Land vehicles – Wheeled – Occupant propelled type
Patent
1996-03-25
1998-06-30
Johnson, Brian L.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Occupant propelled type
297316, 297DIG10, 2803041, 180907, A61G 500
Patent
active
057722269
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to wheelchairs used by handicapped persons and invalids and it applies equally well to folding and to non-folding wheelchairs.
There is no doubt that wheelchairs have given mobility to handicapped persons and invalids. However, such wheelchairs suffer from several drawbacks due to the fact that their users can occupy only a sitting position, which position is generally maintained for relatively long periods of time. In an attempt to remedy this single way of using wheelchairs, various proposals have been made for "stand-up" wheelchairs enabling the user to be held substantially in a standing position.
PRIOR ART
As a general rule, the proposals made use a hinged structure comprising a back, a seat, and a footrest. Such a structure is hinged, generally via the seat, about a front horizontal axis that is perpendicular to the vertical plane of symmetry of the chassis, and drive means are interposed between the chassis and the structure to enable the structure to be raised or lowered, and thus to occupy a folded or "sitting" position or an unfolded or "standing" position. The drive member may be controlled manually, electrically, or otherwise.
To illustrate that prior art, mention may be made of French patent 69/35042, German application 2 625 045, or French patent 82/11713, amongst others.
Those various proposals do indeed satisfy the intended stand-up objective, and in that sense they have undeniably provided improved well-being to users.
The structural proposals in the prior art rely generally on hinging the hinged structure about a horizontal front axis that is perpendicular to the vertical plane of symmetry of the chassis and that is secured thereto.
In the stand-up position, that organization has the effect of transferring the hinged structure and the stood-up user towards the front of the wheelchair, thereby increasing the load on the front wheels and reducing the load on the back wheels.
That gives rise to instability, since the support polygon is not uniformly loaded. That is why, as a general rule, additional support points are provided to stabilize the wheelchair when the hinged structure is in the stand-up state. Such additional support points are frequently, if not always, constituted by castors, skids, props, or feet which are provided by construction to extend the footrest so as to bear on the ground when the hinged structure is in the stand-up state.
Although such a proposal, in the general sense, serves to provide a genuine factor of stability and safety for users, it nevertheless gives rise to a problem that is unavoidable when account is taken of the desire for wheelchairs to be movable even when the hinged structure is in the stand-up state. That corresponds to the perfectly understandable desire of users to be able to recover lifestyle and independence by such means.
Reconciling such a desire with the present technique appears to be incompatible with achieving good stability and, where appropriate, ease of handling.
In an attempt to satisfy those two requirements, proposals have been made in the prior art for a different structure. Thus, e.g. as illustrated by patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,051, proposals have been made to place motor-drive means in a box located at the back in order to ballast the wheelchair so as to lower its center of gravity and compensate for the front overload that occurs in the stand-up position.
Such a proposal must indeed provide a partial solution to problems of stability and safety, but it does not appear to be usable in all configurations and with all kinds of energy that may be available for powering a wheelchair.
Also, such a proposal appears to be difficult to make compatible with the desire to have a wheelchair that is foldable to enable it to be transported easily, in particular in a motor vehicle.
In application WO 82/01314, the prior art has a different proposal which consists in mounting a hinged structure on the chassis of the wheelchair such that when the structure is moved into its stand-up position
REFERENCES:
patent: 3882949 (1975-05-01), Anderson
patent: 4231614 (1980-11-01), Shaffer
patent: 4456086 (1984-06-01), Wier et al.
patent: 4569556 (1986-02-01), Pillot
patent: 4809804 (1989-03-01), Houston et al.
patent: 5203610 (1993-04-01), Miller
patent: 5219204 (1993-06-01), Bathrick et al.
patent: 5346280 (1994-09-01), Deumite
International Diffusion Consommateurs - I.D.C.
Johnson Brian L.
Lerner Avraham
LandOfFree
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