Head Stand Support

Abstract

An exercise stand constructed from three C-shaped tubular members and readily disassembled for storage and shipping. Two of the members form sides and support a pair of shoulder pads and the third couples and spaces the two side members, the three members being keyed against relative rotation and held together by bolts carried by the shoulder pads.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an exercise stand and, more particularly, to a portable exercise stand for performing yoga-type exercises and the like.

Numerous devices have been proposed for exercise stands or platforms to facilitate the practice of yoga exercises, and particularly head stands. Heretofore proposed exercise stands of this type, however, have generally been limited to rigid unitary structures which are not readily adapted for disassembly and transportation from one place to another.

Further, many prior art apparatus are quite bulky and complex in structure, such apparatus being relatively expensive to manufacture and difficult to store and ship as a result of their relatively large size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention resides in an exercise stand which is simple in structure, inexpensive to manufacture and light in weight, and in which the main structural components are of substantially the same shape and overall size so as to be capable of being arranged flat for compact shipping in knocked-down form. Moreover, the stand is designed for quick and easy assembly with a relatively small number of parts which, when coupled together, form a rigid and stable stand.

More specifically, the preferred embodiment of the exercise stand comprises three C-shaped members, two of which form laterally spaced, upright side members of the stand and the third constituting a transverse coupling for telescoping with and interconnecting the two side members. Shoulder pads mountable on the upper portions of the side members include fasteners for securing the transverse member to the side members and completing the rigid assembly as an incident to the mounting of the shoulder pads on the stand. Inwardly extending longitudinal ribs in the outside telescoping portions of the stand interfit with longitudinal grooves on the inside portions to key the members against rotation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel exercise stand of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the exercise stand of FIG. 1 illustrating its manner of use;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a view of the exercise stand of FIG. 1 shown disassembled and arranged for packing for storage or shipping.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the present invention is embodied in an exercise stand 10 of the type primarily designed to facilitate head stand exercises and the like, such as performed by persons who practice yoga. In this instance, the exercise stand is placed against a vertical support 12, such as a wall, and the user places his head between a pair of shoulder pads 14 on the stand with his shoulders resting thereon and his hands on opposite sides, and raises his feet to assume a head stand position, his feet ultimately resting against the wall with his body vertically supported wholly by the shoulder pads and steadied by his hands.

In accordance with the present invention, the exercise stand is constructed of three substantially similar C-shaped members 18, 20 and 22, the design and structure resulting therefrom being such that the stand may be shipped in flat, knocked-down condition and subsequently quickly and easily assembled for use. By virtue of the novel construction of the present invention, the exercise stand is relatively light in weight while exhibiting sufficient strength and rigidity in use, and is formed with a minimum number of simple parts for economical manufacture and low cost.

To the foregoing ends, two of the C-shaped members 18 and 20 are disposed in laterally spaced and parallel upright planes and positioned to form the sides of the stand 10 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 with the crosspiece 24 of each "C" vertically disposed and on the front side of the stand, and with the vertically spaced legs 26 and 28 of each member extending rearwardly from the lower and upper ends of the associated cross-piece. The third C-shaped member 22 is horizontally disposed with the legs 30 and 32 of the "C" extending forwardly from the crosspiece 36 and coupled in telescoped relation with the upper legs of the upright members. The shoulder pads 14 are placed on top of the upper legs and include fasteners 34 thereon which extend through both the upper legs 28 and the coupling legs 30 and 32 to secure the three members rigidly together.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the upright side members 18 and 20 have upper, generally horizontal legs 28 which herein are shorter than the lower horizontal legs 26. The upper and lower legs of the two side members are joined by cross legs 24 which are of the same length so that the upper surfaces of the two upper legs lie in a common horizontal plane. The legs 30 and 32 of the coupling member 22 are preferably of the same length, this length being such that when the stand is assembled, the rear surface of the crosspiece 36 of the coupling member will be vertically aligned with the rear ends of the lower legs of the side members. This enables the stand to be placed flush against the wall 12 during the performance of exercises.

In this instance, the legs 30 and 32 of the coupling member 22 have outer diameters dimensioned to slide within the upper legs 28 of the side members 18 and 20, the coupling member being telescoped with the upper legs to both couple the side members together and laterally space them relative to each other. Preferably, all three members are formed from a rigid, lightweight material, the side members typically being formed from 1 inches steel tubing and the coupling member from 3/4 inches steel tubing. Herein, a pair of plugs 25 of suitable design is inserted in the ends of the lower legs 26 to prevent dirt or foreign matter from entering the hollow tubing of the side members.

