Patent Publication Number: US-7591762-B2

Title: Exercise apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an exercise apparatus, more particularly to an exercise apparatus which enables a user to train a wide range of muscles. 
     Present exercise apparatus are usually designed to imitate one type of human sport such as elliptical machines, stationary bicycles, treadmills or steppers to imitate running, riding bicycle or climbing. By using different training equipments, users can choose to train specific muscles. But, users use the exercise apparatus like those mentioned above may only train the general portion muscles of legs. If a user wants to fully exercise his legs, it is difficult to achieve by apparatus such as steppers or treadmills and so on. Besides, these exercise machines can&#39;t provide a user to exercise total body at the same time. 
     U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0272562 discloses an exercise machine simulating skating exercise. It may achieve the goal of making a user to fully exercise his muscles of legs. However, it still can&#39;t make people to exercise his upper body. And its left and right swing arms are independent. That may cause laypersons hard to use it. Furthermore, because such exercise machine adopts a pair of swing arms which are not identical and performs as a cross relationship, those factors may induce high production costs and make people hard to produce it. 
     And U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,861 discloses another machine for providing a user rotating exercise. A user may sit on the rotatable seat and support his feet on the foot support which is mounted to a rotatable lever. By this operation method, a user may push the foot support to drive the rotatable seat. Alternatively, a user may hold the hand grip to rotate it and drive the foot support to rotate. This invention may focus on exercising the waist of a user but still can&#39;t achieve total body training. And according to the structure of the machine, while a user stands on the foot support and holds the handle grip to do exercise, the user may loss balance because its foot support is in a declined mode. A user may also feel ache easily because the handle grip is extended vertically and the pedals are declined forward in a large angle, so it has to extend the upper body to hold the handle grip. 
     Clearly for the forgoing reasons, there is still a need for a machine that can inexpensively produce, corresponding kinesiology, and make a user to exercise a wide range of muscles of the user&#39;s body at the same time. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An exercise apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises a frame adapted to rest on the floor surface, left and right swing mechanisms for supporting a user and providing him to do exercise. Each of the left and right swing mechanisms comprises a swing arm, a pedal, and a control member. In the front part of the exercise machine, there are left and right actuating mechanisms coupled to the frame. Left and right driving members respectively interconnected with the left and right swing mechanisms and left and right actuating mechanisms. A handle assembly has a handle member for a user to grip thereon and a rotating shaft interconnected with the frame and the handle member. 
     Each of the left and right swing arms has a supporting portion to engage with the respective pedals, and a pivoting portion pivoted to the frame in an outward skewed mode. The control members respectively interconnected to the frame and the pedals. The swing mechanisms can control the pedals to show as a declined forward mode when the swing mechanisms swing inward. When the swing mechanisms swing outward, the respective pedals will progressively rotate downward. And the front sections of the respective pedals progressively rotate outward when the left and right swing mechanisms are thrust outward. The left and right driving members are jointed between respective swing mechanisms and actuating mechanisms. By the left and right actuating mechanisms and driving members, the left and right swing mechanisms can be thrust to do swing motions interactively. 
     The handle assembly comprises a handle member and a rotating shaft interconnected with the frame and the handle member. Besides, one of the left and right actuating mechanisms further connected with the rotating shaft of the handle assembly, so that the handle assembly can be driven to rotate by the left and right swing mechanisms simultaneously. Therefore, the pivoting portions of the left and right swing mechanisms and the rotating shaft of the handle assembly rotate simultaneously when the actuating mechanisms is driven by the driving members. 
     The swing motions of the left and right swing mechanisms are in three dimensions because of the outward skewed pivoting portions. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the exercise apparatus adapted two levers as driving members to conquer the variation on dimensions. So a user&#39;s lower body and upper body will experience exercise simultaneously, and the swing motions of the swing mechanisms also train the user&#39;s legs as a total, fully exercise type. 
