Patent Publication Number: US-2016236062-A1

Title: Pull-up fitness exercise machine

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the structure of a pull-up fitness exercise machine, and more particularly to the pull-up fitness exercise machine having a support plate always situated at a low static position during the beginning and the end of the use of the pull-up fitness exercise machine to facilitate users to step on to get on or step down to get off a support plate and carry out the expected exercise conveniently and safely. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Basically, a pull-up fitness exercise machine is an indoor exercise apparatus that simulates “High Bar” or “Rings”. Of course, the pull-up fitness exercise machine may also be sued for various different types of limb exercises such as stretching the upper limbs or body building squats for the lower limbs, depending on the user&#39;s familiarity with the use of the machine and the user&#39;s personal exercise needs. Obviously, the pull-up fitness exercise machine is an excellent diversified indoor fitness apparatus; and most of the pull-up fitness exercise machines adopts the gravitational force of the whole of the user&#39;s body weight as the source of the load for the exercise, so that the design of the pull-up fitness exercise machines generally have an assisted pushing member (such as a spring pneumatic cylinder) installed at a position under the support plate to assist the user to apply forces, so as to avoid the situation that the user&#39;s physical strength is unable to bear the load of the user&#39;s body weight repeatedly. In other words, when we pull a pull ring unit installed at a top cantilever downwardly by both hands to lift the support plate situated at the bottom, the assisted pushing member will always provide an appropriately set upward pushing force to assist the user to apply forces in order to lift the user&#39;s body more easily. 
     Since the assisted pushing member always pushes the support plate, the support plate is generally situated at a position with a specific height (depending on the pushing length of the assisted pushing member) when the pull-up fitness exercise machine is not in use. When the user wants to use the pull-up fitness exercise machine, it is relatively inconvenient for the user to step on the support plate or the user is afraid of stepping on the support plate with a specific height from the ground. Of course, some of the conventional pull-up fitness exercise machines provide a stepwise platform disposed next to the lifted support plate to facilitate users to step on the support plate. However, such arrangement also makes the users psychologically scared of the expected ascending speed of the support plate, and to resist the use of such pull-up fitness exercise machine. Obviously, such mechanical design is hardly acceptable to users. 
     In addition, after the users finish with the exercise and want to leave the support plate, the users also have the same hesitation and fear, because once the user (with a body weight) leaves the support plate, the support plate will be pushed and lifted by the assisted pushing member immediately, so that the user have to be very careful while leaving the support plate. Occasionally, accidents or injuries caused by falling from exercise equipments of this sort occur, and the design of the conventional pull-up fitness exercise machines has a safety issue and definitely requires improvements. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a pull-up fitness exercise machine in which a top and down relation between a cantilever at the top and a support plate at the bottom together with a latch effect among a linking rope, a rotary latching plate, an elastic member and a linking hook lever are provided, and the support plate are always situated at a low static position at the beginning and at the end of the use of the fitness exercise machine, so that users may step up to get on or step down to get off the support plate easily to ensure the safety of use. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a pull-up fitness exercise machine having a height adjusting device installed at a top cantilever, an angle adjusting device installed at an angular crotch of a pull ring, and a pushing force adjusting device installed to an assisted pushing unit to fit users of different body types and physical strengths, so as to meet the using requirements and improve the overall practicality and convenience of the pull-up fitness exercise machine. 
