises at least one slotted hole, and the tension adjusting mechanism further comprises at least one screw coupled with the pin hole and the slotted hole.

4. The direction-reversing device of claim 3, wherein the tension adjusting mechanism further comprises:

a bolt inserting into the frame to push against the axle.

5. The direction-reversing device of claim 1, further comprising:

two secure structures, each of the secure structures being disposed at each of the side wheels for restricting the flexible member between the each of the side wheels and thereof.

6. The direction-reversing device of claim 5, wherein each of the secure structures comprises a pad to abut against the flexible member.

7. The direction-reversing device of claim 6, wherein the pad of each of the secure structures comprises a rough surface towards the flexible member.

8. The direction-revering device of claim 1, wherein each of the side wheels comprises a groove, and the flexible member is disposed in the groove.

9. The direction-reversing device of claim 1, wherein the flexible member is a belt, a cable, a wire or a cord.

10. An exercise equipment, comprising:

a supporting frame;

a direction-reversing device disposed on the supporting frame, comprising:

a frame;

two side wheels pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively;

a reverse wheel module disposed at the frame, comprising:

a flexible member wound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels; and

a tension adjusting mechanism disposed at the frame, comprising:

at least one fastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame, the fastener being for changing a relative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module, and a tension of the flexible member being changed accordingly; and

two lever sets connected to the two side wheels of the direction-reversing device, respectively, the two lever sets linked with the direction-reversing device for swinging reciprocately and reversely.

11. The exercise equipment of claim 10, wherein the frame comprises at least one fastening hole, and the reverse wheel module further comprises:

an axle connecting the reverse wheel, the axle being disposed inside the frame and comprising at least one threading hole corresponding to the fastening hole;

12. The exercise equipment of claim 11, wherein the axle further comprises at least one pin hole, the frame further comprises at least one slotted hole, and the tension adjusting mechanism further comprises at least one screw coupled with the pin hole and the slotted hole.

13. The exercise equipment of claim 11, wherein the tension adjusting mechanism further comprises:

a bolt inserting into the frame to push against the axle.

14. The exercise equipment of claim 10, further comprising:

15. The exercise equipment of claim 14, wherein each of the secure structures comprises a pad to abut against the flexible member.

16. The exercise equipment of claim 10, wherein each of the side wheels comprises a groove, and the flexible member is disposed in the groove.

17. The exercise equipment of claim 10, wherein each of the lever sets comprise:

a lever for connecting one of the side wheels; and

a pedal pivotally connected to the lever.