Portable muscle building apparatus
First Claim
1. A portable muscle building apparatus comprising at least one resilient element including an elongated coil spring;
- means for stressing said element to different degrees including at least one elongated flexible element, a housing for said spring, means for coupling said at least one flexible element with said housing and means for moving one end of said spring relative to the other end and relative to said housing to thereby stress said spring when said housing is pulled by said flexible element in a first direction and said moving means is pulled in a second direction substantially counter to said first direction; and
means for indicating a selected degree of stress upon said resilient element, including an acoustic signal generator having means for generating an audible signal in response to and for the duration of application of the selected degree of stress, said signal generating means comprising an actuator which is movable by said moving means along a predetermined path in response to stressing of said spring, and an electric alarm which is removably insertable into a selected portion of said path to generate an audible signal when engaged by said actuator.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A portable muscle building and exercising apparatus wherein a helical compression coil spring is installed in a housing and can be stressed to different degrees by three loop-shaped handles two of which are to be held and pulled by the two hands and the third of which can be engaged and pulled by one or both feet of the user or affixed to a stationary part. The component which actually stresses the spring is a tensioning member having a conductive extension which can complete the circuit of a plug-shaped acoustic alarm when the spring stores a select amount of energy. The alarm can be moved to any one of a number of different positions in the path of movement of the extension of the tensioning member. The audible signal which is generated by the alarm indicates to the user that the selected degree of stress upon the spring has been reached as well as that such stress is maintained. The handles which are to be grasped by hands are connected to the ends of a variable-length rope which is trained over a pulley on the housing for the spring. When not in use, the plug-shaped alarm can be stored in a socket of the housing.
18 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A portable muscle building apparatus comprising at least one resilient element including an elongated coil spring;
- means for stressing said element to different degrees including at least one elongated flexible element, a housing for said spring, means for coupling said at least one flexible element with said housing and means for moving one end of said spring relative to the other end and relative to said housing to thereby stress said spring when said housing is pulled by said flexible element in a first direction and said moving means is pulled in a second direction substantially counter to said first direction; and
means for indicating a selected degree of stress upon said resilient element, including an acoustic signal generator having means for generating an audible signal in response to and for the duration of application of the selected degree of stress, said signal generating means comprising an actuator which is movable by said moving means along a predetermined path in response to stressing of said spring, and an electric alarm which is removably insertable into a selected portion of said path to generate an audible signal when engaged by said actuator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
- means for stressing said element to different degrees including at least one elongated flexible element, a housing for said spring, means for coupling said at least one flexible element with said housing and means for moving one end of said spring relative to the other end and relative to said housing to thereby stress said spring when said housing is pulled by said flexible element in a first direction and said moving means is pulled in a second direction substantially counter to said first direction; and
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15. A portable muscle building apparatus comprising at least one resilient element including an elongated coil spring;
- means for stressing said element to different degrees including at least one elongated flexible element, a housing for said spring, means for coupling said at least one flexible element with said housing, and means for moving one end of said spring relative to the other end and relative to said housing to thereby stress said spring when said housing is pulled by said flexible element in a first direction and said moving means is pulled in a second direction substantially counter to said first direction, said coupling means including a pulley which is rotatably carried by said housing and said at least one flexible element being trained over said pulley and including a first end and a second end, said stressing means further comprising two handles, one for each end of said at least one flexible element, and a reel on each of said handles, each end of said at least one flexible element being connected to a different one of said reels and each reel being arranged to store a selected length of said at least one flexible element at the respective end thereof; and
means for indicating a selected degree of stress upon said resilient element, including an acoustic signal generator having means for generating an audible signal in response to and for the duration of application of the selected degree of stress. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
- means for stressing said element to different degrees including at least one elongated flexible element, a housing for said spring, means for coupling said at least one flexible element with said housing, and means for moving one end of said spring relative to the other end and relative to said housing to thereby stress said spring when said housing is pulled by said flexible element in a first direction and said moving means is pulled in a second direction substantially counter to said first direction, said coupling means including a pulley which is rotatably carried by said housing and said at least one flexible element being trained over said pulley and including a first end and a second end, said stressing means further comprising two handles, one for each end of said at least one flexible element, and a reel on each of said handles, each end of said at least one flexible element being connected to a different one of said reels and each reel being arranged to store a selected length of said at least one flexible element at the respective end thereof; and
Specification