Exercise machine to exercise the wrist and forearm muscles

An exercise machine for wrist and forearm development includes a rod that is rotatable about its long axis and a cable having one end attached to the rod and the other end attached to a vertically guided weight stack. When the rod is rotated, the cable is wound upon it, against the pull of the resistance. The rod is attached to a stationary frame by a pair of parallel arms, one at each end of the rod. The arms are pivotally attached to the frame on a common axis. The height of the rod is adjusted by fixing the arms in a selected angular position about the common axis. A pulley is attached to the frame for rotation about the common axis. An intermediate portion of the cable passes over the pulley. Thus, adjustment of the height of the rod does not leave any slack in the cable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to the field of exercise/weight lifting equipment. 
In particular the exercise of the wrist and forearm. 
Since at least the 1960's, the preferred method of exercising the forearms 
have been to take a length of small rope, a short piece of broomstick, and 
a weight. Drill a hole through the broomstick, run one end of the rope 
through the broomstick and tie it off. Tie the weight on the other end of 
the rope. Then extending the arms out in front of the body from the 
shoulders, rotate the broomstick either forward or reverse, either 
underhand, or overhand, interchanging hands as you roll the weight in a 
vertical movement, and reversing the procedure to lower the weight. This 
process exercises the wrist and forearm muscles, but does not put undue 
stress to the shoulders and other muscles. 
Examples are: Pat. No. Des 264,237 issued to McCaleb, May 4, 1982, Pat. No. 
4,072,308 issued to Applegate Feb. 7, 1978, Pat. No. 4,438,920 issued to 
Veillette Mar. 27, 1984, Pat. No. 4,645,203 issued to Moss Feb. 24, 1987, 
Pat. No. 5,547,441 issued to Mora Aug. 20, 1996. All of these patents 
utilize the method of rolling an object in one direction to lift a weight 
and reversing the procedure to lower the weight. All of these patents are 
considered portable and may easily be carried from one location to another 
by a human being without any assistance. Pat. No. 4,902,006 issued to 
Stallings Jr. Feb. 20, 1990 uses the same principle with horizontally 
adjustable handgrips and a series of pulleys and cables mounted on a 
frame. The rotating rod is mounted to the frame and does not have a 
vertical adjustment. The patent issued to McCaleb is supported by the 
human body, with the height of the rotating rod determined by the position 
and the height of the user arms. The same would apply to the patents 
issued to Veillette and Mora. The patent issued to Moss and Applegate have 
a device that allows them to be hooked over or attached to a door or other 
object via cords or cables. 
The purpose of this invention is to provide a frame mounted mechanism that 
will allow a vertical height adjustment of the rotating rod that will not 
stress muscles that are not intended to be exercised. The rotating rod and 
supporting adjustment arms accomplish this purpose. The height adjustment 
will accomodate situations from people confined to wheelchairs, to 
basketball players and all in between. 
SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
A forearm exercising machine comprised of a vertical frame, two elongated 
adjustable arms with a rod mounted horizontally through each of them 
towards one end that is attached to each vertical member of the frame. A 
pulley is attached to the center of the rod. A rotating rod is mounted in 
bearings toward the opposite ends of the arms. In the center of the 
rotating arm is mounted a butterfly spool. A cable is attached to the 
center of the butterfly. The cable is connected to a lift eye, which is 
connected to a pin rod that runs through the center of the weight stack. 
The pin rod has horizontal holes drilled to line up with horizontal holes 
drilled in each weight in the weight stack. This will allow the insertion 
of a pin through the weight into, and through the pin rod, thereby; 
allowing the user to choose the amount of weight to exercise with. To 
utilize the machine, the user would set the adjustable arms to the desired 
height, and lock in place by inserting a removable pin through the 
adjustment holes in the arms to either one of the adjustment holes in the 
radius plates, of which one of each are welded to each side of the 
vertical frame to the inner surface. By grasping the rotating rod with the 
left hand, left of the butterfly, and the right hand, right of the 
butterfly, then by rotating the rotation rod either forward or reverse 
will cause the cable to wrap around the butterfly spool, raising the 
desired amount of weight to the desired height. To lower the weight, one 
would reverse this procedure, thereby; exercising both sets of wrist and 
forearm muscles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
In FIG. 1 there is shown a front view of a wrist and forearm exercising 
machine. It is comprised of a vertical, tubular steel frame 58 affixed to 
a bottom horizontal steel base 60 on the right side, and a vertical, 
tubular steel frame 58 affixed to a bottom horizontal steel base 60 on the 
left side. There is an upper, tubular steel transverse beam 44 that is 
affixed to and connects the upper two ends of the two vertical frames 58. 
