Land vehicles – Wheeled – Occupant propelled type
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-04
2001-04-24
Swann, J. J. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Occupant propelled type
C280S255000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220615
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a wheelchair that provides the user with the ability to exercise therapeutically his or her legs and hips while sitting in place or propelling the chair. More specifically, the present invention involves a wheelchair attachment that offers the capability of exercising the lower body to a large number of disabled or handicapped individuals.
Often time when people are unable to walk due to post-operative recoveries, injuries or the like, their unused muscles become weakened and the body loses strength. Typically, when a recovery is lengthy or not possible, the individuals must attend therapy on a regular basis. This type of therapy is not only time consuming, but expensive in that the patient usually must be transported from a place of confinement to the therapist's office. This, in turn, can result in missed appointments due to bad weather, help shortages, lack of transportation and the like. Under these types of adverse conditions, a patient can soon lose a desire to continue in therapy.
A manually propelled wheelchair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,732 wherein a patient seated in the chair can manually drive the wheels through means of a pair of hand-operated levers. The levers are hand pumped back and forth and the motion translated to the main drive wheels of the chair through a suitable linkage to cause the wheels to rotate in a forward direction. Although this device exercises the patient's upper body, it does not therapeutically aid the lower part of the body which, in many cases, is the part of the body that most needs exercise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,304 discloses a leg powered attachment for a conventional wheelchair. A single drive wheel unit equipped with pedals is simply connected to the wheelchair frame by a pipe. The person seated in the chair then pedals the drive wheel much like a child's tricycle. The pedals are directly coupled to the drive wheels and, as anyone who has ridden a tricycle knows, pedaling can tire the operator rapidly. In the case of a disabled or handicapped person, pedaling the wheelchair using this type of system could be overtaxing and self-defeating. A similar drive system is disclosed in a later U.S. Pat. No, 5,280,937 where the direct pedal drive is replaced by a combination sprocket and chain drive unit which offers some improvement. This device, however, requires the chair casters to be removed and replaced by the auxiliary drive unit, thus preventing the chair from being used in a conventional manner.
A wheelchair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,060 which is again quite similar to that described in the above noted '937 patent. Here again, a frame is attached to a wheelchair and contains a drive wheel coupled to a pair of foot peddles by a conventional bicycle sprocket and chain arrangement. Like many of the similar prior art devices, this combination wheelchair and bicycle can overtax a disabled person and negates the ability to use the chair in a conventional manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to improve wheelchairs.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a conventional wheelchair with a therapeutic/aerobic attachment that is designed to strengthen or rehabilitate a person's lower body.
A still further object of his present invention is to provide an attachment for a wheelchair that will permit a person seated in the chair to propel the chair using his or her legs or alternatively perform therapeutic/aerobic exercises while the chair remains in place.
Another object of the present invention is to convert a conventional wheelchair into a low stress, low impact piece of equipment that has therapeutic value to the one confined to a wheelchair.
Yet another object of the present invention is to improve the quality of life to a person confined to a wheelchair.
These and other objects of the present invention are attained by a therapeutic/aerobic attachment for a wheelchair having a main frame for supporting a seat and wheels of conventional design. An auxiliary frame is attachable to the main frame that has an auxiliary drive wheel rotatably mounted therein. A pair of leg operated lever arms are connected to the drive wheel through a linkage mechanism and a one way clutch bearing so that the auxiliary drive wheel will propel the chair forwardly when the lever arms are moved up and down. The lever arms are interconnected by a transmission that coordinates the motion of the lever arms so that one arm moves upwardly while the other moves downwardly.
The auxiliary frame is further equipped with a lifting mechanism that is operable by a person seated in the wheelchair to raise the drive wheel above the support surface upon which the chair is resting. The chair thus can be used in a conventional manner or alteratively, the lever arm can be operated to provide a therapeutic workout without moving the wheelchair.
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The Torrington Company, “Drawn Cup Roller Clutches”, catalog RC-8, pp. 2-3, 1976.
H. F. Brown Machine Co., Inc.
Swann J. J.
Vanaman Frank
Wall Marjama & Bilinski
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