US938399A

US938399A - Electrical exercising apparatus.

Info

Publication number: US938399A
Application number: US44272908A
Authority: US
Inventors: Walderma C Schaufler
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1908-07-09
Filing date: 1908-07-09
Publication date: 1909-10-25
Anticipated expiration: 1926-10-25

Description

a W. C. SGHAUFLER. ELEGTRIGAL EXERGISING' APPAEATUS.

APPLIGATION PILED JULY 9,1908.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

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W. C. SCHAUFLER. ELEGTRICAL EXERGISING APPARATUS.

APPLIQATIOH FILED JULY 9, 1908.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

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ELEGTRIGAL EXERGISING APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION PILED JULY 9,1908.

Patented 0011. 26, 1909.

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WALDERMA C. SGHAUFLER, OF AMSTERZDAM, NEW YORK.

ELEGTRICAL EXERCISING APPARATUS.

Specfication of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

Application filed July 9, 1908. Serial No. 442329.

T o all whom 'it may concern;

Be it known that I, VVALDERMA C. SCHAUFLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Amsterdam, in the county of Montgomery and State of New York, have nvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Exercising Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to electrical exercising apparatus.

One of its objects is to provide means for producing currents of electricity through the body or limbs of the operator, combined with means for physical exercise another object being to avoid the use of the weights which are usually employed, another object being to simplify and improve the Construction of an apparatus of this type.

;Other ob ects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of Construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which.

will be exemplied in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention, in which the reference numerals refer to similar parts in the several figures.

Figure l is a perspective view of the apparatus ready for use. Fig. 2 is a front elevaticn of the same, with the casing removed, parts being shown in section for the sake of clearness. F ig. 3 is a top plan View of the apparatus. Fig. 4: is a diagrammatic representation of the various circuits. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed View of the automatic circuit closing means, and Fig. 6 is a sectional View of the elastic cord, showing in part an elevational view of the inner covering.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, 1 and 2 indicate the handles which are made of conducting material, in order to serve as electrodes for conveying the current to the hands of the operator. Attached to these handles are elastic cords 3 and 4:, which consist of rubber or other similar material 5 provided with a plurality of coverings, the outer covering 6 being preferably of non-conducting material, and the inner covering comprising one or more tortuous strands of electrical conducting material 7 so arranged as to permit the elastic cords to be extended and retracted without danger of said strands being ruptured, and these strands are in electrical contact with the handles. As the parts which coperate with each of these cords are similar in all respects, those relating to one cord only will be described, the same reference numeral being used to designate similar parts in both instances. From the handle the cord leads over guide pulley 8, which is mounted on a bracket 9, provided with an extension 10 which is slidably mounted within the sleeve 11, which may be supported upon a suitable bracket 12 Secured to the base 13 of the apparatus. The free end of the extension 10 engages with the free end of the spring contact 14, which is preferably Secured to the bracket 12 as shown in Fig. 5. When the parts are in their normal positions, the free end of the spring contact is out of engagement with its coperating fixed contact 15, and holds the pulley and its bracket in their raised or upper positions as shown in Fg. 5. When the apparatus is being used, the pressure eXerted by the cords upon the pulleys will force them into their inner or lower positions, at the same time forcing the free end of the spring contact into engagement with its coperating fixed contact, as shown in Fig. 2, to close an electric circuit for the purpose hereinafter to be described.

After passing over the guide pulley, the cord passes through a suitable opening in the casing, and then passes around a plurality of grooved pulleys 16 17 and has its other end Secured to a suitable insulating support 18, which may be supported by the bracket 12. The grooved pulleys are constructed of non-conducting material, and one of them as 16 carries upon its outer surface a series of contacts 19 arranged about its center in the circumference of a circle. Bearing upon the outer surface of the pulley and in the line of travel of the Contacts 19, carried thereby in order to be engaged therewith as the pulley rotates, are a pair of spring contacts 20-21, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. A suitable source of electricity 22, such as a dry cell, is preferably mounted upon the base and has one of its poles, connected by wire 23 with the wire 24-, the ends of which are in an electrical connection with the spring contacts l t. The other pole of the cell is connected by wire 25 to one end of the priinary coil 28 ot' the induction coil 27, which is also preterably mounted upon the base. The other end of the primary coil is connected by a wire 28 with a wire 29, the ends of which are connected with the member 20 of each of the pairs ot contacts 20 21, the other member 21 ot' each of said pairs ot contacts being connected by wires to the fixed contact members 15. 'Une end ot the secondary coil 31 of the induction coil 27 is connected by a wire 32 with the conductor 7 contaned within the elastic cord 4-, and the other terminal ot said secondary coil is connected to the wire which leads from the battery to the primary coil. wire 33 connected with wire 29 leads to the conductor 7 contained within the elastic cord 3, all of these connections being indicated in the diagrennnatic representation illnstrated in Fig. 4,.

