JP2006341723A - Shock absorbing caster with double links for wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a caster having high shock absorbency capable of reducing shock which the caster attached to the front part of a wheelchair receives from a traveling road surface or the like, for the purpose of reducing a pain of a seated occupant in the wheelchair. <P>SOLUTION: In this shock absorbing caster 100 with double links, a bracket 19 of the caster connected to a wheelchair body, which is attached with an elastic member 24 to the front part of the wheelchair with a bolt 17, is rotatably supported between two links 21 and 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a shock-absorbing caster having a high shock-absorbing property that absorbs irregularities on a traveling surface, with respect to a rotatable caster that is attached to the front of a wheelchair.

  The swivel caster that is attached to the front of the wheelchair has small wheels and is not elastic, so the unevenness of the road surface is transmitted to the vehicle body as it travels, increasing the pain and discomfort of the occupant. ing. Various shock absorbing casters have been devised in order to absorb the road surface irregularities received by the wheels of the casters during the traveling.

  The invention disclosed in claim 1 of Patent Document 1 is a caster in which a wheel is supported on a bracket attached to a carriage via a link, and the end of the link is caused to swing with respect to the rotation axis of the bracket. The caster is characterized in that it is coupled through a rubber member that causes torsional deformation, and the link and the bracket are connected by a damper that attenuates the swinging motion of the link. As a result, the rubber member of the link connecting the wheel and the bracket is torsionally deformed according to the load of the carriage, the inclination of the link is determined, and the swinging motion of the link accompanying the vertical movement of the wheel is attenuated by the damper. It is disclosed to have.

  The invention of Patent Document 2 is a caster comprising a bracket coupled to the vehicle body side, a link rotatably coupled to the bracket, and a wheel rotatably coupled to the link. A caster is disclosed that includes a coil spring that expands and contracts as the link rotates, and a buffer layer is formed by coating a rubber material on the surface of the coil spring. When the coil spring contracts in response to the input to the caster, the buffer layers come into contact with each other and elastically deform, so that the caster has the effect of absorbing vibrations and shocks received from the road surface unevenness due to the internal friction of the buffer layer. It is said that.

  The device described in claim 1 of Patent Document 3 includes a bracket coupled to the vehicle body side, a link rotatably coupled to the bracket, a wheel rotatably coupled to the link, and a link of the link. There is disclosed a caster comprising: a compression rubber block that compresses and deforms with rotation, the compression rubber block having a hollow structure having a fluid chamber therein, and a viscous fluid sealed in the fluid chamber. Yes. In this invention, the compression rubber block is elastically deformed in response to the input to the caster, and the viscous fluid enclosed in the fluid chamber flows. It is disclosed that due to the internal friction of the compressed rubber block and the flow resistance of the viscous fluid caused by this, the swing of the link is damped and the caster has the effect of absorbing the vibration and impact received from the road surface irregularities. Has been.

As described above, casters capable of absorbing various types of shocks have been devised, but it cannot be said that they still absorb the shock sufficiently for a painful occupant, and the shock absorption is better. The appearance of wheelchairs equipped with casters is desired.
JP 2000-225803 A JP 2001-277807 A JP 2001-287503 A

  The present invention provides a caster with high shock absorption in order to reduce the impact received by a caster attached to the front part of a wheelchair from a traveling road surface or the like for the purpose of reducing the pain of a wheelchair occupant. Is.

  As a result of earnest research to reduce the impact received by the casters attached to the front part of the wheelchair from the road surface, etc., the tire is supported by using two links supporting the casters, and from the road surface etc. A caster that absorbs an impact received by a tire by an elastic member such as a spring or rubber through two links was used.