     In one embodiment, an exercise apparatus has substantially the same structure. And it further has a specific characteristic of making the pivoting portion of the swing mechanism and the rotating shaft of the handle assembly “rotate at a same direction” when the actuating mechanism is driven by the driving member. Therefore, the embodiment can make a user&#39;s body experiences huddling up, extending, and rotation exercise that various exercise types further enhance the training intensity. 
     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an exercise apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an another perspective view of the exercise apparatus shown the structure of the preferred embodiment which is not shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the right pedal of the exercise apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of the right actuating mechanism of the exercise apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of the handle assembly of the exercise apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  are illustrated a top view and a back view of the exercise apparatus of  FIG. 1  in a rotating position; 
         FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  are illustrated a top view and a back view of the exercise apparatus of  FIG. 1  in another rotating position relative to  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b;  and 
         FIGS. 8   a,    8   b  and  8   c  are illustrated a side view of the right pedal of the exercise apparatus of  FIG. 1  in three positions. 
     
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  illustrate an embodiment of an exercise apparatus  1  having a frame  10  adapted to rest on the floor surface and providing a foundation for other mechanisms to couple thereto. There is a handle assembly  40  coupled to the front part of the frame  10  for providing a user to support his hands. And at the rearward of the frame  10 , there are left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R coupled thereto for supporting a user to enable him to exercise by stepping the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , each of the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R comprises a pedal  25  and a substantially longitudinally extending swing arm  21 L/ 21 R. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the swing arms  21 L/ 21 R has a pivoting portion  22 L/ 22 R in the front part of the swing arms  21 L/ 21 R for pivoting to the frame  10  in an outward skew mode. In other words, each angle between relative vertical lines L 1  and each of the pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R is an acute angle as shown. Therefore, trajectories of the swing motions of each of the swing arms  21 L/ 21 R are arcs sloping in a descending mode from inward to outward which take the respective pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R as the center of the arcs. Each of the swing arms  21 L/ 21 R also comprises a supporting portion  23 L/ 23 R positioned in the rearward portion to connect to the respective pedals  25 . Besides, axial directions L 4  of each of the supporting portions  23 L/ 23 R and respective axial directions L 3  of the pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R are not parallel but have an included angle. 
     In this embodiment, each of the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R further comprises a control member  24  which substantially extends paralleled to the respective swing arms  21 L/ 21 R when the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R are at a starting status as  FIG. 1 . Please referring to  FIG. 3 , each of the control members  24  is jointed between the frame  10  and the bottom of the respective pedals  25  by a joint. Taking the right swing mechanism  20 R for example, the bottom of the right pedal  25 , the right swing arm  21 R, the right control member  24  and the frame  10  form a shape which is analogous to a four-bar linkage. It can be observed easily that the joint of the right control member  24  is positioned in the front inward part of the right pedal  25  if take the supporting portion  23 R of the right swing arm  21 R as a datum point to divide the right pedal  25  into four parts. There are several factors can affect the rotation types of the pedals  25 . In the preferred embodiment, there are three factors: (a) the position relationship between the joint and the supporting portion  23 R, (b) the length of the right control member  24  and right swing arm  21 R, and (c) the relative locations to which the right control member  24  and right swing arm  21 R are coupled. Above three factors can bring various rotational types of the respective pedals  25  by vector mechanics. The left swing mechanism  20 L also has the same structure relationship. 
     In the preferred embodiment, the right control member  24  can control the front section of the right pedal  25  to rotate progressively toward outside when the right swing arm  21 R is swung downward by the structure relationship discussed above. In other words, in a top view of a user while using the exercise apparatus  1 , the right pedal  25  will rotate clockwise when he thrust the right swing mechanism  20 R outward. And the left pedal  25  will rotate counterclockwise when the left swing mechanism  20 L is swung outward. Therefore, when the swing arms  21 L/ 21 R are driven to do swing motions as described above, the respective control members  24  are capable to enable the respective pedals  25  to produce rotational movement to optimize the swing motions. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , there are left and right actuating mechanisms  30  coupled to the forward of the frame  10 . And left and right driving members  31  respectively have a first portion  31   a  and a second portion  31   b.  The left and right driving members  31  in the preferred embodiment are levers which are interconnected with respective left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R by respective first portions  31   a  and respective left and right actuating mechanisms  30  by respective second portions  31   b.    
