Abstract:
A lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement is constructed to include a base frame having a horizontal guide frame, a treadmill base, two links bilaterally mounted on the base frame, and a lifting mechanism mounted between a front side of the treadbase and the base frame and having a push member and an inclining motor controlled to drive the push member to move back and forth along the guide frame so as to adjust the angle of inclination of the treadbase.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates generally to treadmills, and more specifically to a lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    A conventional treadmill, as shown in FIG. 1, is generally composed of a base frame  1 , a treadbase  2  mounted pivotally on the base frame  1 , a first motor drive (not shown) located on the treadbase  2  at a front side thereof and adapted to rotate a belt (not shown), a second motor drive  3 , a screw rod  4  coupled to the front side of the treadbase  2  and driven by the second motor drive  3  to lift or lower the treadbase  2  so as to adjust the inclination of the treadbase  2 .  
           [0005]    The screw rod  4  has a bottom end threaded into an internally threaded barrel  5 , which is fixedly located on the base frame  1  at an end thereof. When the second motor drive  3  is operated, the screw rod is  4  screwed into or out of the barrel  5 , thereby lifting or lowering the treadbase  2 . However, the treadmill is still defective structurally and includes disadvantages as follows:  
           [0006]    1. Because the screw rod  4  and the barrel  5  are adapted to move oppositely in vertical direction, the second motor drive  3 , the screw rod  4 , and the barrel  5  must be located on the middle section of the treadmill to prevent from unbalance of lifting. This limitation confines the available installation space and orientation for the first motor drive.  
           [0007]    2. In order to install the first motor drive in the limited space between the treadbase  2  and the second motor drive  3 , the first motor drive must be provided with an expensive model of high capacity and small size.  
           [0008]    3.Because the second motor drive  3  and the barrel  5  occupy much vertical installation space, the treadbase  2  cannot be set in a horizontal position. As shown in FIG. 1, the treadbase  2  is positioned with a front end thereof lifted and slopes downwardly backwards at an angle. Many consumers may not like to do exercise on an inclined treadbase.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement, which is compact and requires less installation space.  
           [0010]    It is the secondary objective of the present invention to provide a lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement, which lifts/lowers the treadbase stably.  
           [0011]    To achieve the foregoing objectives of the present invention, the lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement of the present invention includes a base frame positioned on the floor horizontally, the base frame having a guide frame; a treadbase formed of a treadbase frame and an endless belt; two links bilaterally mounted on the treadbase frame, the links each having a first coupling end and a second coupling end, the first coupling end being mounted pivotally on a front end of the base to form a first pivot point, the second coupling end being mounted pivotally on a front end of the treadbase frame to form a second pivot point, the treadbase frame being turned about the first pivot point with respect to the base frame between an operative position and a non-operative position; a treadbase motor fixedly mounted in the front side of the treadbase frame to rotate the endless belt; and a lifting mechanism including a push member and an inclining motor, the push member having stop means at a front end thereof, the inclining motor being mounted pivotally on the treadbase frame and adapted to drive the stop means of the push member to move back and forth along the guide frame of the base frame. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a treadmill constructed according to the prior art;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along a line  3 - 3  of FIG. 2;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, showing that a front side of a treadbase of the present invention is lifted;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is another perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that the front side of the treadbase is lifted; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is still another perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that the treadbase of the present invention is received in the non-operative position. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]    Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, and  6 , a lifting mechanism and treadmill arrangement  100  is composed of a base frame  10 , a treadbase  20 , two links  30 , a treadbase motor  40 , and a lifting mechanism  50 .  
         [0019]    The base frame  10  includes two parallel side bars  11 , a transverse bar  12  connected between rear ends of the side bars  11 , a supplementary bar  13  connected between front sections of the side bars  11 , a guide member embodied as guide frame  14  connected between the transverse bar  12  and the supplementary bar  13  and arranged in parallel to the side bars  11 , and a buffer block  15  provided in the guide frame  14 . The guide frame  14  includes two vertical side plates  141  and a bottom plate  142 . The side plates  141  each have a longitudinal sliding slot  143  defining a first dead point  144  and a second dead point  145 . The buffer block  15  is fixedly mounted in the guide frame  14  adjacent to the first dead point  144 .  