The operation ot' the device will now be explained. hen the apparatus is not in use, the spring Contacts 14 will as stated above occupy their normal positions ont of contact with the fixed Contacts 15, thus providing a` positive break in the primar-y circuits, irrespective ot the relative position of the traveling Contacts 19 with respect to their eoperating pair of spring coutacts 20-21. Vhen the operator grasps the handles :for the purpose ot exercising, and pulls thereon, the guide pulleys S will be 'forced into their power positions, as above described, thereby forting the spring Contacts 14 against the fixed Contacts 15 to complete the battery circuit atthese points. As the cords are extended and retracted during the operation of the apparatus they will, cause the

pulleys

16 and 17 to rotate, and as the pulleys 16, which carry the Contacts 19, rotate, these Contacts will pass beneath and contact with their coperating pair of spring contact members 20 -21, thus causing the primary circuit to be made and broken, the current flowing over the following path beginning with the battery 22, wire 23, wire 24:, spring contact member 14 fixed contact member 15, wire 30 through each ott the contact members 20-21, which at that instant will be electrically connected by means of one of the Contacts 19, and then by wire 29 to wire 28, thence through the primary coil 26 and bacl* to the battery by wire 25, there being a corresponding path closed by the traveling contacts upon the other pulley. As the circuit is made and broken a current will be induced in the secondary coil in the well-known manner, which current will flow over the following path beginning with handle 2, thence through the electric condnctor 7 contained within the elastic cord et, then by wire 32, to one terminal of the secondary coil 31,

through said coil to the wire thence through the primary coil 28, wire 28, wire 25), wire 33, to the cond'icting member 7 contained within the elastic cord to the handle l this circuit oti" course being completed through the body or linibs of the person exercising. The induction coil is provided with the nsual core S t, which may be withdrawn or inserted thei-ein, in order to produce a stronger or weaker current in the secondary coil as desired in the well-known manner.

As many changes could be made in the above Construction and many apparently widely ditt'erent embodinents of this invention could be made without departing froni the scope thereof, it is intended that all inatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a liniting sense. It is also to be understood that the language used in the following clainis is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features ort' the invention hei-ein described and all statements of the scope ot' the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described iny invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

In an electric exercising apparatus, in combination, an exercising cord, a source of electricity, a circuit thcrefor, a plurality of circuit controlling devices in said circuit, and a plurality of means for actuating said circnit controlling devices, each oil? said means being operatively cngaged by said cord whereby when tension is applied to said cord said circuit controlling devices will be actuated.

2. in an electric exercising apparatus, in combinatiou, an oxercising cord, a guidepulley coperating with said cord, a bracket supporting said guide-pulley a sleeve within which said bracket is slidably mounted, and a cireuit controlling device adapted to be operated by the movement of said bracket when tension is applied to said cord and to cause said bracket to assume its normal position when said tension is removed.

In an electric exercising anparatns, in combination, elastic cords, compising electrcal conduct-ing means, guide pulleys cooperating with said cords, brackets supporting said guide pulleys, sleeves within which said brackets are slidably mounted, and circnit-controlling devices adapted to be operated by the movement of said brackets, when tension is applied to said cords, and to cause said brackets to assume their normal positions when said tension is removed.

4. In an electric exercising apparatus, in combination, elastic cords, comprising electrical conducting means, guide pulleys cooperating with said cords, brackets supporting` said pulleys, sleeves within which said 1 brackets are slidably mounted, fixed contact members adjacent each of said brackets, spring` Contacts coperating with each of said fixed contact members and normally out of contact therewth, said spring contacts normally engaging with the said brackets to hold them in their normal positions and adapted to be moved into engagement with said fixed contact members by the movement o' said brackets.

5. In an electric exercising apparatus, in combination, cords comprising electrical conducting means, movably mounted pulleys coperating with said cords, rotatable members with which said cords engage whereby movement thereof will rotate said members, a source of electricity, an induction coil, a circuit between said source of electricity and said coil normally open at two points, means controlled by the movement of one of said pulleys to close the circuit at one of its normally open points, and means controlled by one of the rotatable members to close the cirouit at the other of its normally open points.

6. In an electrio exercising apparatus, in combination, elastic cords comprising electrical conducting means, movably mounted pulleys coperating with said cords, rotatable members with which said cords engage whereby movement thereof will rotate said members, a source of electricity, an induction coil, a circuit between said source of electricity and said coil normally open at two points, means controlled by the movement of one of said pulleys to close the circuit at one of its normally open points, and means controlled by one of the rotatable members to close the circuit at the other of its normally open points.

7. In an electric exercising apparatus, in combination, cords comprising electrical conducting means, movably mounted pulleys co- Operating with said cords, rotatable members with which said cords engage whereby movement thereof will rotate said members, a source of electricity, an induction coil, circuits between said source of electricity and said induction coil normally open at two points, means controlled by the movement of said pulleys to close each circuit at one of its normally open points, and means controlled by said rotatable members to close each oircut at the other of its normally open points.

8. In an electric exercising apparatus, in combination, elastic cords comprising electrical conducting means, movably mounted pulleys coperating with said cords, rotatable members with which said cords engage Whereby movement thereof will rotate said members, a source of electricity, an induction coil, circuits between said source of electricity and said induction coil normally open at two points, means controlled by the movement of said pulleys to close each circuit at one of its normally open points, and means controlled by said rotatable members to close each circuit at the other of its normally open points.

9. In an eleotrical eXercising apparatus, in combination, a base, elastic cords having one end secured thereto and comprising electrical conducting means, members rotatably supported upon said base with which said cords engage, pulleys slidably mounted upon said base adapted to guide said cords, a source of electricity, an induction coil, circuits between said source and said coil, each of which is normally open at two points, means controlled by said pulleys to close said circuits at one of their normally open points, and means controlled by said rotatable members to close said circuits at the other of their normally open points.

ln testimony whereof I ax my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

VVALDERMA C. SCHAUFLER. lVitnesses:

JOHN H. GiLns,

CLARENOE O. WILsoN.