U.S. patent application number 11/177162 was filed with the patent office on 2007-01-11 for medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height.
This patent application is currently assigned to Taiwan Bicycle Industry R&D Center. Invention is credited to Chun-Ho Chen, Chia-Hsiun Chuang, Chih-Hung Hsu, Yu-Che Huang, Hung-Sheng Wu.
Application Number | 20070010376 11/177162 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37618954 |
Filed Date | 2007-01-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070010376 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu; Hung-Sheng ; et
al. |
January 11, 2007 |
Medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting
its rail height
Abstract
A medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height includes, a base having a treadmill
platform disposed on the base, a control panel disposed at the
front of the base; and a rail set having a rail separately disposed
on both sides of the base, characterized in that the bottom of each
rail has a rail height adjusting mechanism that can simultaneously
drive the rail to move up and down, so that the height adjusting
mechanism can adjust the height of the rails on both sides of the
treadmill, and quickly and easily adjusting the rail height for
patients.
Inventors: |
Wu; Hung-Sheng; (Tuku
Township, TW) ; Chen; Chun-Ho; (Taiping City, TW)
; Huang; Yu-Che; (Wurih Township, TW) ; Chuang;
Chia-Hsiun; (Changhua City, TW) ; Hsu; Chih-Hung;
(Taichung City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHARLES E. BAXLEY, ESQ.
90 JOHN STREET
THIRD FLOOR
NEW YORK
NY
10038
US
|
Assignee: |
Taiwan Bicycle Industry R&D
Center
|
Family ID: |
37618954 |
Appl. No.: |
11/177162 |
Filed: |
July 7, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
482/54 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 2071/009 20130101;
A63B 2225/093 20130101; A63B 22/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
482/054 |
International
Class: |
A63B 22/02 20060101
A63B022/02 |
Claims
1. A medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height, comprising: a base, having a treadmill
platform and a control panel disposed at the front of said base;
and a rail set, having a rail separately disposed on both sides of
said base; characterized in that said rail includes a rail height
adjusting mechanism disposed under said rail for driving said rails
to move vertically up and down; and said rail adjusting mechanism
adjusts the height of said rails on both sides, and quickly and
easily adjusts the height of said rail to fit a patient.
2. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 1, wherein said rail comprises
at least one adjusting sliding rod disposed on a rail base, and a
holding section disposed at an upper end of said adjusting sliding
rod.
3. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 2, wherein said rail height
adjusting mechanism comprises a link rod set disposed under said
rail base and driven by a driving set for adjusting the height of
said rail.
4. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 3, wherein said link rod set
comprises an active rod and a link rod, and said active rod is
axially coupled with the middle of said link rod.
5. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 4, wherein said active rod with
its upper end is axially coupled with said rail base, and the other
end is coupled to said driving set.
6. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 4, wherein said active rod with
its upper end is axially coupled with said rail base, and the other
end is coupled to said base.
7. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 4, wherein said driving set
comprises a linear driver, and an axial end of said linear drive
includes a transversal rod, and both ends of said transversal rod
are axially coupled with said each active rod.
8. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said linear driver is
an electric motor set, and said electric motor set includes a
stretchable rod to be driven by said electric motor set to freely
extend outward or withdraw inward.
9. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said linear drive is
a power cylinder.
10. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said base includes a
sliding track separately disposed on both sides, and said
transversal rod includes a sliding groove disposed on both sides
corresponding to said transversal rod, such that said transversal
rod slides in said sliding track.
11. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said rail further
comprises a protective cover wrapped around the bottom of said
rail.
12. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 11, wherein said protective
cover includes at least a sliding groove for slidably installing
said adjusting sliding rod.
13. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height of claim 11, wherein said protective
cover includes an accommodating space therein for accommodating
said rail base and said link rod set.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a medical therapeutic
treadmill, and more particularly to a medical therapeutic treadmill
that can automatically and synchronously adjust the height of its
rails on both sides of the treadmill.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] The main purpose for designing a medial therapeutic electric
treadmill is to provide a medical therapeutic training for patients
whose legs are injured or who have a problem on standing, walking
and running. Since the weight and height of each patient vary and
the correct support posture of each patient and the height of the
rail are different, therefore it is necessary to provide a design
capable of adjusting the width and height of the rails on both
sides of the treadmill, such that physical therapists can make
appropriate adjustments to fit individual patients, and the
patients can stand or are supported by the rails to avoid a
secondary injury.
[0005] However, most of the medical therapeutic treadmills sold in
the market come with a design for users to manually adjust the
height of the rails. For example, the treadmill disclosed in U.S.
Pat. No. 4,708,337 includes a support rod of the rail being two
sliding rods connected with each other, and the adjusting device
set could be a manual adjusting device such as a ball socket, a
spring latch or a thread. A user has to turn and loosen the
adjusting device by one hand first and then turns to tighten the
adjusting device set in order to adjust the height of the rails.
However, such manual adjusting method not only wastes time and
efforts, but also has the concern of adjusting the rails to one
higher than the other.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide
a medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting
its rail height, comprising a link rod set disposed under a rail, a
driving set for driving the link rods on both sides of the
treadmill and changing the height of the rails on both sides, so as
to achieve the purpose of automatically adjusting the rails. The
invention can save tremendous time and physical strength for
adjusting the rail height, and the driving set comprises a
transversal rod and both ends of the transversal rod are axially
connected to a link rod for synchronously adjusting the rail height
on both sides and making sure that the rails on both sides are of
the same height.
