WO1999052600A1

WO1999052600A1 - Gym equipment with muscular effort integration device

Info

Publication number: WO1999052600A1
Application number: PCT/EP1999/002412
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leandro Mattiuzzo; Gianni Mattiuzzo
Original assignee: Leandro Mattiuzzo; Gianni Mattiuzzo
Priority date: 1998-04-10
Filing date: 1999-04-09
Publication date: 1999-10-21
Also published as: ITVI980068A1; AU3707299A

Abstract

The invention relates to a gym equipment including: a seat (70) at position the person using said equipment; one or more weights (4, 13) moved by muscular effort through levers and/or pulleys. Said equipment is provided with an actuator device (5, 18) connected to a circuit with a medium under pressure, said actuator device is applied to the part of the equipment (3) that receives the muscular push, said device presses in the same direction as the push exerted by the user of said equipment.

Description

GYM EQUIPMENT WITH MUSCULAR EFFORT INTEGRATION DEVICE The invention refers to a muscular effort integration device for application on gym equipment involving the movement of weights by means of muscular force. It is known that there is a multitude of equipment that is used both by persons who want to develop their muscles or keep them in optimum tone, such as for instance athletes, and by persons who use the equipment to rehabilitate their body after, for example, surgery following a road accident or any other cause. With special regard to rehabilitation, it can be observed that most gym equipment includes a seat to position the person using the equipment, one or more weights moved by muscular effort via levers and pulleys. The movement made by the user of the equipment consists in using muscles to push away a part of the equipment that is connected to weights. The force required to achieve this push can be varied by changing the number of weights. Once the force that the user can support has been determined and thus selected the weight to apply to the gym equipment, the effort that the person has to exert remains constant from the first exercise through to the last. It is natural that during the gym exercise, the muscles will begin to undergo fatigue due to the repeated muscular effort and a frequent result is that the person in rehabilitation decides to gradually reduce the effort as the exercise continues.

At present, all known equipment does not provide a device that can vary effort, if not by varying the weight applied to the machine. The main scope of the invention is to overcome the aforementioned limitations. The intention is in fact to furnish gym equipment with a device that enables the user of the equipment to vary the effort applied to the equipment in such a way that, for instance after a given number of exercises, this effort can be reduced. In other words to make the device applied to the equipment share a given quota, set by the user himself, of the force needed to drive the gym device so that the muscular effort exerted by the user is lowered.

It also intends to achieve another scope, being that the invention device can also be used as an emergency device. If, in fact, the person using the equipment does not feel in the condition to continue the gym exercise, the device should enable the muscular effort applied to the equipment to be interrupted without the risk of injury. In other words, the scope is to make it so that the user of the gym equipment can even stop the gym exercise immediately under any condition without the risk of the moving part of the equipment colliding against his body with the risk of damage or injury by the equipment being used. Furthermore, the intention is to make the invention device inexpensive and applicable to existing equipment without its application causing significant changes to the machine's structure.

Last but not least, the scope is to make a device that is inexpensive, easy to mount and easy to use. All the aforementioned scopes and others that shall be further illustrated later can be achieved by a gym equipment which includes:

- a seat to position the person using said equipment

- one or more weights moved by muscular effort by means of levers and/or pulleys.

Where said gym equipment, in accordance with the contents of the principle claim, is characterised by the fact that it involves an actuator device, connected to a circuit with a medium under pressure, mounted on the part of the equipment used to receive the muscular effort and said device produces a force in the same direction as the push exerted by the user of said equipment.

According to the preferred form of execution of the invention, the actuator device is a pneumatic cylinder connected to a compressor that puts a medium under pressure, where the pneumatic circuit has a pressure regulator and escape valve.

Other characteristics and details of the invention shall be illustrated further in the description of the two preferred forms of execution of the invention given merely as a guideline but not limitation and illustrated in the tables attached hereto, where:

- fig. 1 shows a gym machine with the invention device;

- fig. 2 shows another example of gym equipment with the invention device;

- fig.'s 3 to 6 show a diagram sequence of the various phases of the medium circuit actuating the invention device.

