FR2524329A1 - Gymnastic apparatus with lever and elastic straps - has twin parallel rows of holes in upright, for adjusting position and degree of effort - Google Patents

Abstract

The gymnastic appts. has an upright (1) on which a lever (6) is fixed to which muscular force is applied against elastic straps (13,13',14,14'). The upright has two parallel vertical rows of holes (4,5) so that the lever's angle of rotation can be modified by moving its pivot (8). The elastic straps are held between two rods (11,15) and their tension is adjusted by altering the position of one rod (15) in the second row of holes (5). A box-shaped separator can be fitted on the upright and supports the pivot to allow the lever to rotate through more than 180 deg.

Description

Improvement to universal equipment for gymnastics.

The present invention relates to improvements made to an apparatus making it possible to perform a large number of gymnastic exercises tending to allow dissociated work on muscle groups of the whole body. Improving muscle tone, an essential route to good physical shape, is only obtained through muscular work done to overcome strong resistance. To this end, the use of weight was a big step forward.

However, these weights are not yet the ideal solution. In fact, in all exercises performed with dumbbells and weights, the muscles are subjected to maximum effort only for a short period, the point of which coincides with the condition of maximum disadvantage of the lever constituted by the members.

On longer runs, towards the beginning and end of the movement, at the points which correspond to more favorable levers, the muscles are little stressed.

In addition, at the point corresponding to the end of the movement, the muscular effort is practically zero insofar as the weight is practically supported by the skeleton framework. It is only by varying resistance that this disadvantage can be overcome.

According to this concept, the muscles work to overcome resistance which increases in proportion to the muscular force available, until the end of the movement.

Until now, the solutions have consisted of machines with variable cams and levers, in other words machines of colt, of very high weight and size and therefore professional machines that only certain institutes or clubs can possibly to put.

We then built machines of simpler shape and reduced dimensions capable of being installed and used at home, which use as variable resistance a series of elastic rings whose resistance increases with extension and according to an ideal curve .

These devices are essentially constituted by an upright carrying along its vertical axis a serine of holes through which can be introduced cleats making it possible to fix (at the desired height and according to the stature of the person using the device and the exercises that it must execute) a device constituted essentially by an arm with handle which functions like a lever of the second kind in which the power is constituted by the handle on which the hands or the feet of the person are applied, the pivot point is constituted by the point of attachment of the device on the column, and the resistance is applied to two arms projecting laterally between the pivot point and the handle, not far from the first, arms to which said elastic rings which are fixed are fixed at their other end on another cleat introduced into other holes (arranged above or below that which constitutes the pivot of the arm) at a d istance approximately equal to the half-development of the elastic ring.

When the exercise requires it, the end of a bench is arranged and fixed in other holes on the vertical column.

It has been found that the devices thus produced, even if they have constituted significant progress compared to those comprising weights, themselves have limits due above all to the limited angle of rotation of the mentioned arm.

The object of the present invention consists in improvements made to the apparatus described above, of the type capable of being installed also in a private dwelling and using elastic resistance working as extension force, improvements allowing a large extension of the possibilities of use (the device allowing more than 80 different exercises capable of developing the various muscles of the human body, as opposed to the maximum 20 to 30 exercises of known devices) as well as the use as a device for training for many sports (windsurfing, skiing, tennis, swimming, etc.).

We also obtain the possibility of better adjusting the strength of the resistance constituted by the elastic expanders, by modifying the inclination, as well as improving and making more comfortable the support position of the feet.

The invention consists in having, in addition to a row of vertical holes, a second row parallel to the first, in a position in front of the first row, as well as in the possibility of adapting to this new row of holes a support capable of moving the pivot point of the arm outwards from the upright.

This gives an increase in the angle of rotation of the bar, which can exceed 1800, with the possibility of obtaining starting points of the bar from negative positions, which makes it possible to perform specific exercises, and in addition, by moving the second point of application of the expanders forwards and backwards, it is possible to modify the inclination and therefore, depending on the expanders, the resistance force of the bar. Similarly, when you act while lying on the bench and you have to support yourself with your feet, it is possible, by placing the cleat on which you lean with the sole of the foot in a hole in the rear row and the one with which one rests with the instep in a higher hole, but of the anterior row, to occupy a more comfortable and anatomically more correct position.

Another improvement consists in the fact of having provided that the device which supports the bench is also pierced so as to be able to also insert there cleats which can be gripped with the hands, in order to allow other exercises.

The invention will be better understood on reading the description of an embodiment set out by way of example and without limitation, with reference to the attached drawings in which
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus
according to the invention, on which is mounted a type of
bar and bench; Figure 2 is a hole view
days in perspective, of the device allowing
away from the pivot point and figure 3 is
a perspective view of an alternative embodiment
from the bar.

With reference to FIG. 1, the apparatus according to the invention essentially consists of a column element 1 which is preferably of rectangular section and provided with two plates and supports 2, 3 allowing the column to be fixed against a wall .

