Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – Compression wheel
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-13
2001-06-05
Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
Compression wheel
C301S040100, C301S104000, C280S250100, C440S090000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241321
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the past, there have been many types of wheels and tires proposed for a wide variety of purposes. And, accordingly, it is suffice to state that the wheel art, in general, is a crowded one. Notwithstanding, there has been little development in the more specific field relating to wheels for wheelchairs. In fact, the wheels that are found on present day newly manufactured wheelchairs are essentially identical to wheelchair wheels manufactured over the past several decades. There has been some development in the field of specialty wheels for wheelchairs, particularly for use in various sporting activities. For instance, there are various wheelchair wheels which are particularly designed for sports such as wheelchair basketball and road racing (e.g., wheelchair marathons).
Others in the art have proposed oversized wheels for use on sand, grass and like terrain. While some of these all terrain type wheels have been found to be generally effective in traversing softer ground surfaces, when installed on a wheelchair, they usually enlarge the overall wheelchair size to the extent that it does not conform to the internationally recognized wheelchair dimensions which are often applied to the construction of wheelchair facilities such as ramps, access ways, lifts, and the like. For this reason, wheelchairs fitted with the various all terrain wheels known in the art are often unable to use public wheelchair facilities due to their enlarged size.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an all terrain wheel for a wheelchair and includes an integral wheel body having an annular rim, a central rub, and an array of struts extending radially between the hub and the rim. An outer face of the rim includes a circumferential groove which is sized and configured for removable, fitted receipt of an inflatable inner tube and tire assembly thereto. The outer face of the rim extends axially on opposite sides of the groove, terminating at outboard and inboard circumferential edges, thereby forming an outboard rim portion and an inboard rim portion on opposite respective sides of a tire fitted to the rim. The outboard rim portion includes an integral hand rail formed adjacent the outboard circumferential edge. The outboard and inboard rim portions enlarge the ground engaging surface of the rim, thereby enhancing the wheel's ability to traverse soft terrains by discouraging sinking of the wheel into sand, mud, snow, soft grass and the like. Transverse ribs on the outer rim face provide traction as well as a thumb grip when manually propelling the wheel.
A substantially flat face of the struts in disposed generally transverse to the plane of the wheel to define a paddle wheel type structure. Thus, the struts function as paddles for providing propulsion in water as the wheel is rotated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1278624 (1918-09-01), Foley
patent: 3234989 (1966-02-01), Ruf
patent: 3952786 (1976-04-01), Kreling et al.
patent: 4273544 (1981-06-01), Smith
patent: 4770432 (1988-09-01), Wagner
patent: 4926777 (1990-05-01), Davis, Jr.
patent: 5028065 (1991-07-01), Danecker
patent: 5071378 (1991-12-01), Wang
patent: 5101536 (1992-04-01), Gabriele
patent: 5261684 (1993-11-01), Soto
patent: 5401045 (1995-03-01), Foerster et al.
patent: 5427398 (1995-06-01), Weybrecht
patent: 5944390 (1999-08-01), Parenzuela
Downey P.A. Robert M.
Stormer Russell D.
LandOfFree
All terrain wheel for a wheelchair does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with All terrain wheel for a wheelchair, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and All terrain wheel for a wheelchair will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2467688