Abstract:
A foot massaging device having a plurality of parallel cylindrical rollers mounted within a frame. The frame includes adjustment slots allowing the rollers to be relocated within the frame to present various massaging configurations. The foot massaging device is adjustable by seating the rearwardly disposed rollers between a raised and lowered position to configure the rollers to contact different portions of a user&#39;s foot.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority of United States Provisional Patent Application filed Sep. 5, 2008 having Ser. No. 61/094,478. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is related to massagers and more particularly to a user manipulated foot massaging device. 
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Massage is a well-known technique to increase blood flow and ease muscle tension in a person&#39;s body. Typically, in a massage, pressure is applied to a location on the body either by direct hand/finger manipulation or through a device that aids in the application of pressure. 
     Such devices include both user-manipulated tools and motorized devices which vibrate, knead, and/or rotate to manipulate a desired body part. These massage tools may either be used by the individual receiving the massage or by another person (e.g., a masseuse). 
     One area of the body that frequently needs the therapeutic effects of massage is the foot, particularly the sole or bottom of the foot. Typical foot massagers have one or more sets of rollers rotatably mounted within a fixed frame. A user rolls his feet across the fixed rollers to apply massaging pressure to the bottom of his foot. These massagers, however, do not allow the user to change the location of the roller(s) in the frame and therefore cannot be configured to optimize the rollers position to target a particular part of the foot. 
     The broad purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a foot massaging device that has a plurality of foot contacting rollers which can be adjusted to massage various parts of the foot. The massager is adjustable by seating the rearwardly disposed rollers between a raised and lowered position to configure the massager to contact different portions of a user&#39;s foot. 
     The preferred massager includes a frame having opposed vertical walls. Three rollers are adjustably mounted in-parallel between the opposed walls. The rollers are mounted in a spaced relationship such that they present a front, middle and rear roller to a user. The middle and rear rollers being adjustable vertically within channels formed in each wall. In this manner, the middle and rear rollers can be selectively placed in a raised position (relative to the front roller) or in a lowered position where the axis(es) of rotation of the adjustable roller(s) are co-planar with the rotational axis of the front roller. 
     It is an advantage of the present disclosure that the massaging device allows a user to configure the device to massage a particular part of the foot. 
     The massager has a first position which aligns all of the rollers in-parallel allowing a user to roll his foot or feet across a substantially horizontal row of spaced massaging rollers. The second position sets the middle roller in the elevated position, while the rear roller is lowered. The second position allows the user to roll his foot along a curved profile to better follow the curvature of the foot&#39;s arch. A third position is possible by setting the rear roller in the elevated position, while the middle roller is lowered. In this third position, the front two rollers contact a user&#39;s foot bottom, while the rear roller contacts the top of the foot. A fourth position has both the middle and rear rollers in the elevated position, in this fourth position, the massager presents a substantially flat row of rollers that are at an angle relative to the ground (from front to back roller), in this fourth position a user can roll his feet across the rollers while sitting down in substantially the same way as the first position. 
     It is another advantage of the present disclosure that the rollers can be supplemented with a textured outer surface to further increase and vary the pressure exhibited on the user&#39;s feet when rolled across the device. 
     It is still another advantage of the present disclosure that each of the rollers is comprised of two axially aligned rollers which are independently rotatable about a common axis of rotation. In this manner, a user can roll both feet simultaneously across the rollers at different speeds and/or in opposite directions. 
     Still further objects and advantages of this disclosure will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains upon reference to the following detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The description refers to the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a massaging device embodying the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the massaging device; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of one of the frame walls, illustrating the roller seat channels; 
         FIG. 4  is perspective, partially exploded view of a roller assembly; 
         FIG. 5  is a side schematic view showing the massaging device in a first roller configuration; 
         FIG. 6  is a side schematic view showing the massaging device in a second roller configuration; 
         FIG. 7  is a side schematic view showing the massaging device in a third roller configuration; 
         FIG. 8  is a side schematic view showing the massaging device in a fourth roller configuration; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective, partially exploded view of a roller sleeve; and 
         FIG. 10  is a side, partial cut-away view showing an alternate embodiment of the roller assembly. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1-4 , a preferred foot massaging device or massager  10  is illustrated. Massager  10  includes a frame  12  which supports a plurality of rollers, denoted  14 ,  14   a , and  14   b  when mounted in frame  12 . 
     Frame  12  includes a pair of opposed vertical walls  16  which are interconnected by support bars  18  adjacent to the bottom ends of the walls. Each wall  16  is generally triangular in shape, angling from a lower-most front end  16   a  to an upper-most rear end  16   b . Frame  12  is preferably formed from a rigid and durable material, such as metal or plastic. Resilient feet members  20  are mounted to the underside of frame  12 . 
     As best shown in  FIG. 3 , each wall  16  includes three roller mounting apertures passing between the outer and inner surfaces of the wall. Each mounting aperture has at least one roller receiving or bearing surface that is equally spaced apart from the adjacent mounting aperture. In the preferred embodiment, the front aperture  22  has a cylindrical through bore. The other two roller mounting apertures  24  and  26  are formed having two roller bearing surfaces or seats formed by a slot or groove passing through the wall. Each slot  24 ,  26  has a substantially constant opening width  28  that is equal to the diameter of front aperture  22 . 
