EP2408415B1 - Bead massage device with a rotary vessel - Google Patents

Description

The field of the invention is that of the design and manufacture of massage equipment. More specifically, the invention relates to a ball massage device, intended in particular for massage of the lower and upper limbs of the human body, or to massage the feet and hands.

• rééduquer ou soulager les membres supérieurs (mains, poignets, coudes) et inférieurs (pieds, chevilles), atteints notamment de traumatismes, entorses, rhumatismes, arthrose, algodystrophie, de la maladie de Dupuytren, d'oedèmes, suites opératoires, troubles neurologiques ... ;
• détendre, soulager et relaxer les membres cités précédemment ;
• activer la micro-circulation sanguine, en particulier pour des patients atteints de diabète.

The invention finds particularly advantageous applications in particular in the acts consisting of:

• to rehabilitate or relieve the upper limbs (hands, wrists, elbows) and lower (feet, ankles), including trauma, sprains, rheumatism, osteoarthritis, dystrophy, Dupuytren's disease, edema, post-operative, neurological disorders. ..;
• relax, relieve and relax the members mentioned above;
• activate the micro-circulation, especially for patients with diabetes.

In the field of the invention, it has in particular been proposed a ball massage device described by the patent document published under the number FR-2,847,159 , or by the document EP-A-1419758 .

The ball massage device described by this document comprises a tank in which is placed a large quantity of balls immersed in a bath, the balls being set in motion by an endless conveyor belt so that the balls are driven by the carpet. in rotation and that the balls move in contact with a member whose part to be massaged is immersed in the balls.

The treadmill is driven by a roller which also ensures the tension of the belt, the upper portion of the belt being held in curved position in the bottom of the tank by means of guides attached to lateral flanges.

The principle of such a massage device provides very good results. satisfactory in terms of massage.

On the other hand, this device has several disadvantages in terms of manufacture, maintenance, and cleaning and disinfection.

Indeed, the guiding and tensioning of the treadmill turn out, in practice, require rather long and tedious operations. These operations must be performed during the initial assembly, in the workshop, of the device, which therefore tend to generate labor time that impact the selling price of the device, which is of course undesirable.

These operations must also be performed during the maintenance of the device. Indeed, it is necessary to regularly renew the bath in which the balls are immersed, to proceed to a cleaning of the balls themselves (human skin residues may remain in the tank even after emptying thereof), or even disinfect / decontaminate the tank.

The device of the prior art cited above provides a system for circulating and filtering the aqueous solution in order to filter and remove from the solution human tissues, such as dry skin.

It is also provided in this device to provide a side door to remove the balls after draining the tank of the device to allow the renewal of the balls.

In practice, it is necessary to disassemble the tank of the device to proceed to the extraction of the balls, in view of their cleaning and disinfection, or their replacement, or to clean / disinfect the tank itself.

However, to disassemble the tank, it is necessary to also separate the treadmill from its drive system, guiding and tensioning. These disassembly operations are relatively long and complex.

Of course, the reassembly of the assembly and in particular the tensioning of the treadmill, also causes difficulties.

The invention particularly aims to overcome these disadvantages of the prior art.

More specifically, the invention aims to provide a ball massage device that can be easily and quickly disassembled and reassembled, cleaned and disinfected.

The invention also aims to provide such a massage device that is easy to maintain.

The invention also aims to provide such a massage device that allows easy and quick emptying of the bath in which the balls are immersed.

The invention also aims to provide such a massage device that allows easy to empty the balls from the tank, for cleaning, disinfection and / or replacement.

These objectives, as well as others which will appear later are achieved through the invention which relates to a ball massage device, comprising a vessel for receiving a plurality of balls immersed in a bath, and means for driving said balls so that the balls are moved in contact with a human member inserted into said tank, characterized in that said drive means comprise at least one inner wall of the tank against which said balls are intended to be in contact, said tank being rotatably mounted.

Thus, thanks to the invention, the mobility of the balls is obtained directly by the rotary tank via its internal walls.

This eliminates the need for an endless conveyor belt such as that used in the prior art cited above.

