GB2281923A - Handrail with handle to assist, e.g. in climbing stairs - Google Patents

Abstract

A handrail 1, especially a star rail, in a walkway has a guide in its upper face, the guide comprising spaced apart detent means 5. A user is provided with a handle 4 to travel in the guide to assist the user in travelling along the walkway. <IMAGE>

Description

A DEVICE FOR ASSISTING PASSAGE ALONG A WALKWAY The invention relates to a device for assisting passage along a walkway, particularly for assisting climb or descent of a stairway.

There are 8.8 million persons aged 65 and over in the United Kingdom, including 870,000 persons aged 85 and over. Many of these people have severe difficulty in ascending and descending stairways. Each year tens of thousands of people are injured, sometimes fatally, in falls on staircases, often at home and alone. The overwhelming majority of these people are left with no choice but to hang on to a stair rail when ascending or descending stairs. As conventional stair rails or banisters are usually rounded and sloping, they are difficult objects to grip with any feeling of security. Sliding one's hand along a stair rail means relaxing one's grip in between each step, and this relaxation of the grip can lead to a loss of balance which could lead to a fall. One solution to this problem is the installation of a motor driven stair lift, but such a device can cost several thousand pounds.

It has been realised that it would be beneficial to provide a handle to travel in a guide having detent means along the handrail for the person to grasp as he moves up or down the stairs, see for example GB patent publications 2212832; 2188344; 1487558 and 0960844. In all of these proposals the handle travels in a guide in a vertical side wall of the rail so that the handle projects generally horizontally a short distance across the stairs.

It has now been discovered that there are benefits if the handle extends generally vertically.

According to the invention in one aspect there is provided a walkway such as a stairway having a handrail along one wall the walkway including a device comprising a guide and a handle, the guide having spaced apart detent means along the rail, the guide having a handle which extends generally upwardly being movable along the guide.

Preferably the guide defines a slot comprising longitudinally spaced apart inclined guide sections which open upwardly. Preferably the base of the handle is a bush which is engaged with the sidewall of the guide.

Preferably the handle includes a safety strap.

The handle may extend strictly vertically or at an inclination but will be sufficiently upright that it will not foul the path of the walker not be an obstacle to children.

Using the invention it is possible to provide on a staircase a modified conventional banister, or an auxiliary banister mounted on an opposite wall to a conventional banister for assisting in ascent or descent of the staircase.

The guide may comprise a plurality of spaced sections which are inclined to the horizontal, there being detent means adjacent an upper end, in use, of each section. This provides for a positive progression along the staircase.

The guide comprises a slot cut into the rail or preferably is an insert received within a slot cut into a hand rail which may be made of wood or the like.

In order that the invention may be well understood it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a device according to the invention mounted on a wall of a staircase; Figure 2 is an enlarged partial plan view of part of the device of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged end elevation of one handle; Figure 4 is an enlarged elevation of another handle; Figures 5 and 5A show respectively an enlarged end elevation of another handle and a neck portion thereof; Figure 6 shows another device according to the invention, with the handle of Figure 3 mounted therein; and Figure 7 shows schematically another device according to the invention.

Referring to the drawings, like parts are shown by the same numerals. The device 1 shown in Figure 1 comprises a hand rail 1 alongside the stairs 2 of a staircase. A handle 4 travels in a guide comprising slots 3 having spaced detent lengths 5 for constraining movement of the handle along the guide except in a desired direction.

In Figures 1 and 2 the guide 3 is a slot in the upper surface of an elongate wooden rail 6 which is adapted for mounting at a wall of the staircase 2 at a usual banister height. The rail 6 is made of separate parts laminated together, two of which are profiled to provide the slot 3 which is undercut to provide for capture of a head 7 of the handle 4 of the type shown in Figures 5 and 5A for example. The slot 3 is of about 18 mm width and has inclined sections 3a, arranged in line, each section being substantially of the same length as the depth of the steps of the staircase, the sections 3a being substantially parallel to one another and adjacent ones being connected by angled sections comprising the detent means 5.In a modification, the detent angled sections comprising the detent means 5 comprise blind continuation parts 3b of each section 3a as shown in dashed lines in Figure 2. The slot itself is blind at each end, terminating in an enlarged well 8 which is large enough (diameter 37 mm) to receive the head 1 of the support element, for start of passage along the slot 3.

The slot 3 can also be formed in a metal plate 9 as shown in Figure 1,2 and 6 and which is secured to a wooden rail 6 having a channel 10, which is closed by the plate 9. In another construction the guide is preformed, e.g. moulded of plastics and inserted in a precut channel therefor in the rail.

The handle 4 of Figure 5 comprises a cylindrical wooden handle 10 and a cylindrical bush or head 7 of similar diameter to the handle and spaced therefrom by a friction reducing neck or sleeve 11 of smaller diameter than the handle 10 and bush 7. The bush and handle are connected by an internal metal pin 12, of high tensile steel to strengthen the handle.

The handle 4 of Figure 3 is used with the device with a metal plate 9 and has a handle, suitably a steel rod of 12.5 mm diameter and 150 mm length received as by threading into a disc 13 of polymer such as Nylon, of metal, which secures the bush 7 of suitable material such Nylon to the handle 12, the bush 7 having a groove 14 which receives boundary edges of the slot 3 in the metal plate 9 for guiding the handle 4 along the slot 3.

