Exercise machines

Claim 1

In an exercise machine comprising a frame, a foot rest and a seat, both mounted on the said frame in such a way that the said seat is movable generally horizontally longitudinally towards and away from said foot rest, a stem bar, a handle mounted in the vicinity of the upper end of said stem bar, means for connecting said stem bar at its lower end to said frame for moving said handle along an arcuate path in an upright longitudinally extending plane, wherein at a position intermediate the ends of the arcuate path said handle lies at a level substantially higher than the level of said foot rest and said seat, and resisting means for opposing movement of said handle away from said foot rest, the improvement comprising: flexible elongate tension-bearing means for interconnecting said resisting means and said stem bar and for transmitting the resisting force from said resisting means to said stem bar, wherein said resisting means is longitudinally spaced from said lower end and mounted to said frame substantially at the level of said foot rest, and wherein said tension bearing element is connected to said stem bar between said upper and lower ends at a distance spaced from said lower end so that said tension-bearing means acts in a generally horizontal direction parallel to said stem bar as said handle approaches the end of said arcuate path upon movement away from said foot rest so as to reduce the force exerted by said resistance means in opposition to movement of said handle; wherein said resisting means comprises a flexible elongate friction element connected to said elongate flexible tension-bearing means for movement with said handle; biasing means acting on said flexible friction element for urging said handle toward said foot rest, and means for guiding said flexible friction element for producing substantial frictional resistance to movement of said flexible friction element and thereby said handle when said handle is pulled away from said foot rest in opposition to said biasing means, thereby creating increased tension in said flexible tension element, and for producing relatively little frictional resistance to movement of said friction element when said handle moves toward said foot rest and said tension is reduced, wherein the guiding means comprises a series of fixed guide elements arranged to constrain said friction element to follow an undulating path.