US20040058783A1

US20040058783A1 - Wheel assembly for exerciser

Info

Publication number: US20040058783A1
Application number: US10/255,365
Authority: US
Inventors: Rui He
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-09-25
Filing date: 2002-09-25
Publication date: 2004-03-25

Abstract

A wheel assembly for exerciser comprises a staged sleeve coupled to a foot and comprising a collar, a conic surface, and a fastening mechanism; and a cup-shaped flexible wheel comprising a multi-sided outer surface, an eccentric staged bore, an annular flange on a mouth of the bore, a conic surface extended inwardly from the flange, and a mating fastening mechanism at a bottom end. As to the assembled wheel and sleeve, the other end of the sleeve is engaged with the bottom edge of the wheel, the fastening mechanism is engaged with the mating fastening mechanism, the conic surface of the sleeve is urged against inside of the wheel, the collar is in contact with an internal side of the flange and is restrained from moving out of the flange. Also, a rotation of the wheel causes the mating fastening mechanism to move engagement with the fastening mechanism in a predetermined angle.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to exercise equipment and more particularly to a wheel assembly for exerciser with improved characteristics.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A conventional wheel assembly for exerciser is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The wheel assembly comprises a sleeve 1 having a smaller diameter section abutted one end, the smaller diameter section being secured to a foot 3 on a supporting surface (e.g., ground) by snapping and a larger diameter section abutted the other end; and a cup-shaped flexible wheel 2 with a multi-sided outer surface supported on the ground and including an eccentric bore 4, an internal conic surface 5 extended inwardly from the bore 4, and a cylindrical surface 6 extended inwardly from the conic surface 5 to the bottom. In assembly, cling the wheel 2 to the sleeve 1 so as to engage the other end of the sleeve 1 with bottom of the wheel 2 and urge the larger diameter section of the sleeve 1 against the cylindrical surface 6. Note that a diameter of the bore 4 is larger than an outer diameter of the larger diameter section of the sleeve 1 for facilitating the clinging of the wheel 2 to the sleeve 1. Typically, a user can rotate the wheel 2 to adjust an eccentricity of the bore 4 by grasping the multi-side surface of the wheel 2 by hand if the foot 3 is not stably supported on the ground. However, the prior art failed to achieve this. In detail, such adjustment requires a considerable force due to larger contact area between the wheel 2 and the sleeve 1. Further, the rotation of the wheel 2 is relatively difficult due to a flexibility of the wheel 2. Preferably, a flat of the multi-side surface of the wheel 2 is in contact with the ground for obtaining a maximum support However, in most cases only an edge between adjacent sides of the multi-side surface of the wheel 2 is in contact with the ground after adjustment. This is due to as stated above, difficulty of the rotation of the wheel 2 and the flexibility of the wheel 2 in nature. As a result, a stable exerciser is not obtainable. This in turn may frustrate an enthusiastic person. To the worse, an unstable exerciser may cause danger during exercising. Hence, a need exists for an improved wheel assembly for exerciser.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a wheel assembly for an exerciser comprising a sleeve comprising a smaller diameter section having one end coupled to a foot on a supporting surface, a larger diameter section, a first shoulder at a junction of the smaller and the larger diameter sections, an external collar on the larger diameter section, a conic surface abutted the other end, a second shoulder at a junction of the conic surface and the larger diameter section, and a fastening mechanism at the other end; and a cup-shaped flexible wheel comprising a multi-sided outer surface on the supporting surface, an eccentric bore, an internal annular flange on a mouth of the bore, the flange having a diameter larger than an outer diameter of the conic surface of the sleeve but smaller than a diameter of the collar, an internal conic surface extended inwardly from the flange, a shoulder at a junction of the conic surface of the wheel and a cylindrical surface extended from the conic surface of the wheel to a bottom, and a mating fastening mechanism at a bottom end; wherein in response to an assembly the wheel onto the sleeve, the other end of the sleeve is engaged with the bottom edge of the wheel, the fastening mechanism is engaged with the mating fastening mechanism, the conic surface of the sleeve is urged against the cylindrical surface, the second shoulder is urged against the conic surface of the wheel, the collar is in contact with an internal side of the flange so as to be restrained from moving out of the flange, and a rotation of the wheel causes the mating fastening mechanism to move engagement with the fastening mechanism in a predetermined angle.

In one aspect of the present invention, the fastening mechanism comprises a plurality of indentations equally spaced around the other end of the sleeve.