     According to the invention, a pull-up fitness exercise machine comprises a base for securing all components, an upright column fixed to the rear of the base, a top cantilever pivotally coupled to the top of upright column, a linking rope coupled to an end of the cantilever, and an elastic member driven by the other end of the linking rope for constantly pulling a rotary latching plate to rotate appropriately. A pull ring unit is installed at the other end of the cantilever and operated together with a pull string and a plurality of pulleys to provide an up and down displacement stroke for pulling the support plate. Moreover, a rotating rod assembly is pivotally coupled to the bottom of the upright column, and the other end of the rotating rod assembly is pivotally coupled to the support plate. An assisted pushing unit is interposed between the rotating rod assembly and the base and has an adjustable pushing force to provide an appropriate upward pushing force to the support plate. In addition, a linking hook lever is coaxially coupled to a first pivot point of the rotating rod assembly and configured to be corresponsive to a hook post of the rotary latching plate for constantly locking the rotating rod assembly and maintaining the support plate at a low static position. In this way, the pull ring unit can be pulled to perform an expected motion when the support plate bears a gravitational force, the cantilever is pulled downwardly, and the linking hook lever is released from a locked status relative to the rotary latching plate. When the external force of the pull ring unit disappears, the support plate is descended by the gravitational force to resume its original position and locked to a low static position automatically. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a pull-up fitness exercise machine in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic planar view of a pull-up fitness exercise machine having a linking hook lever situated at a locked status in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a partial blowup view of a portion indicated by the dotted circle of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view showing the position of a pull-up fitness exercise machine with a support plate being pressed, so that a latch opening of a linking hook lever is separated from a corresponding hook post; 
         FIG. 3B  is a partial blowup view of a portion indicated by the dotted circle of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic planar view of a linking hook lever situated at an unlocked status in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of an operating status of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view of adjusting an assisted pushing unit of another preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view of adjusting the height and angle of a top cantilever of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of a series of adjustments as depicted in a part of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic view of a part of an angular crotch of the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic view of adjusting an angular crotch as depicted in  FIG. 9 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic view of a series of adjustments as depicted in a part of  FIG. 10 ; 
         FIG. 12  is a schematic view of adjusting an angle of a support plate of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 13  is a schematic view of an assisted pushing unit in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The technical measures and characteristics of the present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this invention described in connection with the drawings. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 to 5  for a pull-up fitness exercise machine in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pull-up fitness exercise machine comprises a base  10  for securing all components, an upright column  20  fixed to the rear of the base  10 , a top cantilever  30  pivotally coupled to the top of the upright column  20 , a linking rope  31  coupled to an end of the cantilever  30 , and an elastic member  32  driven by the other end of the linking rope  31  for constantly pulling a rotary latching plate  33  to rotate appropriately. A pull ring unit  40  is installed at the other end of the cantilever  30  and operated together with a pull string  41  and a plurality of pulleys  42  to provide an up and down displacement stroke for pulling the support plate  50  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ). Moreover, a rotating rod assembly  51  pivotally coupled to the bottom of the upright column  20 , and the other end of the rotating rod assembly  51  is pivotally coupled to the support plate  50 . An assisted pushing unit  60  is installed between the rotating rod assembly  51  and the base  10  and has an adjustable pushing force to provide an appropriate upward pushing force to the support plate  50 . In addition, a linking hook lever  52  is coaxially coupled to a first pivot point  511  of the rotating rod assembly  51  and configured to be corresponsive to a hook post  331  of the rotary latching plate  33  for constantly locking the rotating rod assembly  51  and maintaining a low static position of the support plate  50  at a low static position. In this way, the pull ring unit can be pulled to perform an expected motion (as shown in  FIG. 4 ) when the support plate bears a gravitational force (as shown in  FIGS. 3  and  3 B), the cantilever is pulled downwardly, and the linking hook lever is released from a locked status relative to the rotary latching plate. When the external force of the pull ring unit disappears, the support plate is descended by the gravitational force to resume its original position and locked to a low static position automatically. 
     In other words, after a user (not shown in the figure) finishes the exercise with the pull-up fitness exercise machine, and before the user leaves the support plate  50 , the user&#39;s body weight naturally drives the support plate  50  to descend slowly. Since the user has released the force applied to the pull ring unit  40 , therefore the elastic member  32  will pull the rotary latching plate  33  to its original latch position, and a latch opening  521  of the linking hook lever  52  is aligned precisely to the hook post  331 . Now, the user may leave the support plate  50  at ease without worrying an accidental lift (that resumes the original latch position automatically as shown in  FIG. 2 ), and the low static position is very convenient for the next user to get onto the support plate  50 . 
     In  FIG. 5 , the rotating rod assembly  51  includes a central support lever  53  and two side rods  54 , and whose open end is provided for pivotally coupling the support plate  50 , wherein the other end of the central support lever  53  has a linking hook lever  52  coaxially installed to a first pivot point  511  of the upright column  20  to form a linking relation, and the two side rods  54  are respectively and pivotally coupled to a second pivot point  512  of the upright column  20 . 
