Butterfly Exercise Machine

Abstract

A butterfly exercising apparatus includes a pair of cranks pivotally mounted to a table supporting frame assembly for butterfly-like arcuate motion. Movement of either crank handle is transmitted by a cable and pulleys to a lever arm the free end of which is hinged to the bottom of a weight displacing shaft. A set of weights, adapted to slide along guide rods depending from a pivotable support member, are pinned to the shaft. Arcuate motion of either or both crank handles moves the lever arm, shaft and weights up and down, providing a selectable weight resist to the person using the exerciser.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The present relates to a butterfly exercising apparatus wherein arcuate motion of a pair of crank handles is resisted by a selected set of remotely situated weights displaced by the crank handle motion.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Certain body muscles advantageously are exercised by holding dumbbells and moving the arms through an arcuate paths resembling, with some imagination, the flapping of butterfly wings. As the person increases in ability or muscle tone, more heavily weighted dumbbells are employed; often these become of unwieldy size, with concomitant danger should the weights accidentally be dropped.

Certain exercising devices employing remotely situated, selectable weight stacks are known in the prior art. Typical of these is the leg press described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,062 to Zinkin. That exercising apparatus includes a bell crank having foot receiving pedals at one end and pivotally connected at the other end to the top of a weight lifting rod. The user presses his legs against the pedal to rotate the bell crank and lift the weights. While useful for leg exercises, such an assembly is not suitable for butterfly type arm exercises.

These and other limitations of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, an objective of which is to provide a butterfly exerciser including handles gripped like dumbbells, but connected to a remotely situated, selectable stack of weights.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To accomplish the foregoing objective, there is provided a butterfly exercising apparatus having a pair of cranks mounted to a table supporting frame assembly and adapted for arcuate, butterfly-like motion. The crank handles are connected by a cable and pulley assembly to a lever arm extending beneath the table on which the user may recline. The free end of the lever arm is hinged to the bottom of an upwardly extending weight displacing shaft, to which a selectable set of weights is pinned. The weights themselves are adapted to slide along a pair of guide rods which depend from a transverse member pivotally mounted at the top of an upwardly extending frame assembly. Butterfly motion of either or both crank handles is transmitted via the pulley and cable assembly to move the lever arm against a selected weight resist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A detailed description of the invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to scale.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the inventive butterfly exercising apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, transverse sectional view, as seen generally along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1, showing the butterfly exerciser lever arm and weight displacing shaft in raised position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The following detailed description is of the best presently contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention best is defined by the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, the inventive butterfly exerciser 10 includes a pair of cranks 11, 12 having respective crank handles 11a, 12a situated on either side of a body supporting table 13. A user, reclining on the table 13, grips the handles 11a, 12a and rotates one or both of the cranks 11, 12 about respective horizontal axes defined by the crankshafts 11b, 12b. Motion of the cranks 11, 12 is transmitted via a cable and pulley assembly, generally designated 14, to a lever arm 15. The free end 15a of the lever arm 15 is hinged to the bottom of an upwardly extending, weight displacing shaft 16. Certain of the weights 17 are connected to the shaft 16 by a pin 18 so as to be moved up and down in response to user imparted butterfly motion of the crank handles 11a, 12a. As described below, positioning of the pin 18 permits selection of the amount of weight resisting movement of the cranks 11, 12.

The cranks 11, 12 are supported by a frame assembly 22 including upright members 22a, 22b extending from a footing 22c and spaced on opposite sides of the table 13. A transverse member 22d extends between the uprights 22a, 22b to support one end of the table 13. The crankshafts 11b, 12b are attached to the respective uprights 22a, 22b.

The other end of the table 13 is supported by an inverted U-shaped member 23 extending upwardly from a footing 24. The lever arm 15 is situated generally beneath the longitudinal centerline of the table 13, and is pivotally attached at the fulcrum end 15b to a fitting 25 on the footing 24.

The cable and pulley assembly 14 includes a single cable 26 the ends of which are attached to the respective crank arms 11c and 12c. The cable 26 is guided around and beneath the table 13 by a pair of pulleys 27, 28 mounted to the uprights 22a, 22b and another pair of pulleys 29, 30 mounted to the table supporting member 22d. The center of the cable 26 engages a pulley 31 attached to the lever arm 15 at a location between the uprights 22a, 22b. With this arrangement, upward arcuate motion of one or both crank handles 11a, 12a pulls the cable 26, raising the pulley 31 and causing the lever arm 15 to pivot upwardly about the fulcrum end 15b.

