Door-Mounted Stretch Platform with Segmented Elastic Cords
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fitness devices for improving flexibility are often bulky, expensive, and not suitable for home use, leading to limited accessibility for maintaining flexibility alongside strength and cardiovascular conditioning.
Innovation Solution
A compact, economically manufactured stretch-assisting platform made of hollow tubing, mounted on a door or wall, featuring resilient cords supported by a framework with orthogonally projecting retaining rings, designed to provide variable resistance without triggering injury-avoidance reflexes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large rigid framework with elastic cords is used to provide stretch resistance, then the stretching function is effective, but the device occupies large space and is expensive to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into multiple vertical columns (at least two) with retaining rings distributed along each column. The resilient cords are segmented into multiple sections between adjacent rings, allowing the stretching function to be distributed across multiple points rather than requiring a single large framework structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The retaining rings extend orthogonally from the planar substrate (door or wall), adding a third dimension to the structure. This allows the device to provide three-dimensional stretch resistance while maintaining a compact footprint on the wall, eliminating the need for a large rigid framework.
2Reliability
If a large rigid framework with elastic cords is used to provide stretch resistance, then the stretching function is effective, but the manufacturing cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The device replaces expensive rigid framework structures with simpler, cheaper components: planar substrates (doors or walls) that already exist in homes, lightweight retaining rings, and resilient cords. This dramatically reduces manufacturing cost while maintaining stretching effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the essential stretching function from the expensive rigid framework and implements it using minimal components: retaining rings mounted on existing surfaces and resilient cords. This eliminates the need for costly framework structures while preserving the core functionality.
3Reliability
If resilient cords are used to provide variable resistance, then the stretching effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of resilient cords between adjacent retaining rings can have different properties (length, elasticity, diameter). This allows variable resistance to be achieved locally in different sections rather than requiring a complex overall structure, simplifying the device while maintaining stretching effectiveness.
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 platform effectively assists in stretching tight or injured muscles and tendons, promoting flexibility and range of motion while being compact enough for home use, thus encouraging regular flexibility maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
the improvement of flexibility has been somewhat neglected... an apparatus with a spaced array of elastic cords... resilient cords... elastic deformation
Data Source
AI summary
A stretch-assisting device, adapted for mounting in a vertical orientation on a door, wall or analogous vertical substrate, features an upper framework portion and a lower framework portion, coupled together. Each framework portion consists essentially of hollow rigid tubing arranged in a loop shape, with attached metal rings which project horizontally. Through each plurality of metal rings, an elastic cord is threaded, and joined to form a loop. Once the device is mounted on the substrate, a person can rest a body portion, such as a heel or elbow, on a selected segment of the elastic cord, and begin to stretch a muscle or tendon associated with the body portion. Since the cord is somewhat yielding, triggering of the myotatic reflex is avoided, or at least delayed, thereby facilitating completion of a stretch. A user can also secure an audiovisual playback device adjacent the device, in order to inform the user during stretching.