AU2012244162B2 - Waist and hip developer - Google Patents

Abstract

A waist and hip developer includes a track curving smoothly upwardly toward two distal ends thereof and having two stop members respectively 5 located at two distal ends thereof, foot members affixed to the track for supporting the track on the floor steadily, a slide slidably coupled to the track with rollers thereof and movable back and forth along the track between the stop members, a seat rotatably supported on the slide with a ball bearing within a predetermined angle and selectively lockable to the slide with a lock 0 screw, two grips respectively affixed to the two distal ends of the track, and a counter for counting of the number of reciprocating cycles of the slide moving by the user sitting on the seat. '5

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (ORIGINAL) Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: Name of Applicant: Wei-Teh Ho Actual Inventor(s): Wei-Teh Ho Address for Service and Correspondence: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: WAIST AND HIP DEVELOPER Our Ref: 956001 POF Code: 201854/504255 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): 6006q WAIST AND HIP DEVELOPER 5 FIELD OF THE INVENTION: The present invention relates to exercising machines and more particularly, to exercising machines for exercising the waists and hips. This type of exercising machine will be referred hereinafter as a "waist and hip developer". 10 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Often due to poor diet, many people consume foodstuffs which are not particularly healthy, or which when consumed in too great quantities are not healthy, such as refined and processed carbohydrates. Further, partly as a 15 result of a lack of convenient places to exercise, many people do not engage in an amount of daily exercise which is considered adequate for good health. On the other hand, because most people typically do care about their health, many people have turned to exercise machines that can be used in a small area, typically within a room in a house and because of this, many different 20 exercise machines have been developed for a variety of different purposes for the domestic market. However, few of these exercising machines have a capability for training or exercising muscles of the waist and hips. Some multipurpose gymnastic machines do have such a capacity, however, these types of machines are commonly expensive and bulky and/or heavy, making 25 them unattractive for domestic purchase. Applicant seeks to provide a waist and hip developer, which is suitable for training or exercising the muscles of the waist and hips. Applicant further 2 seeks to provide waist and hip developer, which is relatively inexpensive and relatively light and compact compared to the prior art. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 5 Waist and hip developers in the field of the present invention can comprise a track curving smoothly upwardly toward two distal ends thereof and having two stop members respectively located at two distal ends thereof, foot members affixed to the track for supporting the track on the floor steadily, a slide slidably coupled to the track with rollers thereof and movable 10 back and forth along the track between the stop members, a seat rotatably supported on the slide with a ball bearing within a predetermined angle and selectively lockable to the slide by a lock screw, and two grips respectively affixed to the two distal ends of the track. 15 In one form of the invention, there is provided a waist and hip developer, comprising: a track which is smoothly arched and which curves upwardly toward two distal ends thereof, said track including stop members respectively located near the two distal ends thereof; 20 foot members fixed to said track for supporting said track on a floor steadily; a slide slidably coupled to said track with rollers and movable back and forth along said track between said stop members, said slide including a lock screw; and 25 a seat assembly supported on said slide and including a seat which is supported to be rotatable relative to said slide within a predetermined angle, said seat assembly including a ring with a plurality of protrusions disposed annularly around an outer edge of the ring, and which are rotatable with the 3 seat; the protrusions are positioned to be alternatively stoppable against said lock screw to limit the angle of rotation of said seat relative to said slide; and a lock screw hole into which said lock screw can extend to lock said seat against rotation relative to said slide, the lock screw being releasable from 5 said lock screw hole to permit rotation of said seat relative to said slide. An advantage of the present invention is that the developer limits the extent to which the seat can rotate relative to the slide so that the likelihood of over-rotation of the seat to the point at which the user might injure 10 themselves, is reduced. Moreover, the seat can advantageously be locked against rotation relative to the slide if the user wishes to exercise without seat rotation, or when the developer is not being used and it is considered desirable to prevent rotation, say for transport of the developer, or for safety if small children could climb onto the developer and fall if the seat was to 15 rotate. Advantageously, the use of the lock screw can be quick and simple so that adjustment of the lock screw to permit seat rotation or to lock the seat against rotation can be made without difficulty and by virtually any user of the 20 developer. Further advantageously, the slide includes an elongate opening through which the lock screw extends and the lock screw being shiftable within the opening so that the position of the lock screw can be shifted 25 radially inwardly and outwardly relative to the lock screw hole so that the lock screw can move radially into and out of the lock screw hole, the lock screw being fixable in a selected position within the opening, whereby when the lock screw is in a radially inward portion of said lock screw hole, said seat is 4 locked against rotation relative to said slide and when the lock screw is in a radially outward portion of said lock screw hole, said seat can rotate relative to said slide between the two protrusions. 