EP0159562A2 - Lifting chair - Google Patents

Abstract

The erection wheelchair essentially consists of a support frame (11) with the wheels (13 and 15) and the seat (17) articulated on the support frame (11). A footrest (21) is articulated to the seat (17) at the front and a backrest (19) at the rear. A spring (27) exerts a force for erecting which counteracts the weight of the user in order to facilitate the erecting movement. A support arm (37) is articulated on both sides of the support frame (11) on the axis of rotation (39) and can be locked in different positions. For this purpose, the locking lever (41) has a number of locking points (45) in which a locking element (47) can engage. It is important that the arm (37) can be brought into a horizontal position, in which it does not prevent the user from moving sideways in the sitting position.

Description

The invention relates to an erection chair, in particular a foldable erection wheelchair, with a seat arranged on a support frame which can be moved from a seat position into an erection position and vice versa, a device which exerts a force on the seat in order to track the seat to the user and / or to counteract the weight of the user so as to facilitate the uprighting movement of the user, and at least one handle on which the user can exert a force when standing up to reduce the weight acting on the seat.

In the German laid-open specification 23 62 029 an adjusting device for executing a tilting movement in a chair is described. This adjustment device has two main springs made of gas springs, each of which is attached to the seat at one end and to the support frame at the other end. Two vertical tubes are provided at the front of the support frame, each of which has a handle with a lever, as is common, for example, on bicycle handlebars. From these handle levers, Bowden cables lead to locking devices for the main springs. In order to stand up with this upright chair, the user releases the locking of the main springs and may still lean slightly front. The patient can still hold on to two handles, which are attached to the front on two vertical tubes extending across the seat, and pull slightly forward. The spring force swings the seat upwards around its front edge and brings the user to the standing position. In addition to the main springs, an auxiliary spring is also involved in this pivoting movement. If the user now wants to return from the upright position to the sitting position, he swings a hand lever which relaxes the auxiliary spring. The main springs are then compressed again under the body weight of the user, so that the seat returns to the sitting position and is locked in this position after releasing the corresponding handle levers. By swiveling an operating lever forward, the user can bias the auxiliary spring again so that its additional force is again available for an uprighting movement.

This type of erection chair is relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture. A particular disadvantage is that the handles are attached to the front of the chair, making it impossible for the user to transfer laterally, as is desirable, for example, when changing to the toilet seat. Furthermore, the handle is in an unfavorable position when the user stands up, so that the user can only raise himself with such a chair with great effort, if at all. Such a chair has not been used commercially.

It is an object of the present invention to improve an erection chair, in particular a collapsible erection wheelchair. The handles should not prevent a lateral transfer movement of the user in the sitting position. Furthermore, the handles should be arranged ergonomically in every position so that the user can perform an uprighting movement without great effort. Furthermore, additional expensive mechanisms and gas springs should not be necessary.

According to the invention, this is achieved in an erecting chair of the type mentioned at the outset in that an adjusting device is provided in order to adjust the height of the handle. This has the advantage over the described chair according to the prior art that the user can get the handles into a position in which he can initiate an uprighting movement with the least effort. Experiments have shown that the best position of the handles is in the vicinity of the user at the start of the uprighting movement, so that the user only needs to press down to initiate an uprighting movement. If the user then moves a bit upwards and forwards, the handles are too deep and too far back. However, since the handles are adjustable according to the invention, he can move them upwards to a different position after a certain uprighting movement, where they are comfortable again and he can continue to exert force on the handles for further uprighting movements without great effort. Conversely, when sitting down, the user can bring the handles back to a lower position, where they can also serve as an armrest. However, it is also possible to lower the handles so far that they do not in any way prevent a lateral transfer movement. The adjustment device is expediently formed by a support arm which carries the handle, is articulated on the support frame and can be locked at different heights. This results in a particularly simple and cheap training. The support arm can advantageously be lowered into a position below the level of the seat, at which level the seat is in the sitting position. This ensures that the handles can be lowered so that they do not in any way prevent the user from moving.

It is particularly advantageous if the respective support arm is articulated on the front of the support frame. The support arm can have the same axis of rotation as the seat. This ensures that the handles are in a comfortable position for the patient in any position of the erection chair. The handles can then be moved up and forwards as the seat of the upright chair moves up and forwards during an upright movement. You are therefore always in an ergonomically favorable position. However, it would also be possible to link the support arm to the rear of the support frame, which has the advantage that it also allows the user to transfer in an upright position.

