Land vehicles – Wheeled – Nesting vehicles
Patent
1999-03-12
2000-12-19
Hurley, Kevin
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Nesting vehicles
B62D 3900
Patent
active
061618489
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to an assembly of a number of wheelchairs according to the preamble of claim 1. Such an assembly is known from practice and is supplied by the firm of Revab BV, Silvolde, the Netherlands.
The known assembly is used, for instance, at airports, in hospitals and nursing homes, department stores and like establishments visited by varying populations. The wheelchairs are intended for public or at least semipublic use. The use of such an assembly will now be explained with reference to an airport.
At any moment of the day, a number of wheelchairs are arranged together at a central point, for instance at an entrance of an airport. A passenger arriving at the airport sits down in one of the wheelchairs, with or without assistance from, for instance, a fellow traveler or an airport employee. Then the user of the wheelchair proceeds to an airplane, where the wheelchair is left behind when the user takes his seat in the airplane. The wheelchair may be used again by another passenger for another displacement or is wheeled back empty to the above-mentioned or similar central point in due course.
The known assembly of wheelchairs has as a disadvantage that the wheelchairs occupy a great deal of space in unused condition. The wheelchairs are placed together, for instance in a row side by side. It will be clear that this is undesirable, since space at an airport but also in, for instance, hospitals, residences for disabled or older people and the like, is limited. Moreover, the wheelchairs arranged together make a disorderly, chaotic and hence unattractive impression and can be a hindrance and even dangerous to other passers-by, such as visitors and employees. A further disadvantage is that the wheelchairs, when they are not, or no longer, in use and have been left at a different point than the above-mentioned central arrangement point, they have to be returned to that central arrangement point one by one, which is time-consuming and strenuous, and hence expensive and unpleasant.
It has previously been proposed to make wheelchairs collapsible, so that in the condition where they are not used they take up little or at least less space than in a service position. This is undesirable for wheelchairs for public or at least semipublic use, since the wheelchairs are not ready for use in such a storage position. An intended user or helper must then first unfold the wheelchair or at least make is ready for use, whereafter it can be used. This is undesirable, notably in places where time is limited. Moreover, making such a wheelchair ready for use is not easy. It requires some skill, which is not always present. Furthermore, such a wheelchair has the disadvantage that it has to be collapsed again after use, mostly by employees, which is economically and ergonomically undesirable. Moreover, these wheelchairs too can only be returned to the central arrangement point one by one.
The object of the invention is to provide an assembly of the type described in the preamble of the main claim, which obviates at least the disadvantages mentioned, while maintaining the advantages thereof. To that end, an assembly according to the invention is characterized by the features of the characterizing portion of claim 1.
`Nesting` is herein understood to mean the positioning of wheelchairs relative to each other in such a manner that the wheelchairs in an at least substantially ready-for-use condition are at least partly slid into each other with a proper fit. The area occupied by the joint wheelchairs viewed in vertical projection is then considerably smaller in the nested condition than in the unnested condition. In the nested condition, the wheelchairs can all rest on their own wheels or wholly or partly on each other.
Since in the nested condition the wheelchairs take up less floor space than in unnested condition, a great deal of space is gained by at least temporarily storing the wheelchairs, while the wheelchairs in the nested condition moreover give a tidy, neat impression. What is prevented in that the wheelchairs are
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Beumer Anton Hendrikus
Beumer Stephanus Theodorus Anthonius Gertrudes
Hurley Kevin
McKinley Kevin
Michaelson Peter L.
Revab B.V.
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