Abstract:
A kneading massager has a speed reduction gear unit in mesh with the output shaft of a direct current (DC) driving motor to input the mechanical power of the motor, the speed reduction gear unit has several output shafts to engage with a tapered massage block thereby making the massage block to provide gentle and comfortable kneading motion like human fingers when being driven by the DC motor.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   The present invention is a Continuation-in-part (CIP) application of a non-provisional patent application with application No. 10/306,219 filed 29 Nov. 2002, now abandoned. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a kneading massager, and particularly, to a light, thin and small sized kneading massager capable of relaxing the user&#39;s muscle. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   As for the conventional massage chair, please refer to the it mainly includes the following components: a base plate that has a top forming a rail level and a set block provided respectively at both ends of the plate; each of the set blocks has a hinge hole and a screw bolt whose two ends being hinged to the hinge holes, the one end thereof is connected to a power source so that the screw bolt is able to rotate between the two set blocks; a sliding seat with a hollow seat body capable of sliding on the rail level of the base plate and having a drilled hole horizontally passing through it, a screw bolt can be screwed into the drilled holes from two sides; two massage wheels that respectively include a power output shaft passing through the drilled hole of the sliding seat, a transmission gear in mesh with the screw bolt, and a contact roller emerged out of the sliding seat, the one end of the output shaft connected with the transmission gear and the other end with the contact roller. 
   Of course the above mentioned device is functional as a massager. However, employing an AC motor as its power source causes its overall structure heavy and bulky. Besides, massaging the body with contact rollers can hardly bring a comfortable feeling to the user, on the contrary, the user will feel painful on the back after the contact roller rolling on the back up and down for a long time. An improvement is seriously necessary. 
   The inventor has dedicated great efforts for years to studying and improving these defects and come up with a novel kneading massager as provided in this invention to eliminate the defects mentioned above. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The main object of the present invention is to provide a kneading massager driven by a light and small sized direct current (DC) motor to move inwardly and outwardly a massage block of the massager so as to achieve a kneading massage effect. 
   Another object of the present invention is to provide a light and small kneading massager which can be easily fabricated and assembled with low cost. 
   Still another object of the present invention is to provide a kneading massager which is applicable to a movable massage cushion, a massage bed, a massage chair, an office chair, an automobile seat and an easy chair. 
   To achieve these and other objects described above, the kneading massager provided by the present invention is composed of a speed reduction gear unit, a DC driving motor, and a massage block. The speed reduction gear unit is engaged with a transmission gear at its bottom for receiving the mechanical power to the unit, several output shafts are emerged from the top surface of the speed reduction gear unit each of which has a metal washer fitted to it by disposing on the top surface of the unit thereof. The DC motor is coupled to a worm gear with its output shaft, the Dc motor is disposed beneath the speed reduction gear unit such that the worm gear can be in mesh with the transmission gear at the bottom of the speed reduction gear unit. The massage block further includes a main body and a bottom cover, the main body has a hole at its bottom, while the bottom cover is provided with several confinement holes around its edge, and each hole has a ball in it, the bottom cover is engaged with the bottom of the main body with its center hole aligned to the bottom hole of the main body and a metal pad is sandwiched therebetween such that the balls arrayed around the edge of the bottom cover are in contact with the metal pad. These balls will be easily rotatable by contacting the metal washers disposed on the top surface of the speed reduction gear unit and thus facilitate motion of the massage block when the message block is engaged with the output shaft of the speed reduction gear unit. With this structure, when the DC motor rotates, the mechanical power is transmitted to the massage block via the worm gear, coupled with its output shaft, the transmission gear, the speed reduction gear unit, in order thereby the massage block is driven by the output shaft of the speed reduction gear unit to perform kneading motion inwardly or outwardly like human fingers. 
