US 6,981,954 B2
Percussive massager
Charles Huang, Taipei (Taiwan)
Assigned to HoMedics, Inc., Commerce Township, Mich. (US)
Filed on Jul. 02, 2002, as Appl. No. 10/187,697.
Application 10/187697 is a continuation of application No. 09/475810, filed on Dec. 30, 1999, granted, now 6,500,135.
Claims priority of provisional application 60/114490, filed on Dec. 31, 1998.
Prior Publication US 2002/0169400 A1, Nov. 14, 2002
Int. Cl. A61H 23/02 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 601—108 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A percussive massager, comprising:
a housing;
a motor mounted within the housing;
an output shaft rotatably driven by the motor and protruding therefrom;
at least one connecting rod having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is operably connected to the output shaft such that rotation of the output shaft causes the at least one connecting rod to reciprocate axially;
a rocker arm pivotably mounted relative to the housing and having a central pivot axis, wherein the rocker arm is operably connected to the second end of the at least one connecting rod at a location spaced from the central pivot axis such that the rocker arm is moved about the central pivot axis by rotation of the output shaft;
at least two spaced apart connectors located on the rocker arm on opposite sides of the pivot axis; and
at least two massage nodes removably fastened to the at least two connectors, each massage node being defined as a unitary member including a body portion and a node connector fastened to one of the at least two connectors, wherein the massage nodes are moved asynchronously toward and away from the housing by the at least one connecting rod to provide a percussive massage effect.