JP2012024401A - Wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wheelchair that does not cause a lot of burden on a caregiver when a person requiring care gets in and out of the wheelchair.SOLUTION: The wheelchair includes a seat structure frame 1, wheels arranged on both sides of the seat structure frame 1, and a handrail 4. The wheelchair is also equipped between the seat structure frame 1 and the handrail 4 with arms 3 whose one side ends are mounted rotatably around a horizontal axis on the seat structure frame 1, and a turning device 2 selectively operative to rotate the arms 3 either forward or backward around the horizontal axis, wherein the arms 3 are operative to turn back and forth between a fixed position on the sheet 14 side and an upper position of a sheet 14 by means of the turning device 2, with the handrail 4 kept horizontally.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wheelchair used mainly by elderly people, sick people, and disabled people when moving.

  Wheelchairs are widely used as a means of transportation for people with disabilities and the elderly, and in recent years, multifunctional and lightweight have been pursued, such as those equipped with a reclining function or those that run electrically.

JP 2005-279085 A

However, although a conventional wheelchair can be comfortably used as a means for moving a care recipient, it is necessary to assist a plurality of caregivers when getting on and off the care recipient from the wheelchair. However, since most of the wheelchairs described above are designed only as a means of moving care recipients, there are no wheelchairs that place a heavy burden on caregivers at the present time when the birthrate is declining and the population is aging. The appearance of is an urgent need.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a wheelchair that does not place a heavy burden on the caregiver when the care recipient gets on and off the wheelchair.

  The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a wheelchair comprising a seat portion forming frame, main wheels disposed on the left and right sides of the seat portion forming frame, and a handrail, between the seat portion forming frame and the handrail. Has an arm that has one end attached to the seat forming frame so as to be rotatable on a horizontal axis, and a rotating device that rotates the horizontal axis so that the arm can be switched forward or backward. The arm horizontally moves the handrail. It is characterized in that it can be reciprocally rotated between a fixed position on the sheet side and an upper position of the sheet by a rotating device while being maintained.

  In the invention according to the second aspect of the present invention, the rotating device is fixed on the same axis as the first arm rotating shaft and the first arm rotating shaft for rotating the arm so as to be rotatable in the horizontal axis in the seat forming frame. One fixed gear, a second arm rotating shaft that pivotally supports the handrail on the upper end of the arm so as to be rotatable on a horizontal axis, the other fixed gear fixed on the same axis as the second arm rotating shaft, and the rotation of the arm. And an operation unit for controlling the moving direction. An endless chain is spanned between the one fixed gear and the other fixed gear, and the operation unit is pivotally supported at the middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the arm so as to be rotatable in a horizontal axis. The link mechanism unit and a drive unit that reciprocally rotates the link mechanism unit back and forth. The endless chain moves the arm between a fixed position on the seat side and a position above the seat by the reciprocating rotation of the link mechanism unit. Is reciprocating and the arm is rotating In either position, characterized in that it keeps substantially horizontally.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the handrail arranged on the wheelchair can be rotated from the seat position to the seat upper position by the caregiver moving with a light force at the operation portion. As a result, it is possible to easily raise the care recipient who is sitting on the wheelchair seat, and it is also easy to sit on the wheelchair seat again, so that the burden on the caregiver can be greatly reduced. Can be expected.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the arm can be raised and lowered with a light force in the operation portion, the burden on the assistant can be further reduced.

(A) is a front view of the wheelchair by this implementation, (b) is the AA longitudinal cross-sectional view of (a). It is the simplified side view which shows a rotation apparatus. (A)-(c) is the simplified longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the operation | movement procedure of a rotation apparatus. (A) (b) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows other embodiment of the wheelchair of this invention.

Below, based on drawing, embodiment of the wheelchair by this implementation is described.
The wheelchair according to the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the seat portion forming frame 1 includes a wheel shaft 16 on the lower side of the seat 14. The wheels 15 are pivotally supported so as to be rotatable on a horizontal axis, and handrails 4 are provided on both the left and right sides of the seat 14, respectively. Further, in the wheelchair according to the present embodiment, the arm 3 is attached between the seat forming frame 1 and the handrail 4 so as to be rotatable in the horizontal axis by the first arm rotating shaft 19a. Is installed with adjustable height. Further, the handrail 4 that pivots the arm 3 back and forth by the pivoting device 2 and is attached to the distal end side of the arm 3 so as to be rotatable on the horizontal axis by the second arm rotating shaft 19 b follows the pivoting of the arm 3. Then, by rotating back and forth while maintaining almost horizontal, the care recipient supported while holding the handrail 4 on both sides is lifted from the seat 14 toward the upper side of the seat forming frame 1.

