GB2161085A - Walking aid - Google Patents

Abstract

The aid comprises two or more vertical lengths a coupled by means c, e, roller means, eg castors b, and one or more support or grip areas for each hand on an upper portion of the frame. A tray f, a sheet g, one or more hooks j and a basket or net i may be provided for carrying articles on the aid. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Supporting carriage for the infirm THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a movable carriage which can support an infirm user, and can be simultaneously moved by him by the expenditure of minimal effort, said carriage being movable in a horizontal direction because of the roller means attached to the bottom of the said carriage.

Unfortunately, there are many people who have mobility impediments, which make walking without support either difficult or impossiblue. Many elderly people are in this category: in some cases the inability to get around the infirm persons home can be the deciding factor in the decision regarding placing him in a home for the aged, or not.

While there are means available for aiding those with pedestrian difficulty, e.g., canes or connected parallel support bars, they have the following drawbacks: they must be raised above the ground before each new step is taken; they offer no support during said raising phase; the entire raising effort is wasted in that there is no forward, horizontal component of motion; they present a negative psychological factor in that it is immediately evident that the user is handicapped; the user can not lean forward or backward when using a cane; the said means have only the basic support function-they can not be used for a secondary function such as carrying various objects from place to place, which said secondary function however could greatly enhance the usefulness of the supporting carriage, as well as negating the above-mentioned negative psychological factor even further.

Therefore this invention proposes a supporting carriage comprising vertical lengths which are essentially parallel and properly coupled together, having roller means at the bottoms of said vertical lengths, where the diagonal of the polygon (e.g., circle or square) formed by the ends of said vertical lengths and the length of said vertical lengths are suitably dimensioned for ease in pushing of said supporting carriage by the operator and for easy support of said operator. There must also be at least one comfortable support area for each hand.

Therefore, the top of the supporting carriage should be at about the height of the waist, while its (diagonal) width should be somewhat less than shoulder breadth, for good control, and ease in operation. The said height, however, is not so critical, as the said hand support areas may extend from the top of the supporting carriage and down, allowing choosing of the most comfortable angle of hand vs. vertical length. The position of the hands may change when the person is resting, where he may choose to lean on the top of the supporting carriage, as opposed to when he is moving, when he may choose to grasp two of the vertical lengths at some point below the top.

The said roller means may be any means which presents little resistance to forward motion upon application of force, but which will stay still by itself, as well as being easily changed in direction-especially useful for this appiication are caster wheels, and especially those which are of somewhat-soft consistency and sufficient width (e.g., 5-cm elastic white rubber) to ensure user safety by preventing any possible "run-away," while enabling preservation of maneuverability, which is crucial for the user's feeling of security, which, for the infirm, is no less important than the actual physical safety of the device.

It should also be realized that the downward component of force exerted on the wheels by the user helps stabilize the carriage.

If desired a braking means might be added and/or a means limiting the maximum wheel speed.

Although the above-mentioned basic apparatus was mentioned as being for use in the home, there is no reason why it may not be used outdoors; in case of bad pavement conditions, special-type roller means might have to be used.

It is obvious that the said vertical lengths might be comprised of a solid sheet of various forms and thicknesses (which sheet may be considered as an infinite number of said vertical lengths of infinitesimal thickness), where the said comfortable support areas have been provided, as thickened areas at the top of the said sheet or/and as inserts in the sheet body, at convenient positions down from the top.

The above-mentioned basic model, in its various forms, can be adapted, as mentioned, to the secondary function of an object carrier by, inter alia, adding a tray at the top, to support food and beverages and transport them from room to room; by closing the top of the supporting carriage and/or adding a horizontal sheet near the middle of said vertical lengths, the same may be accomplished.

In the latter case, the said horizontal sheets should be provided with a rim, to prevent dropping the carried objects. Of course, in the case of a horizontal sheet near the vertical length center, the said vertical lengths would have to be open to provide access. For vertical lengths comprised of a solid sheet, a compartment would have to be provided.

Besides the above, the supporting carriage may be fitted with a net, or other basket towards the carriage bottom, and/or fitted with hooks at appropriate places, for shopping or other purposes.

While the main purpose of the invention is to provide a supporting carriage for the infirm, it is thought that such an apparatus might be useful for the healthy also, e.g., to replace the shopping bag which is now carried or pulled on wheels, and this due to the quasi-quadrudepal anatomic nature of man, where it would be useful to take some of the weight off the feet from time to time, by leaning on the supporting carriage; this would also do away with the need for stooping over with the wheeled shopping bag.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 Basic supporting carriage.

Figure 2 Carriage adapted for object carrying.

