US1052962A - Exercising apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

R. REACH.

EXERGISING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8, 1910. RENEWED JUNE 29, 1912.

Patented Feb. 11, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOURAPM co.. WASHINGTON. n. c.

R. REACH.

EXERGISING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8, 1910. RENEWED JUNE 29, 1912.

1,052,962. Patented Feb. 11, 1913.

' 4 SHEETS-$113131 2.

R. REACH.

EXBRGISING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8, 1910. RENEWED JUNE 29, 1912.

1,052,962. 1 Patented Feb. 11, 1913. 4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRXPH coqwASmNu'mN. 0v 6.

R. REACH.

EXERCISING APPARATUS. PELIQATION FILED DEG. 8, 1910. RENEWED JUNE 29, 1912.

1,052,962. r Patented Feb. 11, 1913. 4 sums-SHEET 4.

RUemZZW 2/ W. Z2m;@m M

tirnrrnn ROBERT REACH, OF II-IILADELFHIA, FENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL GYIvINASIUM SUPPLY COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, IvTASSACHUSETTS.

EXERCISING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1913.

Renewed June 29, 1912. Serial No. 706,824.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT REACH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Exercising .tipparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to exercising apparatus and particularly of that class known as wall machines designed for use in gymnasiums or in the home, and distinguished by having weights attached to carriers adapted to be raised when suitable handles are drawn upon by the person desiring exercise.

It is the object of my invention to provide an exercising machine of simple and effective construction which will permit the person using the machine to secure a large variety of exercising movements. For instance, for the head or neck, the upper chest, the intercostal or other movements.

The invention consists in the features, combination and arrangement of parts here in described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front view of one form of the exercising machine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation; Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 1 is a detail view of a weight carriage and the weights partly in section; Fig. 5 is a plan view of one of the weights; Fig. 6 is a front view in the nature of a diagram showing the complete apparatus of the same form as in Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another form of my invention; Fig. 8 is a detail view of one of the pulleys and the frame for supporting the same; Fig. 9 is a plan view of the upper plate of the frame; Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the upper plate with a supporting bracket attached thereto for affording bearings for the upper pulleys; Fig. 11 is a plan View of the upper bracket; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the upper part of Fig. 7 showing on one side the arrangement of the upper pulleys, and the supporting means therefor, and on the other side the supporting means with the pulleys omitted.

In these drawings, 1 is the base board adapted to be attached to the wall, and secured to this in any suitable manner is a base plate 2, from which extends upwardly a pair of guide bars 3 and a second pair of guide bars 1. At the upper ends of these guide bars a top plate 5 is secured thereto. This top plate is provided with a boss or bearing 6 centrally of its front and a bracket 7 is pivoted to this boss by apin or screw 8, the said bracket being adapted to swivel on the said pin and carrying a pulley 9. Over this pulley a rope 10 passes extending thence downwardly beneath a pulley 11 supported in cars or brackets 12 secured to a weight carriage 13, which has elongated bosses it through which pass the guide rods By this construction the weight carriage is guided in its vertical movement. The rope 10 after passing beneath the pulley 11 extends upwardly over a pulley 15, the bracket 16 of which is swiveled in the boss 6 being connected by a pin 16 with the pin or screw 8. From this pulley the rope passes upwardly over a ceiling pulley 17 and thence to a handle 18 which is of special construction as will be herein described. The rope just above the handle is provided with an enlargement or ball 19 which is too large to pass through the opening in the bracket, and thus this end of the rope is maintained in position when the other end is drawn upon; and this last mentioned end is also provided with a handle or grip 20 and with a ball 21, which performs the same functions at this end of the rope as the ball 19 at the other end of the rope, as above described. The pulleys 9, 11 and 15 lie generally in a plane passing from front to rear of the machine so that a person standing directly in front of the machine may, by grasping either of the handles 18 or 20, secure the desired exercising movements.

