When you think about gear manufacturing companies and their custom gears, pinion gears, and bevel gears, you probably don’t think about your office job. Gears are a relatively simple tool and one of the oldest mechanisms used for motion. That doesn’t mean that they are not used in many modern applications, however. One of the newest applications for gears is in a variety of equipment, like treadmill desks and stationary office bicycles, designed to help resolve the many health problems associated with sedentary office jobs.
Minicycles And Wobble Desk Chairs
While these things may sound somewhat silly, they’re perfectly valid tools used to keep office workers active, instead of sitting still for hours on-end. A minicycle can fit right under most desks. The pedals are adjustable, although — once fastened into place — they will remain stationary. “Pumping these pedals as you sit at your desk becomes almost as blissfully mindless as twitching your legs. The 8-pound device comes with a tiny computer you probably won’t use that displays timing, reps, total reps and calories,” The LA Times reports.
Another alternative is a gear-free wobble desk chair. (Keep in mind that these tools should be used separately, never together.) The concept behind these chairs is relatively simple. These chairs are slightly off-balance; users must sit up perfectly straight and practice good posture all day long to keep their chairs from toppling over.
What About Treadmill Desks?
A treadmill desk is exactly what it sounds like. There is a desk component, with a flat surface, and then the expected treadmill part. Users can set the treadmill to different speeds (typically low speeds) to walk at a slow to moderate space while they work. Treadmills and treadmill desks typically use simple bevel gears, mounted at right angles and sometimes used with more teeth for greater mechanical advantage and/or smoother performance.
Sitting still all day long at work can have devastating effects on your health. In order to fix it, fitness and gear manufacturing companies are teaming up to create office-friendly solutions, like minicycles, adjustable pedals and bike cranks, and multi-functional treadmill desks.