Patent ID: 7022051

Claim:
A running machine comprising, a bedplate having side frames mounted at an interval and being contacted to a ground surface; an endless belt mounted between the side frames of the bedplate, bent down at its ends and provided with an upper portion externally positioned and having an outer surface as a running/walking surface on which a runner/walker runs or walks and a lower portion internally positioned; a supporting plate bridged between the side frames of the bedplate, inserted between the upper portion and the lower portion of the endless belt and coming into a sliding-contact with the upper portion of the endless belt for supporting the same: a rotary roller provided in an inner portion of one bent part of the endless belt for circulatingly moving the endless belt; a sliding contact member mounted in an inner portion of the other bent part of the endless belt and guiding the sliding-contact movement of the endless belt; a driving unit for rotating and driving the rotary roller; and a tension roller for depressing the upper portion of the endless belt toward the lower portion, thereby making a distance between the upper portion and the lower portion smaller than a diameter of the rotary roller; and a tension/contact roller adapted to depress and contact the endless belt to the rotary roller.