         [0020]    The treadbase  20  includes a treadbase frame  21  and an endless belt  22 . A receiving space  23  is defined between the treadbase frame  21  and a front side of the endless belt  22 .  
         [0021]    The two links  30  are bilaterally mounted near a front side of the treadbase frame  21 , each having a first coupling end portion  31  and a second coupling end portion  32 . The coupling end portion  31  is connected pivotally with a front end of the side bar  11  of the base frame  10 , defining a respective pivot A. The second coupling end portion  32  is connected pivotally with the front side of the treadmill base  21 , defining a respective pivot B. Accordingly, the treadbase  20  can be turned about the pivot A between an operative position P 1  (see FIG. 2) and a non-operative position P 2  (see FIG. 6).  
         [0022]    The treadbase motor  40  is fixedly mounted in the receiving space  23  of the treadbase  20  and is controlled to rotate the endless belt  22  through a belt transmission mechanism  41 .  
         [0023]    The lifting mechanism  50  includes an inclining motor  51 , an internally threaded barrel  52 , a push member  53 , and stop means embodied as a stop pin  54 . The inclining motor  51  is mounted pivotally on the treadbase frame  21 . The barrel  52  has an end fixedly mounted to the inclining motor  51 . The push member  53  is a screw rod threaded into the barrel  52 . The stop pin  54  runs through a transverse through hole (not shown) at a front end of the push member  53  outside the barrel  52 , having two distal ends respectively inserted through the sliding slots  143  of the vertical side plates  141  of the guide frame  14  (see FIG. 6). When the inclining motor  51  is operated, the push member  53  is rotated in or out of the barrel  52 , thereby causing the stop pin  54  to move along with the push member  53  between the first dead point  144  and the second dead point  145 .  
         [0024]    The control of the angle of inclination of the treadbase  20  is described hereinafter.  
         [0025]    As illustrated in FIG. 3, when the treadbase  20  is positioned horizontally, the push member  53  is received in the barrel  52 , the stop pin  54  is stopped at the first dead point  144  and the front end of the push member  53  is stopped against the buffer block  15 . When the treadbase  20  is controlled to lift, as shown in FIG. 4, the inclining motor  51  is driven to rotate the push member  53  out of the barrel  52 . Because the front end of the push member  53  is stopped against the buffer block  15  and the links  30  are coupled between the treadbase  20  and the base frame  10 , the push member  53  is rotated out of the barrel  52  and the front side of the treadbase  20  is lifted to change its angle of inclination, as shown in FIG. 5.  
         [0026]    When the treadbase  20  is turned to the non-operative position P 2 , the front side of the treadbase  20  is lowered to the position shown in FIG. 3 (where the push member  53  received in the barrel  52 ), and then a rear side of the treadbase  20  is lifted with hands. When turning the treadbase  20  about the pivots A to lift the rear side of the treadbase  20 , the stop pin  54  is moved along the sliding slots  143  toward the second dead point  145 , and at the same time the inclining motor  51  is rotated for enabling the treadbase  20  to be smoothly turned about the pivots A to the position shown in FIG. 6 where the stop pin  54  is stopped at the second dead point  145 . Lock means may be used to lock the treadbase  20  in the non-operative position. Because the lock means can easily be obtained from known techniques and is not within the scope of the claims of the present invention, nor further detailed description in this regard is necessary.  
         [0027]    According to the aforesaid description, the present invention has advantages as follows:  
         [0028]    1. When the treadbase  20  is set horizontally, as shown in FIG. 2, the treadbase motor  40  and the inclining motor  51  are received in the receiving space  23  without interfering each other, i.e. the treadmill does not occupy much vertical storage space when set horizontally.  
         [0029]    2. When the treadbase  20  is set in the operative position P 1 , the lifting mechanism  50  is held horizontally without hindering the front end of the treadbase  20 .  
         [0030]    3. The front side of the treadbase  20  is controlled to stably lift by means of the support of the lifting mechanism  50 , the guide frame  14  of the base frame  10 , and the links  30 .