The upward motion of the lever arm 15 is transmitted to the shaft 16 which extends through the vertical openings 17a in each of the weights 17. Each weight 17 is provided with a horizontal hole 17b extending from the front surface 17c to the vertical opening 17a. The pin 18 is inserted through the hole 17b' of a selected weight 17' into the corresponding one of a plurality of radial bores 16a in the shaft 16. Thus the shaft 16 lifts the pinned weight 17' and the other weights above it in the stack 17, as to the raised position shown in FIG. 2.

The weights 17 slide along a pair of guide rods 33 which extend through vertical holes 17d in each weight. The guide rods 33 depend from a transverse support member 34 pivotally mounted across the top of a frame assembly 35 including a footing 35a and a pair of uprights 35b and 35c. The lower ends of the guide rods 33 support a transverse member 36 having a clearance hole 36a through which the weight displacing shaft 16 extends. A pair of coil springs 37 surround the guide rods 33 between the weights 17 and the transverse member 36 to cushion the downward impact as the weights are lowered into the rest position shown in FIG. 1.

The weights 17, guide rods 33 and lower transverse member 36 together are free to swing about the horizontal axis defined by the pivot pins 34a at the ends of the upper supporting member 34. This limited arcuate motion accommodates the horizontal component of motion of the bottom of the shaft 16 as the lever arm 15 pivots about the fulcrum end 15b.

Thus there is provided a novel butterfly exercising apparatus in which user manipulated crank handles are moved against the resistance of a remotely situated stack of weights.

Claims

Intending to claim all novel, useful and unobvious features shown or described, the applicant claims:

1. A butterfly exercising apparatus comprising:

a first upwardly extending frame assembly,

a transverse member pivotally connected across the upper ends of said first frame assembly;

one or more weight guide rods extending downwardly from said transverse member,

a stack of weights adapted for sliding displacement along said guide rods, said weights, guide rods and transverse member together being adapted for arcuate motion about and beneath the pivotal axis of said transverse member,

a weight displacing shaft extending upwardly through said stack of weights and including pin means for attaching a selected subset of said weights for upward displacement with said shaft,

a lever arm hinged at one end to the lower end of said weight displacing shaft, and

butterfly crank assembly means for imparting upwardly pivotal motion to said lever arm, thereby displacing said shaft and subset of weights, in response to arcuate movement of one or more crank handles.

2. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said butterfly crank assembly means comprises:

a second upwardly extending frame assembly,

a first crank having a handle and pivotally attached to said second frame assembly for arcuate movement about a first horizontal axis, and

pulley and cable means interconnecting said crank and said lever arm for transmitting movement of said first crank handle to said lever arm.

3. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said butterfly crank assembly means further comprises a second crank having a handle and pivotally attached to said second frame assembly for arcuate motion about a horizontal axis parallel to but spaced from said first axis, said pulley and cable means including a single cable interconnecting and transmitting movement of either crank handle to said lever arm.

4. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said pulley and cable means comprises a single pulley attached to the middle of said lever arm and having an axis generally parallel to said lever arm, the ends of said cable being attached respectively to the arms of said cranks, said cable engaging said single pulley.

5. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 4 and further comprising a table situated between said cranks and adapted to support a user while said user grips and moves said crank handles.

6. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said second frame assembly includes a horizontal table supporting member, additional pulleys being attached to said table supporting member to guide said cable around and beneath said table.

7. A butterfly exercising apparatus according to claim 6 further comprising another frame member supporting the foot of said table, the fulcrum end of said lever arm being pivotally mounted to said other frame member.

8. In an exerciser of the type wherein a user reclines on a table and moves crank handles through arcuate paths;

a frame assembly supporting said table,

a pair of cranks pivotally mounted to said frame assembly on either side of said table, said cranks each having a crank arm and a crank handle,

a cable extending between said crank arms,

a lever arm extending generally longitudinally beneath said table,

means operatively attaching said cable to said lever arm for pivoting said lever arm in response to motion of said cranks,

a stack of weights dependingly supported in a frame and adapted for limited swinging motion,

a weight lifting shaft hinged to the free end of said lever arm and extending upwardly therefrom, and

means for connecting a subset of said weights to said shaft for upward displacement therewith as said lever arm is raised by arcuate motion of said cranks.

9. An exerciser according to claim 8 wherein said means operatively attaching comprises a pulley attached along the middle of said lever arm, said cable looping around said pulley.

10. An exerciser according to claim 9 further comprising additional pulleys mounted to said frame assembly for guiding said cable around beneath said table.

11. An exerciser according to claim 10 further comprising a supporting assembly beneath the foot end of said table, the fulcrum end of said lever arm being pivoted to said supporting assembly.