TWI863844B - Fitness equipment with less volume - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention describes a fitness equipment, which includes a frame and a support assembly. The frame has an extension direction. The support assembly includes a support leg and a bottom support member, and the bottom support member is movably connected to the support leg in a first direction or a second direction. When the bottom support member is connected to the support leg in the first direction, the bottom support member supports the frame in a manner that is not parallel to the extension direction of the frame, so that the user can ride or sit on the fitness equipment stably for training; when the bottom support member is connected to the support leg in the second direction, the bottom support member is configured in a direction parallel to the extension direction of the frame, so as to reduce the overall volume of the fitness equipment.

Description

Fitness equipment with less volume

The present invention relates to a fitness equipment, and more particularly, to a fitness equipment with a small volume.

Conventional fitness equipment, such as an exercise bike, a flywheel or a rowing machine, generally has a frame and a bottom tube disposed on the frame to support the frame, so that a user can stably ride or sit on the frame of the fitness equipment to perform training.

However, the bottom tubes of commonly used fitness equipment are usually fixed to the frame and difficult to disassemble. The volume of the fitness equipment during transportation is quite large, which invisibly increases the transportation cost of the fitness equipment. In order to reduce the volume of the fitness equipment during transportation and thus reduce the overall transportation cost, some fitness equipment will be designed with a detachable bottom tube in its structural design. The bottom tube will be disassembled during the transportation of the fitness equipment, and the consumer will not start to assemble the bottom tube until the fitness equipment is purchased and brought home. However, since the frame and bottom tube of the fitness equipment are usually made of metal materials, the whole is very heavy. If the consumer wants to assemble the bottom tube, the consumer must first lift one side of the fitness equipment and then install the bottom tube on the supporting feet, resulting in a lot of manpower and time spent in the assembly process of the fitness equipment. It can be seen that the structural design of existing fitness equipment is not perfect and there is still room for improvement.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a fitness equipment which can have a smaller volume during transportation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fitness equipment that can make the movement of the fitness equipment faster, more convenient and less labor-intensive.

The fitness equipment provided in the following embodiments includes a frame and a support assembly. The frame includes a rear side, a front side and an extension direction, and the extension direction is from the rear side of the frame to the front side of the frame. The support assembly includes a support leg and a bottom support member, and the bottom support member is movably connected to the support leg in a first direction or a second direction. When the bottom support member is coupled to the supporting leg in the first direction, the bottom support member supports the frame in a manner that is not parallel to the extension direction of the frame, so that the consumer or user can ride or sit on the fitness equipment stably for training; when the bottom support member is coupled to the supporting leg in the second direction, the bottom support member is configured in a direction parallel to the extension direction of the frame, thereby reducing the overall volume of the fitness equipment.

Since the bottom support member of the fitness equipment can be coupled to the supporting legs of the fitness equipment in the first direction or the second direction, when the fitness equipment needs to be transported, the bottom support member can be coupled to the supporting legs in the second direction, so that the extension direction of the bottom support member is consistent with the extension direction of the frame, thereby reducing the overall volume of the fitness equipment. On the other hand, when the fitness equipment needs to be assembled, the consumer or user only needs to easily adjust the bottom support member that has been coupled to the supporting legs to the first direction so that the bottom support member is coupled to the supporting legs, so that the bottom support member can support the frame in a manner that is not parallel to the extension direction of the frame, so that the consumer or user can ride or sit on the fitness equipment stably for training.

In one aspect, the bottom support member is rotatably coupled to the support leg and is rotatable between a first direction and a second direction.

