Stairmaster
Encyclopedia
StairMaster is the name of a line of exercise machineExercise machine
An exercise machine is any machine used for physical exercise. These range from simple spring-like devices to computerized electromechanical rides to recirculating-stream swimming pools...
s, which includes stepping machines and revolving stairs.
StairMaster was founded by Lanny Potts and Jim Walker and introduced by Tri-Tech, Inc. of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1983 at the National Sporting Goods Association trade show. The StairMaster 5000 was a rotating staircase machine, sometimes called a step treadmill, which employed a urethane
Urethane
Urethane can refer to*Carbamates, compounds with the functional group RONHR'*Ethyl carbamate, the colloquial name of which is urethane*Polyurethane in colloquial usage...
centrifugal brake to control the speed of the staircase at a constant speed. In March 1984, the StairMaster 5000 was replaced with the StairMaster 6000 ergometer. Mechanically the StairMaster 6000 was virtually identical to its predecessor, but the 6000 displayed workout information on a CRT, printed a workout summary on a thermal printer, and included a heart rate monitor. In the fall of 1985 Tri-Tech introduced the Running Simulator cartridge for the 6000 which provided a display of running equivalece during a workout on the 6000. Also in 1985, Tri-Tech entered into an agreement with Nautilus Northeast for exclusive distribution of StairMaster products.
In February 1986, Tri-Tech introduced the StairMaster 4000 PT at IHRSA in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. The 4000 provided two pedals with independent motion to simulate stair climbing. The movement of the pedals was summed into a common rotating shaft and delivered to an alternator to provide electronic speed control (as opposed to mechanical speed control in the earlier machines). The popularity of the 4000 soon overshadowed that of the rotating staircase machines and defined the future of stair climbers, at least for the next decade.
In 1987, Tri-Tech launched the Gravitron assisted chin and dip machine. The Gravitron was inspired by a dream Lanny had of working out on the moon where, in reduced gravity almost everyone could do chins and dips. The original Gravitron used a compressor, accumulator, and pneumatic cylinder to provide programmable assistance to an exerciser. The pneumatic Gravitron proved a little too complex to maintain for the typical health club and was latter replaced with a weight-stack version.
In 1988, the Gauntlet (later Stepmill) was introduced. The Gauntlet used an alternator-based braking system to bring electronic speed control to a rotating staircase machine (usage is similar to walking up a downward-moving escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
). In this time frame, Tri-Tech began doing business as StairMaster Exercise Systems.
The company went through a series of ownership changes and was finally acquired in May 2002 by Nautilus, Inc.
Nautilus, Inc.
Nautilus, Inc. , located in Vancouver, Washington, United States, is the marketer, developer, and manufacturer of branded health and fitness products sold under such names as Bowflex, Nautilus, PEARL iZUMi, Schwinn Fitness, StairMaster, Trimline and Universal.Nautilus and its corporate...
, which produces Nautilus, Bowflex, Trimline, and Schwinn exercise machines.