The above-described rotating device 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) and FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (c).
On the back of the seat forming frame 1, there is provided an operating portion 17 having a lever-like shape that moves up and down around a horizontal axis. One end of the operating portion 17 is attached to a hydraulic jack 18, and the operating portion The raising / lowering of 17 is interlocked with the vertical movement of the cylinder built in the hydraulic jack 18. Then, the cylinder of the hydraulic jack 18 is moved up and down by the operation of the operation unit 17, and the rotational force is transmitted to the transmission pulleys 25 a to 25 c around which the belt 19 is stretched. Further, a driving pulley 7 and a driven pulley 9 are respectively attached at two positions spaced apart from each other in the front and rear of the seat forming frame 1, and project from the driving pulley 7 to one side and the other on the same axis as the driving pulley 7. The link arm 7a is fixed, and link bars 9a and 9b are attached to both ends of the link arm 7a. Further, a driven pulley 9 that rotates horizontally on the same axis as the first arm rotation shaft 19a is attached to the front side portion of the seat forming frame 1, and the driven pulley 9 is also connected to the driven pulley 9 side. The link arm 7b having the same configuration as the above is fixed, and the two link bars 9a and 9b arranged substantially parallel to each other at both ends of the drive pulley 7 and the driven pulley 9 are moved back and forth. Link mechanism portions 7a, 7b, 9a, 9b are formed. Further, the first crank arm 28a of the crank mechanism portions 28a to 28c is fixed on the same axis as the driven pulley 9, and the second crank arm is rotatably supported by the first crank arm 28a and a horizontal axis. One end portion on the longitudinal side of the third crank arm 28c supported by the horizontal shaft is attached to the longitudinal direction intermediate portion of the arm 3 via 28b so as to be rotatable in the horizontal axis. The end P of the belt spanned over each of the transmission pulleys 25a to 25c is attached to a link bar 9b disposed on the lower side of the link arm 7a fixed to the drive pulley 7, and raises and lowers the operation unit 17 Then, when the hydraulic jack 18 pulls the belt, when the operation unit 17 is operated, the third crank arm 28c pivotally supported by the transmission shaft 29 on the arm 3 pushes the arm 3, and the arm 3 moves the handrail 4 And turn toward the front of the seat forming frame 1.

  Moreover, if it is the above structures, the handrail 4 cannot be moved always keeping a horizontal state corresponding to the horizontal axis rotation of the arm 3. Thereby, one fixed gear 5 is attached to the same axis as the first arm rotation shaft 19a of the arm 3 and to the proximal end side of the arm 3, and the other fixed gear 6 is attached to the distal end side of the arm 3. It is mounted so as to rotate on a horizontal axis. A second arm rotation shaft 19b for rotating the handrail 4 on the same axis as the other fixed gear 6 is attached so as to rotate on the horizontal axis. The height of the handrail 4 is adjustable on the other rotation gear 6. It has a holder 24 to which it can be attached. Therefore, by multiplying the endless chain 20 between the one fixed gear 5 and the other fixed gear 6, the interval between the engagement positions of the endless chain 20, the one fixed gear 5, and the other fixed gear 6 is changed to the arm 3. Is always maintained at a certain rotational angle position, so that the support bar 4a of the handrail 4 is always almost constant even if the handrail 4 is rotated from the tip end side of the arm 3 to any arbitrary angle position. The seat forming frame is kept in a constant posture while maintaining the parallel state, and the handrail 4 is kept almost horizontal with the first arm rotation shaft 19a as the center, and the link mechanism portions 7a, 7b, 9a, 9b move. 1 (see FIGS. 3A to 3C).

  The handrail 4 includes a support bar 4a having a substantially horizontal ring shape, and a mounting bar 4b that hangs down continuously from both left and right positions of the support bar 4a. Further, the support bar 4a is rounded and can safely and comfortably hold the elbow or side of the care recipient. On the other hand, the mounting bar 4b is continuous downward from the lower portion of the support bar 4a, and the mounting bar 4b is provided with a plurality of adjustment holes spaced apart in the vertical direction, although not shown. Yes, it is fixed to the holder 24 by inserting an insertion pin into any of the adjustment holes. Moreover, the height of the handrail 4 can be adjusted in multiple stages according to the height of the care recipient by sequentially changing the insertion position with each adjustment hole.

