Patent ID: 6494816
Filing Date: 2002-12-17
Classification: A63B

Abstract:
A foot, leg and lower body exercise system for safely and efficiently providing exercise for a user's feet, legs and lower body comprising, in combination;a housing, having an upper plate with an inside and an outside, and a lower plate with an inside and an outside, and with two end plates and two side plates there between, the end plates and side plates being oriented perpendicular to the plane of the upper and lower plates and with the end and side plates being coupled to the edges of the upper and lower plates, thereby forming a generally rectilinear configuration with the length of the box being greater than the width of the box and with the width to height ratio being about 7:1, with the lower plate being formed with an adjustment aperture located to one side of the lower plate, the upper plate having two equally configured rectangularly shaped openings, each opening being equally spaced from the side edges of the upper plate, each of the openings also having a recess along each of the side edges of the rectangularly shaped openings; a pair of like configured foot slides with each slide having a rigid portion comprising a foot rest and a base plate, the base plate having an upper face and a lower face and having a flat rectangular configuration with forward and rearward edges and side edges there between and with slots adjacent to the rearward edge of each base plate, the side edges of the base plate being configured to be slidably mated to the recesses of the openings of the upper plate so as to provide positive tracking along the recesses in a forward and rearward movement, each base plate having a plurality of rectangular apertures on the upper face and located adjacent to the forward edge with a plurality of up standing protuberances being located on the upper face of the base plate across the midline, each foot rest having an upper end and a lower end with two side edges there between, each foot rest being configured in a generally â€œZâ€  shaped form with two wide prongs extending from the lower end to be receivably loosely mated with the rectangular slots of the base plate, the foot rest also having a downwardly extending locking arm which is rotatably coupled to the underside of the foot rest and capable of being securely retained by the any one of the protuberances of the base plate thereby allowing for the foot rest to be maintained in any of a plurality of angles; the collapsible portion operatively coupled to each foot slide and also being coupled to the base plate at the side edges of the base plate with the peripheral edges of the collapsible portion being coupled to the inside of the top plate of the housing thereby close off the openings during reciprocation of the foot rests and base plates; a reciprocating mechanism comprising a flexible pulley cable, a plurality of pulleys, a plurality of mounting brackets and a plurality of housing brackets, the pulleys being oriented in a rectangular configuration within the confines of the housing with the axes of the pulleys being located along the first and second quarter dividing line of the long axis of the lower plate and the third and fourth quarter dividing line of the long axis of the lower plate and the pulleys being rotatably coupled to, and mounted on, the fixed mounting brackets, the mounting brackets in turn being coupled to the inside of the lower plate, the mounting brackets also coupling the flexible pulley cable to the lower face of the base plate of the foot slides thereby allowing the foot slides to reciprocate forwardly and rearwardly; and an adjustment turnbuckle coupled to the pulley cable to form a continuous loop with the adjustment turnbuckle being located within the housing so that the turnbuckle is accessible through the adjustment aperture of the lower plate to thereby vary the tension on the cable during operation and use.