     Each of the left and right actuating mechanisms  30  comprise left and right rotating members  34 . In a preferred embodiment, the rotational members  34  are left and right cranks  34  pivoted to the frame  10  defining a crank axis  33 . 
     And the left and right actuating mechanisms  30  further comprises transmission members  35  and two impelled members  36  coupled to the left and right side of the exercise apparatus  1  respectively. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, two transmission members  35  and two impelled members  36  are levers. However, the left side of the actuating mechanism  30  is not identical to the right side thereof. Please referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , each of the transmission members  35  and the impelled members  36  has a first portion  35   a / 36   a  and a second portion  35   b / 36   b.  Now referring to  FIG. 2 , the left side of the actuating mechanism  30  as shown, the left impelled member  36  is pivoted to the forward of the frame  10  by a region which is a pivot  36   c  in the preferred embodiment. And the first portion  35   a  of the left transmission member  35  is pivoted to the left crank  34 ; the second portion  35   b  of the left transmission member  35  is pivoted to the first portion  36   a  of the left impelled member  36 . Furthermore, the second portion  31   b  of the left driving member  31  is jointed to the second portion  35   b  of the left transmission member  35  and the first portion  36   a  of the left impelled member  36  coaxially. And the first portion  31   a  of the left driving member  31  is pivoted to the left swing mechanism  20 L. 
     Now looking at  FIG. 4  which is the right side elevation view of the actuating mechanism  30 , as mentioned earlier, the first portion  35   a  of the right transmission member  35  is pivoted to the right crank  34 . And as the left actuating mechanism, the second portion  35   b  of the right transmission member  35  is pivoted to the first portion  36   a  of the right impelled member  36  and the second portion  31   b  of the right driving member  31  coaxially. In the same way, the right impelled member  36  is pivoted to the forward of the frame  10  by a pivot  36   c.  Nevertheless, the second portion  36   b  of the right impelled member  36  further extends downwardly to couple to an auxiliary lever  47  of a rotating shaft  41  of the handle assembly  40  by a mechanical component. In a preferred embodiment, the mechanical component is an elongated bar  49 . One end portion of the elongated bar  49  is jointed to the second portion  36   b  of the impelled member  36 , and the other end portion of the elongated bar  49  is jointed to auxiliary lever  47 . 
     Therefore, when a user thrust the right swing mechanism  20 R outward to pull the right driving member  24  to move rearward, the right driving member  24  also rotates the left and right actuating mechanisms  30  at the same time. And the left crank  34  is rotated to actuate the left driving member  31  to move forward, so that the left swing mechanism  20 L is driven to swing inward at the same time. In other word, the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R can be thrust to experience two swing motions interactively. 
     Because of the pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R of each of the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R skew outward as discussed before, the swing motions are on two mirroring inclined planes which are both in a descend mode from inside to outside. In view of this, the first portions  31   a  of the left and right driving members  31  are also driven to swing on the respective inclined planes. More specifically, the swing motions are not only reciprocating motions of variation on longitudinal and height directions but also combine with variation in displacement of lateral directions. In other words, the first portions  31   a  of the left and right driving members  31  have a three dimensional exercise during the swing motions. However, the second portions  31   b  of the left and right driving members  31  are constrained by the respective cranks  34  to move on a vertical plane. It may have problems in general situations during the 3D (three dimensions) to 2D (two dimensions) motion transferring on the respective first and second portions  31   a / 31   b  of the left and right driving members  31 . In order to make the swing motions more smoothly, the first and second portions  31   a / 31   b  of the left and right driving members  31  are adapted spherical couplings to joint to respective mechanicals. 
