Modular Rolling Exercise Device with Low Profile and Segmented Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing exercise devices with solid bases and swivel casters face issues of excessive weight and height, leading to increased resistance and instability during use, while also potentially weakening structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
A modular rolling exercise device with a low profile design, featuring separate support bodies with cylindrical cavities and mounting seats, and rollers for reduced weight and enhanced stability, allowing for secure connection and free-wheeling rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a solid base is used to support the device, then structural stability is improved, but weight increases excessively causing increased resistance and drag
Solution Approach 1:
The solid base is divided into separate support members (first support member and second support member) that are positioned at opposite ends of the handle. This segmentation reduces the overall weight while maintaining structural stability through distributed support.
Solution Approach 2:
The support members extend below the handle in a vertical dimension, providing stability through their positioning and the rollers they support, rather than requiring a large horizontal base area. This dimensional approach maintains stability with reduced weight.
2Ease of operation
If the handle is mounted high above the base to allow finger insertion, then ease of gripping is improved, but device height increases causing tilting and increased resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The handle mounting is segmented by providing separate support members at each end rather than a single centralized mounting. This allows the handle to be positioned lower overall while maintaining proper finger insertion clearance through the distributed support structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The support members are made movable through the addition of rollers, allowing the device to adapt dynamically to user movement and weight distribution. This dynamic capability enables lower handle mounting while maintaining ease of operation during exercise movements.
3Weight of moving object
If swivel casters are used to support separate support members, then weight is reduced, but resistance and drag increase
Solution Approach 1:
The swivel caster mechanism is extracted and replaced with a simpler roller design. The rollers provide support and movement capability without the complex swivel mechanism, thereby reducing weight while eliminating the excessive resistance and drag generated by swivel casters.
Solution Approach 2:
Simple rollers are used instead of complex swivel casters. These rollers provide sufficient functionality for the application without the unnecessary complexity and resistance of swivel mechanisms, offering a more efficient solution for the intended exercise application.
4Ease of manufacture
If rabbeted or notched joints are used to connect handle and support members, then assembly is simplified, but structural integrity is weakened
Solution Approach 1:
The handle and support members are merged into a single integrated component. This eliminates the need for separate joints and connections, thereby maintaining full structural integrity while simplifying manufacturing through monolithic construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated handle-support member design serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, enables gripping, and eliminates weak joint connections. This multi-functional approach resolves the contradiction by making the structure itself serve the connection function.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The modular design reduces overall height and weight, enhances structural integrity, and minimizes resistance, enabling smoother movement and improved stability during upper body exercises.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted to and extending below a bottom side of the solid base so as to movably support the base on the support surface
Data Source
AI summary
A rolling exercise device with a low profile includes an elongated handle, a pair of separate support bodies, connections securing the support bodies at their facing inner sides to opposite ends of the handle so as to maintain the support bodies and the handle in a fixed relationship with respect to each other, mounting seats provided beneath each of the support bodies, and rollers rotatably mounted in the mounting seats so as to adapt the support bodies to be freely rolled by the rollers across a support surface as a user gripping the handle supports a portion of his or her weight on the handle. The device has a modular construction in the sense that the support bodies are interchangeable with one another with respect to their relationships to the opposite ends of the handle.