In order to provide a machine which will permit a large variety of exercising movements being obtained, I arrange immediately in rear of the Weight carriage 13 above mentioned a second weight carriage 22 guided on the rods 4 carrying a pulley 23 which, however, is set with the plane of its axis extending transversely t0 the plane of the axis of the weight pulley 11 before mentioned. At the top of the apparatus and supported on the cap plate 5 are pulleys 24L25. These are journaled inbrackets or bearings 26 which are swiveled or pivoted to a frame so as to permit. a lateral movement of the brackets toward the front and rear of the machine. These pulleys Q4t25 are arranged at opposite sides of the central plane passing from front to rear through the pulleys 9, 11 and 15, and the general direction or position of these pulleys is at right angles to that of the pulley 15. The rope 10 for the weight carriage 22 extends from a handle 26 up over the pulley 25, thence downwardly around the weight pulley 23, thence upwardly over the laterally directed pulley 2 1, thence downwardly again around a pulley 27, the bracket of which is secured or pivoted to a bearing 28 on the board or base piece 1. After passing around this pulley the rope terminates in a handle which is located near the floor. This rope is also provided with balls or enlargements near the handles to bear upon the pulley brackets and maintain one end of the rope in fixed position, while the other end is drawn upon.

It will be seen from the above that the upper chest movement may be secured by using the handle 20 and intercostal movement by using the handle 18, the head or neck movement by using the handle 26*, and other movements may be secured by using the handle 29.

It will be further observed that the pulleys 11 and 23 being set at right angles to each other and the pulleys 2 L25 being set to work substantially at right angles to the normal plane of the pulleys 9 and 15, ropes may be employed having their terminal ends directed in various ways, and the apparatus is rendered compact and possible of use by a number of persons at one and the same time. For instance, with a man working the upper chest movement, another man can use the back and loin movement, and so also the head and neck movements may be used simultaneously with the intercost-al movement.

In setting up the apparatus, two of the machines thus far described will be set up side by side so as to make a complete exercising machine. This will bring two handles near the floor adjacent each other like the handle 29 and a rowing machine may be attached to these ends or they may be used in various ways. Such a combination will also leave two ends, one extending over the pulley 25 of one element of the complete machine and the other extending over the corresponding pulley of the other element, and these may be used without interfering with the use of the handles 18 and 20.

The weight carriage 13 is orovided with a lug having a head 30 adaptec. to pass down into a recess in the upper weight section 31, wherein the said lug is locked by a slide 32 carried by the weight section and having its ends projecting at 33 and provided with enlargements so that, by striking these enlargements with the foot, the slide may be shifted in either one direction or the other so as to lock the weight section to the carrier or to unlock the same. The slide is shown in plan in Fig. 5, and it is slotted longitudinally so as to receive the guide bars 3 and allow movement thereon. The slide is held to the weight section by a cover plate 34 secured by screws 35. Each section excepting the lowermost is provided with a lug 30 similar in all respects to the lug of the weight carriage and adapted to pick up or release the weight sect-ion next below it.

It will be observed from Figs. 1, 2 and 5 that the weights are of elongated form, and those for the carriage 13 lie parallel to those for the carriage 22. The handles consist of a bar 37 attached to the rope end and connected by links 38 to the hand bar 39; and in the case of the handle of Fig. 7, this consists of a bar 37 attached to the rope connected by chains 38 to a bar 39.

In Fig. 7 I show another form of my in vention, in which, as in the form above described, I employ two weight carriages, one behind the other, and two sets of vertical guide bars with top and bottom plates, to which said guide bars are connected, constituting a single frame structure for the apparatus. The weight pulleys in this instance are arranged parallel with each other and with their axes coincident and extending from front to rear of the apparatus.

Instead of arranging the pulleys for the front rope 10 in different horizontal planes, as in the form first described, these pulleys 9 and 15 are arranged side by side above the top plate 5 and their general direction is toward the front and rear, though, as they are supported each in a swiveled bracket 40, they may swing to one side or the other of their central positions, according to the direction in which the ropes are pulled. The pulleys 24c and 25 for the rear ropes 10" are directed laterally, as in the form first described, and the handles on these ropes are located at the terminal points of said ropes, as in the first form. The bracketscarrying the upper pulleys have enlarged hollow pintle portions 40' at their 42 of a bracket or standard 4C3 secured to the top plate 5 and having four radiating arms carrying these sockets.

Where in the appended claims I refer to the fact that one of the weight carriage pulleys is arranged with its axis extending from front to rear of the machine, I refer to either one or the other forms of the apparatus, for in each case at least one of the said weight carriage pulleys is arranged as just stated.

I do not wish to limit myself to supporting the upper bracket for the upper journals of the upper ropepulleys upon the top plate or bracket 5, as said upper bearings may be otherwise supported.