5 A waist and hip developer according to the invention can include a counter for counting the number of reciprocating cycles of the slide when moved by a user of the developer sitting on the seat. The counter can count either seat rotation, or back and forth movement of the slide and seat along the track between the stop members of the track, or both. 0 When using the waist and hip developer, the user can sit on the seat and then twist the waist to rotate the seat relative to the slide and simultaneously move the seat and the slide alternatively leftwards and rightwards along the track between the stop members. By means of repeating 15 the aforesaid procedure, the muscles of the user's waist and hips are trained or exercised. The user has complete control of the speed of seat rotation and slide movement and can rotate and slide either to or within the maximum limits set by the stop members and the protrusions. 20 The developer can be relatively lightweight and compact, as well as inexpensive. Thus, the developer can be used in a small place such as a room in a house and can be moved without difficulty from one place to another, such as between rooms within a house or by car. In addition, the life of the developer can be significant as the moving parts are mainly rollers that 25 can be selected to be low wear. This also means that training on the developer can be low impact so that the likelihood of injury is lowered compared to higher impact machines. 5 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention may be more fully understood, some embodiments will now be described with reference to the figures in which: FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a waist and hip developer in accordance 5 with the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the waist and hip developer of Figure 1. FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the waist and hip developer of Figure 1. FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a part of the waist and hip developer of Figure 1. 0 FIG. 5 is an oblique bottom elevation of a part of the waist and hip developer of Figure 1. FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing illustrating the waist and hip developer of Figure 1 from one direction. FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing illustrating another status of use of the 5 waist and hip developer of Figure 1 from a different direction to that of Figure 6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1to 5, a waist and hip developer in accordance with 20 the present invention is shown comprising a plurality of foot members 1, a track 2, grips 3, a slide 4 and a seat 5. The track 2 is smoothly arched and curves upwardly toward two distal ends thereof, having stop members 23 respectively located near the two 25 distal ends. The stop members are projections that are fixed to the track 2, although they could be formed integrally with the track 2 if preferred. The foot members 1 are affixed to the bottom side of the track 2 by any suitable arrangement and are arranged to support the track 2 on a floor surface 6 steadily. The slide 4 is slidably coupled to the track 2 with rollers 40 and is movable back and forth along the track 2 between the stop members 23 at the two distal ends of the track 2. Alternatively, the track 2 could include rollers for the slide to roll on. 5 The seat 5 is part of a seat assembly that is supported on the slide 4. The seat assembly further includes a ball bearing assembly 41 on which the seat 5 is rotatable relative to the slide 4 within a predetermined angle. The ball bearing assembly 41 includes a plurality of balls 43 captured in a race 0 44. Housing parts 45 and 46 sandwich the race 44 so that part 45 can rotate relative to part 46 which is fixed to the slide 4. The seat 5 is fixed to the part 45 so that the seat 5 can rotate relative to the slide 4. A ring 53 is sandwiched between the housing part 45 and the seat 5 and is described in more detail below. 5 The slide 4 is provided with a lock screw 42 that can be fixed through an opening 47 of the slide 4. The lock screw 42 includes a projection 48 (see Figure 5) that projects to a position adjacent the periphery of the ring 53. The ring 53 is connected between the seat 5 and the housing part 45 to be 20 rotatable with the seat 5 and includes protrusions 51. In the position shown in Figures 4 and 5, the ring 53 can rotate relative to the lock screw 42 between two of the three protrusions 51 illustrated. Thus rotation of the seat 5 is limited to the angle of rotation between two protrusions 51. It can be seen that the three protrusions 51 are spaced apart at about 90* to each 25 other around separate ring 53. More or less protrusions 51 can be provided and their spacing can be other than at 90*. However, when the protrusions 51 are spaced apart at about 900 to each other, a protrusion 51 may extend in a direction which is at 900 to its neighbouring protrusion 51. Moreover, the 7 protrusions can be provided on the housing part 45 rather than a separate ring 53, or on any other part of the developer. The opening 47 is elongate so that the position of the projection 48 of 5 the lock screw 42 can be shifted radially inwardly and into one of two lock screw holes 52 of the ring 53 to lock the seat 5 to the slide 4 against relative rotation. Movement of the lock screw 42 is achieved simply by unscrewing the screw 42 slightly to shift the screw 42 radially inwardly or outwardly as required and then tightening the screw 42 to maintain the selected position. 0 The grips 3 are respectively affixed to the two distal ends of the track 2 at the top side to extend upwardly. Further, a counter 20 is mounted to one end of the track 2 adjacent one of the grips 3. 5 A guard 21 is mounted around the border of the track 2 for protection and decoration. Further, a backrest 50 is affixed to the seat 5 for supporting the back of the user sitting on the seat 5. When using the waist and hip developer, the user can position the waist 20 and hip developer on the floor by means of the foot members 1, and then sit on the seat 5 and hold the grips 3 with two hands. Then, after shifting of the lock screw 42 from the lock screw hole 52, the user can twist the waist to rotate the seat 5 relative to the slide 4 within the predetermined angle defined by the two protrusions 51, as shown in Figures 6 and 7. The user can also 25 simultaneously move the seat 5 and the slide 4 alternatively leftwards and rightwards along the track 2 between the stop members 23 at the two distal ends of the track 2. By means of repeating the aforesaid procedure, the muscles of the user's waist and hips are trained or exercised. During 8 exercise, the user can rest his or her back against the backrest 50. At the same time, the counter 20 counts the number of reciprocating cycles of the exercise and also, if equipped to do so, length of the exercising time. 5 Throughout the description and claims of this specification the word "comprise" and variations of that word, such as "comprises" and "comprising", are not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described 0 in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims. 9