In another aspect of the present invention, the mating fastening mechanism comprises a plurality of projections equally spaced around the bottom edge of the wheel.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a conventional wheel assembly for exerciser; [0007]
FIG. 2 is a side view in part section of the assembled wheel assembly in FIG. 1; [0008]
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of a wheel assembly for exerciser according to the invention; [0009]
FIG. 4 is a side view of the assembled foot and sleeve in FIG. 3; [0010]
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of wheel in FIG. 3; and [0011]
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the assembled wheel and sleeve.[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and [0013] 5, a wheel assembly for exerciser constructed in accordance with the invention comprises a sleeve 10 with a smaller diameter section at one end secured to a foot 30 supported on a supporting surface (e.g., ground) by snapping and a larger diameter section, the sleeve 1 comprising a first shoulder 11 at a junction of the smaller and the larger diameter sections, an external collar 12 on the larger diameter section, a conic surface 15 abutted the other end, a second shoulder 14 at a junction of the conic surface 15 and the larger diameter section, and a plurality of indentations 13 equally spaced around the open other end; and a cup-shaped flexible wheel 20 with a multi-sided outer surface supported on the ground and including an eccentric bore 21, an internal annular flange 22 on the mouth of the bore 21, an internal conic surface 25 extended inwardly from the flange 22, a shoulder 24 at a junction of the conic surface 25 and a cylindrical surface extended from the conic surface 25 to a bottom, and a plurality of projections 23 equally spaced around the bottom.
Referring to FIG. 6, an assembly of the invention will now be described in detail below. First, cling the [0014] wheel 20 to the sleeve 10 so as to engage the other end of the sleeve 10 with a bottom edge of the wheel 20 in which the indentations 13 are engaged with the projections 23, the conic surface 15 is urged against the cylindrical surface, the second shoulder 14 is urged against the conic surface 25, and the collar 12 is in contact with the internal side of the flange 22. Note that a diameter of the flange 22 is larger than an outer diameter of the conic surface 15 of the sleeve 10 for facilitating the clinging of the wheel 20 to the sleeve 10. Further, a diameter of the collar 12 is larger than an inner diameter of the flange 22 for restraining the collar 12 from moving out of the flange 22, i.e., the sleeve 10 and the wheel 20 are secured in the position shown in FIG. 6. In an angle adjustment of the wheel 20 with respect to the sleeve 10, simply rotate the wheel 20 by grasping the multi-side surface of the wheel 20 by hand to cause the projections 23 to move engagement with the indentations 13 in a cyclic manner. It is envisaged that a flat of the multi-side surface of the wheel 20 in contact with the ground for obtaining a maximum support can be achieved by the invention. As a result, a stable exerciser is obtainable. This in turn can encourage enthusiastic persons.
While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims. [0015]

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A wheel device for an exerciser comprising:

a sleeve comprising a smaller diameter section having one end coupled to a foot on a supporting surface, a larger diameter section, a first shoulder at a junction of the smaller and the larger diameter sections, an external collar on the larger diameter section, a conic surface abutted the other end, a second shoulder at a junction of the conic surface of the sleeve and the larger diameter section, and a fastening mechanism at the other end; and

a cup-shaped flexible wheel comprising a multi-sided outer surface on the supporting surface, an eccentric bore, an internal annular flange on a mouth of the bore, the flange having a diameter larger than an outer diameter of the conic surface of the sleeve but smaller than a diameter of the collar, an internal conic surface extended inwardly from the flange, a shoulder at a junction of the conic surface of the wheel and a cylindrical surface extended from the conic surface of the wheel to a bottom, and a mating fastening mechanism at a bottom end;

wherein in response to an assembly the wheel onto the sleeve, the other end of the sleeve is engaged with the bottom edge of the wheel, the fastening mechanism is engaged with the mating fastening mechanism, the conic surface of the sleeve is urged against the cylindrical surface, the second shoulder is urged against the conic surface of the wheel, the collar is in contact with an internal side of the flange so as to be restrained from moving out of the flange, and a rotation of the wheel causes the mating fastening mechanism to move engagement with the fastening mechanism in a predetermined angle.

2. The wheel device of claim 1, wherein the fastening mechanism comprises a plurality of indentations equally spaced around the other end of the sleeve.

3. The wheel device of claim 1, wherein the mating fastening mechanism comprises a plurality of projections equally spaced around the bottom edge of the wheel.