US20050277521A1

US20050277521A1 - Rowing exercising apparatus

Info

Publication number: US20050277521A1
Application number: US10/863,486
Authority: US
Inventors: Shu-Chtung Lat
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-06-09
Filing date: 2004-06-09
Publication date: 2005-12-15

Abstract

A rowing exercising apparatus includes a frame, a seat member mounted slidably on the frame, a wheel assembly including a resistance flywheel and a transmission wheel cooperatively mounted on the frame, a pull cord connected to the transmission wheel and having a manual operation end, and a restoring unit including an elastic rope having a fixed end mounted to the frame and a moving end connected to the transmission wheel.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an exercising apparatus, more particularly to a rowing exercising apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional rowing exercising apparatus 1 is shown to comprise a supporting frame 11, a wheel assembly 12, and a restoring unit 13.
The supporting frame 11 includes an elongated bar 111 having front and rear ends, front and rear supporting legs 112, 113 disposed respectively on the front and rear ends of the supporting frame 11, a seat member 114 mounted slidably on the elongated bar 111 and located between the front and rear supporting legs 112, 113, two foot plates 115 mounted respectively on left and right sides of the front end of the elongated bar 111, and a handle bar 116 mounted movably on the front end of the elongated bar 111.
The wheel assembly 12 includes a resistance wheel 121 mounted on the front supporting leg 112, a transmission wheel 122 mounted on the front supporting leg 112 and spaced apart from the resistance wheel 121, a guide roller 123 mounted on the front supporting leg 112 and disposed proximate to the handle bar 116, a transmission belt 124 interconnecting the resistance wheel 121 and the transmission wheel 122, and a pull cord 125 wound around the transmission wheel 122 and having one end extending over the guide roller 123 and connected to the handle bar 116.
The restoring unit 13 includes a hollow body 131 mounted on one side of the transmission wheel 122, and a coil spring 132 disposed within the body 131. The coil spring 132 has a central end connected to a bearing of the transmission wheel 122, and a terminal end connected to the body 131.
The resistance wheel 121 is a magnetically controlled wheel, and creates a resistance during rotation through magnetic force attraction.
When the handle bar 116 is pulled, the pull cord 125 is unwound from the transmission wheel 122, thereby causing the transmission wheel 122 and the resistance wheel 121 to rotate synchronously. The bearing of the transmission wheel 122, in turn, causes the coil spring 132 to wind tightly so as to store a force. When the handle bar 116 is released, the stored force of the coil spring 132 permits restoration of the transmission wheel 122 to its original position. The pull cord 125 is wound back on the transmission wheel 122 at this time. By repeating the abovementioned steps, a rowing exercise is effected.
However, since the coil spring 132 of the restoring unit 13 is made of steel, which is hard and which is less ductile, when the handle bar 116 is suddenly pulled, the coil spring 132 is likely to break easily. Moreover, when the handlebar 116 is released, because of the strong returning force of the coil spring 132, the handle bar 116 is restored swiftly to its original position so that the handle bar 116 bumps into the supporting frame 11, which can damage the latter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a rowing exercising apparatus that is capable of overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art.
According to this invention, a rowing exercising apparatus comprises a frame, a seat member mounted slidably on the frame, a wheel assembly including a resistance flywheel and a transmission wheel cooperatively mounted on the frame, a pull cord connected to the transmission wheel and having a manual operation end, and a restoring unit including an elastic rope having a fixed end mounted to the frame and a moving end connected to the transmission wheel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a conventional rowing exercising apparatus;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary schematic view, illustrating a wheel assembly and a restoring unit of the conventional rowing exercising apparatus;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of a rowing exercising apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a top schematic view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3, illustrating a wheel assembly and a restoring unit of the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line V-V of FIG. 3, illustrating a transmission wheel of the wheel assembly;
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged schematic view of the restoring unit of the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of the preferred embodiment in a state of use;
FIG. 8 illustrates how the wheel assembly and the restoring unit work when a handle bar is pulled; and
FIG. 9 illustrates how the wheel assembly and the restoring unit are restored to their original positions when the handle bar is released.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 6, the preferred embodiment of a rowing exercising apparatus according to the present invention is shown to comprise a supporting frame, a seat member 6, a wheel assembly 7, a pull cord 74, a handle bar 54, and a restoring unit 8.
The supporting frame, as shown in FIG. 3, includes an elongated bar 2, a front supporting rod 3, a rear supporting plate 4, an upright supporting unit 5, and two foot plates 9. The elongated bar 2 has a front end 21 and a rear end 22 opposite to the front end 21. The front supporting rod 3 is fixed to an end face of the front end 21 of the elongated bar 2. The rear supporting plate 4 has one end mounted on the ground, and the other end connected to the rear end 22 of the elongated bar 2. The elongated bar 2 extends inclinedly and upwardly from the front end 21 toward the rear end 22.
The upright supporting unit 5 is mounted on the front end 21 of the elongated bar 2 adjacent to the front supporting rod 3, and includes left and right upright supports 52, 51 extending upwardly on left and right sides of the elongated bar 2, and a connecting portion 53 connected to top ends of the left and right supports 52, 51. Each of the left and right supports 52, 51 has a front side face 55 and a rear side face 56 opposite to the front side face 55, and front and rear bracket plates 57, 57′ connected respectively to the front and rear side faces 55, 56.
The foot plates 9 are connected pivotally and respectively to the left and right sides of the elongated bar 2.
The seat member 6 is mounted slidably on the elongated bar 2, and is located between the upright supporting unit 5 and the rear end 22 of the elongated bar 2. The foot plates 9 are located between the seat member 6 and the upright supporting unit 5.
The wheel assembly 7 is mounted on the upright supporting unit 5, and includes a resistance flywheel 71, a transmission wheel 72, a guide roller 73, and a transmission belt 74.
The resistance flywheel 71 is a conventional magnetically controlled wheel, and is disposed adjacent to the front end 21 of the elongated bar 2 and between the left and right supports 52, 51. An axle of the resistance flywheel 71 is mounted between the front brackets 57 of the left and right supports 52, 51.
The transmission wheel 72 is disposed rearwardly of the resistance flywheel 71. An axle of the transmission wheel 72 is mounted between the rear brackets 57′ of the left and right supports 52, 51. The transmission wheel 72 has coaxially arranged first, second and third annular grooves 721, 722, 723, as best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.
The guide roller 73 (see FIG. 7) is mounted on the connecting portion 53 of the upright supporting unit 5.
The transmission belt 74 extends over and interconnects the resistance flywheel 71 and the transmission wheel 72, and is received in the first annular groove 721.
The pull cord 75 is fixed to and wound around the transmission wheel 72, and has a manual operation end 751. The pull cord 75 is received in the second annular groove 722. The operation end 751 of the pull cord 75 is connected to the handle bar 54 after passing over the guide roller 73.
The restoring unit 8 includes a fixing element 81, a first pulley 83, a second pulley 82, and an elastic rope 84. In this embodiment, the fixing element 81 is a metallic pinch tube that is fixed to one end of a rod 821, which in turn is mounted on the elongated bar 2 proximate to the rear side faces 56 of the supports 51, 52 (see FIGS. 3, 6 and 8). Particularly, the rod 821 is mounted to a bracket 822 on the elongated bar 2 to support the second pulley 82. The first pulley 83 is mounted on the elongated bar 2 proximate to the front side faces 55 of the supports 51, 52. The second pulley 82 is mounted on the bracket 822, and is disposed rearwardly of the first pulley 83. The elastic rope 84 has a fixed end 841 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) which is fixed within the pinch tube of the fixing element 81, and a moving end 842 (see FIG. 8) connected to the transmission wheel 72 after passing over the first and second pulleys 83, 82. The elastic rope 84 is received in the third annular groove 723 of the transmission wheel 72.
Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, when a user grips the handle bar 54 and applies a pulling force (F) thereon, the pull cord 75 is unwound from the transmission wheel 72, thereby causing the transmission wheel 72 to drive the resistance flywheel 71 to rotate simultaneously in a first direction shown by an arrow “A”. Since the flywheel 71 is a magnetically controlled wheel, it creates a resistance to rotation through magnetic force attraction in a known manner. The elastic rope 84 winds around the third annular groove 723 at this time so that the elastic rope 84 is stretched and stores energy.
Referring to FIG. 9, when the handle bar 54 is released, the elastic rope 84 contracts, thereby causing the transmission wheel 72 to rotate in a second direction shown by an arrow “B” that is opposite to the first direction “A”. The pull cord 75 is thus wound simultaneously back on the transmission wheel 72. Since the elastic rope 84 passes over the first and second pulleys 83, 82, the restoring force of the elastic rope 84 is less strong than that of the coil spring 132 of the aforesaid conventional rowing exercising apparatus 1. Therefore, the handle bar 54 is prevented from swiftly bumping into the upright supporting unit 5, thereby avoiding possible damage to the exercising apparatus.
It should be noted that since the elastic rope 84 has good stretchability, it provides sufficient extendible length after passing over the first and second pulleys 83, 82 to enable the user to pull the pull cord 75, and it has a gentler restoring effect as compared to the metallic coil spring 132 (see FIG. 2) of the conventional rowing exercising apparatus 1 (see FIG. 1). In addition, since the present invention utilizes the elastic rope 84 rather than the metallic coil spring 132, the problem of breakage due to the elastic fatigue of the coil spring 132 can be avoided.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