Description of the preferred embodiments Figure 1 shows the basic supporting carriage which gives support to the operator whether he is moving or standing still. Parallel vertical length bars a provide the basic frame of the apparatus; they are coupled together by annuli c (upper) and e (lower) by fasteners d.

At the ends of said bars a are the roller means b, which in this case are caster wheels. The three said bars are, of course, symmetrically arranged for maximum stability, as would be any number of bars. Said bars a may be made of any suitable material, such as plastic or metal: in the prototype they were of bamboo wood, which added to the aesthetic quality; their diameter was about 3 cm.

Of course, coupling means C and e may be comprised of transverse segments connecting the various bars a (for an even number of bars a the said fastening means may be cruciform, joined at the center).

Figure 2 depicts the basic supporting carriage of Fig. 1 adapted for object carrying.

Operation is as in Fig. 1, i.e., the carriage is moved by force at any convenient points on bars a, or annulus c, and the operator may rest by leaning upon the top of annulus c or while holding said bars a. Added are the horizontal sheets f and g bounded by said annuli C and e, which said sheets may have a slight downward concavity to cause annuli c and e to act as rims, as mentioned above; basket i for holding objects; hook j for hanging objects. The space between sheets f and g may now be filled with objects it is desired to transfer.

Obviously other additions and variations could be made to the basic carriage, for the benefit of the operator, without leaving the scope of the invention, to be defined in the following Claims below. For example, the said vertical lengths may be taken to mean straight or even curved and/or angled composite lengths having an overall vertical component.

two of which at least have said comfortable support area, but which are not parallel: e.g., three straight lengths forming a teepee-shaped carriage, where the apex may have various diameters vs. the base, to which said base or said straight lengths are connected the roller means; at least two angled lengths giving a quasi-diamond structure; etc. These would be ruled out if it would be desired to add a tray or horizontal sheet for carrying, at the top, unless in the case of the diamond structure the said angled lengths were almost straight.

From the point of view of maneuvering the carriage, of course the use of an apparatus with symmetrical straight vertical lengths coupled by upper and or lower annuli is indicated as the best embodiment.

"Comfortable support area" means a nonabrasive means of large-enough size to facilitate easy grasping or leaning upon, e.g., even a straight vertical length segment of sufficient diameter.

The said roller means may be attached to the bottom coupling annulus when the latter is near the bottom of the said vertical lengths.

Claims (9)

1. A supporting carriage comprising: two or more vertical length means, two of which at least are identical, or mirror images of each other; upper and or lower coupling means symmetrically coupling the upper and/or lower parts respectively of the said vertical length means; fastening means fastening said vertical length means and said upper and/or lower coupling means; proper roller means connected at bottom of supporting carriage to either lower end of said coupling means, when said roller means must be of number no less than three, or to lower ends of each of said vertical length means, in each case the rollers being symmetrically distributed around the bottom; and, comfortable support area means comprising at least one symmetrical pair of areas on said upper coupling means or/and on two or more proper said vertical length means at a proper height, where total supporting carriage height is about up to the waist of the operator, where maximum horizontal diagonal length is somewhat less than shoulder breadth, and where said roller means move forward easily upon exertion of forward force by the carriage operator on said upper coupling means or on said vertical length means at the proper places.

2. A supporting carriage according to Claim 1 wherein said vertical length means are straight, and parallely and symmetrically disposed.

3. A supporting carriage according to Claim 1 wherein said coupling means is one or both of the group comprising: one or more annuli encompassing or being encompassed by or coinciding with said vertical length means symmetrically; and, transverse connecting bars, between the various vertical length means.

4. A supporting carriage according to Claim 1 wherein said vertical length means, said upper and lower coupling means and said fastening means are included in a solid sheet of material.

5. A supporting carriage according to Claim 1 wherein said roller means comprise caster wheel means.

6. A supporting carriage according to Claim 1 wherein said comfortable support area means is the material of the vertical length means or the upper coupling means made non-abrasive and possessing the proper cross-section.

7. A supporting carriage according to Claim 4 wherein said comfortable support area means are thickened areas on the said upper coupling means or inserts on each side of the sheet body at the proper positions.

8. A supporting carriage according to Claim 1 where adaptation is made for object carrying by addition of one or more of the means comprising: addition of tray or similar means to the top of the supporting carriage; closing off of upper coupling means; addition of horizontal sheet near middle of said vertical length means; addition of net or other basket towards the bottom of the carriage; and, addition of hooks facing inwardly, at appropriate positions on the said vertical length means.

9. A supporting carriage according to Claim 8 comprising: three or four parallel straight wooden vertical length means of proper length; wooden coupling means; caster wheel roller means connected to the bottom of each said vertical length means; and, horizontal wooden spirals at top and middle of said vertical length means.