The legs 30 and 32 of the coupling member 22 each have a pair of spaced through holes 38 (See FIG. 4) which are alignable with corresponding holes 40 through the upper legs 28 of the side members 18 and 20. After telescoping the legs 30 and 32 of the coupling member 22 into the upper legs, the coupling member is moved until the holes therethrough are aligned with the holes through the upper legs. After aligning the holes, the pads 14 and their associated fasteners 34, herein downwardly projecting bolts, are positioned over the upper legs 24 and 26 and the bolts are aligned with the holes and moved therethrough thus securing the side members and the coupling member together. An inwardly extending longitudinal rib 42 in each leg 28 fits into an aligned longitudinal groove 43 in each leg 30, 32 to key the legs against rotation, the grooves and the ribs being similarly formed by grooving the tubing as shown most clearly in FIG. 3.

As best seen in the sectional view of FIG. 3, each of the pads 14 is formed from a resilient cushion material 44, such as a plastic or rubber foam, mounted on a rectangular wooden base 46 and held in place as a unitary assembly by an outer cover 48 of any suitable material, preferably a calendered plastic material exhibiting a smooth surface which is both durable and washable, secured to the underside of the base by a suitable adhesive.

The bolts 34 are positioned through, and secured by any suitable means to the wooden base 46 of the pads 14 prior to final assembly of the cushion material 44 and cover 48, thereby to become an integral part of the pads and thus further simplify assembly and disassembly of the exercise stand 10. Further, an arcuate channel 50 extends longitudinally along the underside of each pad and is dimensioned to overlie a portion of the outer surface of the upper legs 28 for more rigid mounting of the pads on the stand 10.

A pair of nuts 52 is threaded onto the lower ends of the bolts 34 to firmly secure the pads 14 to the upper legs 28 of the side members 18 and 20. The bolts both prevent the coupling member from being pulled out of the upper legs and also prevent the side members from rotating relative to the coupling member. Thus, the exercise stand 10 is coupled rigidly together, the pad-carried bolts not only serving to secure the pads to the side members, but also rigidly holding the coupling member 22 in place within the upper legs of the side members.

With this construction, disassembly of the exercise stand 10 is accomplished simply by removing the nuts 52 and lifting the pads 14 and 16 to remove the bolts 34 from the aligned holes 38 and 40, thereby releasing the coupling member 22 so that it may be pulled outwardly from the upper legs 28 of the side members 18 and 20. Conversely, reassembly is performed simply and easily by reversing the disassembly steps.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, by virtue of the novel design of the present invention, the disassembled exercise stand 10 can be packaged for transportation in a very compact package (not shown), thus making transportation and storage easier and more readily undertaken. The three C-shaped members can be arranged flat around the shoulder pads for shipping in a minimum of space. In addition, it will be evident that the present invention provides an exercise stand which is simple in structure and light in weight and which may be readily assembled and disassembled with a minimum of effort and time. Further, the novel construction of the present invention makes it economical to manufacture and rigid and stable in use.

While a specific embodiment has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent that modifications and variations therein may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. An exercise stand comprising:

two generally C-shaped side members each having generally parallel legs connected by a crosspiece;

a generally C-shaped coupling member having two legs dimensioned to telescope with corresponding legs of said side members, and having a crosspiece for joining said side members together in laterally spaced upright planes when said two legs are telescoped with said corresponding legs;

and two shoulder pads mountable above said corresponding legs and including fasteners for extending through said two legs and said corresponding legs thereby to couple said members rigidly together.

2. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fasteners comprise at least one bolt secured to each of said shoulder pads, said bolt projecting through aligned holes carried by said two legs and said corresponding legs whereby said bolts secure said pads to said corresponding legs and couple said members rigidly together.

3. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said shoulder pads comprise:

a generally rectangular and substantially rigid base having upper and lower surfaces;

a resilient cushion mounted on said upper surface;

and a cover encasing said cushion and base, said cover being adhesively bonded to said lower surface of said base.

4. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 3 wherein each of said fasteners include at least one bolt secured to said base and projecting downwardly from said lower surface, said two legs and said corresponding legs having aligned holes for receiving said bolt whereby said members are coupled rigidly together.

5. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 1 wherein said corresponding legs are shorter than the other of said parallel legs and each of said corresponding legs has a pair of spaced holes alignable with a pair of spaced holes carried by each of said two legs, said hole pairs being located such that after telescoping said two legs with said corresponding legs and aligning said hole pairs, said crosspiece of said coupling member and the free end of said other of said parallel legs are substantially vertically aligned.

6. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 5 wherein said fasteners comprise a pair of spaced bolts secured to each of said shoulder pads and extending downwardly therefrom for extending through said aligned hole pairs.

7. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 1 wherein the telescoping legs of said side members and said coupling member have longitudinal means thereon keying the members against relative rotation.

8. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 7 wherein said keying means comprise interfitting longitudinal ribs and grooves.

9. An exercise stand as set forth in claim 7 wherein said telescoping legs are tubular, and said keying means comprise interfitting longitudinal ribs and grooves formed by similarly grooving said legs.