   These features and advantages of the present invention will be fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of the accompanying Drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded schematic view of the kneading massager according to the present invention; 
       FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  are respectively the three dimensional front and back views of the kneading massager according to the present invention; 
       FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B  are the schematic views illustrating how the kneading massager of the present invention operate; 
       FIG. 4A  is the three dimensional front view of the kneading massager in another embodiment; 
       FIG. 4B  is a back view of  FIG. 4A ; and 
       FIG. 5  is another schematic view illustrating how the kneading massager of the present invention operate. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 A and  2 B simultaneously, the kneading massager of the present invention comprises a speed reduction gear unit  1 , a DC motor  3 , and a massage block  4 . The speed reduction gear unit further includes a driver gear  20  and eight follower gears  21 – 28 . The driver gear  20  is in mesh with the first and second follower gears  21 ,  22 , whereas the first follower gear  21  is further in mesh with the third and fifth follower gears  23  and  25 . The second follower gear  22  is in mesh with the fourth and sixth follower gears  24  and  26 , whereas the seventh and eighth follower gears  27  and  28  are respectively in mesh with the third and fourth follower gears  23  and  24 . As for the gear size the fifth to eighth follower gears  25 – 28  are the largest, while the first to fourth follower gears  21 - 24  rank to the next larger size, the driver gear  20  is the smallest. With such arrangement, the aforesaid gears are combined to form the speed reduction gear unit  1 . The fifth to eight follower gears  25 – 28  are respectively equipped with output shafts  251 ,  261 ,  271  and  281 . The speed reduction gear unit  1  has four recessed portions  11  formed on its top surface each having a hole  111  for output shafts  251 ,  261 ,  271 ,  281  to pass through. A metal washer  12  is provided for each of the holes  11  in the way that it is fitted onto each of the output shafts  251 ,  261 ,  271  and  281 . A transmission gear  13  installed beneath the speed reduction gear unit  1  is in mesh with the driver gear  20 . 
   The DC motor  3  has a worm gear  31  engaged with its output shaft. The worm gear  31  is accommodated in a bottom cover  32  which is fixed to the bottom of the speed reduction gear unit  1  so as to enclose the transmission gear  13 . By coupling the worm gear  31  to the transmission gear  13 , the mechanical output of the DC motor  3  can be outputted from the output shafts  251 ,  261 ,  271 , and  281  with amplified rotating torque and reduced rotational speed through the speed reduction gear unit  1 . 
   The massage block  4  further includes a main body  41  and a bottom cover  42 . The main body  41 , approximately in a tapered shape, may be equipped with an extra movable block  411  on its top, and provided with a hole  412  on its bottom. The bottom cover  42  has several confinement holes  421  formed along its edge with a ball  44  confined in each hole  421  in the manner that each ball  44  is emerged from the bottom surface of the bottom cover  42 . The bottom cover  42  is engaged with the main body  41  from its bottom by aligning the center hole  422  of the bottom cover  42  to the hole  412  and sandwiches a metal pad  43  between the main body  41  and the bottom cover  42  such that the balls  44  arranged around the edge of the bottom cover  42  are mated with the metal pad  43 , and then the massage block  4  is inserted into the output shafts  251 ,  261 ,  271 , and  281  so as to install the bottom cover  42  on the recessed portion s  11  formed on the top surface of the speed reduction gear unit  1  thereby bringing those balls  44  emerged down from the bottom cover  42  to contact their corresponding metal washer  12  in the recessed portion  11 . By so the balls  44  are made easy to roll that in turn facilitate the motion of the massage block  4  and avoid abrasion of the massage block  4  and the speed reduction gear unit  1 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the mechanical power of the rotating Dc motor  3  is transmitted to the massage block  4  to cause it perform a kneading motion inwardly or outwardly like human fingers. The mechanical power transmission route is Dc motor  3 →worm gear  31 →transmission gear  13 →speed reduction gear unit  1 →output shafts  251 ,  261 , 271 , 281 →massage block  4 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4A and 4B , in this embodiments, an output shaft associated with the worm gear  31  and the bottom case  32  is provided to both ends of the Dc motor  3  so that both ends thereof can be equipped with a speed reduction gear unit  1  thereby widening the massage area. Of course more than two speed reduction gear units  1  can be used according to the practical need. 
   As shown in  FIG. 5 , in operating the kneading massager of the present invention, the speed reduction gear unit  1  together with the conjoined Dc motor  3  and massage block  4  can be set in a massage chair, a massage bed, an automobile seat, an easy chair, an office chair or a massage cushion, through controlling the rotational direction of the DC motor  3  (right or reverse) with a control circuit so that the massage block  4  may make the kneading motion inwardly or outwardly on the user&#39;s body laid therein. If it is desirable, an extra movable block  411  may be added to the massage block  4  so as to move along with the latter. In this manner, the effect of eliminating muscle ache and relaxation of fatigue feeling can be more improved. 
   It emerges from the above description that the kneading massager of the present invention has several noteworthy advantages compared to the existing conventional massaging devices, namely:
         1. The kneading motion of the massage block driven by the small DC motor brings a tender and comfortable feeling to the user.   2. The kneading massager of the present invention is light and compact in-size, so it can be fabricated and assembled with a very low cost, and is widely applicable for installing in a massage bed, a massage chair, an automobile seat, an easy chair, an office chair or a massage cusion.   3. The kneading massager of the present invention can be placed in a stationary location for use, or conveniently held in hand.       

   Many changes and modifications in the above described embodiment 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.