Fig. 1 illustrates weight lifting equipment, generally indicated by 1 which, in the example, refers to a physical exercise of rhythmically pushing carriage 2 with the legs by resting the feet on platform 3. This movement, through pulleys 8 and cables 9, is accomplished by lifting and lowering the counterweight 4 in direction of arrows X and Y. In the example shown in fig.1 , the invention device involves a single-acting pneumatic cylinder 5 that acts by the outward stroke of pushrod 6 in the same direction of the push exercised by the user on platform 3, while the user remains in a stable position with his back against backrest 7 of the seat 70. The pressure of the medium, in this case air, inside cylinder 5 can be varied according to the aid the user wishes to obtain. This is achieved by adjusting handwheel 101 that regulates the air pressure supplied by compressor 10 in section A of the pneumatic circuit. In the event that, during the physical exercise performed by the user of the gym machine, he should become overly fatigued, thereby gradually reducing his muscular capacity, the user can action lever 106 of distributor 102 so that the air pressure supplied to cylinder 5 contributing a force in the same direction as the push exerted by the user of the gym machine. More specifically with reference to fig. 3, the circuit diagram it represents shows that when lever 106 of distributor 102 is kept open by the user of the gym machine, the compressed air in section A of the circuit passes through OR valve 103 so that it also runs through section C of the circuit to reach cylinder 5 which is thus moved. Usually, the pressure in section A of the circuit is regulated before starting the gym exercise by adjusting handwheel 101 on regulator 107. In this way, the user only has to turn lever 106 whenever he needs aid from the device. When lever 106 is released, as illustrated in fig. 4, cylinder 5 is discharged through the vent on distributor 102 and this makes platform 3 move towards the user. The compressed air that passes through section A of the pneumatic circuit always has a lower pressure than the compressed air in section B of the circuit. In fact, in section B the pressure is higher than in ^'section A for reasons that shall be explained later.

In the event of an emergency, or any other reason for which the user of the equipment is no longer capable of sustaining an effort however reduced, if the user presses button 11 he will immediately increase the pressure in cylinder 5 and consequently permanently move platform 3 away, so that the user can leave the equipment without being hurt.

The diagram in fig. 5 shows how the emergency operation corresponds to the opening of distributor 110, by means of emergency button 11 , which makes the pressure in section B, which as said is higher than in section A, pass through to the OR valve 103. In this way, passing through section C, the higher air pressure reaches cylinder 5 keeping its stroke always out. Naturally the invention equipment shown in fig. 1 , can operate perfectly normally, in other words without being aided by the push given by pneumatic cylinder 5. In fact, as shown in fig. 6, if distributors 102 and 110 are idle, compressed air does not reach section C and so pushrod 6 of cylinder 5 can rock freely without resistance from its minimum to maximum stroke.

Fig. 2 illustrates another gym machine, in this example suitable for rehabilitation of the knee joint. In this case the user 12 rhythmically lifts cylinder 13 by a set weight positioned transversely and lifts by means of the movement of the shin and top of the foot. To reduce effort in the event of fatigue the invention device offers cylinder 18 that operates a rack 15 back and forth, being part of pushrod 19. Through the toothed wheel 20, the rack causes an alternating rocking rotation of the operator pin 16. In this way the push that the user has to exert on bar 17 can be reduced according to needs, by operating lever 106, which controls the distributor, sending compressed air into the actuator cylinder 18. In the event of an emergency, button 11 intervenes all the same, being connected to the maximum pressure valve 104 of the compressor 10.

The actuator device invention can naturally be achieved by a hydraulic cylinder instead of a pneumatic one. In this case the circuit controlling the cylinder would have to be modified accordingly, with measures known to any specialist in this field, however maintaining the same function.

Claims

1 ) Gym equipment including:

- a seat (70) at position the person using said equipment;

- one or more weights (4, 13) moved by muscular effort through levers and/or pulleys, characterised in that it is provided with an actuator device (5, 18) connected to a circuit with a medium under pressure, said actuator device being applied to the part of the equipment (3) that receives the muscular push, said device pressing in the same direction as the push exerted by the user of said equipment. 2) Gym equipment according to claim 1 ) characterised in that said actuator device is operated by a lever (106) that opens a distributor (102) of medium under pressure.

3) Gym equipment according to claim 1 ) is characterised in that said actuator device provides means of regulating the push applied to said part of the equipment

4) Gym equipment according to anyone of the aforesaid claims characterised in that said actuator device is a medium operated cylinder.

5) Gym equipment according to claim 4) characterised in that the medium operated cylinder is a single-acting cylinder. 6) Gym equipment according to any claim from 1 ) to 5) characterised in that said actuator is provided with an emergency button that operates a distributor (110) that supplies the actuator (5, 18) with the maximum pressure of the medium circuit, so that it enables said actuator to operate its maximum stroke away from the part of the equipment (3) that receives the muscular push.

7) Gym equipment according to claim 3) characterised in that the means of regulation of the push of said device consists in a pressure regulator (107) of the pressure circuit.