     Now please referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 , an embodiment of the handle assembly  40  of the exercise apparatus  1  is shown in  FIG. 5 . The handle assembly  40  substantially comprises a handle member  43 , the rotating shaft  41 , the auxiliary lever  47  and the elongated bar  49  discussed above. The rotating shaft  41  extends substantial vertically and is coupled to the frame  10  by rings  48  which are located at the top and bottom portion of the rotating shaft  41 . Therefore, the rotating shaft  41  can rotate relative to the frame  10 . And the auxiliary lever  47  is mounted to the bottom portion of the rotating shaft  41 . Consequentially, the rotating shaft  41  can be driven to rotate by the connecting relationship between the auxiliary lever  47  and the elongated bar. A user thrusts the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R to force the respective cranks  34  to rotate, then transporting the rotating energy to respective transmission members  35 , impelled members  36  and the elongated bar  49 . Finally, the rotating energy forces the rotating shaft  41  of the handle assembly  40  to be rotated by the elongated bar  49  and the auxiliary lever  47 . It should be understood by people skilled in the art that the way which the rotating shaft  40  is connected to the right actuating mechanism  30  to achieve the same function as described above should have many other solutions and not limit to the preferred embodiment. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , an adjusting assembly  44  has a sleeve  45  and an adjustable rod  46 . The adjusting assembly  44  is mounted to the forward of the frame  10 . And the adjustable rod  46  is slidingly attached to the sleeve  45 . Also, one portion of the adjustable rod  46  is engaged with the handle member  43 . Besides, the handle member  43  is engaged with the rotating shaft  41  by a joint  42  in an inclined angle respective to the vertical line L 2 . Therefore, a user can change the position of the adjustable bar  46  to rise up or lower down the handle assembly  40  to satisfy his personally exercise habits. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the exercise apparatus  1  with a resistance assembly  50  which can be controlled to adjust the rotating resistance of the left and right cranks  34  is mounted to the frame  10 . The resistance assembly  50  has a fly wheel  55 , first and second belt  56 / 57 , and first to fourth pulleys  51 / 52 / 53 / 54 . The first pulley  51  is rigid connected to the crank axis  33  and rotated by the cranks  34 . The second pulley  52  and the third pulley  53  are connected to the frame  10  coaxially. The fourth pulley  54  and fly wheel  55  are also connected to the frame  10  coaxially. And then the first belt  56  is wound onto the first pulley  51  and the second pulley  52 , similarly, the second belt  57  is wound onto the third pulley  53  and the fourth pulley  54 . Besides, the size of each of the pulleys  51 / 52 / 53 / 54  is arranged as shown in  FIG. 1 and 2  in order to increase the performance of rotation efficiency of the fly wheel  55 . 
     With the structure of the embodiment described above, it can be imaged the sight of a user stepping on the left and right swing mechanism  20 L/ 20 R and gripping his hands on the handle assembly  40 . When the user thrusts the right swing mechanism  20 R to swing outward to force the right crank  34  starting to be rotated by the right driving member  31 , the left crank  34  is also rotated to drive the left transmission member  35  and left driving member  31 . Therefore, the left driving member  31  pulls the left swing mechanism  20 L to swing inward. As the right crank  34  is started to drive the right transmission member  35  moving rearward, the first portion  36   a  of the right impelled member  36  is also pulled to move rearward. The second portion  36   b  of the right impelled member  36  is moved forward contrarily because the first and second portion  36   a / 36   b  of the impelled member  36  are positioned at opposite sides of the pivot  36   c  as shown in  FIG. 4 . Therefore, the elongated bar  49  is driven to pull the auxiliary lever  47  to rotate the rotating shaft  41  and the handle member  43  of the handle assembly  40 . So the user&#39;s body is driven by his hands to have a rotating exercise by the rotation of the handle member  43 . That is to achieve the goal of exercising wide range muscles of body. 
