Exercise device which simulates climbing a ladder

An exercise device to simulate climbing, comprising:

• first and second guide rails extending in spaced, parallel alignment with one another,
• a first carrier slidable reciprocally relative to a first of said guide rails;
• a second carrier slidable reciprocally relative to the second of said guide rails;
• user contact means by which to apply successive pushing and pulling forces generated by a user of said exercise device to each of said first and second carriers to cause said carriers to slide reciprocally relative to respective ones of said first and second guide rails;
• and
• means by which to vary the minimum pushing and pulling forces required to be generated by the user of the exercise device to cause said first and second carriers to slide relative to said first and second guide rails, said means to vary said minimum pushing and pulling forces including a hydraulic control system having a hydraulic cylinder filled with hydraulic fluid, a piston located within said hydraulic cylinder, a hydraulic valve tube coupled fluidically to said hydraulic cylinder, and a hydraulic valve located within said valve tube and being moved manually between fully opened and fully closed valve positions to enable the user to selectively control the rate at which hydraulic fluid moves through said hydraulic cylinder depending upon the position of said hydraulic valve, said piston interconnected with said first carrier so as to move reciprocally through said hydraulic cylinder and force said hydraulic fluid to move through said hydraulic valve tube in response to said first carrier moving reciprocally relative to said first guide rail.

An exercise device to simulate climbing, comprising:

• first and second guide rails extending in spaced, parallel alignment with one another,
• a first carriage tube coupled to a first of said guide rails and slidable reciprocally thereover;
• a second carriage tube coupled to the second of said guide rails and slidable reciprocally thereover;
• user contact means by which to apply successive pushing and pulling forces generated by a user of said exercise device to each of said first and second carriage tubes to cause said carriage tubes to slide reciprocally over respective ones of said first and second guide rails;
• a first roller assembly connected to said first carriage tube by which said first carriage tube is slidable reciprocally over said first guide rail, said first roller assembly having first roller means to communicate with and roll along said first guide rail, and
• a second roller assembly connected to said second carriage tube by which said second carriage tube is slidable reciprocally over said second guide rail, said second roller assembly having second roller means to communicate with and roll along said second guide rail,
• said first guide rail having at least two flat sides and one corner formed therebetween, the first roller means of said first roller assembly including at least one notched roller to roll along the corner of said first guide rail and at least one flat roller to roll along one of the flat sides of said first guide rail, and
• said second guide rail having at least two flat sides and one corner formed therebetween, the second roller means of said second roller assembly including at least one notched roller to roll along the corner of said second guide rail and at least one flat roller to roll along one of the flat sides of said second guide rail.