There is an upper, plate steel gusset 56 welded to each end of the upper 
transverse beam 44 on the underside that will abut the inside of each 
vertical frame 58 in the ninety degree angle. There is a length of angle 
iron welded to each gusset 56 so that it fits around the inside back 
corners of each vertical frame 58. The upper transverse beam 44 is 
fastened to each of the two vertical frames 58 by means of two holes 
drilled through steel mounting plates 62, each vertical frame 58 and each 
length of angle iron welded to the upper gussets 56 by inserting bolts 74, 
secured by nuts. There is a lower horizontal tubular steel transverse beam 
50 that is affixed to and connects the two bottom horizontal bases 60. 
There is a lower plate steel gusset 54 welded into each of the four ninety 
degree angles between each of the vertical frames 58 and each of the 
horizontal bases 60. The lower transverse beam 50 is affixed to each of 
the bottom bases 60 by drilling two holes through each of two lower steel 
mounting plates 64, each horizonal base 60 and ends of the lower 
transverse beams 50 inserting bolts 74 and securing with nuts. There are 
four rubber feet 66 that slip over and cover the four holes in the ends of 
the two bottom bases 60. There is one hole drilled through each of two 
plate steel radius plates 40 to the rear and center of each plate. There 
are nine adjustment holes 68 drilled through each radius plate 40 toward 
the front of the plate. Each radius plate 40 is welded to the inner 
surface of each vertical frame 58 with the rear hole on each plate being 
backed up by the inner surface of each vertical frame 58. This provides a 
mounting surface for a cold roll steel pulley rod 36 with a pulley 20 
centered on the pulley rod 36 by a pulley spacer 38 affixed to the pulley 
rod 36 on both sides of the pulley 20 There are two adjustable plate steel 
arms 30 with holes drilled in one end the same size as the pulley rod 36. 
This will allow the arms 30 to slide over the ends of the pulley rod 36. 
The rear holes drilled in the radius plates 40 are the same size as the 
pulley rod 36, allowing the pulley rod 36 to be inserted in each of the 
rear holes in the radius plates 40 and stopped by the inner surface of 
each vertical frame 58. Each arm 30 has one adjustment hole 70 drilled 
through to correspond to the adjustment hole 68 in the radius plates 40. A 
removable adjustment pin 32 is inserted through each arm adjustment hole 
70 into any corresponding adjustment hole 68 in the radius plate 40 to the 
desired height for exercise. On the opposing ends of each arm 30 there is 
a hole drilled to mount ball/needle bearings in a race 28. Inserted 
through the ball/needle bearings 28 is each end of a shouldered cold roll 
steel rotating rod 26. There is a core drilled out of a steel butterfly 22 
that is inserted over and affixed to the center of the rotating rod 26 
with roll pins 22b which are inserted in holes drilled through each side 
of the center of the butterfly 22. There is a shouldered hole drilled 
through the center of the butterfly 22 and the rotating rod 26 that allow 
for attachment of a countersunk cable 18 with a clip on the end to prevent 
pull through, with the hole on the attached side covered by a cable 
tension cap 24. There is a bearing retaining clip 76 slipped over each end 
of the rotating rod 26 and held against the inside surface of each arm 30 
by the shoulders on each end of the rotating rod 26. Each end of the 
rotating rod 26 has a pre-drilled hole. A washer is placed over these 
holes on the outside of each arm 30 and bearing retaining bolt 78 is 
inserted through the washer and screwed into the holes in each end of the 
rotating rod 26 to hold the bearing 28 in place and secure the rotating 
rod 26 to the arms 30. There is a steel upper guide rod mounting plate 46 
welded to the under surface of the upper transverse beam 44 in the center 
flush with the front side of the upper transverse beam 44. There is a 
steel lower guide rod mounting plate 48 welded to the top surface of the 
lower transverse beam 50 in the center flush with the front side of the 
lower transverse beam 50. Each of these two weight guide rod mounting 
plates 46 and 48 have two holes drilled through them parallel to and 
towards the back edge of each plate 46 and 48. Into the left side hole in 
plates 46 and 48 is inserted a shouldered, steel weight guide rod 34 that 
has holes drilled into each end. Into the right side hole in plates 46 and 
48 is inserted a shouldered, steel weight guide rod 34 that has holes 
drilled into each end. The two guide rods 34 are then secured to the two 
plates 46 and 48 by screwing four guide rod mounting bolts 42 with washers 
affixed into the holes drilled in end of the two guide rods 34. The weight 
guide rods 34 extend through corresponding holes drilled through each 
plated weight 11 in the weight stack 10 that is resting on two rubber 
doughnuts 52 that are sitting on the lower guide rod mounting plate 48. 
