US20070010376A1

US20070010376A1 - Medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height

Info

Publication number: US20070010376A1
Application number: US11/177,162
Authority: US
Inventors: Hung-Sheng Wu; Chun-Ho Chen; Yu-Che Huang; Chia-Hsiun Chuang; Chih-Hung Hsu
Original assignee: Taiwan Bicycle Ind R&D Center
Current assignee: Cycling and Health Tech Ind R&D Center
Priority date: 2005-07-07
Filing date: 2005-07-07
Publication date: 2007-01-11

Abstract

A medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height includes, a base having a treadmill platform disposed on the base, a control panel disposed at the front of the base; and a rail set having a rail separately disposed on both sides of the base, characterized in that the bottom of each rail has a rail height adjusting mechanism that can simultaneously drive the rail to move up and down, so that the height adjusting mechanism can adjust the height of the rails on both sides of the treadmill, and quickly and easily adjusting the rail height for patients.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical therapeutic treadmill, and more particularly to a medical therapeutic treadmill that can automatically and synchronously adjust the height of its rails on both sides of the treadmill.
2. Description of the Related Art
The main purpose for designing a medial therapeutic electric treadmill is to provide a medical therapeutic training for patients whose legs are injured or who have a problem on standing, walking and running. Since the weight and height of each patient vary and the correct support posture of each patient and the height of the rail are different, therefore it is necessary to provide a design capable of adjusting the width and height of the rails on both sides of the treadmill, such that physical therapists can make appropriate adjustments to fit individual patients, and the patients can stand or are supported by the rails to avoid a secondary injury.
However, most of the medical therapeutic treadmills sold in the market come with a design for users to manually adjust the height of the rails. For example, the treadmill disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,337 includes a support rod of the rail being two sliding rods connected with each other, and the adjusting device set could be a manual adjusting device such as a ball socket, a spring latch or a thread. A user has to turn and loosen the adjusting device by one hand first and then turns to tighten the adjusting device set in order to adjust the height of the rails. However, such manual adjusting method not only wastes time and efforts, but also has the concern of adjusting the rails to one higher than the other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height, comprising a link rod set disposed under a rail, a driving set for driving the link rods on both sides of the treadmill and changing the height of the rails on both sides, so as to achieve the purpose of automatically adjusting the rails. The invention can save tremendous time and physical strength for adjusting the rail height, and the driving set comprises a transversal rod and both ends of the transversal rod are axially connected to a link rod for synchronously adjusting the rail height on both sides and making sure that the rails on both sides are of the same height.
The technical measures adopted by the present invention include:
a medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height, comprising a base, having a treadmill platform disposed on the base, and a control panel disposed at the front of the base; and a rail set, having a rail separately disposed on both sides of the base; characterized in that the rail includes a rail height adjusting mechanism under the rail for simultaneously driving the rails to move vertically up and down and adjusting the rail height to fit a patient in a quick, simple and easy manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a rail height adjusting mechanism of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a rail height adjusting mechanism of the invention;
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a protective cover set of the invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of adjusting a rail height according to the invention;
FIG. 5 is another schematic view of adjusting a rail height according to the invention; and
FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the movements of to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height comprises the following elements:
A base 10 has a treadmill platform 11 disposed on the base 10, and the treadmill platform 11 includes a runway 111 driven by an electric motor for allowing an exerciser to do exercise thereon, and a control panel 12 is disposed at an appropriate position of the front of the base 10, and the control panel 12 has various switches and controllers for users to control and adjust the functions of the treadmill.
A rail set 20 has a rail 21 disposed separately on both sides of the base 10, at least one adjusting slide rod 23 disposed on a rail base 22, and a holding section 24 disposed on the rail base 22 for users to hold by hands.
A rail height adjusting mechanism 30 has a link rod set 31 disposed under the rail base 22, and the link rod set 31 comprises an active rod 32 and a link rod 33, and both active rod 32 and link rod 33 are axially connected at the central position, such that the active rod 31 and link rod 33 constitute an X-shape link rod mechanism, and a driving set 34 comprises a linear driver 35 which could be an electric motor set 351, and the electric motor set 351 includes a stretchable rod 352, and a transversal rod 36 is disposed at an axial end of the stretchable rod 352, and a sliding groove 361 is disposed at the bottom of both ends of the transversal rod 36, and a sliding track 362 is disposed on two corresponding sides of the base 10, such that the linear driver 35 can push the transversal rod 36 to slide in the sliding track 362; wherein the link rod 32 has a rail base 22 axially connected to the top of the link rod 32, and the other end is axially connected to the base 10, and the top of the active rod 31 is axially connected to the rail base 22, and the other end is axially connected to an end of the transversal rod 36.
A protective cover set 40 has a protective cover 41 wrapped around a lateral side of the bottom of each rail 21, and a sliding groove 42 is disposed on the protective cover 41 corresponding to the adjusting sliding rod 23 for sliding the adjusting sliding rod 23 therein, and the protective cover 41 includes an accommodating space 43 for accommodating the rail base 22 and the link rod set 31; wherein the protective cover 41 is fixed onto the base 10.
With the understanding of the foregoing structures, the principle and process of the present invention is described as follows:
Referring to FIG. 4 for adjusting the height of the rails 21 to a higher position, a user controls the electric motor set 351 to drive the stretchable rod 352 to extend outward while driving the transversal rod 32 to slide outward along the sliding track 362. Since the bottom of the link rod 32 is axially connected to the base 10, therefore when the active rod 31 connected to both ends of the transversal rod 36 is pushed by the transversal rod 36, the active rod 31 and the bottom of the link rod 32 produce a linking movement with the central axial connecting position as the center.
With the linking movement of the link rod set 31, the height of the top of the active rod 31 and the link rod 32 are changed, and the rails installed above the link rod set are lifted. Since the active rods 31 on both sides of the link rod set 31 are separately and axially connected to both ends of the transversal rod 36. The rail height adjusting mechanism 30 can drive the rails 21 on both sides to move upward at the same time (as shown in FIG. 5).
On the other hand, if it is necessary to lower the height of the rails 21, the electric motor set 351 is moved in a reverse direction to drive the stretchable rod 352 to withdraw inward, and the transversal rod 36 pulls the link rod set 31 on both sides to be released, and the rails 21 on both sides are driven to move downward.
Since the protective cover 41 is fixed onto the base 10, and the sliding groove 42 above the protective cover 41 is provided for adjusting the sliding rod 23 to slide therein, therefore when the rail base 22 and the link rod set 31 move up or down in the accommodating space 43 of the protective cover 41, the sliding groove 42 allows the adjusting sliding rod 23 to stably sliding therein to assure a smooth and steady rise of the rail set 20 as shown in FIG. 6.
In the present invention, each rail 21 includes a link rod set 31 under the rail 21, and a driving set 35 pushes the link rod set 31 on both sides, and uses the linking movement of the link rod set 31 changes the height of the rails 21 on both sides, so as to achieve the purpose of automatically adjusting the height of the rails 21 and saves the time and strength of adjusting the rail height.
The driving set 35 installs a transversal rod 36, a link rod set separately and axially connected to both ends of the transversal rod 36 for synchronously pushing the link rod set 31 to adjust the height of the rails 21 on both side and assure the height of the rails 21 to be the same on both side.
Further, the linear driver 35 can adopt a hydraulic pressure or pneumatic cylinder to substitute the electric motor set 351 and the stretchable rod 352 to achieve the same effect.
In summation of the above description, the present invention herein enhances the performance and overcomes the shortcoming of the prior art, and further complies with the patent application requirements and is submitted to the Patent and Trademark Office for review and granting of the commensurate patent rights.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.

