DESCRIPTION:

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an exercise device for simulating ski movements, comprising:

- a frame,

two parallel elongated pedal elements, whereby:

on the rear portion of each of the pedal elements a footrest is present

on each of the pedal elements, on the front portion, there is an extending pedal axle located on both an upper side as well as a lower side of the pedal elements, which

when viewed from the under side to the upper side, the axle extends in a direction away from the other pedal element,

when seen from the under side to the upper side, the axle extends towards the rear portion of the pedal element,

- the pedal axles are connected pivotally to the frame-both at the under side and at the upper side and whereby,

the pedal elements are connected to each other by means of a coupling element, which, during use of the training apparatus, holds the pedal elements parallel to each other, furthermore

- connected to the pedal element is a transmission mechanism and

connected to the transmission mechanism is a resistor mechanism, which is driven by the lateral displacement of the pedal element.

Description of the Prior Art

A known training device, similar to the present invention, is from EP2509691A. In the known training device, the coupling element consists of a central elongated element, of which the ends are connected to connecting elements, which are rotatable around three axles and are in turn, connected to the pedal elements. A disadvantage of the known training device is that the coupling element is relatively large and complex, with further susceptibility to failures and getting stuck due to the fact that the moving parts are an impediment in relation to each other.

Summary of the Invention

An objective of the present invention is to provide a training apparatus- of the type described in the opening paragraph- which is less sensitive to interference and more compact than the known training device. To this end, the training device according to the invention is characterised in that the coupling element is formed by an elongated element, which, near each of the ends, is connected to one of the pedal elements via a ball joint/hinge, and that the resistance mechanism comprises a flywheel and the transmission mechanism is arranged to drive the flywheel, independent of the swinging direction of the pedal element, in one direction of rotation, whereby the transmission mechanism comprises a toothed belt connected to the coupling element, two toothed belt wheels and two sprockets, by which the toothed belt, coming from one of the pedal elements, is transferred to one of the toothed belt wheels, from which it is then transferred to one of the sprockets and then transferred to the other sprocket, and thereafter transferred to the other toothed belt wheel, each of the toothed belt wheels is connected by means of a freewheel clutch to the flywheel. In the known training device, however, both the toothed belt and the coupling element are connected to each of the pedal elements separately. In contrast, the training apparatus according to the present invention has obtained a more compact construction as a result of attaching the coupling element to each of the pedal elements, and in turn attaching the toothed belt to the coupling element.

Preferably, the toothed belt is transferred/fed to each of the toothed belt wheels in a motion of 180 degrees. Due to a large wrap angle, the diameter of the toothed belt wheels can be small and the transmission mechanism can be made compact.

Furthermore, the toothed belt is preferably also transferred/fed to each of the sprockets in a 180 degrees motion. A further embodiment of the training device according to the invention is characterised, in that the coupling element is provided with an elongated recess between the two ends on a longitudinal side, along which, the toothed belt extends. During movement of the pedal elements, the coupling element makes a continuous movement towards and away from the toothed belt wheels. Due to the recess, the coupling element can be placed closer to the toothed belt wheels, by which the toothed belt wheels, during the movement of the coupling element, can extend. As a result, a more compact construction is obtained.

Yet a further embodiment of the training device is characterised according to the invention, in that the toothed belt is endless and is transferred to the coupling element. As a result, there is no need for a firm clamp mechanism to be present in order to connect the toothed belt with the ends of the coupling element with the pedal elements (as is the case with the known training device). The only caution that needs to be taken is to prevent the toothed belt-relative to the coupling element-from sliding out of place. For this purpose, a light construction to secure/fix the toothed belt in place can be used.

Moreover, a further favourable embodiment of the training device according to the invention is characterised, in that the toothed belt wheels are each connected- via one of the freewheel clutches- with a separate drive axle, whereby a geared belt wheel is mounted on each drive axle, which further determines which gears which are located below the toothed belt wheels engage with each other. The gears are hereby, thus located under the toothed belt at the height of the ends of the pedal elements. This is in contrast to the known training device, where the gears are located above the tooth belt wheels and thus require extra overall height. As a result, a more compact construction is possible.

Preferably, one of the drive axles is connected to the flywheel via an accelerating transmission which in turn, is connected to the flywheel via a flywheel axle. As a result, the same resistance can be obtained with a compacter flywheel as with a construction in which no accelerating transmission is present.

A beneficial construction of the coupling element is characterised, in that near each of the ends of the coupling element there is a hole through which a fixed axle linked to the respective pedal element protrudes, whereby, between the boundary wall of the hole and the axle, a ball hinge is constructed/fabricated. A favourable embodiment of the training device according to the invention is characterised, in that, in the hole an insert element with cup- shaped inner side is present, and on the axle, a ring with spherical external side/outside is present, which is rotatable in the insert element.

