U.S. patent application number 13/050927 was filed with the patent office on 2012-04-05 for upper body exercise apparatus, method and system.
Invention is credited to Justin B. Meininger, Steven J. Miller.
Application Number | 20120083397 13/050927 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45890311 |
Filed Date | 2012-04-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120083397 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Meininger; Justin B. ; et
al. |
April 5, 2012 |
Upper Body Exercise Apparatus, Method and System
Abstract
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and system
for a human individual to exercise his body in a novel manner
wherein the user, when he is in the prone position, is able to move
his arms, while holding the instant apparatus placed on a
relatively flat surface, in all three planes of human motion
simultaneously; i.e. saggital, frontal and transverse planes.
Inventors: |
Meininger; Justin B.; (Miami
Beach, FL) ; Miller; Steven J.; (Tamarac,
FL) |
Family ID: |
45890311 |
Appl. No.: |
13/050927 |
Filed: |
March 17, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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61390140 |
Oct 5, 2010 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
482/132 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 2208/0261 20130101;
A63B 22/20 20130101; A63B 23/1236 20130101; A63B 23/03541 20130101;
A63B 23/0355 20130101; A63B 21/4035 20151001 |
Class at
Publication: |
482/132 |
International
Class: |
A63B 21/00 20060101
A63B021/00 |
Claims
1. An upper body exercise apparatus, comprising: two identical
devices wherein a user grasps a cylindrically shaped handle
generally oriented parallel to a supporting surface, on each device
with each of his hands, being mounted in, and supported by a
support structure that is generally oriented perpendicular to said
supporting surface, said support structure being connected to and
supported by a solid base, in said solid base there are three or
more spherically shaped rollers placed in half spherically shaped
recesses within said base, the spherically shaped rollers being
held within said base by a retaining plate mounted on the bottom of
said base, high hertz contact strength bearing material being
bonded to said half spherical shaped recesses located within said
base thereby providing a low friction interface of the moving
spherically shaped rollers and the stationary recesses in said
base, and said recesses capturing the upper half of said rollers,
said spherically shaped rollers then permitting a user positioned
in the prone position, to slide each of the two identical devices
simultaneously while said user is grasping the handles of each
devices in each of his hands, across a relatively flat surface, and
in any direction simultaneously and independently, thereby allowing
said user the capability of exercising said user's muscles and
joints in said user's saggital plane, and laterally in said user's
frontal plane, and through said user's arm sweep rotation motions
about a user's shoulders in the transverse plane, or in any
possible combination of these aforesaid motions.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein there is also a brake bar
mounted parallel to said device's handle, and located so that a
user may grasp and then squeeze said brake bar to increase the
resistance for said spherical rollers rolling, said resistance
being increased by having said brake bar actuating, through
connecting links or cable, friction material mounted within said
base and said friction material applied to said spherical rollers
through open slots located in the spherical roller recesses in said
base, thereby giving the user greater control of his own exercise
mobility and resistance.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the base and handle support
structure are fabricated as one molded piece.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the base and handle are an
assembly of two separate pieces.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the handle is an assembly of
two cylindrically shaped solid pieces, wherein said two pieces are
concentrically assembled with a small radial clearance between said
two pieces, thereby allowing said two pieces to rotate relative to
one another, while the user is grasping the outer cylindrical
handle piece.
6. An upper body exercise method, comprising: two identical devices
wherein a user is grasping a cylindrically shaped handle generally
oriented parallel to a supporting surface, on each device with each
of his hands, being mounted in, and supported by a support
structure that is generally oriented perpendicular to said
supporting surface, said support structure being connected to and
supported by a solid base, in said solid base there are three or
more spherically shaped rollers placed in half spherically shaped
recesses within said base, the spherically shaped rollers being
held within said base by a retaining plate mounted on the bottom of
said base, high hertz contact strength bearing material being
bonded to said half spherical shaped recesses located within said
base thereby providing a low friction interface of the moving
spherically shaped rollers and the stationary recesses in said
base, and said recesses capturing the upper half of said rollers,
said spherically shaped rollers then permitting a user positioned
in the prone position, to slide each of the two identical devices
simultaneously while said user is grasping the handles of each
devices in each of his hands, across a relatively flat surface, and
in any direction simultaneously and independently, thereby allowing
said user the capability of exercising said user's muscles and
joints in said user's saggital plane, and laterally in said user's
frontal plane, and through said user's arm sweep rotation motions
about a user's shoulders in the transverse plane, or in any
possible combination of these aforesaid motions.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein there is also a brake bar mounted
parallel to said device's handle, and located so that a user may
grasp and then squeeze said brake bar to increase the resistance
for said spherical rollers rolling, said resistance being increased
by having said brake bar actuating, through connecting links or
cable, friction material mounted within said base and said friction
material applied to said spherical rollers through open slots
located in the spherical roller recesses in said base, thereby
giving the user greater control of his own exercise mobility and
resistance.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the base and handle support
structure are fabricated as one molded piece.
