JPH04331673A - Travel device for moving chair - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the extent of vertical motion being produced when a moving chair travels on an uneven ground surface as little as possible, and miniaturize the whole system as well as to achieve the promotion of simplification in structure. CONSTITUTION:A travel device 12, traveling and moving a chair body 11, is composed of a symmetrical pair of traveling frames 20 and two grounding legs 21, 22 slidingly moving around these frames. In this case, each traveling frame is formed into long size along the traveling direction and has each endless rail part 20a being serially formed by each curved end edge parts at both upper and lower side edges and both end sides. In addition, these plural grounding legs are assembled and kept up so as to be slid and moved along each endless rail part at each traveling frame peripheral edge. In succession, at least more than two legs out of these plural grounding legs are constituted so as to be always situated in a lower edge at the ground side of the traveling frame and to be grounded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile chair suitable for use by people with disabilities in their legs, hips, etc., and more particularly to an improvement in the traveling device of this mobile chair.

0002

[Prior Art] For injured and disabled people who are unable to stand or walk on their own due to injuries or disabilities in their legs or lower back, mobile chairs such as wheelchairs are useful for carrying out daily activities at home or outdoors. It is indispensable. For example, in the home, it is necessary to move around in small spaces such as living rooms, kitchens, washrooms, toilets, bathrooms, entrances, etc.Outdoors, it is necessary to move around on various roads and sidewalks, and to move around in elevators. In most places, it is necessary to get on and off trains, move around in narrow spaces such as inside station buildings and other buildings, or move around stairs and uneven places. A portable chair is used. By the way, the most common type of wheelchair for transportation is the
It has four wheels, front and rear, and is configured to be able to run while supporting a person sitting on a wheelchair with the large diameter rear wheels, and the small diameter front wheels are configured to be steerable, allowing the wheelchair to move in the desired direction. The structure is such that it can be moved around. In other words, in a typical wheelchair like this, the front wheels are steered in the desired direction, and the rear wheels are rotated so that one of them moves forward and the other moves backward, making it relatively easy to steer the wheelchair. It was possible to change direction.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In recent years, with the development of the welfare society, various improvements have been made to the above-mentioned wheelchairs for transportation. In order to do so, we use a traveling device that uses endless tracks such as crawlers, or we provide this as an auxiliary to the four wheels that are the main traveling device, or in order to ensure running performance and stability, Those equipped with a sled-type traveling device that uses a sled-like frame in the ground contact area, etc.
Various structures have been proposed. In other words, in a typical four-wheeled wheelchair as described above, when the wheels travel over unevenness or obstacles on the track, the wheels vibrate up and down each time they go over an obstacle, making the ride difficult. Not only is it uncomfortable, but it also consumes the energy needed to move up and down to overcome obstacles. In particular, in order to overcome large obstacles, it is necessary to increase the radius of the wheels, which results in the disadvantage of increasing the size of the entire wheelchair. For example, an endless track type or sled type using crawlers or the like is desired.

[0004] To explain this in detail, when such a track-type or sled-type traveling device is used for a mobile chair, the grounding points of these traveling devices will be four or more, which is much lower than that of a four-wheel type. This provides an advantage in that running performance and stability can be ensured when running on a running surface that has undulations and obstacles such as unevenness. For example, in a track system, in order to overcome an obstacle, at the contact point of the track with the obstacle, a perpendicular line from the contact point to the horizontal plane, and a curved contact part on the track side at the contact point. Since it is sufficient that the angle formed with the tangent line is larger than 0 degrees, there is no problem of increasing the overall size as in the above-mentioned four-wheeled type. However, in such a track type, the crawler is in contact with the ground over almost the entire surface, so it is necessary to overcome almost all the irregularities on the ground surface on the track, and this results in energy consumption due to vertical movement. There was a problem that vertical vibration occurred.

[0005] In addition, the sled type is almost the same as the above-mentioned track type when it comes to overcoming obstacles, and there are no problems such as increasing the size of the wheel type, and moreover, compared to the track type, it is The mechanical structure is simple, and since it travels between the higher protrusions when passing on a track made of uneven surfaces, it has the advantage of less energy consumption due to vertical movement and less vertical vibration. However, with the sled type, the influence of friction on the ground surface is large, and when passing over uneven areas, the height of the protrusions in the running direction changes, causing a back-and-forth rocking phenomenon. There were problems such as frequent occurrence. Furthermore, such a sled type has the disadvantage that when the friction with the ground surface is small, it will slide downhill, which is difficult to control.

