JP2009183550A - Podalic region massaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide podalic region massaging apparatus designed to effectively massage user's pedal regions, especially the soles of the feet. <P>SOLUTION: The podalic region massaging apparatus is designed to massage user's pedal regions, and includes an apparatus body 1 having a pair of concave portions 4 following the forward and rearward directions, formed in the width direction at a prescribed interval on the top face, a plurality of operating members 13 exposed at a prescribed interval in the forward and rearward directions at the bottom of the concave portion and massaging the user's soles of the feet placed in the concave portions by being repeatedly driven upward and downward by a solenoid 12 stored in the apparatus body, and air bags 5 provided on both sides of the concave portion and massaging both sides of the user's feet placed on the concave portions by being supplied with compressed air. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a foot massage device that can massage a foot while a user is sitting on a chair, for example.

  In general, as this type of foot massage device, the one shown in Patent Document 1 is known. That is, the massage device has a housing, and a pair of recesses spaced apart at a predetermined interval in the width direction are formed on the upper surface of the housing along the front-rear direction.

Airbags are provided on the inner surfaces on both sides of the recess, and acupressure protrusions are provided on the bottom. Therefore, when the user places the foot portion in the recess, both sides of the foot portion are pressed and massaged by the air bag, and the back surface of the foot portion is massaged by the acupressure protrusion.
JP 2004-216071 A

Conventionally, the acupressure protrusion has been repeatedly driven in the vertical direction by an air cell that expands when compressed air is supplied and contracts when discharged. However, when the acupressure protrusion is driven by an air cell, it is difficult to increase the repetition rate of supply / discharge of compressed air to / from the air cell.
For this reason, the massage that the user receives from the shiatsu protrusion on the back of the foot is weakened, and the massage effect may not be sufficiently obtained.

  In addition, when the acupressure protrusion is driven by the air cell, the operation of the acupressure protrusion is weakened even when a load on the user's foot is applied to the acupressure protrusion, which may reduce the massage effect.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a foot massage apparatus that allows a user to receive a strong massage on the back of the foot at a high repetition rate.

This invention is a foot massage device for massaging a user's foot,
A device body in which a pair of recesses along the front-rear direction is formed on the upper surface at predetermined intervals in the width direction;
The bottom surface of the user's foot placed on the concave portion by being repeatedly driven in the vertical direction by a solenoid that is provided at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction at the bottom of the concave portion and accommodated in the apparatus main body. With multiple actuators to massage,
There is provided an air mass massage apparatus comprising: an air bag which is provided on both side surfaces of the concave portion and massages both sides of a user's foot portion placed in the concave portion by supplying compressed air.

  The solenoid is preferably mounted in the apparatus main body so as to be elastically displaceable by an elastic belt.

  The solenoid is preferably provided in the apparatus main body so as to be elastically displaceable by an elastic belt.

  Among the plurality of actuators, the actuator located at the center in the front-rear direction corresponding to the arch on the back of the foot of the user placed in the recess is provided to protrude upward from the other actuators. It is preferable.

  According to this invention, since the actuator which massages the user's foot back surface provided in the recess is driven by the solenoid, the driving speed can be increased to improve the massage effect.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The foot massage device shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 includes a device main body 1. The apparatus body 1 is formed by connecting and fixing a lower housing 2 having an open top surface and an upper housing 3 having an open bottom surface together with these opening surfaces.

  On the upper surface of the upper housing 3, a pair of recesses 4 are formed over the entire length in the front-rear direction and spaced apart at a predetermined interval in the width direction. The inner bottom surface of the recess 4 is formed as an inclined surface that increases from the front end side toward the rear end side as shown in FIG. Air bags 5 divided into two in the front-rear direction are provided on both inner surfaces of the recess 4. That is, four air bags 5 are provided in one recess 4.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the air bag 5 is supplied and discharged with a compressed air supply mechanism 6 including an air pump provided inside the apparatus main body 1. When compressed air is supplied, the airbag 5 expands. Accordingly, if the user places a foot F (only one foot is shown by a chain line in FIG. 1) in the recess 4, both sides of the foot F are pressed by the airbag 5 and massaged. It is like that.

  The air bag 5 is formed so as to largely protrude inward of the concave portion 4 from the lower side in the depth direction of the concave portion 4 when the compressed air is supplied and expanded. Thereby, when the airbag 5 is inflated, the foot F placed on the recess 4 is prevented from being pushed upward.

  As shown in FIG. 1, three openings 11 are formed in the bottom wall of the recess 4 at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, an operator 13 that is repeatedly driven in the vertical direction by a solenoid 12 projects from each opening 11.

The solenoid 12 is held by a case 14. As shown in FIG. 4, the case 14 includes a U-shaped holding piece 15 and a flat plate-like upper piece 17 attached to the upper surface of the holding piece 15 with a screw 16. A plunger 12 a of the solenoid 12 to which the operating element 13 is attached protrudes from the upper piece 17.
The upper surface of the actuator 13 is formed in a spherical curved surface, and a plurality of hemispherical projections (not shown) protrude from the upper surface.

  On the upper surface of the case 13, that is, the upper surface of the upper piece 17, a belt-like elastic belt 18 that is longer than the upper piece 17 sandwiches a midway portion between the upper surface of the holding piece 14 and the upper piece 17. Installed. The elastic belt 18 is not particularly limited as long as the elastic belt 18 has a structure that expands and contracts with respect to a load such as rubber or stretchable fiber coated with rubber.

  Both ends of the elastic belt 18 projecting from the upper piece 17 are attached to the boss 20 projecting from the outer surface of the bottom wall of the upper housing 3 where the recess 4 is formed, and are attached to the boss 20 by screws 20a. It is fixed by. That is, the solenoid 12 is suspended from the upper casing 3 by the elastic belt 18 so as to be elastically displaceable in the vertical direction. Accordingly, the solenoid 12 is provided in the apparatus main body 1 in a non-contact state with respect to the apparatus main body 1.