In every embodiment, there may be a safety strap 15 of a suitable material such as plastic or leather through which a hand of a user is placed, so that the handle 4 is not readily dropped.

The rail 6 can have a rounded banister element to act as an additional hand grip.

The device 1 can be mounted on a traditional banister, in place of it, or opposite a conventional banister in a stairwell or staircase. In use, the device 1 is mounted in the staircase 2 at the usual height of a banister and at the usual inclination. A user grasps a handle 4 by the handle (10 or 12) and offers the head or bush 7 up to well 8 at the end of the slot at the beginning of the staircase, either for ascent or descent. Then the support element 4 is pushed along the slot 3, being securely locked in the device 1 by the head of bush 7 being trapped in the slot 3.

As the handle 4 is pushed along the device 1 the user, who may be infirm, aged, or disabled, is supported by the handle 4 and is thereby assisted in passage up or down the staircase 2. At the end of each section 3a of the slot 3, which represents passage over one step of the staircase 2, the handle 4 is locked by the detent 5 against further movement; the handle is then pulled or pushed along the inclined connector section, and then is at the start of the next section for passage up or down the next step. Thus the handle 4 is constrained from movement except in a desired direction along the passageway, as shown by arrow 'X', Figure 2.

In the modification in Figure 2, blind extension parts 3b shown in dashed lines act as stop means which are overcome by positive pulling of the handle away therefrom, and along detents 5. In either case, the detent means at the end of each inclined section of the groove provides a positive stop or lock which assists the user in passage along the staircase. When the end of the staircase 2 is reached, the handle 4 is at the end of the device. It may be left there for a future return journey, or may be removed by lifting from the well 8 at that end. The user holds the handle 4 continuously during ascent or descent (though it will be understood that the device can equally be used on a flat walkway).

Throughout passage along the walkway, the user has a firm grip on the handle 4, which is held substantially upright and at an angle of about 900 to the rail 6. There may be a plurality of similar handles 4 for a plurality of individual users, and moreover, there may be a rack for holding the handles 4 adjacent the ends of the body. Also, there may be a plurality of devices 1, which when mounted in a desired relation to each other along a passageway, can provide a desired shape corresponding to the configuration of the walkway, for example, a spiral staircase.

In another modification, Figure 7 the upper (in use) end well 8 is located at the end of an extension 5' of the slot 3 beyond the upper (in use) detent 5, which extension 5' is about 5-6 cm long and terminates in the upper end well 8. This provides for a steadier use at the end of a run as the user can slide the handle 4 to the end detent 5, steady him or herself at the top of the stairs, and then move the handle to the wall 8 for removal. Importantly, moreover, the extension 5' provides for mounting of a plurality of separate handles 4 in the guide 3, ready for grasping by several different users in turn as they aim to negotiate a stairway. The extension 5' thus provides for "taxi-ranking" of the handles 4.

It is possible to have a sealed system where the required number of handles 4 is inserted in the guide 3 and the entry or exit wells 8 are then plugged, thereby effectively locking the or each handle 4 in the guide 3. This is very helpful to aged users, for example an elderly couple with a device embodying the invention installed in their home. Similar considerations apply to a device embodying the invention installed in say Old Peoples Homes. It will be understood that a transition curve part 5' of the guide 3 acts as a crash barrier or means to obviate overshoot when ascending or descending a staircase.

The fact that the handle and the guide face generally upwardly prevents "snagging" by a passer-by or accidents in that someone such as a child cannot run into a sideprotruding handle 4. The guide 3 is visible and thus so is progress therealong as a user can readily see the position of the handle 4. The handle can be moved upwardly and downwardly at any position along the length of guide and the device provides support for the user, like a banister, as it is spaced from the wall of a stairwell. This feature can be incorporated in embodiments with a guide in a surface of the device facing into the stairwell, though it will be understood too that those embodiments can be set flush with or recessed into a wall of the stairwell.

The device may be made of any suitable materials other than wood, for example, plastic, metal or the like.

Claims (10)

1. A walkway having a handrail along one wall, the walkway including a device comprising a guide and a handle, the guide having spaced apart detent means along the rail and in the handle which extends generally upwards and is movable along the guide.

2. A walkway according to Claim 1, wherein the guide defines a slot comprising longitudinally spaced apart inclined sections which open upwardly.

3. A walkway according to Claim 2, wherein the guide comprises a preformed insert received in a slot therefor in the handrail.

4. A walkway according to Claim 3, wherein the insert is moulded of a plastics.

5. A walkway according to any of Claims 2 to 4, wherein each section includes an enlarged end portion to receive the handle.

6. A walkway according to any preceding Claim, wherein the guide includes a portion shaped to prevent overshoot.

7. A walkway according to any preceding Claim, wherein a plurality of handles is present at one or both ends of the guide.

8. A walkway according to any preceding Claim, wherein the handle includes a safety strap.

9. A walkway substantially as described and with reference to any of the accompanying drawings.

10. For use in a walkway according to Claim 1, a guide and a handle therefor, the guide comprising an elongate insert having spaced apart detent means, shaped and dimensioned to be received in a slot therefor in the (in use) upper face of a hand rail.