GB2407046A

GB2407046A - Twisting exercise device

Info

Publication number: GB2407046A
Application number: GB0324393A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Cheng-Hsiung Hsu
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-10-17
Filing date: 2003-10-17
Publication date: 2005-04-20
Also published as: TWM257857U; GB0324393D0

Abstract

A twisting exercising device with an electronic counter is disclosed. It comprises a lower disk portion 10, an upper disk portion 20, a supporting assembly 30, and an electronic counter 50. This electronic counter 50 is mounted on the upper disk portion 20. It has a display 51, a setting knob 52, a first sensor 53 and a second sensor 54. When the rotating direction changes, the electronic counter 50 receives a first or a second electronic signal so that the electronic counter 50 accumulates its count and shows on the display 51. It can solve the traditional mechanical counter non-working problem. The twisting resistance can be easily adjusted.

Description

TITLE: TWISTING EXERCISING DEVICE

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a twisting exercising device, especially to a twisting exercising device having an electronic counter. It can solve the non-working problem of the traditional mechanical counter. The twisting resistance can be easily adjusted.

And, the product life is prolonged.

l 0 2. Description of the Prior Art

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 8, the traditional twisting exercising device comprises a stationary lower disk portion 10, a rotatable upper disk portion 20, a bearing (not shown) and a mechanical counter 90.

The mechanical counter 90 disposed on the upper disk portion 20 has a ]5 collision-typed activating rod 91. A circular path (shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 2) is disposed inside the device. However, a fixed ball 92 is mounted on the lower disk portion 10 by some glue 93.

When a user stands on the upper disk portion 20 and makes a twist to the left with a first angle 4, it can be shown in FIG. 4. Before starting the twist, the activating rod 91 of the mechanical counter 90 does not contact with the fixed ball 92, as shown in FIG. 7. During the movement, the activating rod 92 contacts with the upper periphery of the fixed ball 92 to slide over it, as shown in FIG. 6. After sliding over it, the activating rod 91 returns to its lower original position. Meanwhile, the mechanical counter 90 will accumulate its count. Then, this mechanical will move along the circular path over about the first angle as shown in FIG.4.

Next, the user standing on the upper disk portion 20 starts to twist to the right.

So, the mechanical counter 90 will move back to a position as shown in FIG. 3. The activating rod 91 will slide over the fixed ball 92 and causes the activating rod 91 moving up temporarily as shown in FIG. 6. After passing this position, the activating rod 92 moves down and returns to it original position as shown in FIG. 8. At this moment, the mechanical counter 90 will accumulate the count again. Finally, the mechanical counter 90 will move along the circular path to another position with a second angle as shown in FIG 5. That is, if the user repeats to do the twisting exercise back and forth, the mechanical counter 90 will accumulate the count whenever it slides over the fixed ball 92.

However, after using it many times, the upper disk portion 20 might stay at another position like the example shown in FIG. 8. In which, the mechanical counter stays at a non-working position away from the fixed ball 92. Under such circumstances, even though the user twists between to the left end (first angle 4) l5 and the right end (second angle 9), the activating rod 91 will never contact with the fixed ball 92. As a result, the mechanical counter 90 does not work. That is, the counting function of the traditional twisting exercising device is stopped.

In addition, when the activating rod 91 of the mechanical counter 90 slides over the fixed ball 92. It is a collision-typed contact. So, it is easy to make the activating rod 91 be broken. Also, such repeated collisions cause terrible noises. It will influence the user's feeling during exercising.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a twisting exercising device. Its electronic counter is activated by the change of rotating direction. It can solve the problem when the traditional mechanical counter stays at a non-working position.

The other object of the present invention is to provide a twisting exercising device. In which, the twisting resistance can be easily adjusted.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a twisting exercising device. Without any repeated collisions on the counter, the product life can be significantly prolonged.