  The invention according to claim 1 is an impact-absorbing caster for a wheelchair connected to a vehicle body by a bolt, and the caster is pivotally mounted on a bracket on which an elastic member is mounted so as to be rotatable by two links. It is the shock absorption caster with the double link for wheelchairs characterized by being. By installing the two links so as to be rotatable forward and backward of the tire axle by the link receiver, the impact of the unevenness of the running surface is received by the elastic member while being absorbed by the two links.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the shock absorbing caster with double link for wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a compression rubber block. By installing the two links so that they can rotate back and forth on the axle of the tire by the link receiver, the impact of the uneven surface of the running surface is absorbed by the two links, while the impact is absorbed by the compression rubber block. Thus, shock absorption in two stages is possible.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the shock absorbing caster with double link for wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a spring member. By installing the two links so as to be rotatable forward and backward of the tire axle by the link receiver, the impact of the unevenness on the running surface is absorbed by the two links, while the shock is further absorbed by the spring member. Thus, shock absorption by two stages is possible.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the double link is a combination of a long link and a short link, and the shock absorbing caster with a double link for a wheelchair according to any one of claims 1 to 3 It is. The double link is a caster with a double link for a wheelchair according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a long link and a short link are combined. By using a long link and a short link, the wheel can smoothly cope with road surface irregularities.

  By using two links for the link connecting the wheels of the casters installed in the front part of the wheelchair, the impact received by the casters from the road surface can be reduced by being absorbed by the two links. Furthermore, the impact received from the road surface is received by the elastic member while being absorbed by the two links. By using a compression rubber or a spring member as the elastic member, the elasticity can be easily adjusted and the durability can be increased.

  Several preferred embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention are illustrated below with reference to the drawings, but are not intended to limit the scope of the invention described in the claims.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the shock absorbing caster 100 of the present invention is a normal wheelchair 10 in which a main wheel 14 is installed under a backrest 11 and a seat 12 and a caster 15 and a footrest 13 are installed in front thereof. It can replace with the caster 15 and can be mounted. The wheelchair 10 to which the shock absorbing caster 100 of the present invention can be attached includes a self-propelled wheelchair and a wheelchair for assisting, but can be attached to any wheelchair.

  Since the caster 15 attached to the front part of the wheelchair 10 is small and hard, it conveys small irregularities on the road surface during traveling to the wheelchair as it is, which gives a discomfort to the occupant. In order to absorb such unevenness of the road surface during traveling, an impact absorbing caster equipped with a spring as shown in FIG. 6 has been devised. A conventional system for absorbing an impact with a spring or a rubber member as shown in FIG. 6 attempts to absorb the impact directly with only the rubber or the spring member, so that the elastic member for absorbing the impact is softened. There must be. In order to soften the elastic member that absorbs the impact, it is necessary to use it in consideration of the flexibility of the rubber or the spring member. For this reason, when it was attempted to improve the absorption of the impact, there was a problem that the durability of the elastic member that absorbs the impact was shortened.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the shock absorbing caster 100 with a double link of the present invention is a shock absorbing caster 100 for a wheelchair connected to a vehicle body by a bolt 17. The shock absorbing caster 100 of the present invention has two long and short links 21 and 22 mounted on a bracket 19 on a bracket 19, and an elastic member 28 is mounted between the short link 22 and the bracket 19. In this way, by using two long and short double links, the impact received by the caster tire 16 is received by the long link 21 at the front, and the impact is absorbed by the link receiver 23 and transmitted to the short rear link 22. The impact is further absorbed by the elastic member 24 such as a compression elastic rubber or a spring member. The shock absorption due to the road surface unevenness by the shock absorbing caster 100 with a double link of the present invention is absorbed not only by the elastic member 24 but also by two links.

