GB2106790A

GB2106790A - Stair ascending/descending aid for disabled persons

Info

Publication number: GB2106790A
Application number: GB08220001A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Inderjit Baria
Original assignee: ELLIS SON AND PARAMORE Ltd
Current assignee: ELLIS SON AND PARAMORE Ltd
Priority date: 1981-07-14
Filing date: 1982-07-09
Publication date: 1983-04-20
Also published as: GB2106790B

Abstract

The aid comprises a device slidably mounted on guide means 10 extending generally parallel to the line of inclination of the stairs, which device includes a manually slidable carriage 12 having a handle 14 to be grasped by the user who alternately pushes the device before him and then uses it as a support when locking means have been made operative. The handle 14 is carried on an operating arm 26 which is pivotally connected to the carriage via pivot pin 28. Friction pads are located in opposite sides of the pivot pin and are carried by piston elements, the domed heads of which bear against a side surface of arm 26 such that limited pivoted movement of the arm clamps one or other of these pads against the guide means. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Disabled persons stairs aid The invention relates to apparatus usable as an aid for assisting a person to ascend or descend flights of stairs, that is to say a person partially disabled either by old age or infirmity.

Except for the well known and universally fitted handrail,the only other previously known stairs aid for partially disabled persons has been the kind of apparatus including a seat arrangement capable of being driven up or down by power operated means.

Such previously known aids are complicated and expensive. The object of the invention is to provide a stairs aid which will be of very much reduced cost.

According to the invention, there is provided apparatus for assisting a person to ascend or descend stairs, the apparatus including guide means, carriage means mainly slidable along said guide means, locking means for retaining the carriage means in position on said guide means, and handle means carried by the carriage means, said handle means being grasped by a person ascending or descending the stairs. The handle means will preferably be movable relative to the carriage means to render the locking means operative or inoperative, said handle means being used as a support and as a release member, alternately, as the person using the apparatus negotiates the stairs. The locking means may include at least one friction pad arranged to be tightly clamped against the guide means by the imposition of a load on the handle means.The handle means may be mounted on an operating arm extending forwardly from the carriage means in parallel or substantially in parallel with the guide means, and in this case said handle means will preferably be pivotally mounted relative to the operating arm, so that the handle means can be pivoted downwards from an upstanding inoperative position adjacent a wall to which the guide means are secured to a horizontal operative position extending partly across the width of the stairs concerned, stop means being provided to prevent further downward pivotal movement of said handle means.The operating arm may be pivotally connected to the carriage means, the arrangement being such that limited pivotal movement of said operating arm relative to said carriage means is effective to clamp the at least one friction pad against the guide means to retain the carriage means in a position to which it has been moved along the guide means. In this case, the operating arm wi!! preferably be pivotally connected to the carriage means about a pivot pin located intermediate the ends of the carriage means, the locking means being constituted by respective friction pads located on opposite sides of said pivot pin; the friction pads may be urged away from the guide means by resilient means so that, when released, the operating arm is held in an inoperative position substantially parallel to the guide means.

The guide means will preferably be constituted by a handrail having a cross-section of rectangular outline shape, said handrail preferably being formed by at least one length of an extruded metal section, one side wall of which has a T-section slot for the connection of fixing brackets by means of which the handrail is to be connected to a wall. The apparatus may include respective lengths of wire rope or the like connected to the opposite ends of the carriage means and extending around respective pulleys at the opposite ends of the guide means, manually operable means being provided for rotating the appropriate one of said pulleys so that a person having ascended or descended the stairs can return the carriage means along the guide means for the use of another person.In this case, the guide means may be provided with a slotted cavity along which the lengths of wire rope or the like can extend.

In order that the invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a person ascending a flight of stairs assisted by apparatus embodying the invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus drawn to a somewhat larger scale than Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the apparatus, and Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 in Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus there illustrated for assisting a person to ascend or descend stairs includes guide means constituted by a handrail 10 extending generally parallel to the line of inclination of the stairs; carriage means generally indicated 12 which are manually slidable along said guide means; locking means which are located within said carriage means and which will presently be described, and handle means generally indicated 14 carried by the carriage means, said handle means being grasped by a person ascending or descending the stairs.