An advantageous embodiment provides that a locking lever is ^g e-steered on the support arm at a distance from its fulcrum, which has a plurality of locking points into which a locking element arranged in the support frame can engage. The locking lever is advantageously two-armed, one arm having the locking points and the other arm having a handle for unlocking. This results in a particularly simple construction of the adjustment device.

It is particularly important that the respective handle can be pivoted through a predetermined range. It should be noted that an upright wheelchair must meet conflicting requirements. On the one hand, it must not exceed a certain standard width, otherwise problems with relatively narrow door openings arise, and on the other hand, the seat should be sufficiently wide so that the user feels comfortable. However, this means that there is only a very small space between the rear wheels and the space that the seat occupies when it moves. In this space, the handle must be able to be lowered for a transfer movement. Thanks to the pivotable design of the handle according to the invention, this is possible without sacrificing the usual seat width. It is sufficient to swivel the handles inwards in order to lower the handles in the area of the wheels. In the chair according to the prior art described at the outset, a reduction in the seat width could only be achieved by the handles being attached to the front of the chair in a stationary manner. This, however, makes a lateral transfer movement of the user impossible.

In addition, the stationary arrangement has the previously mentioned disadvantage that it requires a lot of force from the user for an uprighting movement.

An advantageous embodiment provides that the respective support arm a Verriegelun ^g sklinke which the but is detachable from hand normally engages a fixedly arranged on the support frame ratchet wheel or ratchet segment. This construction also results in a relatively cheap adjustment device. However, it is also possible to form the adjusting device by means of a column which is mounted so as to be extendable on the supporting frame. The advantage of this construction is that it does not require any swiveling handles.

However, it is also possible to make the column additionally pivotable and to make it lockable in different positions. The pivot point is advantageously at the back or front of the support frame.

Even if it were possible to provide only one handle, it proves to be expedient to provide a handle on each side of the seat.

• Fig. 1 eine perspektivische Darstellung eines ersten Ausführungsbeispiels des erfindungsgemässen Aufrichtstuhls,
• Fig. 2 den Aufrichtstuhl von Fig. l, von hinten gesehen,
• Fig. 3 den Aufrichtstuhl von Figur 1 am Schluss der Aufrichtbewegung,
• Fig. 4 einen Handgriff mit Tragarm von der Seite gesehen,
• Fig. 4a eine besonders vorteilhafte Ausführungsform der Handgrifflagerung im Tragarm,
• Fig. 5 Handgriff mit Tragarm von oben gesehen,
• Fig. 6 ein Ausführungsbeispiel der Verstellvorrichtung für den Tragarm,
• Fig. 7 ein weiteres Ausführungsbeispiel eines Aufrichtstuhls mit einer anderen Verstellvorrichtung für den Handgriff,
• Fig. 8 eine detaillierte Darstellung der Verstellvorrichtung gemäss Figur 7,
• Fig. 9 ein weiteres Ausführungsbeispiel eines Aufrichtstuhls mit einer Verstellvorrichtung ähnlich wie in Figur 7, und
• Fig. 10 eine detaillierte Darstellung der Verstellvorrichtung von Fig. 8.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawing. It shows:

• 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the erecting chair according to the invention,
• 2 the erection chair of FIG. 1, seen from behind,
• 3 the erection chair of FIG. 1 at the end of the erection movement,
• 4 seen a handle with a support arm from the side,
• 4a a particularly advantageous embodiment of the handle storage in the support arm,
• 5 handle with support arm seen from above,
• 6 shows an embodiment of the adjusting device for the support arm,
• 7 shows a further exemplary embodiment of an erecting chair with another adjusting device for the handle,
• 8 shows a detailed illustration of the adjusting device according to FIG. 7,
• 9 shows a further exemplary embodiment of an erecting chair with an adjusting device similar to that in FIG. 7, and
• FIG. 10 shows a detailed illustration of the adjusting device from FIG. 8.

The collapsible erection chair 10 shown in Figures 1 to 3 consists in a conventional manner of the support frame 11 with a pair of front wheels 13 and a pair of rear wheels 15, a seat 17 hinged to the support frame 11, a backrest 19 hinged to the seat 17 and one at the front of the seat articulated footrest 21.

