Single-motor massager
Patent No. US8192379 (titled "Single-motor massager") on Jun 13, 2008. The application was issued on Jun 5, 2012.
What is this patent about?
’379 is related to the field of automated body massagers, specifically those designed to translate a massaging mechanism along a track to cover a wide area of a user’s body. Traditionally, these devices required separate actuators to handle the distinct tasks of rotating the massage nodes and driving the lateral movement of the carriage. This dual-motor requirement increased mechanical complexity, manufacturing costs, and the overall weight of the device, creating a need for a more streamlined transmission system.
The underlying idea behind ’379 is to consolidate both the massaging action and the carriage locomotion into a single power source by using a unified drivetrain. By employing a worm gear interface to drive a vertical shaft, the system can simultaneously rotate the massage nodes while tapping off a portion of that rotational energy to drive a horizontal gear shaft. This design eliminates the need for a second motor by using a specific arrangement of perpendicular gears to convert the high-speed rotation of the motor into both the kneading motion and the steady tracking along the base.
The claims of ’379 focus on a mechanical architecture where a single motor drives a worm rod that meshes with a main gear drive on a movable carriage. This main gear drive is the central hub of the invention; it is coupled to a massage device for user contact and simultaneously features an inclined gear that meshes with a corresponding inclined gear on a transverse shaft. This transverse shaft terminates in two gears that engage parallel racks on the base, ensuring that the rotation of the motor directly results in the linear travel of the entire assembly.
In practice, the invention works by utilizing the inclined gear interface to change the axis of rotation from the vertical massage column to the horizontal drive axle. As the motor spins the worm rod, it turns the main gear drive, which rotates the massage nodes. Because the main gear drive is linked to the gear shaft assembly via the 45-degree inclined teeth, the rotation is transmitted to the side gears, which walk along the racks. This ensures that the massage nodes are always active whenever the carriage is in motion, providing a continuous treatment as the device travels.
This approach differs from prior solutions by replacing complex guide systems and secondary motors with a synchronized gear rack mechanism. By using two racks on either side of the base, the carriage maintains stability and prevents jamming without requiring heavy-duty rails. The integration of reverse switches on the base allows the single motor to change direction at the ends of the track, providing a fully automated, full-body massage experience with a significantly reduced component count and a simplified assembly process.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical Landscape
In the late 2000s when ’379 was filed, automated mechanical massagers were typically implemented using multi-motor architectures to manage distinct degrees of freedom. At a time when systems commonly relied on dedicated independent actuators to separate the rotational massage motion from the lateral translation of the carriage, the synchronization of these movements required complex electronic control logic and redundant power transmission components. Hardware constraints involving the weight and volume of multiple motors made the design of compact, portable massage units non-trivial, as engineers frequently had to balance the mechanical stability of the guide system against the overall manufacturing complexity and material costs associated with dual-drive assemblies.
Prosecution Position
The disclosed invention achieves a technical advancement through an architectural shift that consolidates both the primary massage rotation and the carriage translation into a single-motor drive system. By integrating a gear shaft assembly featuring a rod with terminal gears and a central inclined gear, the system establishes a direct mechanical linkage between the motor's output and the gear racks on the base. This structural solution enables the simultaneous execution of localized massage functions and broad-area movement through a unified transmission path. The resulting technical effect is a reduction in mechanical complexity and component count while maintaining stable, synchronized movement across the massage area, overcoming the reliability and cost constraints inherent in multi-motor configurations.
Claims
This patent contains a total of 20 claims, with claim 1 being the sole independent claim. The independent claim focuses on a single-motor massager featuring a base with parallel gear racks, a movable carriage, and a gear shaft assembly that translates motor power into both carriage movement and the rotation of a massage assembly via a worm rod and inclined gear arrangement. The dependent claims generally serve to provide additional mechanical details, such as secondary gear drives and massaging devices, specific housing configurations, ball-bearing carriage supports, particular gear tooth angles, and the inclusion of limit or reverse switches on the base.
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US8192379
- Application Number
- US12139371A
- Filing Date
- Jun 13, 2008
- Publication Date
- Jun 5, 2012
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO , Google Patents