  The shock absorbing caster 100 with a double link for a wheelchair according to the present invention is composed of the components shown in FIGS. The bracket 19 in FIG. 3 (3-1) and the bracket cover 20 in FIG. 3-2 are on the upper side of the tire of the caster, and are attached to the wheelchair via bolts attached to the upper portion of the bracket cover 20. The lower side of the bracket 17 is attached to the axle of the tire of the caster via the short link 22 and the long link 21 in the drawings (3-4, 3-5) and the link receiver 23 in the diagram (3-3). When these are assembled, as shown in FIG. 3-6, the bracket 19 shown in FIG. 3-2 is put on the bracket 19 shown in FIG. 3-1, and the long link 21 shown in FIG. Is screwed to the caster tire via the link receiver 23 shown in FIG. Next, behind the long link 21, the short link 22 (FIG. 3-4) is screwed to the tire of the caster via the link receiver 23 (3-3). An elastic member receiver 3b is attached to the upper portion of the short link 22, and a spring member 26 as shown in FIG. 4 (4-1) or an elastic member 24 between the elastic member receiver 3b and the link 3a, or FIG. The compressed rubber member 25 shown in 4-2) is attached.

  The link receiver 23 shown in FIG. 3 (3-3) is provided with a hole for attaching to the axle of a caster tire and a hole for attaching a long link 21 and a short link 22 on the front and rear sides of the hole. For the installation of the link, a long link 20 is installed in the traveling direction of the tire of the caster, and a short link 21 is installed behind it. The shape of the link is not particularly limited as illustrated in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG.

  FIG. 5 (5-1) shows the shock absorbing caster 100 from the rear front. Link receivers 23 are attached to both side surfaces of the tire 16, and links 22 are attached to the link receiver 23. The upper portion of the link 22 is screwed to both side surfaces of the bracket 19. A compression rubber member 25 or a spring member 26 as an elastic member 24 is attached between 3a and 3b between the bracket 19 and the upper portion of the short link 22. An adjustment screw 27 for adjusting the elastic member 24 is attached to the upper 3 a of the bracket 19.

  FIG. 5 (5-2) shows the side surface of the shock absorbing caster 100. The link receiver 23 is attached to the axle of the tire, and the lower ends of the links are rotatably screwed into the holes on both sides of the link receiver 23. The upper end of the long link 21 is screwed to the front side of the bracket 19, and the short link 22 is screwed to the middle of the bracket 19. When the caster faces the traveling direction and encounters unevenness on the road surface, the long link 21 is pushed backward to push down one end of the link receiver 23. As a result, the unevenness of the road surface is absorbed by the elasticity of the elastic member 24 attached to the upper portion of the short link 22 with one end of the link receiver 23 being raised. As described above, the impact absorbing caster 100 of the present invention has an effect of once transmitting the impact to the elastic member 24 while relaxing the impact with the long link 21 and the short link 22. Therefore, the shock absorption is better than the conventional shock absorption caster, and it has the effect of absorbing the impact softly and gradually.

It is a perspective view of the wheelchair which can install the shock absorption caster of the present invention. The perspective view of the shock absorption caster of the present invention is shown. It is the side view which assembled the bracket of the shock absorption caster of this invention, a link, a link receiver, and them. It is a side view of a spring member and a compression rubber member. It is a rear front view and a side view of the shock absorbing caster of the present invention. It is a side view of the conventional shock absorption caster.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100: Shock absorption caster 10 of this invention: Wheelchair 11: Backrest part 12: Seat part 13: Footrest 14: Main wheel 15: Caster 16: Caster tire 17: Bolt 18: Bearing 19: Bracket 20: Bracket cover 21: Long Link 22: Short link 23: Link receiver 24: Elastic member 25: Compression rubber member 26: Spring member 27: Adjustment screw

Claims (4)

  A shock absorbing caster for a wheelchair connected to a vehicle body by a bolt, wherein the caster is pivotally mounted on a bracket on which an elastic member is mounted so as to be rotatable by two links. Shock absorber caster with double link.   The shock absorbing caster with a double link for a wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a compression rubber block.   The shock absorbing caster with a double link for a wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a spring member.   The shock absorbing caster with a double link for a wheelchair according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the double link is a combination of a long link and a short link.

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