AQUATIC EXERCISE DEVICE

APPAREIL DE CONDITIONNEMENT PHYSIQUE EN MILIEU AQUATIQUE

English Abstract

An exercise device with compartment-housed weights sometimes used without all weights in place, adapted for use in a pool environment by a flap which is held in place over the compartment by "VELCRO*" hook and loop fasteners so as to contribute to providing a hermetic seal so that there is nominal seepage of water into empty compartments as might inadvertaently add to the weight used for exercise routines. * trade-mark

French Abstract

Un dispositif d'exercice avec poids placés dans des compartiments, utilisé parfois sans tous les poids en place, adapté pour l'emploi en piscine par un rabat maintenu en place sur le compartiment avec des fixations à crochets et boucles « VELCRO »*, contribuant à la fermeture hermétique, de façon à ce qu'il y ait une infiltration nominale d'eau dans des compartiments vides, ce qui pourrait augmenter par inadvertance le poids utilisé pour des exercices de routine. * marque commerciale

Claims

CLAIM:
1. Improvements for adapting for aquatic use an exercise
device of a type worn in encircling relation about a
selected limb of a user having plural compartments for
receiving in inserted relation therein cooperating weights
and in the use of which only some of said compartments may
be filled with weights and others empty, said improvements
comprising a rectangular flap attached along an upper edge
to said exercise device so as to be folded in covering
relation over said partially filled and unfilled weight-
receiving compartments, and hook and loop fastening means
disposed on an underside surface of the flap, along
opposite side edges and a lower edge thereof, adapted to
contact complementary fastening means disposed on an
exterior surface of the device which underlies the flap in
encircling relation about said compartments to contribute
to providing a hermetic seal for said compartments, whereby
in a pool environment there is nominal seepage of water
into unfilled compartments which adds to the weight
selected by the user for exercise routines.
6

Description

218389
P-1413-45
Aquatic Exercise Device
The present invention relates to an exercise device using, at
the option of a user, a range of weights that are adapted for use
in a pool environment.
Example of the Prior Art
As illustrated and described in my prior U.S. patent 5,127,891
issued on July 7, 1992 for '°Wrist Exercise Device", the advantages
of using a device worn in encircling relation about a selected
limb, i.e. wrist or ankle, and with a selected number of weights,
are already well known. Exemplary uses of the '891 device are for
exercise routines in gyms and for use during walking and/or
jogging.
Underlying the present invention is the recognition that the
aforesaid apparent wide range of utility or use is not as broad as
it could be, in that the exercises noted must be practiced in
appropriate environments for those exercises.
Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide
an exercise device generally of the nature noted, but of utility
not limited to prior environments of use, to thereby overcome
shortcomings in this regard in the prior art.
More particularly, it is an object to adapt the exercise
device of the nature noted, while maintaining all advantageous
structure for practicing exercising routines, also for use in a
pool environment, all as will be better understood as the
description proceeds.

21838~~
The description of the invention which follows, together with
the accompanying drawings should not be construed as limiting the
invention to the example shown and described, because those skilled
in the art to which this invention appertains will be able to
devise other forms thereof within the ambit of the appended claims.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an exercise device adapted in
accordance with the present invention for aquatic use and illus-
trated as used in an exercise routine in a pool environment;
Fig. 2 is an isolated elevational view of the exercise device
as seen from the side or exterior surface in outwardly facing
relation from a user;
Fig 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but as seen from the oppo-
site inside surface thereof as would be in contact with a user and
shown with a flap thereof in an open condition;
Fig. 4 is a plan view as seen along line 4-4 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 5 is a left end elevational view of the exercise device
of Fig. 2;
Fig. 6 is a right end elevational view of the exercise device
of Fig. 2;
Fig. 7 is a sectional view as taken along line 7-7 of Fig. 2;
and
Fig. 8 is a sectional view as taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 3.
An exercise device of a type adapted to be worn in encircling
relation about a user's limb, such as a wrist, or in the present
case shown in use about an ankle, is generally already known, as
for example being illustrated and described in my prior U.S. patent
2