In another aspect, the fitness equipment further comprises a bottom assembly, the bottom assembly comprises a connecting rod, a sliding member and a foot pad, the connecting rod has two opposite ends and is respectively connected to the bottom side of the bottom support member and the sliding member, the foot pad is hollow and surrounds the sliding member, the foot pad is movably coupled to the connecting rod and can be moved between a first height and a second height to respectively expose a portion of the sliding member or completely contain the sliding member. When the foot pad moves to the first height, the exposed sliding member (e.g., a non-rolling ball, a rolling ball or a rolling wheel) can effectively reduce the friction between the bottom support member and the ground, so that the user can push the fitness equipment to a suitable position by himself in an effortless manner. On the other hand, when the foot pad moves to the second height, the foot pad completely contains the sliding aid, and the bottom support member contacts the ground through the foot pad, which will effectively increase the friction between the foot pad and the ground, so that the fitness equipment can be placed stably on the ground.

In another aspect, the connecting rod of the bottom assembly is a screw rod and a screw hole is provided on the top side of the foot pad, and the foot pad is screwed to the connecting rod through the screw hole, so that the foot pad can move between the first height and the second height relative to the bottom support.

On the other hand, the supporting leg is further provided with a track column, the bottom supporting member is coupled to the bottom side of the supporting leg and the bottom supporting member is provided with a slide groove, the track column is accommodated in the slide groove, so that the bottom supporting member can slide along the slide groove, so that the bottom supporting member can slide to the first direction or the second direction. The slide groove can be, for example, an arc groove or a linear groove. When the slide groove is an arc groove structure, the bottom supporting member can rotate between the first direction and the second direction in an arc rotation manner; when the slide groove is a linear groove, the bottom supporting member can first rotate from the first direction to the second direction in an in-situ rotation manner, and then the bottom supporting member can be linearly moved backwards by the linear groove, thereby reducing the overall volume of the fitness equipment.

In another aspect, the fitness equipment may further include a limit block, and the limit block is disposed on the side of the supporting leg. When the bottom support member is coupled to the supporting leg in a first direction, the bottom support member abuts against the limit block to limit the maximum rotation angle of the bottom support member.

In another aspect, in order to effectively fix the bottom support member to the supporting leg, the supporting leg and the bottom support member may be provided with screw holes. When the bottom support member is coupled to the supporting leg in a first direction, the screw holes of the supporting leg and the bottom support member can be screwed together by a screw, so that the bottom support member can be fixed to the supporting leg.

First of all, it should be noted that the technical features provided by the present invention are not limited to the specific structures, uses and applications described in the embodiments. The terms used in the description are all exemplary descriptive terms that can be understood by ordinary knowledgeable people in the relevant technical fields. The directional descriptive terms such as "front", "upper", "lower", "back", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inside", and "outside" mentioned in this manual are only exemplary descriptive terms based on the normal use direction and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

In order to explain the technical features of the present invention in detail, several embodiments are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5B , this embodiment provides a structural design of a fitness equipment 1. The fitness equipment 1 described in the following embodiments may be, but is not limited to, a fixed flywheel vehicle, a swing flywheel vehicle, an exercise bike, or a rowing machine. The following embodiments will take a fixed flywheel vehicle as an example, and the various features described therein can be applied to other types of fitness equipment, so other types of fitness equipment will not be described repeatedly.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a stationary flywheel as a fitness equipment 1, and Fig. 1 omits a handlebar and a seat of the flywheel. The fitness equipment 1 of the first embodiment includes a frame 10 and two supporting components 20, 20'.

The frame 10 is used for users to ride or sit astride for training. Depending on the type of fitness equipment, the frame 10 may have different structural forms. In the present embodiment, the frame 10 is a frame structure having a front side 11, a rear side 12, and an extension direction DE. A riser 13 is provided on the front side 11 of the frame 10. A seat tube 14 is provided on the rear side 12 of the frame 10. The riser 13 is used to install a faucet handle, and the seat tube 14 is used to install a seat cushion. The extension direction DE is defined as the direction from the rear side 12 of the frame 10 to the front side 11 of the frame 10.