  The elastic belt 18 in which the solenoid 12 at the center in the front-rear direction of each recess 4 is attached to the upper housing 3 is set to be shorter than the elastic belt 18 to which the other two solenoids 12 are attached. As a result, the actuator 13 provided on the plunger 12a of the solenoid 12 located at the center in the longitudinal direction protrudes larger than the actuator 13 of the other solenoid 12 by a dimension indicated by h in FIG.

  If the actuator 13 located at the center in the longitudinal direction protrudes larger upward from the inner bottom surface of the recess 4 than the other actuators 13, when the user places the foot F in the recess 4, the operator 13 Will hit the arch that is recessed upwards above the foot F. One of the other two actuators 13 hits the finger part of the foot F, and the other operator hits the heel part.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, an operation unit 21 is provided in a portion between the pair of recesses 4 on the upper surface of the upper housing 3. The operation unit 21 is provided with a plurality of operation buttons 22 in this embodiment. When these operation buttons 22 are selectively turned on / off, the strength of air supply / exhaust to the air bag 5 and the strength of vertical movement of the actuator 13 by the solenoid 12 can be selectively set.
In addition, the surface including the inner surface of the recessed part 4 of the upper housing | casing 3 is coat | covered with the fabric 27 (shown in FIG. 5) which has a stretching property.

  According to the foot massage device having the above configuration, if the user places the foot F in the recess 4 and operates the compressed air supply mechanism 6 in order to receive massage, Supply and discharge are repeated at predetermined intervals and at a set pressure.

  As a result, the four airbags 5 provided on the inner surfaces on both sides of each recess 4 are repeatedly expanded and contracted, so that the user is repeatedly pressed on both sides of the foot F. You can receive massage by massage.

  When the supply mechanism 6 is operated, the solenoid 12 is operated. As a result, the plunger 12a of the solenoid 12 is reciprocated in the vertical direction, so that the actuator 13 provided on the plunger 12a is displaced in the vertical direction within the range indicated by the solid line and the chain line in FIGS. The lower surface of the foot F is repeatedly hit. That is, the user can receive massage by hitting the lower surface of the foot.

  The speed at which the plunger 12a, that is, the actuator 13 is driven to reciprocate by the solenoid 12 can be made faster than in the case where the compressed air is supplied to the air cell and the exhaust gas is operated repeatedly as in the prior art. Therefore, massage by hitting the sole of the foot by the actuator 13 can be performed efficiently and effectively.

  Each solenoid 12 provided with the actuator 13 is held on the outer surface of the bottom wall of the recess 4 by an elastic belt 18. Therefore, even if the actuator 13 is pressed by the load of the foot F, when the solenoid 12 is operated, the actuator 13 is easily reciprocated in the vertical direction while elastically deforming the elastic belt 18, that is, vibrates in the vertical direction. Since it is easy to do, the load of the foot | leg part F is added to the actuator 13, and the massage effect by the actuator 13 hardly reduces.

  Moreover, the solenoid 12 is suspended in the apparatus main body 1 by the elastic belt 18 and is not in contact with the apparatus main body 1. For this reason, vibration generated by the operation of the solenoid 12 is absorbed by the elastic belt 18 elastically expanding and contracting, so that it is difficult for the vibration to be transmitted to the apparatus main body 1. It does not vibrate.

  As a result, the user can effectively receive a massage on the foot F by the actuator 13 driven by the solenoid 12, and the apparatus body 1 does not move greatly.

  The actuator 13 located at the center of each recess 4, that is, the actuator 13 corresponding to the arch that is most greatly recessed above the foot F of the user, is provided so as to protrude greatly upward from the other actuators 13. ing. Therefore, since the three actuators 13 hit the back surface of the foot F with substantially the same strength, the entire sole can be hit with substantially the same strength. In other words, the arch can be effectively massaged.

  In the above embodiment, three actuators are provided along the front-rear direction of each recess. However, the number of actuators is not limited to three, and may be four or more, and the number is limited. Not a thing.

The top view of the foot massage device which shows one embodiment of this invention. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which follows the width direction of the said massage apparatus. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which follows the front-back direction of the said massage apparatus. The figure which shows the attachment structure of the solenoid which act | operates an actuator. The perspective view of the said massage apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Apparatus main body, 2 ... Lower housing | casing, 3 ... Upper housing | casing, 4 ... Recessed part, 5 ... Air bag, 12 ... Solenoid, 12a ... Plunger, 13 ... Actuator, 14 ... Case, 18 ... Elastic belt.

Claims (4)

A foot massage device for massaging a user's foot,
A device body in which a pair of recesses along the front-rear direction is formed on the upper surface at predetermined intervals in the width direction;
The bottom surface of the user's foot placed on the concave portion by being repeatedly driven in the vertical direction by a solenoid that is provided at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction at the bottom of the concave portion and accommodated in the apparatus main body. With multiple actuators to massage,
An air massaging device comprising: an air bag that is provided on both side surfaces of the concave portion and massages both sides of the user's foot portion placed on the concave portion by supplying compressed air.   2. The foot massage device according to claim 1, wherein the solenoid is attached to the device main body by an elastic belt so as to be elastically displaceable.   2. The foot massage device according to claim 1, wherein the solenoid is suspended in the device main body so as to be elastically displaceable by an elastic belt.   Among the plurality of actuators, the actuator located at the center in the front-rear direction corresponding to the arch on the back of the foot of the user placed in the recess is provided to protrude upward from the other actuators. The foot massage device according to claim 1.

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