     In the exercise process, each of the pedals  25  produces relative rotation movements which are according to the connection relationship between the control members  24  and respective pedals  25  discussed above. As illustrated in  FIG. 6   a  and  FIG. 6   b,  while the left swing arm  21 L is thrust to a position at the most inside point as shown in  FIG. 6   a,  the longitudinal direction of the left pedal  25  from the top view is substantially identical to the exercise apparatus. The right swing arm  21 R is driven to swing to the most outside point and the right pedals  25  produces obvious lateral rotation. More particularly, the front section of the right pedal  25  rotates more toward outside than its rear section. 
     Now please referring to  FIG. 6   b,  the exercise apparatus  1  as the left pedal  25  at the most inside point, one can obviously observe that the left pedal  25  is in a declined forward mode, and its left and right side sections are substantially at equal height. The declined forward mode is because of the axial direction L 4  of the left supporting portion  23 L is not parallel to the axial direction L 3  of the left pivoting portions  22 L of the left swing arms  21 L. When the left swing arm  21 L swings to the most inside point as shown in  FIG. 6   b,  the included angle between the two axial directions L 3 /L 4  leads the left pedal  25  to decline forward. Referring to the right pedal  25  which is at the most outside point, the included angle of the two axial directions L 3 /L 4  leads the inside section of the right pedal  25  lower than the outside section thereof. Also, the declined forward mode of the right pedal  25  rotates to a substantially horizontal status. 
     In summary of described above, please refer to the  FIG. 8  which is the right pedal  25  at three positions separately corresponding to the most inside point, starting point, and the most outside point. When the right pedal  25  at a starting point as FIG.  8   b  moves to the status as  FIG. 8   a  through a swing motion, the declined forward angle of the right pedal  25  increases. This is due to the progressive upward swing motion of the right swing arm  21 R which directly affects the included angle of axial L 3  and L 4 . As the swing motion moving to the most outside point, the declined angle progressively changes toward substantial horizontal. Referring to  FIG. 6   a  and  FIG. 6   b,  as the right pedal  25  at the most outside point, the inside section of the right pedal  25  rotates downward and the outside section of the right pedal  25  rises up. In other words, the right pedal  25  is progressively doing an inclined inward during the outward swing motion. And during the right swing mechanism  20 R swings outward, the right pedal  25  also rotates outward at its front section. The rotation movement of the left pedal  25  is the same as the right pedal  25 . 
     The rotation movements of the pedals  25  make a user more comfortable as doing exercise. Because of the rotation movements, the pedals  25  can match the user&#39;s feet more closely while doing exercise. Besides, the pedals  25  maintain the declined forward mode until they swing to the respective most outside point where the pedals  25  are substantial horizontal. The declined forward mode of the pedals  25  makes a user more easily to thrust the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R and enables the preferred embodiment more user-friendly. 
     Combining the characteristics of the pedals inclining inward, rotating outward at front sections of the pedals  25  with the pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R pivoted to the frame  10  in the outward skew mode. So the compound trajectories of the pedals  25  and the swing arms  21 L/ 21 R are summed up for simulating the speed skating but not limited to. While a player doing speed skating, his legs slide back and outward to thrust his body to move forward. At this status, the user&#39;s feet at the most outward point are rotating outside. These are substantially same as the representation of the pedals  25  at the most outside points in the embodiment. Therefore, the compound trajectories of the preferred embodiment are more conformed to the kinesiology. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 6 , as the right swing mechanism  20 R swings toward outward, the right pivoting portion  22 R rotates counterclockwise. At the same time, the left pivoting portion  22 L also rotates counterclockwise as the left swing mechanism  20 L swings toward inside. Furthermore, the right driving member  31  is pulled-rearward by the right swing mechanism  20 R and simultaneously driven the second portion  36   b  of the right impelled member  36  moving forward. The right impelled member  36  pulls the elongated bar  49  and the auxiliary lever  47  to move forward. Finally, the rotating shaft  41  of the handle assembly  40  is rotated counterclockwise synchronously by the auxiliary lever  47 . 