On the other hand, as mentioned above, this type of mobile chair often travels on uneven ground surfaces when traveling at home or outdoors. It is also necessary to reduce energy consumption and vertical vibration caused by vertical motion as much as possible, and it is also required to be able to move smoothly when traveling, and to be able to control traveling on stairs, ramps, etc. in the required condition. The reality is that track type and sled type types, which are superior to general four-wheeled types in terms of running performance and stability, have hardly been put into practical use. It would be desirable to review in general the advantages and disadvantages of the various running devices for mobile chairs known from the prior art and to take some measures that would solve all of the problems mentioned above.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to meet the above-mentioned demands, a traveling device for a moving chair according to the present invention is provided with a traveling device for moving a chair body that is grounded while supporting a chair body having a seat portion. The device is mounted on a pair of left and right running frames each having an endless rail part that is elongated along the running direction and formed in series by upper and lower edges and curved edges on both ends. and a plurality of grounding feet that are moved along the endless rail portion around the periphery of each of these running frames, and at least two of these plurality of grounding feet are on the grounding side of the running frame. It is constructed so that it is always located at the lower edge and is grounded. Also,
According to the present invention, the plurality of grounding feet are configured by mixing at least two types of grounding feet with different lengths from the point of contact with the endless rail portion on the traveling frame side to the grounding point, The plurality of grounding feet are arranged and arranged at predetermined intervals on the endless rail portion of the traveling frame in a state where they are interconnected by an endless band.

[0008]

[Function] According to the present invention, the plurality of grounding feet, which are movably provided along the endless rail portion at the periphery of the traveling frame that supports the chair body, move sequentially along the rail portion, so that the traveling frame And the chair body supported by this will travel and move in the required direction. In other words, the traveling frame moves relatively on the bridge girder formed by two or more ground contact feet. In addition, by using two types of grounding feet, long and short, the longer foot can avoid the influence of obstacles on the track or uneven surfaces, such as low obstacles, and this allows you to move up and down with the minimum necessary force. Smooth running is possible with less vibration and back-and-forth rocking. Furthermore, by increasing the coefficient of friction between the grounding foot and the ground surface, it is possible to prevent slipping and falling when running down slopes such as slopes and stairs, and to easily perform running control such as braking.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 to 9 show an embodiment of a mobile chair according to the present invention. Briefly explained using FIGS. 8 and 9, this moving chair 10 includes a chair body 11 that is foldable and configured by a plurality of pipe bodies, and a chair body 11 that is supported on the underside of the chair body 11. It is provided with a pair of left and right running devices 12, 12, etc. for running the chair body 11 which is grounded and grounded. Further, in the figure, reference numerals 13a and 13b denote sheet-like members that are stretched between the seat cushion part and the seat back part of the chair body 11 made of the pipe body and constitute the seating seat part 13 for the seated person, and further include the legs of the chair body 11. Part 1
A footrest 15 is provided on the lower front side of the chair body 11, and an armrest portion 1 is provided on both sides of the cushion portion of the seat portion 13 of the chair body 11.
6 and 16 are attached. In the figure, 17 is a lever of a reclining mechanism that adjusts the tilt angle of the seat back, and 18 and 18 are biasing means for maintaining the chair main body 11 in a normal sitting position as shown in FIG. 8, which is a pipe body. , 19 is a folding adjustment mechanism for folding the chair body 11 against the urging force of the urging means 18, 18. here,
As the above-mentioned sheet-like members 13a and 13b, a removable sheet body may be appropriately installed and attached in consideration of seating comfort and the like.

