US48514A - Improvement in dumb-bells - Google Patents

Description

` D. l?. BUTLEB, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IM PROVEM ENT IN DUM B,BELLS.

- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.48,514, dated July 4, 186.5.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, D. P. BUTLER, of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented Improved Dumb- Bells; and I do hereby declarethat the following, taken in connection with the drawing which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

This invention has for its object the production of dumb-bells (such as are used for exercise) having the form and proportion of the common dumb-bells, and capable of graduation as to weight and size without affecting the general form or symmetry of the article under such graduations 5 and the invention consists in the peculiar construction of nested dumbhells capable of dissection for the purposes of graduation as to weight and size, and of preserving, under such changes, the same common form, which is generally that ot' oblate spheroidal balls united by a cylindricallyshaped handle.

The drawing represents a view of my iniproved dumb-bells, partl yin section and partly in elevation. 4

a denotes an axial spindle; b,ahollowhandle, made in two parts, placed upon and surrounding the spindle.

c d represent a series of hollow semi-spheroidal shells nested together and overan inner spheroid, c, which may be in either one or two parts, and maybe made as a shell or shells, or may be solid, with the exception of a central aperture. The inner shells, d, and one-haltet' l the spheroid c t upon the stem a, and eachis provided with a suitable lip or liange, upon which the corresponding outer shell or semispheroid ts, the adjacent lips or ang'es on each setof shells formin gtogether a halved joint. Each shell c has a central hole, f, into which the end or head of a screw, g, fits, and the spindle a has a `female screw-thread, into which the thread of the screw g works. By this means the two series or nests of shells are held together, and upon opposite ends of the spindle a, as seen in the drawing, the two inner semi-spheroids or shells abutting against the shoulders formed by the ends of the handle b, or against rings 7c, interposed between the shell and the handle, and being thereby held at the proper distance apart, each shell having a shouldered recess, i, which ts over the adjacent ends of the sectional handle, or over a flange upon the ring k, the ring being also recessed to fit over and coutnc the two parts of the handle together.

By the interposition of rings it will be evident that the distance between the shells can be increased at pleasure, thereby lengthening the handle, while by making the handle sectional it may be readily changed for a longer or` shorter handle, or for one of dii'erent shape, as circumstances or fancy may dictate or require.

Now, it will beV obvious that each end of the spindle may have fastened upon it any two of the shells which tit together, and only those two, or it may haveanynumber, from the smaller single spheroid e up tothe whole nest, as shown in the drawing, and the handle b may be substituted by a longer or shorter handle, to graduate the distance apart of the bells at pleasure. Thus it will be seen that the instrument combines a capability of change or graduation as to weight and size with a construction which preserves the same general and symmetrical form throughout these changes, and that this graduation is capable `of being expeditiously effected by the most ordinary skill and with but little or lno trouble. Small dumb-bells of a given weight are sometimesnot so convenient to exercise with as larger ones ot the same weight, though generally the reverse is the case; but this construction fully answers either requirement. For persons beginning to practice withdumb-bells this arrangement enables them to begin with the lightest weight and gradually to increase the same by t-he addition from time to time, as may be desirable, of an extra shell, thus obviating the necessity of having a cumbersome set of different instruments.

In casting the spindle a the hollow part, eX- cepting near the ends, may be made of larger diameter than the diameter of the thread upon the screw g, in which case it will, of course, be only necessary to cut the nut or thread in the spindle near the ends thereof.

I am aware that it is not new to make dumbbells in sections. Such construction is shown in the United States Patent No. 28,505, granted to D. F. Savage. It is the peculiar construction or manner of confining the parts to--` gether, as herein described, that constitutes 3. The employment of the rings k, interposed myinvention'7 and not, broadly, seetionaldumbbetween the handle and shells7 for increasing bells.

I claiml. The series of movable shells, held together and to the spindle or handle by a halved joint on each set of shells, and a screw, g, passing through the center ot' each shell and into the spindle, substantially as set forth.

2. rlhe sectional handle I), made in two parts, ttingupon and detachable from a central spindie, a.

the length of the handle, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of April, A. D. 1865.

D. P. BUMPER..`

l Witnesses FRANCIS GoULD, W. B. GLEAsoN.

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