Tent – canopy – umbrella – or cane – Canes – sticks – crutches – and walking aids
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-29
2002-04-30
Stephan, Beth A. (Department: 3635)
Tent, canopy, umbrella, or cane
Canes, sticks, crutches, and walking aids
C135S066000, C135S082000, C135S084000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06378540
ABSTRACT:
This invention is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 11-340705 filed Nov. 30, 1999 the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a walking assistance device which is novel in construction and which is capable of facilitating or assisting ambulatory movement of a user afflicted with certain conditions, such as Parkinson's disease.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patients afflicted with Parkinson's disease experience reduction in number of spontaneous and autonomic movements, and suffer from walking disturbance, i.e., difficulty in ambulatory movement, for example. More specifically described, such Parkinson's patients are incapable of taking a step or stride forward for initiating their ambulatory movement, so that they are subject to danger of falling forward with high possibility, even where the ambulatory movement of the patients are assisted by means of a general walking assistance device, such as a walking cane. That is, such a conventional walking cane is of no use for the Parkinson's patients.
It is well known that the Parkinson's patients can overcome their difficulty in ambulatory movement and walk, if the patient or patient's brain is forcedly ordered to take a motion of stepping forward. Some patients can perform the normal walking reflexes, once they can start the ambulatory movement. In view of this specific symptom of the Parkinson's disease, an assistive walking cane suitable for Parkinsonians has been proposed as disclosed in JP-A-11-309187. The disclosed cane includes an elongated body member and a movable plate member which is rotatably coupled to a lower portion of the elongated body member. The elongated body member is telescopically deformable by means of a coil spring incorporated therein. The rotatable plate member is alternately placed in its open and closed positions in association with the telescopic motion of the elongated body member. The disclosed cane is arranged such that when the user lifts the cane, the elongated body member is expanded due to the expansion of the coil spring, whereby the rotatable plate member is held in its closed position where the rotatable member is vertically oriented so as to extend substantially parallel to the elongated body member. When the user leans on the cane and the user's load or weight accordingly acts on the elongated body member, on the other hand, the elongated body member is axially contracted due to the compression of the coil spring, whereby the rotatable plate member is held in its open position where the rotatable plate member is horizontally oriented so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the elongated body member. The horizontally extending rotatable plate member projected in front of the user's foot serves as a walking obstacle especially to Parkinson's user of the cane. Encountering the walking obstacle stimulate the Parkinson's user to step over the obstacle, enabling the Parkinson's user to walk forward or start his or her ambulatory movement.
However, the conventional walking cane for the Parkinsonians as disclosed in the above-indicated document employs the coil spring for enabling the telescopic motion of the elongated body member which induces the alternative rotational displacement of the rotational plate member between its open and closed portion. Excessively large spring force of the coil spring causes insufficient contraction of the elongated body member, resulting in failure of placing the rotational plate member in its open position. On the other hand, excessively small spring force of the coil spring causes insufficient expansion of the elongated body member, resulting in failure of retracting the rotatable plate member to its closed position. Therefore, the conventional cane needs to be adjusted in its spring force depending on respective patient. If the spring force of the coil spring of the cane is adjusted to be a smaller value, the rotatable plate member is likely to suffer from insufficient retraction thereof to its closed position due to fatigue or sinking of the coil spring. It is significantly difficult to adjusting a suitable spring force of the coil spring, whereby the conventional cane for the Parkinson's patient lacks of long-term stability of its operation condition. In particular, if the rotatable plate member is not duly retracted to its closed position due to the fatigue of the coil spring, the rotatable plate member is very much likely to protrude outwardly from the elongated body member in the generally horizontal direction, eventually possibly interfering the ambulating movement of the user or patient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been developed in view of the circumstances described above. It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a walking assistance device which is novel in construction and which is capable of alternately placing a longitudinal projection member, with high stability and reliability, in two operation positions, namely a “retracting position” for accommodation of the projection member, and a “protruding position” for protrusion of the projection member into a path of movement of user's foot. The projection member placed at a protruding position stimulates the user to step over the projection member, thereby effectively supporting ambulatory movement of the user afflicted with certain conditions, such as Parkinson's disease.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a walking assistance attachment which is attachable to conventional walking assistance devices or walking aids, such as a cane, for providing the ambulatory assistance device according to the present invention.
The first object may be achieved according to the following modes of the invention each of which is numbered like the appended claims and depends from the other mode or modes, where appropriate, to indicate possible combinations of elements or technical features of the invention. It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to those modes of the invention and combinations of the technical features, but may otherwise be recognized based on the thought of the present invention that disclosed in the whole specification and drawings or that may be recognized by those skilled in the art in the light of the disclosure in the whole specification and drawings.
(1) A walking assistance device for assisting ambulatory movement of a user, including: a body member to which a weight of the user is applied; a shaft member fixedly disposed in a portion of the body member on the side of a walking surface so as to extend generally in a first horizontal direction; a longitudinal projection member disposed rotatably about the shaft member so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the shaft member; and a mass member which is disposed so as to oppose to the longitudinal projection member in a diametric direction of the shaft member, and which is integrally formed with the longitudinal projection member. The mass member has a contact portion at which the device is brought into contact with the walking surface. The contact portion is offset from an axis of the shaft member by a predetermined distance in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction so that a ground pressure applied to the mass member produces a rotation moment which causes rotation of the longitudinal projection member about the shaft member in one direction. The longitudinal projection member is held in a protruding position where the longitudinal projection member protrudes outwardly from the body member generally in the second horizontal direction, owing to the rotation moment produced by the ground pressure applied to the mass member, and is held in a retracting position where the longitudinal projection member extends in a generally vertical direction, owing to gravity acting on the mass member.
In the
Glessner Brian E.
Iwasi Takatsugi
Rossi & Associates
Stephan Beth A.
LandOfFree
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