U.S. patent application number 11/706231 was filed with the patent office on 2008-08-21 for rubber barbell weight with at least one colored rubber belt and a method of making the same.
This patent application is currently assigned to Vincent LIN. Invention is credited to Vincent Lin.
Application Number | 20080200315 11/706231 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39707188 |
Filed Date | 2008-08-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080200315 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lin; Vincent |
August 21, 2008 |
Rubber barbell weight with at least one colored rubber belt and a
method of making the same
Abstract
A method of making a rubber barbell weight with as least on
colored rubber belt has acts of providing at least one annular
colored rubber belt, providing a mold, placing the at least one
annular colored rubber belt in the mold, placing rubber raw
materials in the mold, heating and pressing the mold and releasing
the mold. The mold has two middle molds. Each middle mold has at
least one recess formed radially in an inside wall of the mold. The
annular colored rubber belt is placed into the recesses of the
middle molds. The rubber raw materials are placed into the mold.
Because top and bottom flanges of each recess of the middle mold
limit the annular colored rubber belt only fusing with adjacent
rubber raw materials, an outside surface of the annular colored
rubber belt does not mix with the color of the rubber raw
materials.
Inventors: |
Lin; Vincent; (Kaohsiung
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BACON & THOMAS, PLLC
625 SLATERS LANE, FOURTH FLOOR
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Assignee: |
LIN; Vincent
Kaohsiung Hsien
TW
Uesaka; Tadamasa
Tokyo
JP
|
Family ID: |
39707188 |
Appl. No.: |
11/706231 |
Filed: |
February 15, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
482/106 ;
264/231 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 21/06 20130101;
A63B 21/0724 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
482/106 ;
264/231 |
International
Class: |
A63B 21/075 20060101
A63B021/075 |
Claims
1. A rubber barbell weight with at least one annular colored rubber
belt comprising: an annular edge; at least two recesses formed
radially in the annular edge; and at least one annular colored
rubber belt, and each one of the at least one annular colored
rubber belt formed between corresponding two recesses.
2. The rubber barbell weight as claimed in claim 1 having two
recesses and one annular colored rubber belt.
3. The rubber barbell weight as claimed in claim 1 having three
recesses and two annular colored rubber belts.
4. A method of making a rubber barbell weight with at least one
colored rubber belt comprising acts of: providing at least one
annular colored rubber belt; providing a mold, wherein the mold
comprises a lower mold having a top surface; a cavity formed in the
top surface of the lower mold; two middle molds attached to the top
surface of the lower mold, and each middle mold being semicircular
and having a top surface; an inside wall; and at least one recess,
and each one of the at least one recess formed radially in the
inside wall of the middle mold and having a top flange and a bottom
flange; and an upper mold is attached to the top surfaces of the
middle molds and having a bottom surface; and a cavity formed in
the bottom surface of the upper mold and aligning with the cavity
of the lower mold; placing each one of the at least one annular
colored rubber belt in corresponding recesses of the middle molds
between corresponding top and bottom flanges; placing rubber raw
materials into the cavities of the lower and upper molds and inside
the at least one annular colored rubber belt; heating and pressing
the mold; and releasing the mold.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein only one annular
colored rubber belt is provided at the act of placing each one of
the at least one annular colored rubber belt; and each middle mold
has one recess.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein two annular colored
rubber belts are provided at the act of placing each one of the at
least one annular colored rubber belt; and each middle mold has two
recesses.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a rubber barbell weight and
a method of making the rubber barbell weight, especially to a
rubber barbell weight with at least one annular colored rubber belt
and a method of making the rubber barbell weight.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Arts
[0004] Weightlifting is widely used to build and develop a person's
muscles. Weightlifting equipment is usually a barbell. The user
raises and lowers the barbell to exercise the muscles. The barbell
comprises a bar and at least two weight assemblies. The bar has two
ends. The weight assemblies weigh the same and are mounted
respectively on the ends of the bar. Each weight assembly comprises
at least one replaceable disk-shaped weight. The weight has two
flat surfaces and a circular outer edge. Most conventional barbell
weights are iron or another heavy metal. When the metal weight is
dropped on the floor, the metal weight strikes the floor and makes
a huge noise. Therefore, conventional barbell weights made of
rubber have been developed to reduce the noise when the weight is
dropped on the floor.
[0005] Conventional rubber weights can be made of rubber in
different colors to identify the weight of each rubber weight. For
example, a red rubber weight weighs 25 kg, a yellow rubber weight
weighs 20 kg, a green rubber weight weighs 10 kg, a white rubber
weight weighs 5 kg, etc.
[0006] With reference to FIG. 9, conventional weights are stored
perpendicularly on a rack (70). Because the conventional rubber
weights with different weights have different colors, a person can
easily distinguish the conventional rubber weights by the colors on
sides of the conventional rubber weights.
[0007] Some conventional rubber weights (80) often used to practice
are black and the weights of the practice rubber weights (80) are
marked respectively on flat surfaces of the practice rubber weights
(80). Therefore, a person cannot distinguish the practice rubber
weights (80) easily when the practice rubber weights (80) are
stored perpendicularly on the rack (70). If the manufacturers form
a colored rubber belt around the outer edge of a practice rubber
weight plate (80), the colored rubber of the colored rubber belt
and the black rubber of the practice rubber weight (80) flow
together and mix when the rubbers are melted. Therefore, the color
of the colored rubber belt is mixed with black to make the color
difficult to distinguish.
