Land vehicles – Wheeled – Occupant propelled type
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-21
2001-04-10
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Occupant propelled type
C280S250100, C074S143000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213487
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wheelchairs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional non-motorized wheelchair, when powered by the user, the user must grab a large wheel or a hand rail disposed around the large wheel and push in a forward direction for forward movement. To move straight ahead, the user must simultaneously push the two large wheels, one on either side of the user. To cause the wheelchair to turn right, the user must push only on the large wheel or associated hand rail on a left side of the chair. To make a left turn, the user must push only on the wheel or associated hand rail on the right side of the wheelchair.
The motion of pushing the chair requires a certain level of manual dexterity and upper body strength not found in all wheelchair users. Those wheelchair users who lack the required manual dexterity and upper body strength must either have someone push their wheelchair or they must use a more expensive motorized wheelchair. Any speeds, except for very slow speeds, are awkward to obtain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses the above problems in the related art and has as its object to provide a wheel chair which can be operated by wheelchair users having less upper body strength and manual dexterity than is required to operate a conventional non-motorized wheelchair.
It is further an object of the invention to provide add-on component parts for converting a conventional non-motorized wheelchair to one which requires less upper body strength and manual dexterity to operate than a conventional non-motorized wheelchair.
A first embodiment of the invention is a wheel chair having two large wheels. One large wheel is disposed on the left side of the wheelchair and another large wheel is disposed on the right side of the wheel chair. Both large wheels are disposed toward a front portion of the wheelchair. A single smaller pivoting wheel is disposed in a central position of a rear portion of the wheelchair. A helical drive is associated with each of the two large wheels. Each helical drive is powered by a rectilinear motion. Such a motion requires less manual dexterity and upper body strength than that which is required to power a non-motorized conventional wheelchair.
A second embodiment is identical to the first embodiment, but instead has two smaller wheels disposed at a rear portion of the wheelchair, one on the left and another on the right. This embodiment has the same advantages as the first embodiment.
A third embodiment has four wheels of equal size. The two front wheels are powered by two parallel mounted helical drives.
A fourth embodiment provides two helical drives for powering the two large rear wheels of a wheelchair. The two front wheels are small and are not powered.
A helical drive is provided which includes a helical member which is a twisted flat bar and a slider. The slider has an opening having the twisted flat bar disposed therethrough. A sliding motion of the slider causes the twisted flat bar to rotate.
Two helical drives for powering the wheelchair are on each wheelchair. Each helical drive includes a pinion gear which engages a crown gear. The crown gears are fixed to the drive wheels of the wheelchair, such that rotation of each of the crown gears causes rotation of the respective wheel.
Add-on components for converting a conventional wheelchair to one which is powered by a helical drive are provided, thereby gaining the advantages described in the embodiments described above.
Other objects and features of the invention will appear in the course of the description which follows.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 33058 (1989-09-01), Steuer et al.
patent: 51815 (1866-01-01), Eads
patent: 87630 (1869-03-01), Burns
patent: 381160 (1888-04-01), Moon
patent: 395099 (1888-12-01), Willett
patent: 398899 (1889-03-01), Martignoni
patent: 408745 (1889-08-01), Pool
patent: 443347 (1890-12-01), Allen
patent: 450997 (1891-04-01), Dies
patent: 465099 (1891-12-01), Rice, Jr.
patent: 465100 (1891-12-01), Rice, Jr.
patent: 549397 (1895-11-01), Savorgnan
patent: 552910 (1896-01-01), Kimball
patent: 555242 (1896-02-01), Hallenbeck
patent: 578269 (1897-03-01), Savorgnan
patent: 579218 (1897-03-01), Bremer et al.
patent: 597621 (1898-01-01), Russell
patent: 617762 (1899-01-01), McCollum
patent: 618330 (1899-01-01), Campbell
patent: 622780 (1899-04-01), Olson et al.
patent: 641906 (1900-01-01), Trabue et al.