On column 1 are made on its main faces, which after mounting are arranged perpendicular to the wall, two series of parallel and equidistant holes between them 4-4'-4 ", etc., and 5-5'-5", etc. .. The device for performing the exercises, that is to say the lever arm 6, is constituted by two arms 7 and 7 'having approximately the shape of an "S" (as shown in Figure 1 ). On one end of these arms are made two holes 8 into which the cleat 9 is inserted which, passing through these two holes and two corresponding holes of one of the two rows of holes 4 or 5 made in column 1, allow the fixation of the arm on the column and constitute the pivot of the lever. At the other end of said arms is placed the bar 10 to which is applied, by means of the hands and feet, the muscular force of the operator, this bar constituting the point of application of the power of the lever. At an intermediate point between the holes 9 and the bar 10, outside of the column I and near the external face of the latter, is fixed another transverse element 11 carrying at its ends two elements with heads 12 and 12 'constituting the points of application of the resistance of the lever system.

The resistive force consists of one or more pairs of expanders 13, 13'-14, 14 ', etc. (of variable section depending on the resistance force that one wants to apply) which are fixed on the one hand to the two sides of the crossbar il of the device 6 and on the other hand to the two projecting parts of another cleat 15 inserted in another hole located below or above the pivot point of the device 6 depending on whether it is desired to apply to the bar 10 a force from top to bottom or from bottom to top.

According to the elastic expanders, the resistance force can be modified by varying the inclination of the rings, that is to say by placing the cleat 15 no longer in the holes of the rear row, but in those of the front row, according to the present invention.

It is thus possible to increase the angle of rotation of the bar 10 by moving the location of the pivot point of the device 6 from the position of FIG. 1 in the rear row of holes to a position chosen in the front row.

The position of the pivot is adjusted relative to the ground by fixing the pivot 8 of the device 6 in a hole located higher or lower, depending on the size of the operator or the exercise he must perform.

When it is necessary or when one wishes to carry out exercises while lying down (for example by acting with the feet) on the bar 10, one uses the bench seat 16 which is constituted by two longitudinal crosspieces 17, having substantially an “L” profile or in "T", arranged in parallel and having at one end a hole 18 by means of which they can be connected, by the intermediary of another cleat 19 passing through this hole and two holes of column 1, to the column itself , and the bench is also provided with two extendable legs 20 and 20 'on which the table 21 is supported and to which it is connected by known means.

The two cross members 17 have, over their entire length, a series of holes 22 into which can be inserted cleats of the type of cleats 9, 15 and 19 mentioned above, or identical to these, which can be hung by hands when exercise requires.

In a part located at the front of the holes 18, the front part of each of the crosspieces 17 comprises a recess 23 allowing the bench seat to be suspended vertically against the column 1, when the device is not in use.

Referring to FIG. 2, the invention provides for the use, using the row of front holes 5, of a spacer 24 essentially constituted by a box-shaped element having 25 of them on the two wings of 1 '"U" two pairs of holes 26 and 27 aligned two by two vertically and horizontally.

The distance between the two wings of the "U" allows it to surround the column 1 and to move along it, which makes it possible to fix the spacer to the column itself, in the position in desired height, on said anterior row of holes 5 by means of two known tabs. This U-shaped box-shaped element 25 comprises, on the core of the "U", two flanges 28 and 28 'in which two pairs of parallel holes 29, 29' and 30, 30 'are made to which one can fix the device 6 by means of the usual cleat.

Thanks to this additional element, the possibility of rotation of the device 6 around the pivot point 8 is considerably increased, the clearance exceeding 1800, which allows the handle of the device itself to also occupy negative positions ( beyond the vertical), which allows you to perform other specific exercises.

FIG. 3 represents another type of equipment 31 which allows the user to place himself inside it, for the execution of other varied exercises.

 I1 is constituted by a bar in their 32 which carries on the side which connects the two arms of their two small arms 33, 33 'provided with holes 34 and 34' making it possible to fix via the two known cleats the equipment on column 1 or on spacer 24.

The arms of the "U" terminate in two sockets 35 and 35 'into which the handles of the apparatus are threaded, which can be of the type shown in FIG. 3, as in 36 and 36', that is to say straight and short, or in the form of cranks as in 37 and 37 ', or in the form of a bar as in 38.

The handles 36 and 36 'as well as 37 and 37' can be mounted with the socket facing the outside of the bar, as shown in Figure 3, or vice versa towards the inside of the bar as required by the exercise.

From the foregoing description, it can be seen how the innovations of the present invention make the device extremely more adaptable than those known, by making it possible to increase the possibilities of using the device by multiplying them several times compared to those previously achievable (around 80 exercises compared to 20/30) and also making it possible to perform preparatory exercises for certain sports such as windsurfing, tennis, etc.

It goes without saying that the examples described above are given by way of nonlimiting examples and that other configurations of the column and of the spacer can be imagined without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (3)

Claims 1. Improvement brought to universal gymnastic apparatus, the resistance of which consists of elastic expanders of variable force, characterized in that the column (1) on which is fixed the apparatus (6) to which the muscular force to be applied is applied , is provided in its vertical direction with a second row of holes (5), arranged in front of and parallel to the first row (4) to allow a modification of the angle of rotation of the device. 2. Universal gymnastic apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the presence of the second row of holes allows, for the same resistance force of the elastic expanders, to modify the inclination and therefore their resistance force. 3. universal gymnastic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that a spacer element (24) is adaptably adjustable on the column (1) with fixing in said second row of holes (5 ), this spacer comprising projecting flanges (28-28 ') in which holes (29-30) are provided for mounting the pivot of the arm (7), which allows a further increase in the angle of rotation of the lever arm beyond 1800 and even in a negative position relative to the vertical, thus making the device suitable for performing certain specific exercises and training for various sports.