Claims (10)

1. A waist and hip developer, comprising: a track which is smoothly arched and which curves upwardly toward 5 two distal ends thereof, said track including stop members respectively located near the two distal ends thereof; foot members fixed to said track for supporting said track on a floor steadily; a slide slidably coupled to said track with rollers and movable back and 10 forth along said track between said stop members, said slide including a lock screw; and a seat assembly supported on said slide and including a seat which is supported to be rotatable relative to said slide within a predetermined angle, said seat assembly including a ring with a plurality of protrusions disposed 15 annularly around an outer edge of the ring, and which are rotatable with the seat; the protrusions are positioned to be alternatively stoppable against said lock screw to limit the angle of rotation of said seat relative to said slide; and a lock screw hole into which said lock screw can extend to lock said seat against rotation relative to said slide, the lock screw being releasable from 20 said lock screw hole to permit rotation of said seat relative to said slide.

2. The waist and hip developer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising two grips respectively affixed to the two distal ends of said track. 25

3. The waist and hip developer as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising a counter mounted on one end of said track. 10

4. The waist and hip developer as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a guard mounted around the border of said track.

5. The waist and hip developer as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, 5 wherein said seat assembly includes a backrest for supporting the back of a person sitting on said seat.

6. The waist and hip developer as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the seat is rotatably supported on said slide by a ball bearing 10 assembly.

7. The waist and hip developer as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, the protrusions being formed on a ring member of the seat assembly which is rotatable with said seat. 15

8. The waist and hip developer as claimed in claim 7, the protrusions being spaced apart at about 900 to each other.

9. The waist and hip developer as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 20 8, the slide including an elongate opening through which the lock screw extends and the lock screw being shiftable within the opening so that the position of the lock screw can be shifted radially inwardly and outwardly relative to the lock screw hole so that the lock screw can move radially into and out of the lock screw hole, the lock screw being fixable in a selected 25 position within the opening, whereby when the lock screw is in a radially inward portion of said lock screw hole, said seat is locked against rotation relative to said slide and when the lock screw is in a radially outward portion 11 of said lock screw hole, said seat can rotate relative to said slide between the plurality of protrusions.

10. The waist and hip developer as claimed claim 9, wherein the lock 5 screw hole is open radially to allow said lock screw to move radially into and out of the lock screw hole. 12