The support frame 11 consists of two side frames 23 which are connected to one another with two collapsible struts 25. Another strut 25 is provided for the backrest 19.

The uprighting movement from the position in FIG. 1 to the position in FIG. 2 is supported by two springs 27. These springs 27 exert a force when erected on the seat, which counteracts the weight of the user. A parallelogram rod 29, which is rotatably attached at one end to the support frame 11 and at the other end to a pivot point 30 of the backrest 19, ensures that the backrest is practically the same in every position of the chair Takes position. Similarly, the connecting lever 31 ensures the stabilization of the footrest 21.

It is important that the erection chair has an adjustment device 33 on at least one side, but preferably on both sides, with which the respective handle 35 can be brought to different heights. This enables the user to bring the handles 35 to a height that is adapted to their own position and in which they can rest well on these handles 35 in order to continue to stand up.

However, as FIG. 1 shows, the handles 35 can also be brought into a lower position in which they are located in the vicinity of the rear wheels. In this position there are no obstacles to a lateral transfer movement of the user, as is desired, for example, when changing to a toilet seat.

A closer look at the adjusting device 33 shows that it is articulated on the same axis of rotation 39 as the seat 17 on the support frame 11. This articulation at the front of the support frame enables the lowering of the support arms 37 with the handles 35 shown in FIG. 1 into a position in which they do not interfere with a transfer movement.

As can be seen in particular from FIG. 3, a locking lever 41 is articulated at 40 on the support arm 37 at a distance from the pivot point 39. This has a slot 43 with four locking points 45, in which a locking member 47 arranged on the support frame 11 can engage. This locking lever 41 has two arms, the upper arm 49 forming a handle for unlocking the locking lever. If the user of the chair wants to lower the handle 35, he pushes the locking lever handle 49 forward so that the catch member 47 disengages and the handle 35 can be pushed into the position shown in Figure 1.

Figures 2, 4 and 5 show the handles 35 in an outwardly pivoted position. Since the space between the rear wheels 15 and the seat 17 is limited, the handles 35 can be pivoted in the direction of the arrow 36 (FIG. 5) until they lie in the same vertical plane as the support arms 37. In this position, the handles are located 35 also in the position shown in Figure 1.

After swiveling out into the position of use of FIG. 2, there is also sufficient scope between the fingers of the user and the seat 17 when the latter moves past the handles 35 upwards or downwards.

In the embodiment of Fig. 4a, the support arm 37 consists of a tube piece. The handle 35 has an extension 36 which engages in the free end of the pipe section and can be rotated therein about a predetermined range.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 4, the handle 35 has an actuating lever 51 which can be easily reached by the user's fingers and which is connected via a Bowden cable 52 to a blocking device 53 for the seat 17. In the unactuated position of the lever 51, the seat 17 remains blocked in the respective position.

If the user of the upright chair wants to move from the sitting position of FIG. 1 to the standing position of FIG. 3, he slightly raises the handles 35 and then rests on them. The handles 35 then pivot by rotation in the bushing 50 into the end position shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Furthermore, the locking member 47 snaps into a locking point 45 of the locking lever 41. Now if the user unblocks the seat by actuating the actuating lever 51 and is supported on the handles 35, it can he can move upwards with little effort thanks to the help of the springs 27. He then releases the actuating lever 51 and pulls the handles 35 further up until the latching members 47 snap in another position. The user then actuates the actuating lever 51 again and continues to move upward through the muscular strength of the arms until he has reached the desired position.

In order to lower the chair, the user again actuates the actuation lever 51, whereupon the seat 17 moves downward under the weight of the user. The locking levers 41 can be released and the handles 35 can be lowered by moving the locking element handles 49 forward.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the adjustment device 33. A ratchet wheel 55 or a ratchet segment is fixedly attached to the support frame 11, into which a locking pawl 57 movably arranged on the support arm 37 can engage. If the support arm 37 is moved upward, a downward movement is blocked by the pawl 57. In order to release the pawl, however, it can be moved upwards against the force of a spring 59 with the button 61. If necessary, the arm 63 can be moved transversely into a slot 65 and locked there.