In order to achieve the above objects, a technical solution is provided. A twisting exercising device comprising: a stationary lower disk portion having a bottom surface, a lower central hole and a lower circular rail portion; said lower circular rail portion being substantially horizontal; a rotatable upper disk portion having a top surface for supporting a user's feet, an upper central hole and an upper circular rail portion, said upper circular rail being disposed on an inner surface of the upper disk portion and being substantially horizontal, said upper disk portion is rotatable to a first direction horizontally or to a second direction horizontally that is opposite to said first direction; a supporting assembly having a supporting plate, a plurality of through roller receiving portions between said lower circular rail portion and said upper circular rail portion being formed near a periphery of said supporting plate, each roller receiving portion being disposed with a rotatable roller, so as to make said upper disk portion to support a user standing on and rotatable; and an electronic counter mounted said upper disk portion having a display, a setting knob, a first sensor and a second sensor, wherein when the rotating direction of said upper disk portion changes from said first direction to said second direction, said first sensor produces a first electronic signal, when the rotating direction changes from said second direction to said first direction, said second sensor produces a second electronic signal; so that when said electronic counter receives a first or a second electronic signal, the electronic counter accumulates its count and shows on said display.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the traditional twisting exercising device; FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a selected portion of the disassembled l0 traditional twisting exercising device; FIG. 3 shown the traditional twisting exercising device at a first operating condition; FIG. 4 shown the traditional twisting exercising device at a second operating condition; ]5 FIG. 5 shows the traditional twisting exercising device at a third operating condition; FIG. 6 shows the activating rod of the traditional twisting exercising device is sliding over the mechanical counter; FIG. 7 shows the activating rod of the traditional twisting exercising device does not contact with the mechanical counter; FIG. 8 shows the traditional twisting exercising device in which the mechanical counter stays at a non-working position away from the fixed ball; FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the present invention; FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a selected portion about the roller of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the electronic counter of the present invention; FIG. 12 illustrates the first condition of the electronic counter; FIG. 13 illustrates the second condition of the electronic counter; and FIG. 14 illustrates the third condition of the electronic counter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

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Referring to FIGS. 9 to 11, this invention relates to a twisting exercising device.

It mainly comprises a lower disk portion 10, an upper disk portion 20, a supporting assembly 30 and an electronic counter 50.

lo This stationary lower disk portion 10 has a bottom surface, a lower central hole 11, and a lower circular rail portion 12. The lower circular rail portion 12 is substantially horizontal.

The rotatable upper disk portion 20 has a top surface for supporting a user's feet, an upper central hole 21 and an upper circular rail portion 22. The upper circular ] 5 rail 22 is disposed on an inner surface of the upper disk portion 20 and is substantially horizontal. The upper disk portion 20 can be rotated by the user's feet to a first direction R1 horizontally or to a second direction R2 horizontally that is opposite to said first direction R1. That is, the user can do the repeated twisting exercise on the upper disk portion 20.

The supporting assembly 30 has a supporting plate 31. A plurality of through roller receiving portions 311 between the lower circular rail portion 12 and the upper circular rail portion 22 is formed near a periphery of the supporting plate 31 thee FIG. 11). Each roller receiving portion 311 is disposed with a suitable rotatable roller 40 (such as s steel ball), so as to allow the upper disk portion 20 to support a user standing on and to be rotatable.

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The electronic counter 50 is mounted the upper disk portion 20 having a display 51, a setting knob 52, a first sensor 53 and a second sensor 54. More specifically, as shown in FIGS.11 to 14, the first sensor 53 has a slightly tilted mercury-typed shock switch 531 containing a liquid conductor 532 (preferably a mercury) that is movable from a lower position to a higher position inside and has a first output port 533. And, the second sensor 54 has an opposite slightly tilted mercury-type shock switch 541 containing another liquid conductor 542 (preferably a mercury) that is also movable from a lower position to a higher position inside and has a second output port 543.

At the beginning, as shown in FIG. 12, both the first and second output ports 533, 543 are OFF. In which, when the rotating direction of the upper disk portion 20 changes from the first direction R1 to the second direction R2 (generating an inertial force to make the first conductor 532 move up temporarily), as shown in FIG. 13, the first sensor 53 outputs a first electronic signal (so that the first output port 533 becomes ON). Similarly, when the rotating direction changes from the second ]5 direction R2 to the first direction R1 (generating an inertial force to make the second conductor 542 move up temporarily), as shown in FIG. 14, the second sensor 54 outputs a second electronic signal (so that the first output port 533 becomes ON).