patent: 651244 (1900-06-01), Forbes
patent: 651316 (1900-06-01), Smith
patent: 690835 (1902-01-01), Clayland
patent: 713633 (1902-11-01), Hall
patent: 771864 (1904-10-01), Eager
patent: 829279 (1906-08-01), Mears
patent: 850953 (1907-04-01), McDowell
patent: 882845 (1908-03-01), Sachs
patent: 931656 (1909-08-01), Sangster
patent: 944064 (1909-12-01), West
patent: 994359 (1911-06-01), Archer
patent: 1005690 (1911-10-01), Carlson
patent: 1019637 (1912-03-01), Hays
patent: 1025989 (1912-04-01), Master
patent: 1047509 (1912-12-01), Dziak
patent: 1072701 (1913-09-01), Collins
patent: 1076179 (1913-10-01), Whitehead
patent: 1108392 (1914-08-01), Picken
patent: 1122085 (1914-12-01), Dudgeon
patent: 1122376 (1914-12-01), Farmer
patent: 1232202 (1917-07-01), Brown
patent: 1316558 (1919-09-01), Cannon
patent: 1389039 (1921-08-01), Estes
patent: 1413036 (1922-04-01), Krantz
patent: 1482689 (1924-02-01), Landes
patent: 1559578 (1925-11-01), Morgan
patent: 1699687 (1929-01-01), Conterio
patent: 1709952 (1929-04-01), Ricketts
patent: 1713219 (1929-05-01), Eisenhauer
patent: 1734649 (1929-11-01), Shull
patent: 1736507 (1929-11-01), Peterson
patent: 1736822 (1929-11-01), Dreisbach
patent: 1776331 (1930-09-01), Lee
patent: 1780398 (1930-11-01), Morgan
patent: 1799458 (1931-04-01), Ekstromer
patent: 1813468 (1931-07-01), Snyer
patent: 1955973 (1934-04-01), Norton
patent: 2023889 (1935-12-01), Kramps
patent: 2028311 (1936-01-01), Berry
patent: 2041319 (1936-05-01), Blomgren
patent: 2084321 (1937-06-01), Corradino et al.
patent: 2137649 (1938-11-01), Hilliard
patent: 2143798 (1939-01-01), Ribe
patent: 2153870 (1939-04-01), Lee
patent: 2193394 (1940-03-01), Deckert, Jr.
patent: 2245457 (1941-06-01), Brassell
patent: 2296164 (1942-09-01), Humphrey
patent: 2301852 (1942-11-01), Brown
patent: 2321828 (1943-06-01), Lane
patent: 2389918 (1945-11-01), Macgill
patent: 2411438 (1946-11-01), Lane
patent: 2425813 (1947-08-01), Kuntz
patent: 2578559 (1951-12-01), Korsgren
patent: 2588524 (1952-03-01), Herbert
patent: 2612312 (1952-09-01), Clarke
patent: 2895576 (1959-07-01), Schwerdhofer
patent: 2988186 (1961-06-01), Dotter
patent: 3102436 (1963-09-01), Schuller
patent: 3107541 (1963-10-01), Parsus
patent: 3113472 (1963-12-01), Schwerdhofer
patent: 3113652 (1963-12-01), Schwerdhofer
patent: 3114442 (1963-12-01), Schwerdhofer
patent: 3122226 (1964-02-01), Schuller et al.
patent: 3166171 (1965-01-01), Schwerdhofer et al.
patent: 3192783 (1965-07-01), Cruzan
patent: 3194089 (1965-07-01), Schwerdhofer
patent: 3299720 (1967-01-01), Schudalla, Sr. et al.
patent: 3588144 (1971-06-01), Padial
patent: 3633938 (1972-01-01), Solomon
patent: 3670856 (1972-06-01), Segawa
patent: 3771918 (1973-11-01), Winter
patent: 3809195 (1974-05-01), Schulz et al.
patent: 3828627 (1974-08-01), Schwerdhofer
patent: 3834733 (1974-09-01), Harris
patent: 3877725 (1975-04-01), Barroza
patent: 3886807 (1975-06-01), Ellis
patent: 3891235 (1975-06-01), Shelly
patent: 3908807 (1975-09-01), Ozaki et al.
patent: 3916866 (1975-11-01), Rossi
patent: 3922005 (1975-11-01), Bundschuh
patent: 3937309 (1976-02-01), Schulz et al.
patent: 3954282 (1976-05-01), Hege
patent: 3984129 (1976-10-01), Hege
patent: 3991736 (1976-11-01), Spellman
patent: 3994509 (1976-11-01), Schaeffer
patent: 3998469 (1976-12-01), Ruys
patent: 4004299 (1977-01-01), Runge
patent: 4019230 (1977-04-01), Pollard
patent: 4029334 (1977-06-01), Trammell, Jr.
patent: 4052912 (1977-10-01), Vukelic
patent: 4081155 (1978-03-01), Kuan
patent: 4084836 (1978-04-01), Lohr
patent: 4145166 (1979-03-01), Justice
patent: 4161328 (1979-07-01), Efros
patent: 4169609 (1979-10-01), Zampedro
patent
744353 Alberta Ltd.
Johnson Brian L.
Weiss Harry M.
Weiss Jeffrey
Weiss & Moy P.C.
LandOfFree
Helical drive 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 Helical drive wheelchair, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Helical drive wheelchair will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2503528