Please refer to Figures 1, 2 and 4. The number of supporting components 20, 20' may increase or decrease with the design of different fitness equipment 1. As shown in Figure 1, the fitness equipment 1 has two supporting components 20, 20', which are respectively arranged at the front side 11 and the rear side 12 of the fitness equipment 1. The structures of the two supporting components 20, 20' are the same, so the following only describes the supporting component 20 located at the front side 11 of the fitness equipment 1, and the structure of the supporting component 20' located at the rear side 12 of the fitness equipment 1 can be deduced accordingly. The supporting component 20 includes a supporting leg 21 and a bottom supporting component 22. The supporting leg 21 structurally comprises a front fork 211 and a bottom plate 212. The front fork 211 is integrally connected to the frame 10 and is equipped with a flywheel W. The bottom plate 212 is in the form of a flat plate and is fixed to the lower end of the front fork 211. A track column 213 extending downward is provided at the bottom side of the bottom plate 212 (see FIG. 3). In addition, a screw hole h1 is provided on each side of the bottom plate 212.

The bottom support member 22 is coupled to the bottom side of the support leg 21 in a first direction D1 (as shown in FIG. 1 ) or a second direction D2 (as shown in FIG. 6 ). The bottom support member 22 is in the shape of a flat plate, and a slide slot 221 and two screw holes h2 are provided on the top side. As shown in FIG. 3 , the slide slot 221 includes a circular arc segment 222 and a straight line segment 223 connected to each other, and the track column 213 is accommodated in the slide slot 221, so that the bottom support member 22 can be rotatably coupled to the support leg 21 under the push of an external force, and can be rotated to the first direction D1 (direction extending left and right) or the second direction D2 (direction extending front and back). When the bottom support member 22 is coupled to the bottom side of the supporting leg 21 in the first direction D1, the position of the screw hole h2 of the bottom support member 22 corresponds one-to-one to the position of the screw hole h1 of the bottom plate 212 (as shown in FIG. 4 ), so that the user can use a bolt R to screw the screw holes h1, h2 of the bottom support member 22 and the bottom plate 212 together, so that the supporting leg 21 and the bottom support member 22 can be locked together.

Through the structural design of the fitness equipment 1 of this embodiment, since the bottom support member 22 of the fitness equipment 1 can be combined with the supporting leg 21 of the fitness equipment 1 in the first direction D1 or the second direction D2, when the manufacturer needs to transport the fitness equipment 1, the manufacturer can combine the bottom support member 22 with the supporting leg 21 in the second direction D2, so that the extension direction DE of the bottom support member 22 is consistent with the extension direction DE of the frame 10 (that is, both extend front and back, see Figures 6 and 7. If the bottom support member 22 is a round tube, the axial direction of the round tube will be the same as the extension direction DE), so that the volume of the entire fitness equipment 1 is greatly reduced, thereby reducing the overall volume of the fitness equipment 1, so as to facilitate the subsequent transportation of the fitness equipment 1. On the other hand, when the user wants to assemble the fitness equipment 1, the user can adjust the bottom support member 22 that has been combined with the supporting leg 21 to the first direction D1, so that the bottom support member 22 is combined with the supporting leg 21 in the first direction D1, so that the bottom support member 22 can support the frame 10 in a manner perpendicular to the extension direction DE of the frame 10 (that is, the bottom support member 22 is extended left and right), and then the supporting leg 21 and the bottom support member 22 can be locked, so that the user can ride or sit on the fitness equipment 1 stably for training.

