Brake mechanism for a treadmill

Claim 1

In a treadmill having an endless belt disposed about a series of rollers which are supported within a stationary frame so as to provide a walking surface upon which a subject exercising on said treadmill strides, the improvement comprising a pair of axially aligned flywheels operatively associated with said belt for imparting a uniform momentum thereto, said flywheels being positioned on either side of said belt at one end of the walking surface, a handrail having two upwardly extending arms that are cojoined at the upper end thereof by a cross member suitable for gripping by a subject exercising upon the surface and the opposite ends of the arms being pivotally mounted in the frame adjacent to said flywheels, brake means affixed to each of the arms and each brake being arranged to move into and out of operable engagement with a respective flywheel when the hand rail is reciprocally rotated within aid frame, stop means associated with the handrail to limit its freedom of rotation in one direction so that said brake means is supported out of contact with said flywheel when the handrail is positioned against said stop means, and biasing means acting between the stationary frame and said handrail for holding the handrail against the stop whereby pulling the handrail against the force of the biasing means will immediately move the brake means against the flywheels.