  When formed as described above, when the care recipient is sitting on the seat 14 of the wheelchair, the care recipient requires the support bars 4a of the handrail 4 on both sides as shown in FIGS. On the other hand, when the caregiver repeatedly operates the operation unit 17 installed on the back side of the seat forming frame 1 up and down, the support bar 4a of the handrail 4 remains horizontal and the mounting bar 4b remains vertical. While maintaining a certain posture, it rises and rotates obliquely forward in an arc shape, and the body of the care recipient is lifted with the movement of the handrail 4 so as to stand up from the floor. When the care recipient is again seated on the seat 14, the tension applied to each of the transmission pulleys 25 a to 25 c is released by releasing the lock 18 a of the hydraulic jack 18, so that the arm 3 and the handrail 4 are moved by their own weight. Thus, the care recipient can be gently seated on the seat 14 without causing any impact on the buttocks.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the wheelchair of the present invention is provided with a flip-up type footrest 33 that can extend the leg of the care recipient who is sitting on the seat 14. Specifically, a shaft member 34 is installed between the left and right frames of the seat portion forming frame 1, and one side of a plate-like leg stand is rotatably supported by a horizontal shaft 35 on the shaft member 34. And the raising / lowering of the leg base 33 is performed by operating the handle handle 36 pivotally supported by the horizontal shaft 35 on both sides of the leg base 33. When actually lifting the leg base 33, the handle handle 36 is lifted to the front side of the seat forming frame 1, and the handle handle 36 is rotated slightly in either the front or rear direction by the horizontal shaft 35 on both sides of the leg base 33. By doing so, the distal end portion of the handle handle 36 is locked to the front stopper 37a provided in the seat portion forming frame 1, so that the leg base 33 cannot be lowered from the lifting position. Further, when the lifted leg base 33 is returned to the original position, the handle handle 36 is once lifted to the front side to release the locked state with the front stopper 37a, and the handle handle 36 is slightly moved by the horizontal shaft 35. By rotating in the forward or backward direction, the footrest 33 pivots downward due to gravity and returns to the original position, and the tip of the handle handle 36 is locked by the rear stopper 37b and positioned. The In addition, the code | symbol 38 is a step in which a care recipient places a leg.

  In the wheelchair according to the present embodiment, the endless chain 20 hung on the fixed gears 5 and 6 is hung to turn the arm 3 of the swivel device 2, but for example, a timing belt or the like may be hung. As long as the handrail 4 can be acted in the same manner as in the above embodiment, the means for driving transmission to the arm 3 is not particularly limited. Furthermore, since the support bar 4a of the handrail 4 is sandwiched between both sides of the care recipient, it is desirable that the contact portion is formed of a soft material having a cushioning property in consideration of the fit to the body. . Furthermore, the space which installs the portable toilet 30 can also be provided under the seat | sheet 14 in the seat part formation frame 1 (refer FIG. 1 (a) (b)), and the state where a care recipient is sitting on this wheelchair Therefore, the arm 3 can be rotated slightly forward to raise the body and support the body of the care recipient, so that the portable toilet 30 can be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Seat part formation frame 2 Rotating device 3 Arm 4 Handrail 5 One fixed gear 6 Other fixed gear 14 Seat 17 Operation part 19a 1st arm rotating shaft 19b 2nd arm rotating shaft 20 Endless chain 22 Link mechanism part 23 Drive part

Claims (2)

A wheelchair comprising: a seat forming frame that supports the seat; a main wheel disposed on the left and right of the seat forming frame; and a handrail.
Between the seat forming frame and the handrail, there is an arm for attaching one end of the seat forming frame to the horizontal axis so as to freely rotate on the horizontal axis, and a rotating device for rotating the arm so that the arm can be switched forward or backward. A wheelchair characterized in that the arm is reciprocally rotatable between a fixed position on the seat side and a position above the seat by a rotating device while keeping the handrail horizontal. The rotating device includes a first arm rotating shaft that rotates the arm in the seat portion forming frame so as to be rotatable in a horizontal axis, a fixed gear that is fixed on the same axis as the first arm rotating shaft, and an upper end portion side of the arm. A second arm rotation shaft that supports the handrail so that the handrail can rotate freely, a second fixed gear fixed on the same axis as the second arm rotation shaft, and an operation unit that controls the rotation direction of the arm. The one fixed gear and the other fixed gear span an endless chain, and the operating section includes a link mechanism section rotatably supported by a horizontal axis at an intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the arm; The endless chain rotates the arm back and forth between the fixed position on the seat side and the upper position of the seat by the reciprocating rotation of the link mechanism, and the arm rotates the handrail. Nearly horizontal at any position in motion Wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein a One.

Images