     In  FIG. 6 , the assisted pushing unit  60  includes a screw adjusting member  61  installed to the central support lever  53 , a slide base  62  adjustably moved by the screw adjusting member  61 , and a spring pneumatic cylinder  63  pivotally coupled to the slide base  62 , such that a knob  611  installed to a side of the screw adjusting member  61  may be turned to adjust the assisted pushing force of the spring pneumatic cylinder  63 . In other words, the closer the spring pneumatic cylinder  63  to the support plate  50 , the greater the pushing force, and vice versa. Of course, a calibration table  612  may be drawn at an appropriate position of the screw adjusting member  61 , so that the user may control the pushing force more easily. 
     In  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the rear of the cantilever  30  is plugged into a hollow section  21  at the top of the upright column  20 , and then a shaft connecting element  201  is provided for pivotally coupling the cantilever  30  and the upright column  20 , and the front of the cantilever  30  is fixed to an arc plate  302  having a plurality of selective slots  301 , and an extended wishbone  304  having a spring pulling lever  303  is provided for adjusting high and low positions of the extended wishbone  304 , and the extended wishbone  304  is also pivotally coupled to an external side of the hollow section  21  by a shaft connecting element  201 , so that an insert shaft  305  of the spring pulling lever  303  disposed at the central position is plugged into any one of the selective slots  301  of the arc plate  302 . When the spring pulling lever  303  is pulled, the insert shaft  305  leaves the original selective slot  301  (as shown in  FIG. 7 ), and users may select the desired height and angle. After the pressure exerted to the spring pulling lever  303  is released, the elastic member  306  installed in the spring pulling lever  303  will drive the insert shaft  305  to be plugged and positioned into the desired selective slot  301 . 
     From the aforementioned design, the cantilever  30  is limited by the space of the hollow section  21 , so that the cantilever  30  just may use the shaft connecting element  201  as a rotating axis and can be rotated within a limited angle, and such limited rotating angle can turn the rotary latching plate  33  to reach an unlocked status of the whole mechanism. 
     In  FIGS. 1, 9, 10, and 11 , the front of the extended wishbone  304  is a crossframe  307 , and both ends of the crossframe  307  have a bushing  308  with a plurality of limit notches  3083 , and each bushing  308  has a positioning pivot  3081  and an elastic member  3082  and pivotally coupled to an angular crotch  309 , and a branching section  3091  of the angular crotch  309  is coupled to a pull ring unit  40 , so that when the angular crotch  309  is pulled downwardly, a latching bump  3092  of the angular crotch  309  leaves the original limit notch  3083  of the bushing  308  (as shown in  FIG. 10 ), and the angular crotch  309  can be rotated to the desired angle and then released, and the elastic member  3082  will latch bushing  308  and the angular crotch  309  at the required angle and position automatically. 
     The pull ring unit  40  includes a pull string  41 , four pulleys  42  and two pull rings  43 , wherein two sets of pulleys  42  are pivotally coupled to an end of the branching section  3091  of the two angular crotches  309 , and the other two sets of pulleys  42  are respectively and pivotally coupled to both sides of the rear of the support plate  50 , and the pull ring  43  is fixed to both ends of the pull string  41 , so that when the support plate  50  is released, a user may pull any one of the pull rings  43  or both of the two pull rings  43  in order to pull the support plate  50  to move up and down. 
     In  FIG. 12 , two handrails  501  are installed on both sides of the support plate  50  respectively, and a skid plate  502  is installed at the bottom of the support plate  50 , and operated together with a jack  503  and an elastic member  504  to lift the support plate  50  to a tilt angle. When a user is performing a squat movement, the user has to sit on the support plate  50  with the user&#39;s back facing the fitness machine, so that the fitness machine not just assists the user&#39;s squat movement only, but also provides a reliable and safe grip for stabilizing the user&#39;s body appropriately to prevent accidents such as falling or being injured. 
     In  FIG. 13 , the present invention may use an electric motor  70  to substitute the knob  611  in order to adjust the pushing force of the spring pneumatic cylinder  63  more quickly. 
     For simplicity, the key elements are represented by respective numerals in the drawings and provided for illustrating the technical characteristics of the present invention but not intended for limiting the scope of the invention. 
     In summation of the description above, the present invention complies with the patent application requirements, and thus is duly filed for patent application. 
     Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiments of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.