Also, when the electronic counter 50 receives a first or a second electronic signal, the electronic counter 50 accumulates its count and shows on the display 51.

Therefore, when the user twists, the rotating direction either changes from the clockwise direction to the counter-clockwise direction, and vice versa. At the changing moment, it will cause an inertial force to make the first or the second conductor 532,542 move. Thus, it generates a first or a second electronic signal to accumulate the count of the electronic counter 50. Thus, it solves the problem (cannot work and easy to break) when the traditional mechanical counter moves to a non-working position.

In addition, this invention can further comprise: a fixing element 61 through the upper central hole 21, a central channel 312 disposed on the supporting assembly 30, and the lower central hole 11; the first fixing element 61 has a threaded portion 611; and a twisting resistance adjusting knob 62 having a threaded hole 621 that is rotatably engaged on the threaded portion 611 of the fixing element 61 and is adjustable for tightening or loosening the upper disk portion 20 so as to obtain a desired frictional resistant force between the twisting resistance adjusting knob 62 and upper disk portion 20.

Furthermore, if the user wants to increase the resistance during the twisting exercise in order to obtain a higher exercising effect, the user can rotate this twisting resistance adjusting knob 62. Hence, a suitable frictional resistant force can be obtained.

l 5 The advantages and functions can be summarized as follows: [1] To solve the traditional mechanical counter non-working problem. In this invention, the count is based the change of rotating direction. So, it avoids the traditional mechanical counter non-working problem (when the counter move too far away).

[2] The twisting resistance can be easily adjusted. By adjusting the twisting resistance adjusting knob, the user can easily obtain a desire twisting resistance to increase or decrease the exercising load.

[3] The product life is prolonged. In this invention, there are no any repeated collisions. Thus, the product life can be significantly prolonged.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A twisting exercising device comprising: a

stationary lower disk portion having a bottom surface, a lower central hole and a lower circular rail portion; said lower circular rail portion being substantially horizontal; a rotatable upper disk portion having a top surface for supporting a user's feet, an upper central hole and an upper circular rail portion, said upper circular rail being disposed on an inner surface of the upper disk portion and being substantially horizontal, said upper disk portion is rotatable to a first direction horizontally or to a to second direction horizontally that is opposite to said first direction; a supporting assembly having a supporting plate, a plurality of through roller receiving portions between said lower circular rail portion and said upper circular rail portion being formed near a periphery of said supporting plate, each roller receiving portion being disposed with a rotatable roller, so as to make said upper disk portion to ]5 support a user standing on and rotatable; and an electronic counter mounted said upper disk portion having a display, a setting knob, a first sensor and a second sensor, wherein when the rotating direction of said upper disk portion changes from said first direction to said second direction, said first sensor produces a first electronic signal, when the rotating direction changes from said second direction to said first direction, said second sensor produces a second electronic signal; so that when said electronic counter receives a first or a second electronic signal, the electronic counter accumulates its count and shows on said display.
2. A twisting exercising device according to Claim 1, wherein said first sensor is a slightly tilted mercury-typed shock sensor containing a liquid conductor movable from a lower position to a higher position inside and having a first output port; and said second sensor is an opposite slightly tilted mercury-type shock sensor containing another liquid conductor movable from a lower position to a higher position inside and having a second output port.
3. A twisting exercising device according to Claim 1, further comprising: a fixing element through said upper central hole, a central channel disposed on said supporting assembly, and said lower central hole, said first fixing element having a threaded portion; and a twisting resistance adjusting knob having a threaded hole rotatably engaged on said threaded portion of said fixing element and being adjustable for tightening or loosening said upper disk portion so as to obtain a desired frictional resistant force between said twisting resistance adjusting knob and upper disk portion.
4. A twisting exercising device substantially as described herein, with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.