As best shown in Figure 2, the handrail 10 is formed by at least one length of an extruded metal section one side wall of which has a T-section slot 16 for the connection of fixing brackets 18. The brackets are provided with flange portions which engage the T-section slot of the metal section, as shown. When two lengths of the extruded metal section are to abut together end to end, a bracket 18 will engage adjacent end portions of each length so that the sections are held together in exact alignment.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the carriage means are constituted by a length of metal section defining a pair of box-shaped cavities 20 and 22 the latter one of which has a slotted side wall. Corner pieces 24 of a synthetic plastics material are located within the box-shaped cavity 22 to act as slide surfaces on the four side walls of the handrail. The box-shaped cavity 20 of the carriage means accommodates an end portion of an operating arm 26 at the other end of which the handle means 14 are carried. Said operating arm is pivotally connected to the carriage means by means of a pivot pin 28.

The locking means which have been referred to as being located within the carriage means are consti tuted by a pair of friction pads 30 and 32 located on opposite sides of the pivot pin, that is to say, one of said pads being located forwardly of said pin and the other being located rearwardly of said pin relative to the direction of travel of the carriage means on the guide means. Said friction pads are carried by respective piston elements 34 and 36 domed head ends of which bear against a side surface of the operating arm, the arrangement being such that limited pivotal movement of the operating arm relative to the carriage means is effective to clamp one friction pad or the other against the guide means, dependent upon the direction of pivotal movement of the operating arm, to retain the carriage means in a position to which it has been moved along the guide means.Respective resilient pads 38 and 40 are located beneath the domed heads of the piston elements and these act to urge the piston elements away from the guide means.

Consequently, the arrangement is such that when the handle means are released, the operating arm is held in an inoperative positon substantially parallel to the guide means with the locking means inoperative.

The handle means 14 are constituted by a length of metal tube 42 formed to the shape shown in the drawings and welded to a carrier plate 44. As shown in Figure 5, said handle means are pivotally mounted relative to the operating arm about an axis extending longitudinally of said arm. A stub shaft 46 which is welded to the carrier plate 44 is mounted in plain bearings 48 in a housing 50 at the free end of the operating arm. The arrangement is such that the handle means can be pivoted downwards from an upstanding inoperative position adjacent a wall to which the guide means are secured (i.e. from the position shown in chain-dotted lines in Figure 2) to a horizontal operative position extending partly across the width of the stairs concerned (i.e. to the position shown in full lines in Figure 2).Stop means 52 are provided to prevent further downward pivotal movement of said handle means. When the handle means have been pivoted upwards to the inoperative position, it protrudes only a relatively small distance from the handrail than does the carriage means 12.

The apparatus is such that, in use, a person ascending the stairs and grasping the handle means will push the carriage means along the guide means a distance to suit himself, that is to say a distance to suit his own reach or state of infirmity, and will then use the handle means to pull himself up one or more stairs before again pushing the carriage means ahead of himself. This sequence of using the handle alternately as a support and as a means of pushing the carriage means ahead of himself to a suitable position is repeated as the stairs are ascended. It will be understood that on pushing the carriage means before him, a person using the apparatus will apply pressure to the inside part of the handle, that is to say the part of the handle immediately adjacent the operating arm so that there is little or no leverage on the latter about the axis of the pivot pin 28.When using the apparatus to pull himself up the stairs, he will apply his weight to the outermost part of the handle so that the leverage thereby imposed on the operating arm will effectively engage the frictional locking means.

The apparatus can be used in a similar manner for descending the stairs. The person using the apparatus will grasp the handle and by applying a pressure to the inside part of the handle will push the carriage means along the guide means a distance to suit himself. He will transfer his weight to the outer part of the handle to engage the frictional locking means. The handle can then be used as a support by the user as he takes a step down the stairs.

The apparatus described above is both simple and safe because a person falling forwards against the handle from either side of the handle will impose a leverage on the operating arm sufficient to apply the frictional locking means. However, various modifications may be made. For example, the locking means which are rendered operable or inoperable by the movement of the handle means relative to the carriage means need not necessarily be friction type locking means; the locking means could comprise a mechanical detent mechanism having a detent pin on the carriage means engageable in any one of a plurality of holes formed along the guide means, or alternatively the locking means could comprise a mechanical detent mechanism having a serrated shoe on the carriage means, the shoe being engageable with a series of serrations formed along the guide means.In either of these cases, a mechanical linkage, for example a push rod or a flexible Bowden cable could connect the handle to the detent mechanism. It may be arranged for the locking means to be such that there is one locking position for each stairtread, so that, for example, when the apparatus is being used for ascending the stairs, the handle may be located substantially above the mid-point of respective treads when the carriage is located in successive locking positions. In this case, the handle may be capable of being located in either one of two positions relative to the carriage means so that, for example, it could be arranged that when being used for descending the stairs the handle may be positioned above the riser of respective treads as the carriage is located in successive locking positions.In this latter case it may be found advan tageousforthe handle to be located in a somewhat higher position from the respective stair treads when the apparatus is being used for descending the stairs than when ascending. Although the handle in the upstanding inoperative position in which it is illustrated in chain-dotted lines in Figure 2 is located quite near to the wall to which the guide means are secured, and thus protrudes only a relatively smali distance from the handrail, it will be understood that it could be arranged to lie in an inoperative position in a plane parallel to the wall so as to avoid completely the risk that it might obstruct the stairs for people not needing to use the apparatus.

