Stair climbing exercise apparatus with improved bellows

Abstract

An exercise apparatus includes a housing, a pair of pivoting foot treadles and a pair of reciprocating bellows that support the foot treadles. A sealed air system including a conduit interconnects the bellows and is operable for reciprocating transfer of air from bellow to bellow. Each of the foot treadles is pivotably movable between upper and lower positions, and has a resting position between the upper and lower positions. The resting position of the foot treadles defines a resting position of the bellows while the upper and lower positions of the foot treadles respectively define elongated and compressed positions of the bellows. In use, the elongated and compressed positions of the bellows are each no more than 5 degrees off the center resting position thereby reducing stress on the bellows.

1 . An exercise apparatus, comprising:
 a housing;   a pair of foot treadles connected in spaced parallel relation on said housing, each of said treadles having a front end connected to said housing and a rear end configured and arranged for receiving and supporting the foot of a user thereon;   a pair of reciprocating bellows each having a bottom end and a top end, said bottom end of each of said bellows being connected to the housing, said top end of each of said bellows being connected to one of said foot treadles, each of said bellows having a central axis extending between said bottom end and said top end thereof;   each of said foot treadles being movable between upper and lower positions, each of said foot treadles having a resting position between said upper and lower positions,   said resting position of said foot treadles defining a resting centerline position of said central axis of said bellows,   said upper and lower positions of said foot treadles respectively defining an elongated position and a compressed position of said central axis of said bellows,   wherein an upper limit of said elongated position and a lower limit of said compressed position of said central axis of said bellows are each no more than about 5 degrees off said resting centerline position during reciprocal movement of said foot treadles between said upper and lower positions thereby reducing stress on said bellows.