9. The method of claim 7, assembling the base and handle from two
separate pieces.
10. The apparatus of claim 6, assembling the handle from two
cylindrically shaped solid pieces, wherein said two pieces are
concentrically assembled with a small radial clearance between said
two pieces, thereby allowing said two pieces to rotate relative to
one another, while the user is grasping the outer cylindrical
handle piece.
11. An upper body exercise system, comprising: two identical
devices wherein a user grasps a cylindrically shaped handle
generally oriented parallel to a supporting surface, on each device
with each of his hands, being mounted in, and supported by a
support structure that is generally oriented perpendicular to said
supporting surface, said support structure being connected to and
supported by a solid base, in said solid base there are three or
more spherically shaped rollers placed in half spherically shaped
recesses within said base, the spherically shaped rollers being
held within said base by a retaining plate mounted on the bottom of
said base, high hertz contact strength bearing material being
bonded to said half spherical shaped recesses located within said
base thereby providing a low friction interface of the moving
spherically shaped rollers and the stationary recesses in said
base, and said recesses capturing the upper half of said rollers,
said spherically shaped rollers then permitting a user positioned
in the prone position, to slide each of the two identical devices
simultaneously while said user is grasping the handles of each
devices in each of his hands, across a relatively flat surface, and
in any direction simultaneously and independently, thereby allowing
said user the capability of exercising said user's muscles and
joints in said user's saggital plane, and laterally in said user's
frontal plane, and through said user's arm sweep rotation motions
about a user's shoulders in the transverse plane, or in any
possible combination of these aforesaid motions.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein there is also a brake bar
mounted parallel to said device's handle, and located so that a
user may grasp and then squeeze said brake bar to increase the
resistance for said spherical rollers rolling, said resistance
being increased by having said brake bar actuating, through
connecting links or cable, friction material mounted within said
base and said friction material applied to said spherical rollers
through open slots located in the spherical roller recesses in said
base, thereby giving the user greater control of his own exercise
mobility and resistance.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the base and handle support
structure are fabricated as one molded piece.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the base and handle are an
assembly of two separate pieces.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the handle is an assembly of
two cylindrically shaped solid pieces, wherein said two pieces are
concentrically assembled with a small radial clearance between said
two pieces, thereby allowing said two pieces to rotate relative to
one another, while the user is grasping the outer cylindrical
handle piece.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority from applicant's U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61390140, filed on Oct. 5,
2010.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not Applicable
DESCRIPTION OF ATTACHED APPENDIX
[0003] Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and
system for a human individual to exercise his body in a novel
manner wherein the user, when he is in the prone position, is able
to move his arms, while holding the instant apparatus placed on a
relatively flat surface, in all three planes of human motion
simultaneously; i.e. saggital, frontal and transverse planes.
[0005] In the prior art, a plethora of devices have focused on
prone position exercise devices; i.e. push-up assist devices that
allowed users a greater range of vertical motion by lifting the
users hands some distance off of the ground on a stable surface,
while other devices made some further improvements by further
allowing only arm rotation or twisting, while the user was doing a
push up with the aforesaid devices, said improved device being
limited by being stationary or immobile on a flat surface, and only
permitting the user to twist said user's arm's while doing a
push-up, positioning as disclosed in Hauser, Friedman, Mills series
of patents, U.S. Pat. No. 7,238,147, U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,025, U.S.