     Both mounting slots  24 ,  26  have the same general “question-mark” shape, with a lower seat  24   a ,  26   a  at the bottom of the slot and an upper seat  24   b ,  26   b  in an upper portion of the slot. The upper seats  24   b ,  26   b  are vertically aligned with their respective lower seat  24   a ,  26   a . To interconnect the two seats  24   a ,  24   b  and  26   a ,  26   b , each slot has an elongated vertical portion  30  that is offset from the vertically aligned seats. Each portion  30  is preferably offset away from the seats in the direction of the front aperture  22 . As shown, the vertical portion of the rear slot  26  is longer than the vertical portion of middle slot  24  to ensure that the upper seats  24   b  and  26   b  cooperate with front aperture  22  to form a substantially straight line. 
     The slot seats  24   a ,  24   b  and  26   a ,  26   b  all have a generally semi-circular bottom surface  34 . The lower portion of each slot starts at the lower seat  24   a ,  26   a , then rises vertically a distance that is two to fours times the slot width  28 , then turns horizontally to the offset vertical slot portion  30 . The upper portion of each slot  24 ,  26  curves up and away from vertical portion  30  returning back to a generally vertical orientation and then terminating at upper seat  26 . 
     In the preferred embodiment, lower seats  24   a  and  26   a  are horizontally aligned with front aperture  22 , while the upper seats  24   b  and  26   b  are also aligned with front aperture  22  at an acute angle to the horizontal. In the preferred embodiment, this angle is in the range of fifteen to sixty degrees. It should be appreciated that each of the respective apertures  22 ,  24 ,  26  is aligned with an identical aperture formed in the opposing wall. In this manner, the paired roller bearing surfaces (i.e., apertures  22 , seats  24   a  and seats  24   b  in the opposing walls  16 ) are aligned and are substantially parallel to the ground. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , a roller assembly  14  is shown having a tubular body  36  that concentrically receives an elongated axle  38 . Body  36  rotates about axle  38  via roller bearings  40  (e.g., ball bearings). The outer surface  36   a  of the body is generally smooth allowing a user&#39;s feet to roll over the surface. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the outer ends  42  of the axle passes through the apertures  22 ,  24 ,  26  and are held within frame  12  by conventional fasteners  44 . Three rollers  14  are mounted between the paired apertures  22 ,  24  and  26  wherein each roller body  36  is bounded by the opposing walls  16  and are substantially parallel to each other. The front roller  14   a  is mounted within front apertures  22 , the middle roller  14   b  is mounted within middle apertures  24 , and the rear roller  14   c  is mounted within the rear apertures  26 . It should be appreciated that axle  38  is sized to fit within and slide along the circuitous shape of slots  24 ,  26  and is selectively positioned in either of the lower seats  24   a ,  26   a  or the upper seats  24   b ,  26   b  (as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ). 
     Referring now to FIGS.  3  and  5 - 8 , the various roller configurations of the massager  10  are illustrated in schematic form depicting each roller&#39;s relative position when seated within a particular seat  24   a ,  24   b ,  26   a ,  26   b.    
       FIG. 5  shows the middle roller  14   b  and the rear roller  14   c  positioned in the lower seats  24   a  and  26   a , respectively, to present a substantially flat rolling surface to the bottom  48  of a user&#39;s foot  50  allowing the foot (or feet) to follow a substantially flat motion as shown in arrow  51 . 
       FIG. 6  shows the middle roller  14   b  positioned in the upper seats  24   b , while the rear roller  14   c  is in the lower seats  26   a  to present a convex curved surface, which follows the arch shape of a the bottom  48  of the foot as shown in arrow  52 . 
       FIG. 7  shows the middle roller  14   b  positioned in the lower seats  24   a , while the rear roller  14   c  is in the upper seats  26   b  to allow a user to roll both the top  49  of his foot (along arrow  53 ) and the bottom  48  of his foot (along arrow  51 ) against the massager. 
       FIG. 8  shows both the middle and rear rollers positioned in the upper seats  24   b ,  26   b  to present a flat angled massaging surface to the user&#39;s foot/feet in the directions of arrow  54 . It is contemplated that this configuration is best used while the user is seated to reduce leg or knee strain during use. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 9 , massager  10  may optionally include a textured sleeve  60  having an internal bore sized to frictionally slide over the outer surface  36   a  of the roller body  36 . Sleeve  60  is preferably formed from a tough, but pliable, material such as silicone or plastic and has a plurality of raised massaging ridges or nodes  62  covering the its outer surface. In other embodiments, the shape, size, and number of the ridges disposed on the outer surface can vary. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 10 , an alternate embodiment of the rollers is illustrated. In this embodiment, the roller, denoted  114 , has separate tubular bodies  136   a ,  136   b  which independently rotate about the axle  38  on their own set of roller bearings  40 . In this configuration, a user can roll both feet upon the massager  10  simultaneously in the opposite direction and/or at different speeds. 
     It should be appreciated that the adjustable slots  24 ,  26  may include various means to retain their respective rollers within a selected seat. In still other embodiments, the seats may be eliminated or supplemented where the rollers  14  are vertically adjustable along slots in the walls  16  and fixed in a desired location/height by placing the axle  38  in tension through hand-tightening fasteners, e.g., nuts  44 , against the walls  16 . 
     From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art will readily recognize that the present disclosure is directed to a foot massager having a plurality of rollers. While the present disclosure has been described with particular reference to various preferred embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize from the foregoing discussion and accompanying drawing and claims that changes, modifications and variations can be made in the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. 
     For example and without limitation, while the present disclosure is shown having three roller receiving apertures in each wall, it should be appreciated that any number of apertures and rollers can be used accordingly. Further, while only two seats are disclosed in each adjustment slot, these slots can include any number of seats providing for greater adjustability in roller configuration/angle.