As a result, thanks to the invention, significant gains are obtained in terms of assembly time, and therefore labor costs, in particular by avoiding the adjustment times necessary for the proper guidance and implementation. treadmill voltage according to the prior art.

As will become clearer later, a device ball massage according to the invention also provides advantages during maintenance, maintenance, cleaning and / or disinfection of the device and the balls it contains.

According to an advantageous solution, said tank is mounted to rotate about an inclined axis between the vertical and the horizontal.

This gives an optimized mixing of the balls present in the tank, the balls being driven from a lower part of the tank to an upper part from which they fall by simple gravity. The balls on the periphery of the tank are thus directed towards a central part of the tank, and conversely, this continuously, which tends to increase the effect of massage of the balls on the limbs present in the tank.

In this case, said tank is mounted to rotate about an inclined axis forming an angle between 5 ° and 85 ° with the vertical.

Advantageously, said inner walls have a series of reliefs.

This increases the capacity of the internal walls to drive the balls in a regular and continuous movement.

In this case, said reliefs are preferably constituted by regularly distributed streaks.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the device comprises means for emptying said balls and / or said bath from the bottom of said tank.

It is thus easy for the user to empty the tank, under the effect of gravity, without it being necessary to disassemble the tank of the device.

Preferably, said draining means comprise a first drain plug of said bath and a second drain plug of said balls provided with means for retaining said balls in said tank.

Thus, it is possible to proceed with the emptying of the tank by separating the bath and the balls, this by proceeding first to the emptying of the bath (the balls being retained in the tank), then to the emptying of the balls .

According to an advantageous solution, said first and second plugs are mounted on a single drain line.

In this way, it simplifies the design of the device and its use, avoiding to implement two separate drain lines.

• une bague présentant une partie supérieure comprenant des moyens de montage sur ledit conduit de vidange,
• un prolongement de ladite bague en sa partie inférieure, présentant des moyens de montage dudit premier bouchon ;
• une grille de retenue desdites billes entre ladite partie supérieure et ledit prolongement.

In this case, said second plug is preferably mounted directly on said drain line, said first plug being mounted indirectly on said conduit being coupled to said second plug which has:

• a ring having an upper part comprising mounting means on said drain pipe,
• an extension of said ring at its lower part, having means for mounting said first plug;
• a grid for retaining said balls between said upper portion and said extension.

Such a system is particularly useful for use: in a first step the user removes the first plug which is the first plug farthest from the tank, which allows to drain the bath contained in the tank; in a second step, the user removes the second cap remained mounted on the drain line, which allows to extract, by gravity, the balls contained in the tank.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, said vessel is removably mounted on a chassis carrying means for rotating the vessel.

In this way, the user can also proceed to the cleaning and disinfection of the tank under handling conditions allowing it to easily access the interior of the tank, this as opposed to an intervention inside the tank. tank while it is still mounted on the chassis.

It is noted that this feature is all the more advantageous that the disassembly and reassembly of the tank on the frame can be performed quickly and easily thanks to the principle of the invention.

According to a particular embodiment, said tank is rotatably mounted on a frame itself mounted on a supporting structure, the frame being mounted on said supporting structure so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis with respect to said structure carrier.

• la figure 1 est une représentation schématique en coupe d'un dispositif de massage à billes selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en perspective d'une cuve d'un dispositif de massage à billes selon l'invention ;
• la figure 3 est une représentation schématique, selon une vue en coupe partielle, de la paroi interne d'une cuve d'un dispositif de massage à billes selon l'invention ;
• la figure 4 est une représentation schématique d'un système de vidange d'un dispositif de massage à billes selon l'invention ;
• la figure 5 est une représentation schématique d'une variante de réalisation de l'invention.

Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of illustrative and nonlimiting example, and drawings in which:

• the figure 1 is a schematic representation in section of a ball massage device according to the invention;
• the figure 2 is a perspective view of a tank of a ball massage device according to the invention;
• the figure 3 is a schematic representation, in a partial sectional view, of the inner wall of a vessel of a ball massage device according to the invention;
• the figure 4 is a schematic representation of a system for emptying a ball massage device according to the invention;
• the figure 5 is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment of the invention.