Pat. Nos. 7,553,267, D579503, D597153, D599417; i.e. the device
itself was fixed to the floor or flat surface by the weight of the
user and friction, unable to slide across the flat surface in any
direction, simultaneously while the user was holding the device in
his hands.
[0006] While these devices fulfill their respective, particular
objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents did not
describe an upper body exercise and physical conditioning device
that is described herein by the instant application. This instant
invention allows a user to move his arms in a novel manner, i.e.
the user can position his hands on the device (in any manner) and
then move his arms in all three planes of human motion (saggital,
frontal and transverse planes), whether in one plane, or more than
one plane at the same time, while the device is free to slide in an
infinite number of directions while placed on the floor, and while
the user is bodily in the prone position. This permits the exercise
of numerous additional groups of muscle groups compared to that of
the prior art. The instant invention also the exercise of, and the
resultant improvement in, a user's upper body's joints ranges of
motion, thereby improving the user's joint flexibility. In
addition, the invention's structural geometric arrangement allows
for rigid, secure and yet a simple and lightweight design. The
instant application improves upon the prior art, with an apparatus,
method and system that allows for user's arms to move in the
saggital, frontal and transverse planes of human motion
simultaneously. None of the prior art has allowed for this broad
range of exercise versatility in a single device. Some of the
muscle groups that may be exercised by this novel device include,
but are not limited to, pectoral major, pectoral minor, abdominals,
triceps, and deltoids. The instant invention further allows for arm
flexion, extension, internal and external rotation, adduction and
abduction. The prior art was not capable of exercising as many
muscles, joints and ranges of human motion, at one time, with a
single system.
[0007] Further, the devices in the prior art generally had more
moving parts than the instant invention, which made them more
difficult and expensive to manufacture and would increase their
chances for failure. The applicant's instant invention solves all
of these aforesaid problems and limitations in the prior art by
fabricating the device with strong, resilient and flexible
materials, including, but not limited to injection molded plastics,
and using high hertz contact strength laminate bonded solid
bearings at the interface of stationary and moving parts. One of
said solid laminate bonding materials being fabricated of
halogen-hydrocarbon-polymers. This new design is structurally more
simple than the prior art, thereby making it easier to use, and
substantially more simple and less costly to manufacture and
maintain. Therefore, the applicant's instant invention solves these
aforesaid problems and limitations.
[0008] It can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need
for a upper body exercise apparatus, method and system, which
serves to exercise the largest grouping of human body muscle
groups, than any other apparatus, method or system disclosed in the
prior art. In this regard, the present invention substantially
fulfills this need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] In the view of the above stated disadvantages inherent in
the known types of devices now present in the prior art, the
present invention provides an improved upper body exercise device.
As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will
be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new
unique upper body exercise device which has all the advantages of
the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
[0010] To attain this, the present invention comprises an
apparatus, method and system that has a means for a user to grasp
said apparatus with his hands (one identical device in each of
user's hands), then since the apparatus has a means for sliding
across the flat surface it is resting on (said means comprising a
plurality of spherically shaped rollers suitably retained within
the bottom mounting plate of said apparatus), in any direction
simultaneously, with little or no friction (utilizing solid high
hertz contact strength bonded bearing materials, such as
halogen-organic polymers, at the interface of the moving and
stationary parts), the user then has the option to move his arms
together or alternately forward and back in the human saggital
plane, and/or laterally in the human frontal plane, and/or through
arm sweep rotation motions about a user's shoulders in the human
transverse plane, or in any possible combination of these aforesaid
human motions; thereby rendering the user able to exercise his
muscles and joints in an infinite number of directions, to exercise
several muscle groups and joints simultaneously. This improves the
user's strength and joint range of motion.
[0011] There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more
important features of this invention in order that the detailed
description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in
order that the present contribution to the art may be better
appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the
invention that will be described hereinafter.
[0012] In this respect, before explaining the disclosed embodiments
of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the
invention is not limited in its application to the details of
construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in
the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The
invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced
and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that
the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose
of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
[0013] As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be
utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods
and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present
invention. It is important, therefore, that the limited claims
herein be regarded as including such equivalent constructions
insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the
present invention.
