US20050037897A1

US20050037897A1 - Apparatus with a raised grip for exercising wrist and forearm muscles

Info

Publication number: US20050037897A1
Application number: US10/638,354
Authority: US
Inventors: Ping Chen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-08-12
Filing date: 2003-08-12
Publication date: 2005-02-17

Abstract

An apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles includes a hollow body, a resistance assembly, a pivot bracket and a grip assembly. The resistance assembly is mounted on the body to provide a resistance. The pivot bracket is pivotally mounted in the body and connects to the resistance assembly. The grip assembly is mounted in the pivot bracket between the arms and has a shaft mounted on the pivot bracket and a raised grip rotatably mounted on the shaft. The raised grip could be of a baseball configuration, a football configuration and so on to provide a large effective surface for gripping. Therefore, the raised grip is convenient and comfortable to grip while exercising wrist and forearm muscles.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles, and more particularly to an apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles having a raised grip that is convenient to hold for a user.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 5, an apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles in accordance with the prior art comprises a grip assembly (60) and a spring-loaded resistance assembly (62). The grip assembly (60) comprises a hollow body (61), a pivot bracket (63), a cylindrical grip (64) and a shaft (65). The pivot bracket (63) is pivotally mounted in the body (61). The shaft (65) is mounted on the pivot bracket (63). The grip (64) is mounted rotatably on the shaft (65) so that a person can hold the grip (64) to exercise the wrist and forearm muscles.
The resistance assembly (62) is mounted on the body (61) and comprises a cord (621), a resistance spring (622), a plug (623) and a tube (624). The tube (624) is mounted on the body (61). The resistance spring (622) is mounted in the tube (624). The cord (621) has a proximal end (not numbered) and a distal end (not numbered). The distal end of the cord (621) connects to the plug (623) which is mounted in the tube (624) to abut the resistance spring (622). The proximal end of the cord (621) passed through the resistance spring (622) and connects to the pivot bracket (63).
Therefore, when the pivot bracket (63) is pivoted by a user's hand, the movement of the pivot bracket (63) will pull the plug (623) through the cord (621) to compress the resistance spring (622) to create a spring force as a resistant force against the hand for exercising muscles.
However, because the grip (64) is cylindrical, it provides only a restricted effective surface for gripping. Furthermore the grip (64) is uncomfortable and inconvenient to hold for the user when using the apparatus to exercise the wrist and forearm muscles because of its restricted surface.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an apparatus with an improved grip for exercising the wrist and forearm muscles to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THF INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide an apparatus for exercising the wrist and forearm muscles that has a raised grip to enhance a gripping effect, and the raised grip can be formed as a ball shape for simulation in training for throwing a ball.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus with a raised grip for exercising wrist and forearm muscles in accordance with the prevent invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an operational perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the apparatus in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles in accordance with the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles in accordance with the present invention comprises a body (30), a grip assembly (10), a pivot bracket (40) and a resistance assembly (50) as previously described in prior art. The body (30) is hollow and has a curved upper portion (31), a curved lower portion (32) and a passage (33). The curved upper and lower portions (31, 32) are integrated together to form the passage (33).
The resistance assembly (50) is mounted on the curved upper portion (31) of the body (30) to provide a resistance to exercise wrist and forearm muscles as previously described. The pivot bracket (40) is pivotally mounted in the body (30) and connects to the resistance assembly (50). The pivot bracket (40) has two arms (41). Each arm (41) has multiple adjusting holes (42) that are arranged in a row. The rows of the adjusting holes (42) in the arms (41) are aligned with each other.
The grip assembly (10) is mounted in the pivot bracket (40) between the arms (41) and comprises two inner tubes (11), a raised grip (12), two sleeves (15), a shaft (16) and two fasteners (17). The raised grip (12) has a baseball shape, is rotatably mounted on the shaft (16) and has an inner passage (121) with two opposite openings (not numbered). The inner tubes (11) are respectively attached into the openings in the raised grip (12) and are aligned with inner passage (121). The sleeves (15) are respectively mounted on the inner tubes (11).
The shaft (16) passes though the inner tubes (11) and is held in the inner tubes (11) and the inner passage (121). The shaft (16) has two ends (not numbered) and each end of the shaft (16) has a screw hole (161) corresponding to the adjusting holes (42). The shaft (16) is mounted between the arms (41) and corresponds to a pair of the adjusting holes (42) in the two arms (41).
The fasteners (17) screw respectively into the screw holes (161) in the shaft (16) to fasten the shaft (16) with the arms (41). Each fastener (17) has a threaded shaft (not numbered) and a tuning knob (not numbered). The threaded shaft has an inside end (not numbered) and an outside end (not numbered). The tuning knob is attached to the outside end. The inside end of the threaded shaft passes through one adjusting hole (42) and screws into the screw hole (161) in the shaft (16) to fasten the shaft (16).
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, since the raised grip (12) has a baseball configuration, a user's hand passes through the passage (33) and holds the raised grip (12) with certain fingers, such as thumb, index finger and middle finger. The apparatus provides a simulator for the user to practice throwing a ball as needed in a pitcher's skills and exercise simultaneously the muscles. Because the raised grip (12) is spherical, the raised grip (12) has a bigger outer periphery in comparison with the cylindrical grip as found in prior art and thus the user will effectively hold the raised grip (12) for simulation in training for throwing the baseball when exercising wrist and forearm muscles.
With reference to FIG. 4, an alternative embodiment of the present invention is to modify the baseball-shaped raised grip (12) to a football configuration (13) and apply another type of resistance assembly (52). The football configuration (13) has an outer surface (not numbered) and multiple recesses (131) defined in the outer surface. The rugged outer surface of the football configuration (13) provides an efficient effect of gripping to prevent the user's hand from slipping out of the football configuration (13) when held by the user.
Consequently, the raised grip (12) could be a baseball configuration or football configuration (13) that provide an increased surface for a user to hold the raised grip (12) conveniently and comfortably. Also, the user can hold the raised grip (12) to be more effective while exercising the wrist and forearm muscles.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles and the apparatus comprising:

a hollow body having a curved upper portion and a curved lower portion that are integrated together to form a passage;

a resistance assembly mounted on the curved upper portion of the body to provide a resistance to exercise wrist and forearm muscles;

a pivot bracket pivotally mounted in the body, connecting to the resistance assembly and having two arms; and

a grip assembly mounted in the pivot bracket between the arms and comprising

a shaft mounted on between the arms and having two ends; and

a raised grip rotatably mounted on the shaft and having an inner passage with two openings to receive the shaft.

2. The apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles as claimed in claim 1, wherein the raised grip has a baseball configuration.

3. The apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles as claimed in claim 1, wherein the raised grip has a football configuration, an outer periphery and multiple recesses defined in the outer periphery.

4. The apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles as claimed in claim 2 further comprising

two inner tubes mounted rotatably on the shaft, and attached respectively to the openings of the raised grip and aligned with inner passage; and

two sleeves respectively mounted on the inner tubes.

5. The apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles as claimed in claim 3 further comprising

two sleeves respectively mounted on the inner tubes.

6. The apparatus for exercising wrist and forearm muscles as claimed in claim 5, wherein each arm has multiple adjusting holes arranged in a row, each end of the shaft has a screw hole corresponding to one row of the adjusting holes and the grip assembly further comprises

two fasteners screwing respectively into the screw holes in the shaft, each fastener having a threaded shaft and a tuning knob, the threaded shaft having an inside end and an outside end, the tuning knob attached to the outside end, the inside end of the threaded shaft passing through one of the adjusting holes and screwing into the corresponding screw hole in the shaft.