As indicated above, the principle of the invention lies in the fact of proposing a ball massage device in which the balls (immersed in a bath) are driven directly by the inner wall of the tank, the latter being mounted rotatively and preferentially easily removable for cleaning and possibly disinfection.

With reference to the figure 1 , a ball massage device comprises a tank 1 having an inner wall 100 defining a volume for receiving a plurality of balls 102 and a bath 101 in amount large enough for the balls to be immersed in the bath.

• acier, inoxydable ou non ;
• verre ;
• céramique ;
• polymère haute densité (par exemple PEHD).

The balls are made of a material belonging to the following group:

• steel, stainless or not;
• glass;
• ceramic;
• high density polymer (eg HDPE).

According to an advantageous embodiment, silver beads or silver-coated or silver-containing (this film is likely, when the balls are immersed, to release silver ions having a disinfectant power advantageous in the context of the invention) may be added.

It should be noted that the beads present in a ball massage device can be made of different materials in the presence.

The beads may be round or have an ovoid shape. The dimensions of the balls are provided so that the balls are part of a sphere whose diameter is between 2 and 10 mm.

According to the principle of the invention, the vessel 1 of the device is rotatably mounted.

According to the present embodiment, the tank 1 is rotatably mounted on a frame 7, the bottom of the tank 1 having in its center an axis 6 extending coaxially with the axis of rotation X of the tank, the frame 7 having in turn a recess 70 intended to accommodate the axis 6, the cylindrical recess 70 having an internal diameter dimensioned so as to constitute a bearing for guiding the axis 6 in rotation.

As illustrated by figure 1 , the tank 1 is mounted to rotate about an axis X inclined between the vertical and the horizontal. The inclination of the X axis may vary according to the applications (hands, elbows, feet, knees ...) and will generally be such that the X axis forms an angle between 5 ° and 85 ° with the vertical.

Moreover, with reference to the figure 3 , the inner wall 100 presents a plurality of striations 105 ( figure 3 ) regularly distributed, constituting a series of reliefs of a nature to promote the driving of the balls through the inner wall of the tank.

Of course, other means for driving the balls through the inner wall of the tank can be envisaged without departing from the scope of the invention.

The movement of the balls 102 inside the tank, when the tank is rotated, is illustrated by the figure 2 .

As it appears in this figure, the inclined position of the axis of rotation of the tank, between the horizontal and the vertical, tends to cause a stirring of the balls decomposing into several phases: the beads present in the bath are driven by the inner wall of the tank, in the direction of rotation of the tank, in an upward flow, to a level where they fall towards the central region of the tank, then towards the bottom of the bath in which the balls are submerged at rest.

Of course, when a human member is placed in the tank, the brewing of the balls occurs around the member, with a plurality of balls successively in contact with the member, thus operating the massage of the member.

With reference to the figure 1 a massage device according to the invention as a whole is now described.

• la cuve 1 décrite précédemment ;
• un châssis 7 sur lequel la cuve 1 est montée rotative ;
• un motoréducteur 4 fixé sur une paroi du châssis 7, ce motoréducteur présentant un pignon moteur 3 destiné à engrener avec une couronne dentée 2 montée sur la paroi externe de la cuve (la couronne 2 apparaissant de façon plus précise sur la figure 2), la couronne dentée étant solidarisée sur la paroi externe de préférence directement au voisinage du bord de la cuve délimitant l'ouverture de la cuve ;
• au moins un galet, et de préférence quatre galets montés libres en rotation sur le châssis, de façon à être en contact avec la paroi externe de la cuve et à guider en rotation la cuve ;
• un carter 9 fixé sur le châssis 7, conçu et dimensionné pour éviter tout risque d'accès involontaire aux parties mobiles du dispositif (à l'exception bien sûr de l'accès à l'intérieur de la cuve) ;
• un capot supérieur 8 obturant l'accès à l'espace entre la cuve et le carter.