[0007] The technical measures adopted by the present invention
include:
[0008] a medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically
adjusting its rail height, comprising a base, having a treadmill
platform disposed on the base, and a control panel disposed at the
front of the base; and a rail set, having a rail separately
disposed on both sides of the base; characterized in that the rail
includes a rail height adjusting mechanism under the rail for
simultaneously driving the rails to move vertically up and down and
adjusting the rail height to fit a patient in a quick, simple and
easy manner.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a rail height adjusting
mechanism of the invention;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a rail height adjusting
mechanism of the invention;
[0011] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a protective cover set of the
invention;
[0012] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of adjusting a rail height
according to the invention;
[0013] FIG. 5 is another schematic view of adjusting a rail height
according to the invention; and
[0014] FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the movements of
to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0015] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a medical therapeutic treadmill
capable of automatically adjusting its rail height comprises the
following elements:
[0016] A base 10 has a treadmill platform 11 disposed on the base
10, and the treadmill platform 11 includes a runway 111 driven by
an electric motor for allowing an exerciser to do exercise thereon,
and a control panel 12 is disposed at an appropriate position of
the front of the base 10, and the control panel 12 has various
switches and controllers for users to control and adjust the
functions of the treadmill.
[0017] A rail set 20 has a rail 21 disposed separately on both
sides of the base 10, at least one adjusting slide rod 23 disposed
on a rail base 22, and a holding section 24 disposed on the rail
base 22 for users to hold by hands.
[0018] A rail height adjusting mechanism 30 has a link rod set 31
disposed under the rail base 22, and the link rod set 31 comprises
an active rod 32 and a link rod 33, and both active rod 32 and link
rod 33 are axially connected at the central position, such that the
active rod 31 and link rod 33 constitute an X-shape link rod
mechanism, and a driving set 34 comprises a linear driver 35 which
could be an electric motor set 351, and the electric motor set 351
includes a stretchable rod 352, and a transversal rod 36 is
disposed at an axial end of the stretchable rod 352, and a sliding
groove 361 is disposed at the bottom of both ends of the
transversal rod 36, and a sliding track 362 is disposed on two
corresponding sides of the base 10, such that the linear driver 35
can push the transversal rod 36 to slide in the sliding track 362;
wherein the link rod 32 has a rail base 22 axially connected to the
top of the link rod 32, and the other end is axially connected to
the base 10, and the top of the active rod 31 is axially connected
to the rail base 22, and the other end is axially connected to an
end of the transversal rod 36.
[0019] A protective cover set 40 has a protective cover 41 wrapped
around a lateral side of the bottom of each rail 21, and a sliding
groove 42 is disposed on the protective cover 41 corresponding to
the adjusting sliding rod 23 for sliding the adjusting sliding rod
23 therein, and the protective cover 41 includes an accommodating
space 43 for accommodating the rail base 22 and the link rod set
31; wherein the protective cover 41 is fixed onto the base 10.
[0020] With the understanding of the foregoing structures, the
principle and process of the present invention is described as
follows:
[0021] Referring to FIG. 4 for adjusting the height of the rails 21
to a higher position, a user controls the electric motor set 351 to
drive the stretchable rod 352 to extend outward while driving the
transversal rod 32 to slide outward along the sliding track 362.
Since the bottom of the link rod 32 is axially connected to the
base 10, therefore when the active rod 31 connected to both ends of
the transversal rod 36 is pushed by the transversal rod 36, the
active rod 31 and the bottom of the link rod 32 produce a linking
movement with the central axial connecting position as the
center.
[0022] With the linking movement of the link rod set 31, the height
of the top of the active rod 31 and the link rod 32 are changed,
and the rails installed above the link rod set are lifted. Since
the active rods 31 on both sides of the link rod set 31 are
separately and axially connected to both ends of the transversal
rod 36. The rail height adjusting mechanism 30 can drive the rails
21 on both sides to move upward at the same time (as shown in FIG.
5).
[0023] On the other hand, if it is necessary to lower the height of
the rails 21, the electric motor set 351 is moved in a reverse
direction to drive the stretchable rod 352 to withdraw inward, and
the transversal rod 36 pulls the link rod set 31 on both sides to
be released, and the rails 21 on both sides are driven to move
downward.
[0024] Since the protective cover 41 is fixed onto the base 10, and
the sliding groove 42 above the protective cover 41 is provided for
adjusting the sliding rod 23 to slide therein, therefore when the
rail base 22 and the link rod set 31 move up or down in the
accommodating space 43 of the protective cover 41, the sliding
groove 42 allows the adjusting sliding rod 23 to stably sliding
therein to assure a smooth and steady rise of the rail set 20 as
shown in FIG. 6.
[0025] In the present invention, each rail 21 includes a link rod
set 31 under the rail 21, and a driving set 35 pushes the link rod
set 31 on both sides, and uses the linking movement of the link rod
set 31 changes the height of the rails 21 on both sides, so as to
achieve the purpose of automatically adjusting the height of the
rails 21 and saves the time and strength of adjusting the rail
height.
[0026] The driving set 35 installs a transversal rod 36, a link rod
set separately and axially connected to both ends of the
transversal rod 36 for synchronously pushing the link rod set 31 to
adjust the height of the rails 21 on both side and assure the
height of the rails 21 to be the same on both side.
[0027] Further, the linear driver 35 can adopt a hydraulic pressure
or pneumatic cylinder to substitute the electric motor set 351 and
the stretchable rod 352 to achieve the same effect.
[0028] In summation of the above description, the present invention
herein enhances the performance and overcomes the shortcoming of
the prior art, and further complies with the patent application
requirements and is submitted to the Patent and Trademark Office
for review and granting of the commensurate patent rights.
[0029] While the invention has been described by way of example and
in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the
invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended
to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and
procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should
be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such
modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
* * * * *