According to the present invention, in the movable chair 10 having the above-described configuration, the traveling device 12 is connected to the ground while supporting the chair body 11 having the seat portion 13 and moves the chair body 11. , 12 are formed to be elongated along the traveling direction, and are connected to the leg portions 14 of the chair body 11, as well as the upper and lower edges and both ends thereof, as is clear from FIGS. 1 to 7. A pair of left and right running frames 20, 20 having endless rail portions 20a, 20a each having an approximately T-shaped cross section formed in series by curved edge portions connected at the sides, and each of these running frames 20, 20. an endless track 23 consisting of a plurality of grounding feet 21 and 22 that are moved along peripheral endless rail portions 20a and 20a, and these plurality of grounding feet 2;
The present invention is characterized in that at least two legs 1 and 22 are always located at the lower edge of the running frame 20 on the grounding side and in contact with the ground, as shown in FIG. Here, in this embodiment, the plurality of grounding feet 21 and 22 are
At least two kinds of long and short grounding feet 21 and 22 having different lengths from the point of contact with the endless rail portion 20a on the side of the running frame 20 to the grounding point are mixed, and furthermore, these plurality of grounding feet 21 and 22 are mixed. 21 and 22 are arranged and arranged at a predetermined interval on the endless rail portion 20a on the side of the traveling frame 20 while being connected to each other by a drive belt 24 as an endless band.

[0011] Also, in FIGS. 1 and 8, reference numerals 30 and 30
is a driving lever for driving the endless track 23, and when the seated person drives the levers 30, 30 in a reciprocating manner, the driving force in one direction is transmitted to the driving lever, which has a one-way clutch, a speed change gear mechanism, etc. A transmission gear section 33a of a drive gear 33 transmits the rotational force to a drive mechanism section 31 (only one side is shown) and is pivotally supported at the front end of the traveling frames 20, 20 via a transmission belt 32 such as a chain. Each of the grounding feet 21 and 22 which constitutes the endless track 23 by meshing with the driving gear part of the driving gear 33 which is rotated by the
is moved around the frame 20, and as a result, the moving chair 1
The structure is such that 0 is driven and moved. In addition, 34 in the figure is a braking gear to which a brake mechanism 35 etc. (not shown) is attached to stop the movement of the endless track 23,
For example, the endless tracks 23, 23 can be stopped by providing a brake lever 36 connected via a wire 36a or the like at the hand of the drive lever 30 that can be manually operated by the seated person, as shown in FIG. It is preferable to adopt a configuration in which the moving chair 10 can be stopped from moving.

The traveling frame 20 described above is formed in the shape shown in FIGS. 1, 3, etc., and the endless rail portion 20a described above is formed at the peripheral edge thereof. Then, for this endless rail portion 20a, as shown in FIG.
Grounding feet 21 and 22 as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7 are slidably connected to the drive belt 24. In addition, in these figures, the reference numeral 25 indicates each foot 21,
22 to the drive belt 24; pivot pins 26, 26;
The drive belt 24 is attached to the leg body 28 that constitutes the legs 21 and 22.
These rolling rollers 26, 26 are rotatably supported by supporting pins 27, 27 that are supported independently of the rollers, and these rolling rollers 26, 26 roll in contact with the endless rail portion 20a of the traveling frame 20. This allows the legs 21 and 22 to move smoothly. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, 29 is an engagement groove that is engaged with the rail portion 20a of the frame 20, and the legs 21 and 22 mentioned above are inserted into the frame 20 side through this engagement groove 29. It is slidably held so as not to come off, with some wobbling relative to the rail portion 20a.

According to the traveling device 12 having the above configuration, the plurality of grounding feet 21 are provided to be slidably movable along the endless rail section 20a around the traveling frame 20 that supports the chair body 11. 22 is the rail part 2
By moving along 0a, the traveling frames 20, 20
The chair main body 11 supported by this moves in a desired direction. In other words, at least two or more grounding legs 21, 22 (actually the longer leg 2)
1 and 21), the running frame 20 moves relatively on the bridge girder formed by It will be sent through. moreover,
In the device 12 configured as described above, since the running frame 20 is fixed, it is similar to a conventional sled type, but the friction between the frame 20 and the grounding feet 21, 22 is caused by rollers, bearings, etc. Sliding means (rollers 26, 26, etc.)
The benefits of this are obvious, as it can be reduced to the necessary minimum by intervening. Further, according to the above-described configuration, since the vehicle travels on the bridge girder constituted by two or more ground contact feet 21 and 22, there is no need to overcome irregularities on the ground surface one by one, compared to a traveling device with a conventional structure. There is little vertical movement, and no energy consumption is required. In this case, the wider the distance between the two bridge girders 21 and 22, the less affected by unevenness on the ground surface. In particular, with the configuration according to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the problem of running while sequentially falling along the recesses on the track as in the conventional device, and as a result, it is possible to minimize the problem of running while falling sequentially along the recesses, which is the case with conventional devices. This eliminates energy consumption, and the benefits are significant. Furthermore, compared to the track type,
There is also an advantage that a mechanism such as a vehicle for moving the crawler is not required, and the mechanism configuration can be simplified.