As illustrated by this figure 1 , the device comprises:

• the tank 1 described above;
• a frame 7 on which the vessel 1 is rotatably mounted;
• a geared motor 4 fixed to a wall of the frame 7, this geared motor having a motor pinion 3 intended to mesh with a ring gear 2 mounted on the outer wall of the tank (the ring 2 appearing more precisely on the figure 2 ), the ring gear being secured to the outer wall preferably directly adjacent the edge of the tank defining the opening of the vessel;
• at least one roller, and preferably four rollers mounted free to rotate on the frame, so as to be in contact with the outer wall of the tank and to guide the tank in rotation;
• a housing 9 fixed to the frame 7, designed and sized to prevent any risk of inadvertent access to the moving parts of the device (except of course access to the interior of the tank);
• an upper cover 8 closing the access to the space between the tank and the housing.

The top cover is removably mounted on the housing.

In addition, the tank 1 is removably mounted on the frame. Indeed, in the absence of the hood, the tank is retained axially by any means on the frame 7: the tank is placed in such a way that its axis 6 comes to be housed in the cylindrical recess 70 of the chassis, the axis 6 being freely sliding in the cylindrical recess 70 of the frame. In parallel, the tank is put in place so that the ring gear 2 comes to mesh with the motor gear of the geared motor, the external wall of the tank being in contact with the rollers 5.

Thus, when the hood is removed from the frame, it is easy to access the tank, and it is sufficient to exert traction on the tank along the X axis to remove the tank from the frame.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the device comprises emptying means for extracting from the tank on the one hand the bath in which the balls are immersed and, on the other hand, the balls.

To do this, the bottom of the tank 1 is provided with a drain line 11; this emptying hole is the only means of emptying through which the bath and the balls can be extracted from the tank.

In addition, the drain pipe is equipped with means explained below for successively extracting the bath (only the balls being retained in the tank) and then the balls.

• un premier bouchon 104 de vidange du bain, permettant, lorsqu'il est extrait, de laisser s'écouler le bain hors de la cuve ;
• un deuxième bouchon de vidange 103, pourvu de moyens de retenue des billes, permettant de laisser s'écouler le bain hors de la cuve et de retenir les billes à l'intérieur de la cuve lorsqu'il est en place sur le conduit de vidange 11 tandis que le premier bouchon 104 est retiré du dispositif, et permettant d'extraire les billes hors de la cuve, sous l'effet de la gravité, lorsqu'il est retiré du conduit de vidange.

According to the present embodiment, the emptying means therefore comprise two plugs:

• a first plug 104 for draining the bath, allowing, when extracted, to let the bath flow out of the tank;
• a second drain plug 103, provided with means for retaining the balls, allowing the bath to flow out of the tank and retain the balls inside the tank when it is in place on the drain line 11 while the first cap 104 is removed from the device, and for extracting the balls out of the tank, under the effect of gravity, when removed from the drain line.

• une bague 1030 présentant en sa partie supérieure des moyens de montage, tel qu'un filetage, sur le conduit de vidange 11 ;
• un prolongement 1031 de la bague, sous forme d'un conduit coaxial avec la bague et de diamètre inférieur à celui de la bague ;
• une grille 1032 de retenue des billes placées à l'intérieur de la bague, entre la partie supérieure de celle-ci et le prolongement 1031 (de préférence en appui sur le fond de la bague), de façon à recouvrir le conduit 1031.

With reference to the figure 4 , the second plug 103 is mounted directly, for example by screwing, on the emptying duct 11, and comprises:

• a ring 1030 having in its upper part mounting means, such as a thread, on the emptying duct 11;
• an extension 1031 of the ring, in the form of a duct coaxial with the ring and of diameter less than that of the ring;
• a grid 1032 for retaining the balls placed inside the ring, between the upper part thereof and the extension 1031 (preferably resting on the bottom of the ring), so as to cover the conduit 1031.

Of course, the grid 1032 has meshes whose dimensions are provided according to the diameter of the balls, to prevent the passage of the latter through the mesh of the grid.

The extension 1031 has mounting means, such as a threading, intended to cooperate with complementary mounting means, such as a thread, provided on the first plug 104, so that the first cap can be mounted on the extension 1031 to obstruct it.