Claims

1. A rowing exercising apparatus comprising:

a frame;

a seat member mounted slidably on said frame;

a wheel assembly including a resistance flywheel and a transmission wheel cooperatively mounted on said frame;

a pull cord connected to said transmission wheel and having a manual operation end; and

a restoring unit including an elastic rope having a fixed end mounted to said frame and a moving end connected to said transmission wheel.

2. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame includes an elongated bar having front and rear ends, and two foot plates mounted respectively on left and right sides of said elongated bar, said seat member being mounted on said elongated bar.

3. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said resistance flywheel is disposed on said elongated bar adjacent to said front end, said transmission wheel being disposed rearwardly of said resistance flywheel.

4. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said wheel assembly further includes a transmission belt extending over and interconnecting said flywheel and said transmission wheel, said pull cord being wound around said transmission wheel independently of said transmission belt.

5. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said transmission wheel has coaxially arranged first, second and third annular grooves, said first annular groove receiving said transmission belt therein, said second annular groove receiving said pull cord therein, said third annular groove receiving said elastic rope therein.

6. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said frame further includes an upright supporting unit which includes left and right upright supports extending upwardly on the left and right sides of said elongated bar, and a connecting portion connected to top ends of said left and right supports, said wheel assembly being mounted on said upright supports.

7. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said restoring unit further includes a first pulley mounted on said elongated bar proximate to said front end, and a second pulley mounted on said elongated bar and disposed rearwardly of said first pulley, said elastic rope passing over said first and second pulleys between said fixed end and said moving end.

8. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a handle bar, said operation end of said pull cord being connected to said handle bar.

9. The rowing exercising apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said wheel assembly further includes a guide roller mounted on said connecting portion, said pull cord passing over said guide roller between said transmission wheel and said handle bar.