Patent ID: 8308617

Claim:
An elliptical exercise apparatus comprising: a pedestal having a front support and a rear support and a middle support, said front support and said rear support extending transversely relative to said middle support; a crank mechanism arranged on said middle support, said crank mechanism having a left crank and a right crank affixed to opposite ends of a middle shaft, said left crank being staggered relative to said right crank; a damping device arranged onto said middle support, said damping device being meshed with said crank mechanism; a pair of sloping guide rails arranged symmetrically between and extending between said front support and said middle support, one end of said pair of sloping guide rails arranged laterally; a pair of pedals respectively arranged onto said pair of sloping guide rails, said pair of pedals connected to said crank mechanism; a slide guide steerably positioned at a front bottom of said pair of pedals, said slide guide slidably mated onto said pair of sloping guide rails; and a universal joint positioned at a rear bottom of said pair of pedals and connected with said left crank and said right crank, said left crank and said right crank driving said rear bottom of said pair of pedals so as to move in a arcuate pattern and in which a front end of said pair of pedals has a reciprocating and torsional swinging movement by said pair of sloping guide rails.