In order to facilitate consumers or users to adjust the bottom support 22 from the second direction D2 to the first direction D1 in an effortless manner, the fitness equipment 1 of this embodiment is further provided with a bottom assembly 30 on both sides of the bottom support 22. Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5A, the bottom assembly 30 includes a connecting rod 31, a sliding member 32 and a foot pad 33. The connecting rod 31 includes a screw portion 311 and a head portion 312. The upper end of the screw portion 311 is connected to the bottom side of the bottom support 22, and the head portion 312 is provided with a receiving groove 313. The slide assisting member 32 is a sphere and is rollably disposed in the receiving groove 313 of the head 312 of the connecting rod 31, so that the slide assisting member 32 can roll in the receiving groove 313 of the head 312. Afterwards, a processing tool can be used to apply an external force to the periphery of the receiving groove 313, so that the periphery of the receiving groove 313 is slightly deformed inward, thereby preventing the slide assisting member 32 from escaping from the receiving groove 313. The foot pad 33 is hollow and surrounds the auxiliary slide member 32. A screw hole h3 is provided on the top side of the foot pad 33. The foot pad 33 is screwed into the screw rod portion 311 of the connecting rod 31 through the screw hole h3, so that the foot pad 33 can be vertically movably connected to the connecting rod 31 and can move between a first height (as shown in FIG. 5A) and a second height (as shown in FIG. 5B). When the foot pad 33 is rotated and moved upward to the first height, the foot pad 33 does not completely cover the auxiliary sliding member 32 but exposes a portion of the auxiliary sliding member 32. At this time, the auxiliary sliding member 32 will contact the ground. Since the auxiliary sliding member 32 is spherical, the friction between the auxiliary sliding member 32 and the ground will be greatly reduced, allowing the user to push the fitness equipment 1 to a suitable position with less effort. After the fitness equipment 1 is pushed to a proper position, the user can rotate the foot pad 33 again to move the foot pad 33 downward to a second height, so that the foot pad 33 completely covers and contains the auxiliary sliding member 32, and the bottom side of the foot pad 33 is in contact with the ground, thereby effectively increasing the friction between the foot pad 33 and the ground, so that the fitness equipment 1 can be stably fixed to the ground.

It is worth noting that, although the slide assisting member 32 of the present embodiment is a rollable sphere, in some cases, the slide assisting member 32 may also be a rollable wheel. The slide assisting member 32 may also be a non-rollable sphere directly fixed to the connecting rod 31, so that the slide assisting member 32 can effectively reduce the friction between it and the ground.

In order to limit the maximum rotation angle of the bottom support member 22, the fitness equipment 1 may further include a limit block 40 (see FIG. 2). The limit block 40 is disposed on the rear side of the bottom plate 212 of the supporting leg 21. Therefore, when the bottom support member 22 is rotated to the first direction D1, the bottom support member 22 will abut against the limit block 40 and can no longer continue to rotate.

The present invention also provides a second embodiment, please refer to Figures 8 and 9. The structure of the fitness equipment 1' of the second embodiment is roughly the same as the structure of the fitness equipment 1 of the first embodiment, one difference is that the slide groove 221 of the second embodiment is a linear groove, so when the manufacturer wants to reduce the volume of the fitness equipment 1', the bottom support member 22 can be rotated to the second direction D2, and then the bottom support member 22 can be moved backward along the linear groove (as shown in Figures 10 and 11), so that the volume of the fitness equipment 1' can be further reduced.

Finally, it must be reiterated that the methods and components disclosed in the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any simple structural modifications or changes that do not depart from the spirit of the present invention, or replacement with other equivalent components, should still fall within the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

1,1’: Fitness equipment 10: Frame 11: Front side 12: Rear side 13: Stem tube 14: Seat tube 20,20’: Support assembly 21: Support foot 211: Front fork 212: Bottom plate 213: Track column 214: Positioning hole 22: Bottom support 221: Slide groove 222: Arc segment 223: Straight segment 224: Groove 30: Bottom assembly 31: Connecting rod 311: Screw part 312: Head 313: Accommodation groove 32: Sliding aid 33: Foot pad 40: Limit block D1: First direction D2: Second direction DE: Extension direction h1, h2, h3: Screw holes R: Bolt W: Flywheel