Claims

1. A medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height, comprising:

a base, having a treadmill platform and a control panel disposed at the front of said base; and

a rail set, having a rail separately disposed on both sides of said base;

characterized in that said rail includes a rail height adjusting mechanism disposed under said rail for driving said rails to move vertically up and down; and said rail adjusting mechanism adjusts the height of said rails on both sides, and quickly and easily adjusts the height of said rail to fit a patient.

2. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 1, wherein said rail comprises at least one adjusting sliding rod disposed on a rail base, and a holding section disposed at an upper end of said adjusting sliding rod.

3. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 2, wherein said rail height adjusting mechanism comprises a link rod set disposed under said rail base and driven by a driving set for adjusting the height of said rail.

4. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 3, wherein said link rod set comprises an active rod and a link rod, and said active rod is axially coupled with the middle of said link rod.

5. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 4, wherein said active rod with its upper end is axially coupled with said rail base, and the other end is coupled to said driving set.

6. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 4, wherein said active rod with its upper end is axially coupled with said rail base, and the other end is coupled to said base.

7. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 4, wherein said driving set comprises a linear driver, and an axial end of said linear drive includes a transversal rod, and both ends of said transversal rod are axially coupled with said each active rod.

8. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said linear driver is an electric motor set, and said electric motor set includes a stretchable rod to be driven by said electric motor set to freely extend outward or withdraw inward.

9. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said linear drive is a power cylinder.

10. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said base includes a sliding track separately disposed on both sides, and said transversal rod includes a sliding groove disposed on both sides corresponding to said transversal rod, such that said transversal rod slides in said sliding track.

11. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 7, wherein said rail further comprises a protective cover wrapped around the bottom of said rail.

12. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 11, wherein said protective cover includes at least a sliding groove for slidably installing said adjusting sliding rod.

13. The medical therapeutic treadmill capable of automatically adjusting its rail height of claim 11, wherein said protective cover includes an accommodating space therein for accommodating said rail base and said link rod set.