     Therefore, the pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R of the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R and the rotating shaft  41  of the handle assembly  40  rotate at a same direction as a user doing exercise. In other words, a user&#39;s right hand and right foot will mutually come closely or go far away, and the left hand and left foot in common with the right hand and right foot. That makes a user can huddle up or extend his body to make the reciprocating exercise path of hands and foot become longer. Therefore, enhances the intensity of the user&#39;s body exercise. 
       FIG. 6   a  shows the trajectories F 1  and F 2  of the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R and the rotating paths H 1  and H 2  of the handle assembly  40 . It can be obviously observed from  FIG. 6   a,  the distance between the right swing mechanism  20 R and the right side of the handle assembly  40  is longer than the left swing mechanism  20 L and the left side of the handle assembly  40 .  FIG. 7   a  is the exercise apparatus  1  in another rotating direction status. 
     Besides, the exercise apparatus  1  of the preferred embodiment has many characteristics. Specifically, (a) “a user can huddle up or extend his body to make the reciprocating exercise more longer” as discussed above, (b) the handle member  40  is engaged with the rotating shaft  41  in an inclined angle by the joint  42 , and (c) the outward skewed mode of the pivoting portions  22 L/ 22 R of the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R result in the descending trajectories F 1  and F 2 . In summary of these characteristics, the status of the swing motion is in a variation in lateral, longitudinal and vertical displacements. This kind of motion can make muscles of legs to be trained more integrity. 
     As discussed above, when the right swing mechanism  20 R swings to the most outside and lowest point, the right side of the handle assembly  40  not only rotates counterclockwise but also rotates upwardly to the highest point of the rotating path H 1 . So that, a user&#39;s right hand is at the relative left-front and highest point and right foot is at the relative right-back and lowest point. The right hand and right foot are at two different longitudinal planes and perform a kind of oblique extending. Meanwhile, the left hand accompanies with the handle member  43  rotating counterclockwise to the lowest point of H 2 . The left foot accompanies with left swing mechanism  20 L swinging to the most inside and highest point. As the exercise status of the right hand and right foot, the left hand and the left foot are also at two different longitudinal planes, but perform another oblique extending which the left foot is more inside than the left hand. Therefore, the core of the user&#39;s body is driven to huddle up or extend by the characteristic of “the left and right swing mechanisms  20 L/ 20 R and the rotating shaft  41  of the handle assembly  40  rotate at a same direction”. 
     P 1  and P 2  separately simulate the huddling up and extending paths of the user&#39;s left and right side body. The user&#39;s waist is also driven to rotate counterclockwise by limbs in  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b.  In view of this, the preferred embodiment can make a user&#39;s body experiencing huddling up, extending, and rotation exercise that various exercise types further enhance the training intensity. 
     Alternatives of performing the same function of “rotating at a same direction” of the preferred embodiment should be noted by people skilled in the art. In the preferred embodiment, the second portion  31   b  of each of the driving members  31  is pivoted to the respective second portions  35   b  of each of the transmission members  35  coaxially to achieve the function of moving at a same direction. Essentially, one may achieve the same characteristics of the preferred embodiment by ensuring the moving direction of the second portion  31   b  of the right driving member  31  being opposite to the second portion  36   b  of the right impelled member  36 . In other words, one may have the same characteristics of discussed above, only to connect the second portion  31   b  of the right driving member  31  to the place of the right actuating mechanism  30  which is upper than the pivot  36   c  of the right impelled member  36 . It should be recognized as easily to understand by people skilled in the art, so didn&#39;t show other possible embodiments in the relative figures. 
     The goal of this invention is to make a user to have a wide range of exercise. The preferred embodiment does not require that all the advantageous features and all the advantages described need to be incorporated into every embodiment thereof. Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiment contained herein.