Leg-powered treadmill
AssigneeSpeedfit LLC
InventorsAlex Astilean, Dan Bostan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A motor-less leg-powered curved treadmill produced that allows people to walk, jog, run, and sprint without making any adjustments to the treadmill other than shifting the user's center of gravity forward and backwards. A closed loop treadmill belt running between front and rear pulley rollers is formed with a low friction running surface of transverse wooden, plastic or rubber slats attached to each other in a resilient fashion, wherein each transverse slat has at least one continuous fin descending downward therefrom.
Claims10
A motor-less, leg-powered treadmill, with a curved running surface, comprising:
- a treadmill frame;
- a front shaft and a rear shaft that are each positioned respectively in a front and rear of the treadmill frame and configured for synchronous rotation;
- pairs of front and rear pulley rollers attached on opposing ends of the front and rear shafts, respectively;
- opposing arrays of bearings, arranged as bearing rails and positioned between the front and rear shafts on opposing peripheral sides of the treadmill frame;
- and
- a closed loop treadmill belt arranged to rotate about the pulley rollers synchronously with rotation of the front and rear shafts, while maintaining contact with the bearing rails;
- wherein the closed loop treadmill belt comprises a plurality of parallel transverse slats that are resiliently interconnected to form the curved running surface;
- and
- wherein the bearing rails follow a catenary curve that is inherently defined by a weight of a portion of the closed loop treadmill belt that extends between a 0-degree position of the front and rear pulleys, and a distance between respective central axes of the front and rear shafts.
An exercise treadmill comprising:
- a treadmill frame;
- said treadmill frame supporting a continuous treadmill running surface belt moving over a set of pulleys communicating with said treadmill running surface belt;
- said continuous treadmill running surface belt being a closed loop array of a plurality of transverse parallel slats,
- wherein each said transverse parallel slat includes at least one fin descending downward from each said transverse slat, said at least one fin of each said slat extending perpendicular down from each said slat.
A motor-less, leg-powered curved treadmill comprising:
- a treadmill frame having opposing upper portions at peripheral sides of the treadmill frame;
- a concave row of upper support peripheral ball bearings located at each of the peripheral left and right sides of the treadmill frame;
- and
- a set of respective front and rear pulley end rollers for rotation;
- a closed loop treadmill belt, wherein said front and rear pulley end rollers support said closed loop treadmill belt;
- wherein said closed loop treadmill belt comprises a plurality of parallel transverse slats, each said parallel transverse slat oriented parallel to an axis of rotation of said belt and attached to each other in a resilient fashion;
- and
- wherein each said transverse slat includes at least one fin descending downward from each said transverse slat and formed with a material with sufficient resiliency, strength and weight to lie on and conform to the respective concave rows of the upper support peripheral ball bearings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.