RESISTANCE REGULATING BALANCE BOARD

A resistance regulating balance board includes a disc body disposed onto a semispherical base. A resistance member is disposed inside the semispherical base. An elastic component and a locking member are disposed inside a containing chamber within the resistance member. A screw rod passes through the disc body, the semispherical base and the elastic component to engage with the locking member so that a user can rotate the screw rod to regulate a resistance value generated between the resistance member and the semispherical base to change the magnitude of motion resistance of the balance board, thereby achieving optimum exercise and balancing effects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The technical content of the present invention will become apparent by the detailed description of the following embodiments and the illustrations of related drawings as follows.

With reference toFIG. 1toFIG. 7, a resistance regulating balance board according to a first embodiment of the invention comprises a disc body1, a semispherical base2, a regulating rotary lid3, a resistance member4, an elastic component5and a locking member6. The disc body1has an upper concave cavity11thereon to accept the regulating rotary lid3. A bottom surface of the disc body1includes a first lower arc cavity12for accepting the semispherical base2. A through hole13is disposed between the upper concave cavity11and the first lower arc cavity12. The through hole13is cross-shaped so that a lodging portion421of a hollow tube body42of the resistance member4can engage with the through hole13. An upper surface of the disc body1includes a plurality of bumps14and grooves15to provide an anti-skid surface relative to the feet of a user. The lower surface of the disc body1includes a plurality of rib sheets15. The disc body1thus has the same structural strength but uses fewer materials.

A top arc surface211along an upper surface of the semispherical base2can be exactly inserted into the first lower arc cavity12of the disc body1. A bottom end of the semispherical base2includes a bottom board22that radially extends beyond the semispherical surface of top arc surface211. An external diameter of the bottom board22is larger than the external diameter of the top arc surface211of the semispherical base2to provide the whole a steady and supportive effect for the embodiment balance board. A central region of the semispherical base2includes a second lower arc cavity23for accepting the resistance member4, and a pivot hole24having a larger movable space (e.g., sufficient to allow desired angular movement of hollow tube body42) extends through the second lower arc cavity23. The pivot hole24is designed as an inverted cone, having a diameter that is greater at the top arc surface211than at the lower arc cavity23. The top arc surface211of the semispherical base2includes a circular arrangement of several trenches222angularly spaced at equal intervals. Lubricant can be filled into the trenches222to provide a lubrication effect for the first lower arc cavity12of the disc body1and the top arc surface211of the semispherical base2when in use, thereby increasing the service life of the balance board according to an embodiment of the invention.

An inner surface of the central portion of a lid body31of the regulating rotary lid3includes a lodging hole311having hexagonal shape to accept a hexagonal head at one end of a screw rod32to combine and fit the screw rod32with the lid body31. Of course, the screw rod32can also be integrally combined and fastened to the lodging hole311of the regulating rotary lid3by means of in-mold buried molding to allow the lid body31and the screw rod32to be permanently coupled together.

The resistance member4has a hollow tube body42extending from a top surface of a semispherical portion41. A top of the hollow body42includes a lodging portion421to allow the hollow tube body42to pass through the pivot hole24of the semispherical base2such that the lodging portion421can be lodged into the through hole13using the cross shape of the disc body1, while the arc surface43of the semispherical portion42and the second lower arc cavity23of the semispherical base2are set together as a correspondingly inserted structure. At the same time, the hole diameter of the pivot hole24is greater that the tube diameter of the hollow tube body42to allow the hollow tube body42to radially move within the pivot hole24. The central region of the resistance member4includes a containing chamber44composed of a first chamber441and a second chamber442. The first chamber441is disposed inside the hollow tube body42while the second chamber442is connected with and below the first chamber441to form a hexagonal structure for accepting a locking member6having a hexagonal shape so as to be fixed and incapable of rotation while the locking member6is disposed therein so that the locking member6and the screw rod32are incorporated to lock the disc body1, the semispherical base2and the resistance member4together. In other words, one end of the screw rod32passes through the first chamber441from the through hole13of the disc body1to lock with the locking member6in the second chamber442, thereby achieving the desired fastening purpose.

It should be noted that when locking the screw rod32with the locking member6, the resistance member4is pressed by the second lower arc cavity23of the semispherical base2to generate different friction coefficients so as to create more or less motion resistance. Its resistance generation may have two modes. One type is that the resistance member4is made of a relatively softer material. When the screw rod32couples with the locking member6and fastens the resistance member4in the semispherical base2, the screw rod32can be rotated by the regulating rotary lid3to regulate the degree of tightness. The friction coefficient between the resistance member4and the second lower arc cavity23is thus controlled to regulate the magnitude of the movement resistance force (as shown inFIG. 7).

The second mode is that an elastic component5is disposed in the second chamber442, and the screw rod32passes through the elastic component5. When the screw rod32is screwed into the locking member6, the screw rod32is rotated by the regulating rotary lid3to drive the elastic component5to press the resistance member4so as to adjust the friction coefficient between the resistance member4and the second lower arc cavity23, thereby regulating the magnitude of the resistance (as shown inFIG. 4).

With reference toFIG. 5, an embodiment of the invention uses the combination of components such as the regulating rotary lid3, the disc body1, the semispherical base2and the resistance member4, and the magnitude of the friction force (i.e., the normal force) between the resistance member4and the second lower arc cavity23of the semispherical base2that is controlled by the screw rod32driven by the regulating rotary lid3to achieve the purpose of regulating torque so as to change and balance the magnitude of the movement resistance. Therefore, with the forces imposed by left and right legs, a user can stand on the disc body1of the balance board to make the disc body1capable of being tilted around 360 degrees or retained at the horizontal position so as to perform balance exercise training and fitness. The maximum angle of tilting the disc body1is a half of the inverted cone angle θ of the pivot hole24. Normally, the inverted cone angle θ is preferably at 40 to 45 degrees.

While using an embodiment of the invention, the lodging portion421(as shown inFIG. 6) of the hollow tube body42of the resistance member4is lodged into the cross-shaped through hole13of the disc body1, and the resistance member4and the elastic component5are locked and connected as a whole by using the locking member6and the screw rod32. Therefore, the disc body1and the resistance member4are co-linked when the user tilts. Only the semispherical base2is retained on the ground without movement. Further, the regulating rotary lid3includes a plurality of circularly disposed holes33to facilitate extension of the fingers of the user for rotation purposes. Accordingly, the screw rod32can be driven3to vertically and spirally move by rotating the regulating rotary lid3, thereby regulating the magnitude of the torque between the resistance member4and the second lower arc cavity23.

While the means of specific embodiments in the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings, numerous other modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims. The modifications and variations should in no way be limited by the specification of the present invention.