AU2010100993A4 - Gymnasium Running Machine - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 28/5/91 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Name of Applicant: Josep Bernabeu Serna Actual Inventor: Josep Bernabeu Serna Address for service is: Golja Haines & Friend 35 Wickham Street East Perth Western Australia 6004 Invention Title: GYMNASIUM RUNNING MACHINE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 1 -2 GYMNASIUM RUNNING MACHINE DESCRIPTION 5 OBJECT OF THE INVENTION This invention refers to a gymnastics running machine of the sort used in gymnasiums, hotels, sports facilities, urbanisations or private homes to 10 bum calories and to train for a sporting running trial. The object of the invention is to provide a gymnasium treadmill which enables both beginner runners and experts to train in a way which is customised to a particular type of terrain, specifically that created by grass. 15 BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION It is known how a culture of sport and health is extending 20 increasingly in all social strata. Within this framework, running is one of the sports most practiced by society. Running is a so-called high-impact physical activity, a culmination of successive leaps which create stress and microtraumas in joints, 25 tendons, ligaments, etc. In the awareness that running is a high-impact activity, the necessary precautions must be taken to ensure that such activity is not harmful for our organism, the ideal being to exercise to feel healthy, and not to injure 30 oneself.

-3 There are in this sense decisive factors to avoid this type of microtrauma, one being the footwear and the other the choice of surface where such activity is carried on. 5 Thus, hard surfaces such as asphalt produce greater rebound and less shock absorption, increasing the potential for lesion and tendinitis, (inflammation of the tendons), periostitis (inflammation of the periosteum, the membrane covering the bones), joint lesions, etc. 10 Moreover, it is most important to mention that these inconveniences increase if an individual is overweight, which is habitual in those who embark in this type of physical activity and who are unaware of these technical questions about the choice of training surface. 15 Thus, the overweight must take greater care still not to exercise on hard terrain such as cement, asphalt, floorboards, etc. Similarly, the number of persons attending gymnasiums each 20 year is progressively increasing. Most of these persons attend to bum calories, that is to lose weight, making treadmills an essential element because the number of calories consumed on this type of machine is far higher than on others such as static cycles, step and even rowing. 25 The problem with this type of device lies is that the running surface, the belt as such, is made of a material a based on gum, rubber or the like, with characteristics that have nothing to do with the surfaces on which this open-air sport is normally practiced, such as grass for example. 30 It would consequently be desirable for treadmill belts on which -4 the physical exercise is pursued to be as close as possible to the real conditions when such exercise takes place outdoors, significantly reducing the risk of lesion. 5 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The treadmill belt proposed in the invention resolves the problem set out above in a completely satisfactory way, offering a training surface which simulates grass. 10 Therefore, and more specifically, the belt is based on the conventional structuring of any type of treadmill, involving the belt itself, fitted with electrical driving means for its lengthwise movement, together with resources to regulate slope, and which are controlled through a 15 microcontroller linked to a control panel mounted on a frame emerging from one end of the belt, enabling the user to control both the forward speed of the belt and its slope, depending on the calories it is wished to bum and the time to be taken. 20 Based on this conventional structure, the invention's features are focused on the fact that the belt itself, made of gum, rubber or similar material giving it high strength and elasticity, making it possible to lengthen the device's useful life, carries a surface covering based on artificial grass attached to it using adhesive or any other conventional means. 25 As a result, the surface on which the user steps is completely different from that on conventional treadmills, providing an equally different sensation similar to that experienced when running outdoors on grass, making pursuit of this sport more comfortable and attractive to those practising it 30 -5 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS As a complement to the description being given and to provide 5 a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention according to a preferential form for its practical design, a set of drawings is attached as an integral part of said description showing the following, by way of illustration and without limitation: 10 Figure 1.- Shows a perspective view of a treadmill made according to the subject of this invention. Figure 2.- Shows a detail lateral elevation of the actual treadmill structure. 15 A PREFERENTIAL DESIGN OF THE INVENTION In said figures, it can be seen how the running machine (1) 20 advocated is based as is standard in this type of machine on a chassis (2) which may have small wheels (3) or support feet (3) to move it, along with supports (4) to stabilise it on the floor, including a vertical frame (5), a chassis (2) on which a belt as such is assembled (6) which can be driven longitudinally by means of one or more electrical motors (7), fitted with 25 forward speed devices to regulate the belt as such (6), while the chassis may in turn incorporate devices on its rear end (8) to adjust the slope of the belt (6) both up and down, such as electric switches or similar elements, these means to regulate the height and speed of the belt (6) being connected to a microcontroller enabling it to be controlled manually via a command panel (9) 30 on the upper end of the frame (5), which has the classical handles (10) to -6 support the runner's hands. In accordance with the essence of the invention, on the basis of this conventional structure, the belt (6) as such comprises two layers of 5 different nature, the first, interior, as is the convention, made of elastic material such as gum, rubber and the like, and a second, external layer (11), over the previous one, based on artificial grass, using variable-length polythene fibres depending on the specific needs of each case, to be attached to the belt (6) using adhesive or any other conventional means. 10 Naturally, the frame dimensions will be redesigned to bear the considerable increase of thickness of a new assembly of the belt itself; remaining mechanisms are not significantly affected in this respect.

Claims (2)

1.- A gymnastics running machine of the type made up of a chassis or frame on which a belt as such is mounted made of gum, rubber or 5 another similar elastic material, fitted with electrical drive resources for its lengthwise movement and which may incorporate devices to adjust its slope, managed by means of a microcontroller connected to a control panel on said machine's upper frame, wherein the belt itself incorporates an upper covering based on artificial grass. 10

2. A gymnastics running machine substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.