Exercise recorder

• US 4,144,568 A
• Filed: 09/17/1976
• Issued: 03/13/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Alexander J. Hiller, Frank M. Hardy
• Original Assignee: Alexander J. Hiller, Frank M. Hardy
• Inventors: Hardy, Frank M., Hiller, Alexander J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Atkinson, Charles E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Krass, Errol A.
• Application Number:
  US05/724,263
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• Field of Search: 235/151.3, 235/151.32, 235/92 MT, 73/379-381, 335/207, 335/196, 272/93, 272/100, 272/70, 364/410, 364/413, 364/415, 364/561, 325/66, 325/102
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/22 Ergometry; Measuring muscular strength or the force of a muscular blow exercising apparatus A63B21/00 ; measuring of work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4519 Muscles A61B5/389, A61B5/224 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 482/901 having computer circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 482/902 Employing specific graphic or video display

Abstract

A combined sensor-transducer with a calculator or computer is provided in which the sensor senses mechanical motions as in muscular exercising to provide a transduced pulse to the calculator or transducer to tally the number of muscular movments or by inserting a factor in the computer to read out the pulses in terms of calories or energy. An improved type of reed switch is provided for sensing mechanical motions in which a magnet is slidably supported near magnetically responsive metal lead wires, the magnetic flux with each movement of the slidable magnet bending the wires into conductive contact.

Claims

1. The portable exercise measuring device, comprising, in combination, a mechanical sensor-transducer, having outputs representative of muscular movements of an exercising body, said transducer comprising a movable inertial mass;

a computer for converting said output to signals representative of the number of Calories expended by said exercising body, said computer including means for accumulating the total number of said signals and displaying said total; and

timing means connected to said computer for modifying the sum of said accumulation dependent upon the type, vigor or period of the exercise.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the computer is a mini-computer having electrical contact input means connected in circuit with the inertial mass sensor activated by said exercising muscular movements to modify the periods of said timer, said measuring device being enclosed in a pocket carrying case mountable to the body of the exerciser.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said outputs of said sensor transducer are connected to the input of said computer as mechanical pulse signals.

4. The conmbination as defined in claim 1 wherein said outputs of said sensor transducer are converted to electrical signals and directly transferred to said computer through electro conductive wiring inter-connecting said transducer and said computer.

5. The combination as defined in claim 4 wherein said outputs of said sensor transducer are converted to electrical signals, said transducer is further combined with radio transmitting means, whereby said signals are radio broadcast, and said computer is combined with radio receiving means tuned to receive said signals and transfer the received signals to the memory of said computer.

6. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the transducer is a pivotally supported arm and the inertial mass is a weight secured near an end thereof, whereby mechanical motion will cause the weighted lever to swing on its pivot in an arc and transferring its movement to an input key of said computer to signal the mechanical pulse generated by each pivotal movement of said lever.

7. The combination as defined in claim 6, wherein said lever carries an electrical contact means to close a circuit periodically with each movement thereof, said circuit connected to the input of said computer to count said movements.

8. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said transducer comprises a weight supported on a resilient arm above an electrical contact means electrically connected to the computer, said weight being confined in a housing above said lever and movable in response to mechanical exercising motions imparted to said combined elements, each motion imparting a momentum to said weight sufficient to depress said lever upon said electrical contact to supply an electrical output countable by said computer.

9. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said transducer comprises a reed switch comprising a pair of magnetically responsive resilient metal wires separately supported close to bend under magnetic influence out of electrical contact with each other, each having an electrical lead secured thereto for conveying current completed through said wires on contact with each other, a pair of magnets supported in a framework, each with a polarity positioned opposed to the other, one magnet being fixed in said framework and the other mounted slidably therein to be pressed away from the other magnetically a significant distance by the opposed flux, the assembly of magnets being disposed sufficiently close and having a strong enough combined flux in closest position one to the other to depress said switching wires into electroconductive contact with each other, whereby the slidable magnet responsive to mechanical motion of the assembly will slide closer and then away from the fixed magnet, oscillatingly, first to magnetically attract said wires closing their contact with increased flux as the magnets are close to each other, and then release said wires, breaking their contact when the movable magnet slides away to decrease the magnetic flux with said mechanical motion.

10. The combination of claim 1, wherein the computer or calculator has a repeat function and the transducer is connected to actuate to said repeat function with each transduced pulse of said transducer.

11. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the timing means includes a plurality of timing means for measuring the period of exercising, the Calories expended and the rate of exercising.

12. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the computer has a means for programming to modify the accumulated tally according to the type of exercise performed.

13. The portable exercise measuring device, comprising, in combination, a mechanical sensor-transducer, having outputs representative of muscular movements of an exercising body, said transducer comprising a movable inertial mass;

a computer for converting said output to signals representative of the number of Calories expended by said exercising body, said computer including means for accumulating the total number of said signals and displaying said total; and

timing means connected to said computer for modifying the sum of said accumulation dependant upon the type, vigor or period of the exercise, said computer and transducer being pocket-sized and both are mounted in a carrying case portably supported by the exercising user in his pocket or belt, said carrying case permanently having mounted therein the sensor-transducer to mechanically connect to the removable computer to transfer the sensed mechanical exercising signals to the inserted computer.

14. The combination as defined in claim 13, wherein the transducer is mounted in position to transfer the transduced exercising pulses to an input of said calculator, whereby the assembled mounting of said computer in said carrying case provides a plugged-in contact between said transducer and to input of said computer.