In certain circumstances, as for example when the apparatus in installed in an old peoples home rather than in a private house, it will be advantageous if a person having ascended or descended the stairs can return the carriage means along the guide means for the use of another person. For this purpose it may be arranged for respective lengths of wire rope or the like to be connected to opposite ends of the carriage means to extend around respective pulleys at the opposite ends of the guide means; in this case there would be provided manually operable means for rotating the appropriate one of said pulleys, that is to say at the upper or lower end of the flight of stairs, such means conveniently taking the form of respective handles connected to or capable of being connected to said pulleys. It will be seen that the underside of the handrail is provided with a slotted cavity along which the lengths of wire rope or the like can extend to and from the carriage means. It will probably be advantageous to provide some kind of torque limiting arrangement in the drive to each pulley, or some kind of overload slip arrangement of the wire rope or the like relative to the carriage means, to prevent misusage of the apparatus.

Claims

1. Apparatus for assisting a person to ascend or descend stairs, the apparatus including guide means, carriage means manually slidable along said guide means, locking means for retaining the carriage means in position on said guide means, and handle means carried by the carriage means, said handle means being grasped by a person ascending or descending the stairs.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which the handle means are movable relative to the carriage means to render the locking means operative or inoperative, said handle means being used as a support and as a release member, alternately, as the person using the apparatus negotiates the stairs.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, in which the locking means include at least one friction pad arranged to be tightly clamped against the guide means by the imposition of a load on the handle means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, in which the handle means are mounted on an operating arm extending forwardly from the carriage means in parallel or substantially in parallel with the guide means.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, in which the handle means are pivotally mounted relative to the operating arm, so that the handle means can be pivoted downwards from an upstanding inoperative position adjacent a wall to which the guide means are secured to a horizontal operative position extending partly across the width of the stairs concerned, stop means being provided to prevent further downward pivotal movement of said handle means.

6. Apparatus according to either one of claims 4 and 5, in which the operating arm is pivotally connected to the carriage means, the arrangement being such that limited pivotal movement of said operating arm relative to said carriage means is effective to clamp the at least one friction pad against the guide means to retain the carriage means in a position to which it has been moved along the guide means.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, in which the operating arm is pivotally connected to the carriage means about a pivot pin located intermediate the ends of the carriage means, the locking means being constituted by respective friction pads located on opposite sides of said pivot pin.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, in which the friction pads are urged away from the guide means by resilient means so that, when released, the operating arm is held in an inoperative position substantially parallel to the guide means.

9. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the guide means are constituted by a handrail having a cross-section of rectangular outline shape.

10. Apparatus according to claim 11, in which the handrail is formed by at least one length of an extruded metal section, one side wall of which has a T-section slot for the connection of fixing brackets by means of which the handrail is to be connected to a wall.

11. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, including respective lengths of wire rope or the like connected to the opposite ends of the carriage means and extending around respective pulleys at the opposite ends of the guide means, manually operable means being provided for rotating the appropriate one of said pulleys so that a person having ascended or descended the stairs can return the carriage means along the guide means for the use of another person.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, in which the guide means are provided with a slotted cavity along which the lengths of wire rope or the like can extend.

13. Apparatus for assisting a person to ascend or descend stairs, the apparatus being constructed, arranged and adapted to be used substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 16th December 1982.

Superseded claims 1 and 3.

New or amended claims: Claims 4-13 renumbered as claims 3-12, and appendancies corrected.

1. Apparatus for assisting a person to ascend or descend stairs, the apparatus including guide means; carriage means manually slidable along said guide means; locking means for retaining the carriage means in position on said guide means, said locking means including at least one friction pad arranged to be tightly clamped against the guide means; and handle means carried by the carriage means, said handle means being grasped by a person ascending or descending the stairs.