Material or article handling – Vehicle attached auxiliary carriers
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-25
2001-08-14
Krizek, Janice L. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Vehicle attached auxiliary carriers
C224S321000, C224S328000, C414S542000, C414S921000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273668
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheel chair storage apparatus for storing a wheel chair to be used by a physically handicapped on the roof of a car such as an automobile.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, when the user of a wheel chair drives a car such as automobile, he or she has to fold the wheel chair and put it on the rear seats, the loading platform or the passenger seat of the car. A wheel chair is significantly heavy and bulky and hence such an operation of folding and loading the wheel chair is a heavy work to be done. To avoid this problem, various apparatus for storing a folded wheel chair in a storage space provided on the roof of a car such as automobile have been proposed to date. Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-12598 is one of such proposals.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-12598 describes a wheel chair storage apparatus of a car that comprises a case main body arranged on the roof of the car to store a folded wheel chair, a rail unit arranged in the case main body and including the first, second and third rails that can be extended and retracted between the roof and the door of the car accessible to the user of the wheel chair. The folded wheel chair is brought into engagement with the third rail that is located lowermost and then stored in the case main body by retracting the first, second and third rails.
However, a wheel chair storage apparatus as disclosed in the above Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-12598 is accompanied by the following problems.
(1) Since the wheel chair storage apparatus comprises a plurality of rails that have to be extended and retracted when storing the wheel chair, the apparatus has a rather complex configuration to make it liable to become out of order and costly. Additionally, in the case of a one-box type car that stands high, an apparatus of a different version comprising four or more than four rails may have to be installed and therefore the user may be forced to buy a new apparatus when he or she buys a new car. In other words, the applicability of the apparatus is limited.
(2) The operation of folding the wheel chair and bringing it into engagement with the rail unit is an outdoor operation. Therefore, not only the wheel chair but also the owner of the wheel chair itself get wet when it rains. This is by no means desirable to the health of the wheel chair owner. The provision of a water-proof sheet for protecting the wheel chair owner and the wheel chair is, however, not feasible because of the configuration of the apparatus.
(3) Because the wheel chair storage apparatus comprises a rail unit including a plurality of rails that can be extended and retracted, it is rather bulky. In other words, the location at which it can be fitted to the car is limited and may be remote from the door accessible to the user of the wheel chair to provide a great disadvantage for the operation of storing the wheel chair.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above identified problems and other problems of the prior art, it is therefore the first object of the present invention to provide a wheel chair storage apparatus having a simple configuration that is applicable to various types of cars with different heights without modifying its configuration and can be manufactured at low cost.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a wheel chair storage apparatus that allows a wheel chair to be stored and retrieved with ease and to which a water-proof sheet or cover can be fitted in a simple manner to protect both the wheel chair owner and the wheel chair against rain.
The third object of the invention is to provide a wheel chair storage apparatus adapted to shift the location of the operation of storing the wheel chair depending on the door of the car accessible to the user of the wheel chair (where the user leaves the wheel chair to get into the car and rides onto the wheel chair from the car).
According to the invention, the above first object is achieved by providing a wheel chair storage apparatus adapted to store the wheel chair of a physically handicapped in a folded state in a storage space arranged on the roof of a car, said apparatus comprising a main body including a storage section for storing the folded wheel chair, a fitting means for fitting the main body to the roof of the car, a slider movable back and forth between the main body and a position located above a doorway of the car, a lift means arranged on the lift for lifting the wheel chair from said doorway, a wheel chair folding means interlocked with said lift means for folding the wheel chair being lifted by said lift means, a wheel chair holder for folding said folded wheel chair and an attitude modifying means for modifying the attitude of the wheel chair so as to make it adapted to storage by rotating the wheel chair holder with said wheel chair. Said wheel chair folding means is preferably a belt or a wire having its opposite ends linked to the lateral sides of the wheel chair to be folded together so as to suspend said wheel chair as it is pulled up at the middle thereof.
With the above described arrangement, the slider fitted to the main body is moved horizontally and laterally relative to the car to a position located above a doorway of the car and the belt or the wire of the wheel chair folding means is made to lift the wheel chair vertically. Then, the wheel chair is folded as it is lifted and then rotated with the wheel chair holder until it is stored in the storage section. The wheel chair storage apparatus has a configuration that is simplified more than any comparable conventional apparatus and is practically free from malfunctions. Such a wheel chair storage apparatus can be manufactured at low cost.
The above described first object of the invention can also be achieved by providing a wheel chair storage apparatus adapted to store the wheel chair of a physically handicapped in a folded state in a storage space arranged on the roof of a car, said apparatus comprising a main body including a storage section for storing the folded wheel chair, a fitting means for fitting the main body to the roof of the car, a rotating means for rotating said main body between the position for storing the wheel chair and a position right above a doorway of the car, a lift means arranged on the lift for lifting the wheel chair from said doorway, a wheel chair folding means interlocked with said lift means for folding the wheel chair being lifted by said lift means, a wheel chair holder for folding said folded wheel chair and an attitude modifying means for modifying the attitude of the wheel chair so as to make it adapted to storage by rotating the wheel chair holder with said wheel chair. Said wheel chair folding means is preferably a belt or a wire having its opposite ends linked to the lateral sides of the wheel chair to be folded together so as to suspend said wheel chair as it is pulled up at the middle thereof.
This arrangement of omitting the above described slider can further simplify the configuration of a wheel chair storage apparatus according to the invention.
According to the invention, the above second object is achieved by providing said slider with a water-proof cover. Preferably, said water-proof cover is made of an elastic material.
With this arrangement, as either the slider is adapted to move horizontally between the main body and a position located above a doorway of the car or the main body is adapted to be rotated by a rotating means between the position for storing the wheel chair and a position right above a doorway of the car, the user of the wheel chair can fit the waterproof cover to either the slider or the main body with ease so that not only the user of the wheel chair but also the wheel chair itself is protected against being wetted by rain or snow.
Additionally, when the water-proof sheet is made of an elastic material, it can change its form according to the profile of the wheel chair and the wheel chair holder so th
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
Krizek Janice L.
Nissin Jidosha Kogyo Co., Ltd.
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