TREADMILL

[0001] The present invention relates to a treadmill, in particular to a treadmill with a slope changeable treadmill platform.

[0002] Treadmills are placed indoors for satisfying the needs of the user to exercise indoors. A conventional treadmill, as shown in FIG. 6, includes a bottom bracket 61, a standing bracket 62 stood on the bottom bracket 61, and the standing bracket 62 is assembled with a handlebar 63. The bottom bracket 61 is assembled with a treadmill platform 64 for a user to run thereon. Specifically, to increase the training strength, a driving unit 65 is assembled between the bottom bracket 61 and the treadmill platform 64 for lifting the treadmill platform 64 to increase the slope of the treadmill platform 64. Therefore, the treadmill can simulate the uphill scenario for the user when the user runs on the treadmill.

[0003] However, when the treadmill platform of the conventional treadmill is lifted, the distance between the user on the treadmill and the handlebar is increased. As a result, the user cannot hold the handlebar conveniently. Hence, when the user runs on the treadmill, the user might fall on the treadmill, adversely affecting the user's safety.

[0004] One object of the present invention is to provide a treadmill in which the front end of the treadmill platform can be moved upward and downward along the standing bracket to change the slope of the treadmill, so that a user can still hold the handlebar of the standing bracket wheat the slope of the treadmill platform is changed. Therefore, when the user runs on the treadmill, the safety of the user is improved.

[0005] In view of this, a treadmill is provided and comprises a bottom bracket assembled with a standing bracket extending upward, and the standing bracket being assembled with a handlebar; a movable unit movably connected on the standing bracket, a driving unit being assembled with the bottom bracket for driving the movable unit to slide along an extension direction of the standing bracket; and a treadmill platform having a front end and a rear end, the front end being pivotally connected on the movable unit, so that the front end is moved along with a movement of the movable unit at the same time.

[0006] Wherein, the movable unit is slidable along the standing bracket to a position higher and lower than a height of the rear end.

[0007] In one embodiment, the movable unit is a sleeve fitted over an outer periphery of the standing bracket.

[0008] In another embodiment, the standing bracket is assembled with a rail extending along the extension direction of the standing bracket, and the movable unit is slider slidably assembled on the rail.

[0009] In one embodiment, a bottom end of the standing bracket is pivotally connected to the bottom bracket so as to be swung relative to the bottom bracket.

[0015] Please refer to FIG. 1, illustrating a treadmill according to the present invention. The treadmill has a bottom bracket 1 assembled with a standing bracket 2 extending upward. The standing bracket 2 comprises two elongated bars 21 respectively assembled at the right and left sides of the bottom bracket 1. A handlebar 22 is assembled on the top of each of the elongated bars 21. In this embodiment, a bottom end of the standing bracket 2 is pivotally connected to the bottom bracket 1. Therefore, the standing bracket 2 can be swung relative to the bottom bracket 1, and the tilt angle of the standing bracket 2 is adjustable.

[0016] Furthermore, a movable unit 3 is assembled on each of the elongated bars 21 of the standing bracket 2, and the bottom bracket 1 is assembled with a driving unit 4. The driving unit 4 can drive each of the movable units 3 to slide along the extension direction of the corresponding elongated bar 21. The movable unit 3 may be connected with the elongated bar 21 in different ways. In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the movable unit 3 is a sleeve fitted over an outer periphery of the elongated bar 21, and the movable unit 3 is driven by the driving unit 4 to slide along the extension direction of the elongated bar 21. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the movable unit 3 is a slider, and the elongated bar 21 is assembled with a rail 211 extending along the extension direction of the elongated bar 21. The movable unit 3 is slidably assembled on the rail 211 and is driven by the driving unit 4 to slide along the rail relative to the elongated bar 21.

[0017] Moreover, the two movable units 3 on the two elongated bars 21 are fixed and connected with each other by a transversal bar 31, and the driving unit 4 is connected to the transversal bar 31. In addition, the driving unit 4 drives the movable units 3 to move by pushing, so that the movable units 3 can be moved at the same time.

[0018] Furthermore, the present invention further comprises a treadmill platform 5 for a user to run thereon. The treadmill platform 5 has a front end 51 and a rear end 52, the left and right sides of the front end 51 are pivotally connected with the two movable units 3, respectively, and the rear end 52 is assembled with a wheel 53 for rolling against the ground. In another embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the bottom bracket 1 is extending toward the rear end 52 of the treadmill platform 5, so that the wheel 53 can roll against the bottom bracket 1.

[0019] Accordingly, in the present invention, the aforementioned components are applied to lift the treadmill platform 5 so as to change the slope of the treadmill Therefore, the training strength provided by the treadmill can be changed when the user runs on the treadmill. In detail, as shown in FIG. 4, when the driving unit 4 is in operation, the driving unit 4 pushes the transversal bar 31 to move the movable units 3, so that each of the movable units 3 is moved along the extension direction of the corresponding elongated bar 21. Since the front end 51 of the treadmill platform 5 is connected to the movable units 3, the front end 51 of the treadmill platform 5 is moved by the movable units 3 and the slope of the treadmill platform 5 is changed.

[0020] The slope of the treadmill platform 5 is determined by the difference between the height of the front end 51 and the height of the rear end 52. As shown in FIG. 4, it is defined that the rear end 52 of the treadmill platform 5 has a reference height H, and the movable unit 3 can be moved to a position higher than the reference height H when the movable unit 3 is driven to move along the elongated bar 21, so that the front end 51 of the treadmill platform 5 is higher than the rear end 52 of the treadmill platform 5. Therefore, the treadmill platform 5 provides an uphill scenario for the user; in this case, the standing bracket 2 can be adjusted to swing toward the treadmill platform 5, so that the handlebar 22 comes close to the treadmill platform 5. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 5, the movable unit 3 may be driven to move along the elongated bar 21 to a position lower than the reference height H, so that the front end 51 of the treadmill platform 5 is lower than the rear end 52 of the treadmill platform 5. Therefore, the treadmill platform 5 provides a downhill scenario for the user; in this case, the standing bracket 2 can be adjusted to swing away from the treadmill platform 5, so that the handlebar 22 goes away from the treadmill platform 5. Accordingly, the treadmill can allow the treadmill platform 5 to have different slopes to meet different training requirements.

[0021] According to the aforementioned components, when the treadmill platform 5 is adapted to simulate the uphill scenario, the user is lifted by the treadmill platform 5, so that the user leans backward; in this case, the standing bracket 2 is adjusted to swing toward the treadmill platform 5, so that the handlebar 22 comes close to the user and spaced from the user by a proper distance. Conversely, when the treadmill platform 5 is adapted to simulate the downhill scenario, the user leans forward; in this case, the standing bracket 2 is adjusted to swing away from the treadmill platform 5, so that the handlebar 22 goes away from the user and spaced from the user by a proper distance.

[0022] Based on the above, the feature of the embodiment of the present invention is that the front end 51 of the treadmill platform 5 is connected with the movable units 3 that are capable of being moved upward and downward along the standing bracket 2. Therefore, when the treadmill platform 5 is lifted or descended, the front end 51 of the treadmill platform 5 is always connected to the standing bracket 2. In addition, the standing bracket 2 can be swung relative to the bottom bracket 1 to adjust the position of the handlebar 22. Therefore, the distance between the user on the treadmill platform 5 and the handlebar 22 does not change.

[0023] Accordingly, the user can conveniently hold the handlebar 22 no matter what the slope of the treadmill platform 5 is, thus improving the safety for the operation of the treadmill and reducing the occurrence of accidents.