Reverting to the feature of the handles,

it will be observed that the wooden grips are attached to flexible connections, and this permits a wrist action to be obtained; that is, the weights can be pulled up by a movement of the wrist alone instead of requiring a whole arm movement, the flexi le connections, as, for instance, at 88, being instrumental in permitting this action to take place. The feature of this handle is the two bails or cross pieces held so that they do not rotate on a cross pin, the two cross pieces being connected by flexible means, preferably a chain. The flexible connection allows one cross piece to be twisted in relation to the other, and in this twisting action the weight is raised. In handles as heretofore made, the wooden cross piece used as a grip was arranged to rotate on the cross pin, and an arm movement is neces sary in order to raise the weight. lVit-h the two cross pieces and the chain an eXercis ing action can be secured by a wrist movement alone.

lVhat- I claim is:

1. An exercising machine comprising two ropes, with a weight carriage and pulley for each, a pair of pulleys for guiding the intermediate part of one rope, a second pair of pulleys for guiding the intermediate part of the other rope, an elevated guide pullev and handle for one rope and a low down pulley and handle for the other rope, with handles at the pairs of pulleys for the other terminals of the said ropes, the pairs of pulleys of the first rope being directed for-- wardly and the pair of pulleys of the other rope being directed laterally substantially as described.

2. An exercising apparatus comprising a frame made up of two sets of guide bars, a weight carriage for each set of guide bars, a weight pulley connected with each weight carriage, a pair of ropes one for each weight carriage, two pairs of pulleys at the upper part of the apparatus, one pair being directed forwardly and the other pair directed laterally for guiding the ropes, a lower pulweight carriage, a pair of pulleys at the upper part of the apparatus directed forwardly, a rope having a terminal handle at one of the pulleys passing thence down around the weight carriage pulley, and up over the other pulley of the said pair, an elevated pulley for the said rope, a handle on the end of said rope, a second rope, a pair of pulleys therefor directed laterally at the upper part of the apparatus and on opposite sides of the plane in which the first pair of pulleys lie, a handle at one of the said upper pulleys, a lower pulley for receiving the other terminal end of the said second rope, and a handle for said end, substantially as described.

t. An exercising apparatus comprising a frame made up of two sets of guide bars, a weight carriage for each set of bars, a weightpulley connected with each weight carriage, a pair of ropes, one for each weight carriage, pulleys for the ropes and handles, one set of said guide bars being located in front of the other, substantially as described.

in combination in a machine of the class described, a pair of weight carriages arranged one behind the other, two sets of u de bars one for each weight carriage, a

u ley for each weight carriage, said pulleys eing arranged parallel with each other, .nd with their axes substantially coincident nd extending from front to rear of the apparatus, a pair of ropes and guide pulleys for the ropes, substantially as described.

6. In apparatus of the class described, two pairs of weight carriages, two pairs of ropes, a pair of guide pulleys for each rope at the upper part of the apparatus, one rope of each pair being directed forwardly and the other rope of each pair being directed laterally by said guide pulleys, a chest handle for one end of each of the forwardly directed ropes, an elevated pulley and a handle for the other end of each forwardly direct.- ed rope, a low pulley and a handle for one end of each laterally directed rope, said low pulleys being located in line with the space between the of weight carriages, and a handle the upper part of the apparatus for the other end of each laterally directed rope, substantially as described.

7. In combination in an exercising apparatus, two weight carriages, an upper plate, a lower plate, two pairs of guide rods, one pair located behind the other pair, one pair for each weight carriage and connected with the upper and lower plates, ropes, forwardly directed pulleys for one rope, laterally directed pulleys for the other rope and handles, substantially as described.

8. In an exercising apparatus a rope, a tween the ends of said cross piece andthe 10 weight or the like, and a handle consisting rope, substantially as described.

of a cross piece connected with the rope and In testimony whereof, I afiiX my signature a cross piece to be gripped b f 1 the hand, in presence of two witnesses. 5 said ieces bein connected b exible coni necti ns, substaiitially as desciibed. ROBERT REACH 9. In combination in an exercising appa- WVitnesses: ratus, a rope, a weight, a handle consisting MARGARET H. LowRY, of a cross piece and flexible connections be- GEORGE E. GoLDBEcK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washingtom'l). G.

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