A further favourable embodiment of the training device according to the invention is characterised, in that the insert element is shared.

A further disadvantage of the known training device is that the transmission mechanism is bulky/voluminous, thus making the training device difficult to move and store (due to its large size).

The resistance mechanism, therefore, preferably comprises an electromagnetic generator, which is connected to the flywheel.

Brief description of the drawings Below, the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the training device according to the present invention. In these drawings:

Figure 1 shows the perspective of an embodiment of the training apparatus whereby the housing has been omitted;

Figure 2 shows the training device without housing in a plan view;

Figure 3 illustrates the coupling element and the transmission mechanism of the training device in a plan view, whereby the frame has been omitted; and

Figure 4 shows the coupling element and the transmission mechanism in a side view perspective, without a frame.

Detailed description of the drawings

Figures 1 and 2, is a top plan view of an embodiment of the training device, according to the present invention, wherein the housing is omitted. The training apparatus has a frame (1) and two elongated pedal elements (2, 3), which are pivotally connected to the frame. The rear portion of each of the pedal elements are equipped with a foot support (4), and the front portion of each of the pedal elements are equipped with an extending pedal axle (5), which are located both on an upper side as well as a lower side of the pedal elements. When viewed from the under side to the upper side, each pedal axle extends in a direction away from the other pedal element. Additionally, when viewed from the under side to the upper side, each pedal axle extends towards the rear portion of the pedal element. Furthermore, the pedal axles are both connected to the frame -at both the top and at the bottom- by bearings (6).

In order to keep the pedal elements -during use of the training apparatus- parallel to each other, the pedal elements (2, 3) are connected to each other via a coupling element (10). Furthermore, the training apparatus comprises a transmission mechanism (20), which is connected to the pedal elements via the coupling element (10), as well as resistance mechanism (40), which is connected to the transmission mechanism and is driven by lateral displacement of the pedal elements.

In Figures 3 and 4, the coupling element (10) and the transmission mechanism (20) of the training device (wherein the frame has been omitted) are illustrated in a top view, in addition to a side view perspective. Here, the resistance mechanism (40) is formed by both a flywheel (41) as well as a flywheel that is connected with the electromagnetic generator (42).

Moreover, the coupling element (10) is formed by an elongated element, whereby each of the ends of the pedal elements is connected to the pedal element axles via a ball joint (11). Hereby, near each of the ends there is a hole (12) through which a fixed axle (13) (linked to the respective pedal element) protrudes, by which, between the boundary wall of the hole and the axle, a ball hinge is fabricated. The ball hinge is formed via the presence of a hole in the insert element (14) (which has a cup-shaped inner side), and the presence-on the axle- of a ring (15) (which has a spherical outer side) that is rotatable in the insert element. The insert element (14) is therefore shared in order to fabricate the spherical outer surface of the ring.

The transmission mechanism (20) is constructed to drive the flywheel (41), independent of the swinging direction of the pedal elements (2, 3), in one drive direction of rotation. This transmission mechanism is thus connected to the coupling element (10) via an endless toothed belt (21), which further comprises two toothed belt wheels (22, 23) and two sprockets (24, 25). Furthermore, the coupling element is- between the two ends- on a longitudinal side provided with an elongated recess (16) along which the toothed belt extends. Coming from one of the ends of the coupling element (10), the toothed belt (21) is firstly transferred in a 180 degrees motion to the toothed belt wheels (22), which is then transferred to one of the sprockets (24) in a 180 degrees motion. From there, the toothed belt (21) is transferred-once again in a 180 degree motion- to the other sprocket (25), which is then followed by the transferal-in a 180 degrees motion- of the toothed belt to the other tooth belt wheel (23), and from there the toothed belt is transferred to the other end of the coupling element (10).

The toothed belt wheels (22, 23) are both connected via a freewheel clutch to the drive axles (26, 27). On each drive axle a gear wheel (28, 29) is attached. These gears, which are located under the toothed belt wheels (22, 23), engage with each other. Furthermore, One of the drive axles (26) is connected with a large belt wheel (30), see figure 4, which via a drive belt (31), drives a small belt wheel (32). This small belt wheel is mounted on a flywheel axle (33) upon which the flywheel (41) is attached.

Although in the above, the present invention is elucidated with reference to the drawings, it should be noted that the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings. The invention therefore extends to all embodiments deviating from the drawings within the context defined by the claims.