Treadmill belt support deck
Nickname - none received yet. Care to suggest one?
A treadmill for walking exercise or medical testing has the the usual frame mounting rollers around which an endless belt is driven through a lower course and an upper course, the upper course of the belt being supported by an improved deck particularly adapted to rest on longitudinal support members of the frame. One improvement lies in connecting one end of a planar deck to a anchor member by a flexible hinge, the member being attachable to the frame and the flexibility of the hinge allowing the deck to yield to the impact of a user's tread both vertically and longitudinally of the deck. Many available treadmills are designed to receive a standard deck which is essentially a rectangular plank bounded by flat surfaces which enclose a prismatic volume. The present deck is rectangular and planar but has recesses rabbetted along its underside opposite the supporting frame members, the recesses being filled with strips of compressible, elastomeric material located within the cubic volume of the standard deck. Consequently the present deck can fit in the standard volume and further provide shock absorption. The deck is therefore useful, without modification, in treadmills of different manufacture.
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1. For use in an exercise treadmill with a frame supporting rollers and a belt driven around the rollers through an upper course and a lower course, a deck for supporting the
belt in its upper course, the deck comprising:
a rigid planar member adapted to extend under and adjacent the upper course;
means adapted to anchor the planar member on the treadmill frame;
and a flexible hinge yieldingly connecting one end of the planar member to the anchor means and adapted to resiliently absorb the shock of treading normal to and along the upper course.
3. A deck according to claim 1 wherein the hinge is connected to the planar means at the end of the upper course.
4. A deck according to claim 1 wherein the planar means and anchor means have upper surfaces flush with each other along the underside of the upper course.
5. A deck according to claim 1 wherein the planar member has elastomerically compressible strips extending along the underside of the planar member.
6. A deck according to claim 5 wherein the planar member has a solid prismatic volume bounded by planes and the elastomerically compressible strips are attached to the planar member within the bounds of the planes.
7. In an exercise treadmill having a frame supporting drive rollers, a belt guided by the belt around the rollers through an upper course and a lower
course, a deck for supporting the belt in its upper course, the deck comprising:
a rigid planar member adapted to extend lengthwise under the upper course and including means to anchor;
an elastomerically compressible strip along the underside of the deck;
and a flexible hinge resiliently supporting one end of the planar member on the anchor means.
8. A deck according to claim 7 wherein the elastomerically compressible strips are bodies of elastomeric foam rubber.
9. A deck according to claim 7 wherein the planar member is bounded by prismatic planes and the elastomerically compressible strips are attached to the planar member within the bounds of the planes.
10. A deck according to claim 7 wherein the planar member has lengthwise rabbets in its underside edges parallel to the upper course, the elastomerically compressible strips being respectively secured in the rabbets.
11. An exercise treadmill comprising:
a frame supporting rollers;;
a belt guided around the rollers through an upper course and a lower course;
a deck supporting the belt in its upper course, the deck including:
a rigid planar member extending under and supporting the upper course of the belt;
means to anchor the planar member on the treadmill frame including means to fasten the anchor means to the frame; and
a flexible hinge resiliently connecting one end of the planar member to the anchor means.
12. A treadmill according to claim 11 wherein the hinge spaces the planar member from the anchor means.
13. A treadmill according to claim 11 wherein the frame has parallel support portions at a fixed spacing on the frame at each side of the upper course and the hinge is narrower than the spacing.
14. A treadmill according to claim 11 wherein the planar member has elastomerically compressible strips extending along the underside of the planar member against the frame.
15. An exercise treadmill comprising:
a frame;
two spaced rollers rotatively mounted on the frame;
an endless belt guided by the rollers through an upper course and a lower course;
parallel support portions at a fixed spacing apart on the frame at each side of the upper course;
a rigid planar member resting on the support portions of the frame and extending under and supporting the upper course of the belt;
elastomerically compressible foam strips recessed in the outer edges of the underside of the planar member and resting on the parallel support portions;
an anchor member under the upper course spaced from and parallel to one end of the planar member;
means to fasten the anchor means to the support portions of the frame;
and a flexible rubber hinge narrower than the spacing of the parallel frame support portions connecting one end of the planar member to the anchor member so as yieldingly to hold the planar member in a fixed horizontal position on the frame, but
allowing the planar member to spring on the foam strips;
the planar member and anchor member constituting a separate, integral deck unit removable and replaceable in the treadmill, and secured in the treadmill solely by the anchoring means.
16. A deck according to claim 11 wherein the frame includes parallel portions at fixed spacing apart at each side of the upper course, and the hinge is narrower than the spacing of the support portions.
Comments from the community
2 comments have been received for United States Patent No. 6,123,646. Want to add another?
#1|FizzMaster comments:
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a jury verdict holding that several Cybex treadmills containing the Stableflex® deck system infringe claims 1, 4, and 11 of U.S. Patent No. 6,123,646.
For a detailed review of the Federal Circuit opinion, see Colassi v. Cybex International, Inc..
#2|MeyersEileen23 comments:
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