The cable 18 is attached to the butterfly 22 rotating rod 26 combination 
and fed over the top of the pulley 20, down to and attached to the steel 
lift eye 14. The lift eye 14 is screwed into the top of the weight pin rod 
assembly 16. The weight pin rod 16 is secured to the top weight 11 by 
means of a roll pin 22B, centered just above the weight selector hole. 
There are three vertical holes drilled into each weight of the weight 
stack 10. One hole drilled in the center, for the weight pin rod 16 to 
pass freely through the weight stack 10 in a vertical movement as the 
desired amount of weight is chosen to work with. Two other holes are 
drilled in each weight 11 of the weight stack 10, one to the left of the 
center, and one to the right of the center. These two holes are for the 
guide rods 34. There are horizontal holes 72 drilled through each weight 
11 of the weight stack 10 that correspond with the horizontal holes 
drilled through the pin rod assembly 16. This allows the insertion of the 
weight selector pin 12 into the selected pin rod hole 72 through the 
corresponding hole in the pin rod assembly 16. It should be noted, prior 
to assembly, the butterfly 22 should be affixed to the rotating rod 26, 
the pulley 20 should be affixed to the pulley rod 36 with the pulley rod 
spacers 38, the bearings 28 should be inserted into the adjustment arms 
30, the adjustable arms 30 should be slipped over the ends of the pulley 
rod 36, the ends of the rotating rod 26 should be inserted through the 
bearings 28 with the bearing retaining clips 76 in place and the rotating 
rod 26 should be secured to the adjustable arms 30 with the bearing 
retaining bolts 78 and washers. You would then loosely attach the lower 
transverse beam 50 place the ends of the pulley rod 36 in the holes 
drilled in the radius plates 40 place the weight guide rods 34 in the 
lower holes, then put the upper transverse beam 44 in place. 
Several inventions in the past have utilized the method of affixing a 
length of cable, string, or rope to a weight on one end, and an elongated 
cylindrical object on the other. Then by grasping the cylindrical object 
with the left hand, left of the center, and the right hand, right of the 
center, you would extend the arms out from the shoulders, and rotate the 
cylindrical object either in the forward or reverse direction, causing the 
cable, string, or rope to wrap around the cylindrical object, thereby; 
lifting the weight in a vertical direction and reversing the process to 
lower the weight. This exercises the muscles of the wrist and forearms, 
but places undue stress on other muscles, in particular; the muscles of 
the shoulders. There is no adjustment for height, except by raising or 
lowering the arms. 
Other inventions utilizing this method allow them to be hooked over a door 
or attached to some other object, supported by the cable, string, or rope, 
and greatly limits the amount of weight that can be utilized. These 
inventions are portable and can be easily transported from one location to 
another by human means without assistance. 
Still another invention uses the same principle with horizontally 
adjustable hand grips and a series of pulleys mounted on a frame. The 
rotating rod is mounted to the frame, but does not have a vertical height 
adjustment. 
The purpose of this invention is to provide a frame mounted mechanism with 
a fully supported height adjustable rod, and individually selective 
weights, the total weight of which is limited only by the users strength 
and the tensile strength of the cable, which it does. 
It should be noted that all the drawings and descriptions are to illustrate 
the principles of the invention. There are various changes that can be 
made to the various components of the invention without altering the 
principles or spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims. 
PREFERRED METHOD OF OPERATION 
The user would first take the weight selector pin 12 and insert it through 
the weight pin rod hole 72, in the selected weight, into the corresponding 
holes in the pin rod assembly 16. This would lock in the selected weight 
and all above it for exercise. The weights below the selected weight would 
remain in the resting position and not be included in the exercise. 
The user would then grasp the rotating rod 26 with one hand to support it, 
then adjust the the arms to the desired height by moving the rotating rod 
26 up or down. When the height is chosen, this would be done when the 
holes of the adjustment arms 30 correspond with the holes in the radius 
plates 40. The user would insert the adjustment pins 32 through the 
aligning holes on each side. 
The user is now ready to exercise: 
User would grasp the rotating rod 26 left of the center with the left hand, 
and right of the center with the right hand. User would rotate the 
rotating rod 26 in either the forward or reverse direction, causing the 
cable 18 to wrap around the rotating rod butterfly 22, thereby lifting the 
selected weight in a vertical direction. The process would be reversed to 
lower the selected weight to the resting position.