According to this arrangement, the first plug is thus mounted indirectly on the drain line, since the first plug is mounted on the second plug which is mounted on the drain line.

• un premier temps dans lequel le premier bouchon 104 est retiré du dispositif, autorisant l'écoulement du bain à partir de la cuve tandis que les billes sont retenues par la grille 1032 ;
• un deuxième temps, dans lequel le deuxième bouchon 103 est retiré du conduit, en vue de l'extraction des billes par gravité à partir de la cuve.

The emptying of the tank takes place in two stages:

• a first time in which the first plug 104 is removed from the device, allowing the flow of the bath from the tank while the balls are retained by the grid 1032;
• a second time, in which the second plug 103 is removed from the duct, for the purpose of extracting the balls by gravity from the tank.

A drain pan 10 (or more) equips the device to collect the bath and / or the balls.

According to a particular embodiment illustrated by the figure 5 , the tank 1 is rotatably mounted on a frame 7 itself mounted on a supporting structure 70. The frame is mounted on the supporting structure so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis H relative to the carrier structure. For this, the carrier structure has two amounts 701 each coupled to the frame by a pivot connection about the axis H. In this way, we can rotate the frame and, therefore, the tank around the axis H, this allowing very easy access to the inside of the tank and proceed very quickly to empty it. Of course, means (not shown) are provided to block the pivoting of the frame relative to the supporting structure.

A ball massage device according to the invention is intended to be powered by a conventional 220 V power supply. The electric geared motor is associated with a device for controlling and controlling control to trigger the rotation of the tank, and to adjust the speed of rotation thereof in a range of 10 rpm to 50 rpm.

A ball massage device according to the invention is preferably equipped with means for adjusting the height of the tank, making it possible to adapt the height of the tank according to the use and to facilitate access to the tank for the user (different height for massage of the lower limbs and for the massage of the upper limbs).

Claims (11)

1. Bead-type massage device, comprising a vessel (1) which is intended to receive a plurality of beads (102) immersed in a bath (101), and means for driving the said beads in such a way that they are impelled by a movement when in contact with a human limb which is inserted in the said vessel, characterised in that the said driving means comprise at least one internal wall (100) of the vessel (1) against which the said beads are intended to be in contact, the said vessel being mounted so as to be movable in rotation.
2. Bead-type massage device according to claim 1, characterised in that the said vessel is mounted so as to be movable in rotation about an axis which is inclined between the vertical and the horizontal.
3. Bead-type massage device according to claim 2, characterised in that the said vessel is mounted so as to be movable in rotation about an inclined axis which forms an angle of between 5° and 85° with the vertical.
4. Bead-type massage device according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the said internal walls have a series of contours.
5. Bead-type massage device according to claim 4, characterised in that the said contours are constituted by regularly distributed ridges.
6. Bead-type massage device according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that it comprises means for draining the said beads and/or the said bath from the bottom of the said vessel.
7. Bead-type massage device according to claim 6, characterised in that the said draining means comprise a first drain plug for the said bath and a second drain plug for the said beads, which is provided with means for retaining the said beads in the said vessel.
8. Bead-type massage device according to claim 7, characterised in that the said first and second plugs are mounted on a single drain conduit.
9. Bead-type massage device according to claim 8, characterised in that the said second plug is mounted directly on the said drain conduit, the said first plug being mounted indirectly on the said conduit by being coupled to the said second plug which has:

   a. a ring having an upper part which comprises means for mounting it on the said drain conduit;

   b. a prolongation of the said ring in its lower part, which prolongation has means for mounting the said first plug;

   c. a grille for retaining the said beads between the said upper part and the said prolongation.
10. Bead-type massage device according to any of claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the said vessel is mounted in a detachable manner on a frame which carries means for driving the said vessel in rotation.
11. Bead-type massage device according to any of claims 1 to 10, characterised in that the said vessel is mounted so as to be movable in rotation on a frame which is itself mounted on a supporting structure, the frame being mounted on the said supporting structure in such a way as to be capable of pivoting about an axis which is horizontal in relation to the said supporting structure.

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