The detailed structure and features of the fitness equipment will be described in the following embodiments. However, it should be understood that the embodiments and drawings described below are only for exemplary purposes and should not be used to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional diagram of the fitness equipment of the first embodiment, used to illustrate a situation where a bottom support member of the fitness equipment is combined with a supporting leg of the fitness equipment in a second direction; FIG. 2 is a partial three-dimensional enlarged diagram of the fitness equipment of the first embodiment from another angle; FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the fitness equipment of the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is an exploded view of FIG. 1; FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view along the A-A section line of FIG. 1, used to show the situation when the foot pad is at a first height; FIG. 5B is similar to FIG. 5A, used to show the situation when the foot pad is at a second height; FIG. 6 is another partial three-dimensional enlarged diagram of the fitness equipment, used to illustrate the situation where the bottom support member of the fitness equipment is combined with the supporting leg of the fitness equipment in a first direction; FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 3, and is used to illustrate the situation that the bottom support member of the fitness equipment is combined with the supporting leg of the fitness equipment in the first direction; FIG. 8 is a three-dimensional view of the fitness equipment of the second embodiment, and is used to illustrate the situation that the bottom support member of the fitness equipment is combined with the supporting leg of the fitness equipment in the second direction; FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the fitness equipment of the embodiment; FIG. 10 is another three-dimensional partial enlarged view of the fitness equipment of the second embodiment, and is used to illustrate the situation that the bottom support member of the fitness equipment is combined with the supporting leg of the fitness equipment in the first direction; and FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 9, and is used to illustrate the situation that the bottom support member of the fitness equipment is combined with the supporting leg of the fitness equipment in the first direction.

21: Support your feet

211: Front fork

212: Base plate

22: Bottom support

221: Chute

30: Bottom assembly

D2: Second direction

DE: extension direction

Claims (9)

A fitness equipment with less material volume comprises: A frame having a rear side, a front side and an extension direction, the extension direction being directed from the rear side to the front side; A support assembly comprising a support leg and a bottom support member, the support leg being connected to the frame, the bottom support member being movably coupled to the support leg in a first direction or a second direction; Wherein, when the bottom support member is coupled to the support leg in the first direction, the bottom support member supports the frame in a manner that is not parallel to the extension direction; when the bottom support member is coupled to the support leg in the second direction, the bottom support member is configured to be parallel to the extension direction. The fitness equipment as described in claim 1, wherein the bottom support member is rotatably coupled to the supporting leg and can rotate between the first direction and the second direction. The fitness equipment as described in claim 1 also includes a bottom assembly, which includes a connecting rod, an auxiliary sliding member and a foot pad. One end of the connecting rod is connected to the bottom side of the bottom support member, and the auxiliary sliding member is arranged at the other end of the connecting rod. The foot pad is hollow and surrounds the auxiliary sliding member. The foot pad is movably connected to the connecting rod and can be moved between a first height and a second height to expose a part of the auxiliary sliding member or completely include the auxiliary sliding member. As described in claim 3, the connecting rod is a screw rod and a screw hole is provided on the top side of the foot pad, and the foot pad is screwed to the connecting rod through the screw hole. The fitness equipment as described in claim 3 or 4, wherein the sliding aid is a rolling ball, a non-rolling ball or a rolling wheel. As described in claim 1, the supporting leg is also provided with a track column, the bottom supporting member is coupled to the bottom side of the supporting leg and the bottom supporting member is provided with a slide groove, and the track column is accommodated in the slide groove. The fitness equipment as described in claim 6, wherein the slide groove is an arc groove or a linear groove. The fitness equipment as described in claim 1 further includes a limit block, which is arranged on one side of the supporting leg. When the bottom supporting member is combined with the supporting leg in the first direction, the bottom supporting member abuts against the limit block. As described in claim 1, the supporting leg and the bottom supporting member are both provided with a screw hole, and when the bottom supporting member is coupled to the supporting leg in the first direction, the supporting leg and the bottom supporting member are screwed together with the screw hole of the supporting leg and the bottom supporting member by a screw.

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