FIG. 7 shows an erection chair as in FIG. 3, but with a different adjustment device 33. In this adjustment device 33, the respective handle 35 is arranged on a column 63 which is mounted on the support frame 11 in an extendable manner. The handle 35 can be pulled up into any position, in which case a mechanism prevents the column 63 from sliding down. However, if the column is pulled out into the upper end position, it can be applied by applying slight pressure be brought back to the lower end position. The mechanism used for this purpose can be seen in Figure 8. The column 63 with the handle 35 and the actuating lever 51 is displaceable in the tube 65. A conical spring washer 67 clamps when a force acts on the handle 35 downward. However, the handle 35 can be pulled up further. If the spring washer 67 gets into the space 69 and then the handle 35 is pressed down, the spring washer is turned inside out and the handle 35 can be moved downward with ease. If the spring washer 67 then enters the space 71, when the column 63 is pulled out it is again turned into the position shown in FIG. 8, in which it counteracts a downward movement of the column 63.

The exemplary embodiment of an erection chair shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 differs from that of FIGS. 7 and 8 in that the tube 65 with the extendable column 63 is not arranged rigidly but pivotably at 71 on the rear of the supporting frame. A pawl mechanism, not shown, similar to that of Figure 6, allows the column 63 to be locked in various pivot positions. To release the column again, simply pull button 73 to release the pawl. Instead of a linkage at 71, a linkage at the front on the support frame 11 would also be possible. Otherwise, the adjusting device 33 is constructed in the same way as that in FIGS. 7 and 8, so that reference can be made to the description there for details.

Claims (17)

1. erecting chair, in particular collapsible erecting wheelchair, with a seat (17) which is arranged on a support frame (11) and which can be moved from a sitting position into an erecting position and vice versa, a device (27) which exerts a force on the seat (17) in order to track the seat and / or counteract the weight of the user and thus to facilitate the uprighting movement of the user, and at least one handle (35) on which the user can exert a force when straightening in order to force the seat ( 17) to reduce the effective weight, characterized in that a handle adjustment device (33) is provided in order to adjust the height of the handle (35). 2. Raising chair according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjusting device (33) or the handle (35) can be brought into a position in which she or he does not hinder a lateral transfer movement of the user. 3. Raising chair according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the adjusting device is formed by a support arm (37) which carries the handle (35), is articulated on the support frame (11) and can be locked at different heights. 4. Raising chair according to claim 3, characterized in that the support arm (37) can be lowered into a position at or below the level of the seat (17), at which level the seat (17) is in the sitting position (Fig. 1) . 5. Raising chair according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the support arm (37) is articulated at the front on the support frame (11). 6. Raising chair according to claim 5, characterized in that the support arm (37) has the same axis of rotation (39) as the seat (17). 7. Raising chair according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the support arm is articulated at the rear on the support frame (11). 8. Raising chair according to one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that on the support arm (37) at a distance from its pivot point a locking lever (41) is articulated, which has a plurality of locking points (45) into which a locking member arranged in the support frame (47) can intervene (Fig. 3). 9. Raising chair according to claim 8, characterized in that the locking lever (41) has two arms and that one arm has the locking points (45) and the other arm has a handle (49) for unlocking. 10. Raising chair according to one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that the respective handle (35) is pivotable about a predetermined range. ll. Raising chair according to claim 10, characterized in that the support arm (37) consists of a tube piece and that the handle (35) has an extension (36) which engages in the free end of the tube piece (37) and in this by a predetermined Area is rotatable. 12. Aufrichtstuhl element engages any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that the support arm (37) having a locking pawl (57) normally ^g in a fixedly arranged on the support frame (11), ratchet (55) or Klinkenradse, but of Hand is releasable. (Fig. 6). 13. Raising chair according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the adjusting device (33) is formed by a column (63) which is mounted so as to be extendable on the supporting frame (11). (Fig. 7, 8). 14. Raising chair according to claim 13, characterized in that the column is pivotable and can be locked in different positions. 15. Raising chair according to claim 14, characterized in that the pivot point for the pivotable column is at the rear or front of the support frame. 16. Raising chair according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that a handle (35) is provided on each side of the seat (17). 17. Raising chair according to one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that an actuating element (51) for releasing a blocking device (53) for the seat (17) is provided in the handle (35) in a vicinity that can be reached by the fingers of the user.

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