US 5,354,250 · Granted 1994-10-11
The 1994 Pelvic Floor Trainer That Sparked a Wellness Category
This is a device shaped like a vagina that helps women strengthen their pelvic floor muscles—the ones that support your bladder and uterus. As you move it, segments in the shell expand and contract, creating resistance training for those deep core muscles, kind of like how a dumbbell works for your arms.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a mechanical training device with an external shell divided into separate segments connected to a central displacement mechanism. What's protected here is the specific engineering: when you move the mechanism along the hollow shaft, the connecting pieces (designed as longitudinal cams) cause the segments to expand and retract radially. Anyone making an unauthorized copy would infringe on this mechanical arrangement for creating resistance in a vaginal-shaped training device.
Why it matters
This patent arrived during the early 1990s, when pelvic floor health was rarely discussed publicly and few commercial devices existed for this purpose. By securing protection for this mechanical design, the patent creator established early intellectual property around a category that would later grow into a mainstream wellness market as medical awareness of pelvic floor dysfunction increased and more companies entered the space.
Real-world use
Women use this device during daily pelvic floor exercises—sometimes called Kegel training—to strengthen muscles that can weaken after childbirth, surgery, or with age, helping prevent bladder leaks and improve muscle tone.
Original USPTO abstract
An apparatus for training and treating the muscles of the female pelvic diaphragm and having a form corresponding to the vagina includes an external shell (1) axially divided into a number of mutually separated segments (3-9) which are separately connected by connecting pieces (3'-9') formed as longitudinal cams to a displacement mechanism (10) mounted axially around a hollow shaft (12) inside the apparatus, the displacement mechanism being prevented from rotating around the shaft (12), and wherein a mechanical displacement of the mechanism (10) in one or the other axial direction through the connecting pieces (3'-9') as a result of the construction of the mechanism results in a radial movement of the segments (3-9), thereby dilating or retracting the shell (1).
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,354,250
- Filing date
- 1993-04-08
- Grant date
- 1994-10-11
- Assignee
- Christensen Jane N
- Inventor(s)
- CHRISTENSEN; JANE N.
- CPC class
- A61M29/00
Want to file your own patent?
If you're designing any fitness or wellness device with moving parts, search our patent database to see what mechanical designs are already locked down in your category.
Free patentability scan