2183895
5,127,891 issued on July 7, 1992 for "Wrist Exercise Device".
These types of exercise devices heretofore, however, were limited
in use for walking and/or jogging and correspondingly limited in
use to appropriate environments for these exercises.
In contrast, the within inventive exercise device, designated
in Fig. 1 is shown in encircling relation or worn about a user
12~s ankles 14 and in the environment of a pool 16, having been
adapted for this aquatic end use by structural changes to the X891
exercise device as will now be described in detail.
Consistent with maximizing its beneficial use in exercising,
the device 10 includes adjacent body panels 18 and 20 of fabric
covered foam construction material 22 (Fig. 7) on the inside
surface 24 of each of which there is attached by spaced stitching
26 a fabric panel 28 which is appropriately configurated to provide
weight-receiving compartments, individually and collectively desig-
nated 30, the fabric panels 28 having adjacent removed material
cooperating to bound an opening 32 into the compartments 30 for the
insertion therethrough into a cooperating compartment of appropri-
ately shaped and sized rust-proof metal weights 34. At the option
of the user 12 all compartments can be filled with weights 34 or,
more typically, some compartments, as noted by compartments 30A and
30B can be filled with weights and the remaining compartments 30C
and 3oD can be allowed to remain empty, and in this way the device
l0 is used with a range of exercise weights at the option of the
user.
3

218389
Underlying the present invention is the recognition that, to
preserve to the user the weight variation option as just noted,
adaptation for aquatic use requires obviating the seepage of water
into the empty compartments 30C and 30D since these compartments,
when filled with water, add unintended weight to the device 10.
This is structurally implemented in accordance with the present
invention by providing identically constructed flaps 36, each of
fabric coated foam construction material 38 and finished with edge
piping 40, which flaps are stitched as at 42 across the tops of the
locations of the two groups of compartments 30 so that each flap
can be folded from an open condition as shown to the right in
Fig. 3 in covering relation, as shown to the left, over the com-
partments 30, and uncovered therefrom as shown in Fig. 8, each of
the flaps 36 in their covering condition serving, by virtue of
their interposed position between the device 10 and user 12, to
cushion the feel of the weights 34 against the user 12 and thus
correspondingly adding to the comfort in the use of the device 10.
Additionally, each flap 36 to adapt the device 10 for aquatic
use is provided, by stitching adhesion or other appropriate manner,
with hooks 44, sold under the trademark VELCRO, along the three
sides 46, 48 and 50, which are adapted to align and make contact
with loops 52, sold under the trademark VELCRO, appropriately
affixed to the body panels 18 and 20 in encircling relation about
the groups of compartments 30.
4

CA 02183895 1998-11-19
In practice, it has been found that contact of the hooks 44
and loops 52 with each other not only detachably holds the flap 36
closed over the opening 32 into the unfilled compartments 30C and
30D, but provides an equivalent of a hermetic seal for the groups
of the compartments 30 thereby contributing during use in a pool
16, as illustrated in Fig. 1, an optimum nominal seepage of water
into any unfilled compartments, such as 30C and 30D, as might add
to the weight selected by the user 12 for exercise routines of the
nature illustrated in Fig. 1.
For completeness sake it is noted that appropriately adhered
VELCRO'-identified hooks 54 on the exterior of the body panels 18
and 20 and VELCRO'-identified loops 56 on a laterally extending
strap 58 are adapted to engage each other to form the device l0
into a closed loop incident to being worn about a selected limb of
the user 12, and that piping 60 is applied about the peripheral
edges of the body panels 18 and 20 to contribute to providing a
finished appearance to the device 10.
While the exercise device herein shown and disclosed in detail
is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advan-
tages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely
illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention
and that no limitations are intended to the detail of construction
or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended
claims.
* trade-mark

Representative Drawing