Land vehicles – Wheeled – Extensible
Patent
1995-08-16
1996-10-01
Camby, Richard M.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Extensible
280657, B62B 302
Patent
active
055606350
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is a 371 of PCT US93/08164 Aug. 31, 1993.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to wheelchairs for disabled persons, and more particularly to a wheelchair that folds to occupy little space while being stored or transported in a vehicle. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a wheelchair that may be folded and partially disassembled to allow for convenient options in storage and space for transporting in a vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Folded wheelchairs for disabled persons are well known in the art. Generally, folding wheelchairs are folded along a vertical axis that brings together the wheels of the chairs. With a canvas seat and a canvas back, such chairs may be readily and quickly unfolded to be placed into service.
While such folded wheelchairs have the advantage of quick assembly, they suffer from the disadvantage of bulk. Folding such a chair overcomes the width of the chair as a dimension across a front elevation of the chair, but does not overcome the height of the chair in the same elevation or the depth of the chair. Thus, there is still considerable bulk with regard to the overall volume that the chair might occupy in a place of storage or in the trunk of a vehicle. Moreover, this bulk controls remaining storage space or luggage space, as conventional folded wheelchairs are not adapted for easy disassembly so that parts of the wheelchair may be stored in convenient recesses to maximize storage space for other articles.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
With the above described difficulties accompanying most known folding wheelchairs in view, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a folding wheelchair that has an axis for folding which allows for a more advantageous profile for storing and transporting the folded wheelchair.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a folded wheelchair that has means for disassembling part of the wheelchair to take advantage of arranging storage of the wheelchair with storage of other articles in a limited storage space. These and other objects have been achieved by the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A folding wheelchair includes a pair of spaced apart side frames, each frame including a side rail, a front leg, and a post. The front leg of each frame is pivotally attached to the side rail so that the front leg may be rotated from an orientation at which the front leg extends generally parallel to the side rail, generally between front and back ends of the side rail, to an orientation at which the front leg is generally perpendicular to the side rail, and vice versa. Each spaced apart side frame also has a post that is pivotally attached to the side rail so that the post may be rotated from an orientation at which the post extends generally parallel to the side rail, generally between the ends of the side rail, to an orientation at which the post is generally perpendicular to the side rail. A pair of front wheels are attached to the front legs, and a pair of quick release rear wheels are releasably mounted on quick release mounts of the pair of posts. Cross members provide seat and back structure to support a person seated in the wheelchair and to join or interconnect the spaced apart side frames.
The chair may be folded as follows: Cushions, on which a person sits and rests his or her back while in the wheelchair, are removed. The rear wheel is removed from each of the fork posts. The posts are pivoted to collapse the back of wheelchair over the seat of the wheelchair.
The front legs are pivoted under the seat of the wheelchair as the final step in collapsing the wheel chair.
By reversing these steps, the wheelchair may be unfolded so that it may be uprighted and operable for use to transport a disabled person.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a side elevation showing the folded wheelchair according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a top view of the folded wheelchair of this invention;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial sectional view t
REFERENCES:
patent: 4542917 (1985-09-01), Waite
patent: 4813693 (1989-03-01), Lockard
patent: 5188383 (1993-02-01), Thompson
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