[0014] It is therefore an object of the present invention to
provide a novel unique upper body exercise apparatus, method and
system which has all the advantages of the prior art upper body
exercise devices and none of the disadvantages.
[0015] It is another object of the present invention to provide a
novel unique upper body exercise device which may be more easily
and more efficiently manufactured and marketed than the prior
art.
[0016] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a
novel unique upper body exercise device which is fabricated of
durable and reliable materials, simpler design and less costly to
manufacture and maintain.
[0017] An even further object of the present invention is to
provide a novel unique upper body exercise device which is
susceptible of an even lower cost of manufacture with regard to
both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible
of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such
a device even more economically available to the buying public, yet
with greater capabilities than that disclosed in the prior art.
[0018] Even still another object of the present invention is to
provide a novel unique upper body exercise device for allowing a
person to move their arms while grasping the apparatus, in all
three planes of human motion (saggital, frontal and transverse)
simultaneously, and in any degree of each of these three planes,
that the user so desires, to achieve the specific results that a
particular user wants and needs.
[0019] For a better understanding of the invention, its operating
advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference
should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter
in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] The drawings constitute a part of this specification and
include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be
embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some
instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated
or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
[0021] In the drawings:
[0022] FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the preferred embodiment of
the upper body exercise device constructed in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a plan view of one preferred embodiment of the
upper body exercise device constructed in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a plan view of another preferred embodiment of the
upper body exercise device constructed in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0025] With reference now to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, are the
preferred embodiments of the upper body exercise device embodying
the principles and concepts of the present invention.
[0026] In the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the device
has a generally circular configuration base (100), in which there
is a minimum of three, but in this case four spherically shaped
rollers (101) placed in half spherically shaped recesses within the
base (100), the spherically shaped rollers (101) being held within
the base (100) by circular shaped retaining clips (102). In the
preferred embodiment of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the device has a
generally rectangular configuration base (100), in which there is a
minimum of three, but in this case four spherically shaped rollers
(101) placed in half spherically shaped recesses within the base
(100), the spherically shaped rollers (101) being held within the
base (100) by circular shaped retaining clips mounted on, or an
integral part of a retaining plate (102). The retaining clips
and/or plate prevent the spherically shaped rollers from dropping
out of the device if the device is lifted off of the floor by the
user. In the preferred embodiments the user grabs the two identical
devices, one in each of his two hands using a grab bar (103), said
grab bar being mounted in, and supported by the two side support
side plates (104). Optionally, there may be a user brake bar (105)
mounted on the grab bar (103), wherein the user may optionally grab
and then squeeze the brake bar to increase the resistance for the
aforesaid spherical rollers from freely rolling, thereby giving the
user greater control of his own exercise mobility and resistance
training At the interface of the spherical rollers (101) and the
base place spherical recesses placed in the base plate (100) for
said rollers (101), is a high hertz contact stress capable bonded
solid friction bearing layer, said layer being bonded to the
spherical rollers (101), and/or the recesses for said rollers in
the base plate (100). Not illustrated in the drawing, is a brake
pad type mechanism suitably linked to the brake bar (105), that
applies adjustable braking load, as applied by the user squeezing
the brake bar (105). Said brake bar components being configured to
allow the user to personally adjust the rate at which the spherical
rollers may roll in any or all of the three directions of human
motion; i.e. saggital, frontal and/or transverse.
[0027] While the present invention has been particularly described,
in conjunction with a preferred embodiments, it is evident that
many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to
those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. For
one example, the spherical rollers may be replaced by a combination
system that provides for the same freedom of three dimensional
motions that the spherical rollers provide; i.e. cylindrical
rollers not mounted directly on base plate (100), but rather said
four rollers each being mounted on a four fully rotational discs,
with said discs then being mounted on the bottom of the base plate
(100). It is therefore contemplated that the instant disclosure
will embrace any such alternatives, modifications and variations as
falling within the true scope and spirit of the present
invention.
[0028] In so far as the description above and the accompanying
drawing disclose any additional subject matter that is not within
the scope of the limited claims below, the inventions are not
dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more
applications to claim such additional inventions is reserved.
[0029] While the invention has been described in connection with a
preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the scope of the
invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it
is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and
equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the
invention.
* * * * *