[0008] To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides
a rubber barbell weight with at least one colored rubber belt and a
method of making the rubber barbell weight to mitigate or obviate
the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The main objective of the present invention is to provide a
rubber barbell weight with at least one colored rubber belt and a
method of making the rubber barbell weight. The method of making a
rubber barbell weight with as least on colored rubber belt has acts
of providing at least one annular colored rubber belt, providing a
mold, placing the at least one annular colored rubber belt in the
mold, placing rubber raw materials in the mold, heating and
pressing the mold and releasing the mold. The mold has two middle
molds. Each middle mold has at least one recess formed radially in
an inside wall of the mold. The annular colored rubber belt is
placed into the recesses of the middle molds. The rubber raw
materials are placed into the mold. Because top and bottom flanges
of each recess of the middle mold limit the annular colored rubber
belt only fusing with adjacent rubber raw materials, an outside
surface of the annular colored rubber belt does not mix with the
color of the rubber raw materials. Therefore, the color of the
annular colored rubber belt is clearly identified.
[0010] Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the
invention will become more apparent from the following detailed
description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a method of making a rubber
barbell weight with at least one colored rubber belt in accordance
with the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a mold used to
process the method in FIG. 1;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of a colored rubber
belt put into the mold in FIG. 2;
[0014] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of rubber raw
materials put into the mold in FIG. 3;
[0015] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of the mold in FIG. 4
when the mold is heat pressed;
[0016] FIG. 6 is a side view in partial section of the rubber
barbell weight in FIG. 1;
[0017] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of a mold used to
process the method in FIG. 1 with two rubber color belts;
[0018] FIG. 8 is a side view in partial section of a rubber barbell
weight with two colored rubber belts; and
[0019] FIG. 9 is a side view of a bracket used to hold multiple
conventional weight plates.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a method of making a rubber
barbell weight with at least one colored rubber belt in accordance
with the present invention comprises acts of providing at least one
annular colored rubber belt (40), providing a mold, placing the at
least one annular colored rubber belt (40) in the mold, placing
rubber raw materials (50) in the mold, heating and pressing the
mold and releasing the mold.
[0021] The at least one annular colored rubber belt (40) can be any
color as the manufacturer desired.
[0022] The mold comprises a lower mold (10), two middle molds (20)
and an upper mold (30).
[0023] The lower mold (10) is a disc and has a top surface, an
annular edge, a central shaft (13), an annular shoulder (11), a
cavity (12), two ears (14) and multiple positioning protrusions
(111). The central shaft (13) is formed on the top surface of the
lower mold (10). The annular shoulder (11) is formed on the top
surface of the lower mold (10) around the lower mold (10). The
cavity (12) is formed between the central shaft (13) and the
annular shoulder (11). The ears (14) are formed oppositely on and
extends radially from the annular edge of the lower mold (10) to
fasten the lower mold (10) on a heat pressing machine. The
positioning protrusions (111) are formed separately on the annular
shoulder (11).
[0024] With further reference to FIG. 3 and 7, each middle mold
(20) is semicircular and has a top surface, a bottom surface, an
inside wall, at least one recess (21) and multiple positioning
holes (22). Each recess (21) is formed radially in the inside wall
of the middle mold (20) and has a top flange (211) and a bottom
flange (212). The positioning holes (22) are formed separately in
the bottom surface of the middle mold (20) and respectively
correspond to the positioning protrusions (111) of the lower mold
(10).
[0025] With further reference to FIG. 5, the upper mold (30) is a
disc and has a bottom surface, a cavity (32) and a central hole
(31). The cavity (32) is formed in the bottom surface of the upper
mold (30) and aligns with the cavity (12) of the lower mold (10).
The central hole (31) is formed through the upper mold (30) and
corresponds to the central shaft (13) of the lower mold (10).
[0026] Each one of the at least one annular colored rubber belt
(40) is fully mounted in the corresponding recesses (21) of the
middle molds (20) between the top and bottom flanges (211, 212) of
the recesses (21).
[0027] With reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 and 7, the rubber raw
materials (50) are placed into the cavities (12, 32) of the lower
and upper molds (10, 30) and are placed inside the at least one
annular colored rubber belt (40). The middle molds (20) are
attached to the shoulder (11) of the lower mold (10). The
positioning holes (22) are mounted respectively around the
positioning protrusions (111) of the shoulder (11) to attach the
middle molds (20) to the shoulder (11). The upper mold (30) is
attached to the top surface of the middle molds (20) and the
central hole (31) of the upper mold (30) is mounted around the
central shaft (13) of the lower mold (10).
[0028] The mold is heated and the upper mold (30) is pressed to
melt the at least one annular colored rubber belt (40) and the
rubber raw materials (50). Then the melted rubber raw materials
(50) are fused with each other and an inside wall of each melted
annular colored rubber belt (40) is fused with adjacent melted
rubber raw materials (50) to combine the at least one annular
colored rubber belt (40) and the rubber raw materials (50).
[0029] With further reference to FIGS. 6 and 8, after the at least
one annular colored rubber belt (40) and the rubber raw materials
(50) are vulcanized, the mold is released. Then the rubber barbell
weight (60) with at least one annular colored rubber belt (40) in
accordance with the present invention is finished. The rubber
barbell weight (60) has at least two annular recesses (61) formed
around an annular edge of the rubber barbell weight (60) and
corresponding to the top and bottom flanges (211, 212) of the
middle molds (20). Each one of the at least one annular colored
rubber belt (40) is formed between corresponding two annular
recesses (61).
[0030] Because the top and bottom flanges (211, 212) of the middle
molds (20) keep the melted annular colored rubber belt (40) from
fusing with the melted raw materials (50) in the cavities (12, 32)
of the upper and lower molds (10, 30), an outside surface of the
annular colored rubber belt (40) does not mix with the color of the
rubber raw materials (50). Therefore, the color of the annular
colored rubber belt (40) is clearly identified.
[0031] Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the
present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description,
together with details of the structure and features of the
invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made
in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and
arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the
full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in
which the appended claims are expressed.
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