Further, according to the above-described structure of the embodiment, by using two types of long and short grounding feet 21 and 22, obstacles and irregularities on the track can be detected depending on the length of the longer foot 21. The influence of low obstacles can be avoided, and smooth running with minimal vertical vibration is possible with the minimum necessary force. In this case, the arrangement span of the longer leg 21 is
It is desirable to make it as long as conditions allow. In this way, unnecessary energy consumption and impact caused by passing through an obstacle or a convex part, as in conventional devices, will not occur unless the long grounding foot 21 runs over the convex part, etc. , its advantages are great. Furthermore, in such a configuration, since the lengths of the grounding feet 21 and 22 are the same, the back and forth swinging motion is reduced compared to the sled type. In addition, it is possible to increase the coefficient of friction between the grounding feet 21 and 22 and the ground surface, which eliminates the problem of slipping down when running down slopes, stairs, etc., and prevents braking, etc. Control is relatively easy. In this embodiment, for example, in the traveling device 12 having a length of about 90 cm, when the ground contact feet, particularly the longer legs 21, are provided at intervals of about 30 cm, it is assumed that the traveling device 12 has a length of about 90 cm. It has been confirmed through experiments that when driving on the road, the occurrence of up-and-down movements and back-and-forth rocking movements can be significantly reduced compared to conventional ones. In addition, the most common unevenness on roads, for example, is the joints of blocks and bricks laid on sidewalks, followed by gravel on gravel roads, but in order to deal with these uneven roads, long ground contact feet are necessary. It has been confirmed that it is sufficient to set the difference between the ground contact foot 21 and the short grounding foot 22 to 2 cm or the like.

The mobile chair 10 in this embodiment described above is provided with the following mechanism. To explain this simply, in FIG. 8 etc., 50 is a direction changing device, which can be raised and lowered to a position corresponding to the center of the seat cushion, which is different from the traveling device 12 which supports this below the chair body 11 and is grounded. a direction changing base 51 provided on the base 51 and selectively grounded; a rotating shaft means 52 for connecting the chair body 11 to the base 51 in a relatively rotatable state;
A lifting mechanism 5 that is interposed between the chair body 11 and the direction change base 51 and raises and lowers the base 51 at the lower part of the chair body 11.
3, and canes 54, 54 that are selectively used to support part or all of the weight of the person sitting on the seat portion 13 of the chair body 11 on the ground. In such a device 50, the chair body 11
When a person sitting on the seat part 13 shifts his weight to the cane side through his arms, the lifting mechanism 53 is operated to lower the direction changing base 51, and the chair body 11 of this base 51 is lowered.
The length up to the seating seat portion 13 in the traveling device 12 is
The chair body 11 and the traveling device 12, which are floating from the ground in this state, can be turned in a desired direction by the rotating shaft means 52.

According to this embodiment, the above-described elevating mechanism 53 is mounted on the chair body 1, as is clear from FIG.
1 and the base 51 are separated from each other in the vertical direction. The weight of the chair body 11 is lower than the total weight of the chair body 11 and the weight of the traveling device 12 below the chair body 11, and
and a compression spring 60 having a spring force stronger than the total weight of the weight of the travel device 12 and the weight of the traveling device 12, and the compression spring 60 is fitted to each other with the compression spring 60 interposed therebetween to form a sealed space constituting an air damper mechanism. In order to
A valve mechanism 63 serves as an exhaust valve for communicating and shutting off communication with the outside by operating a lever. In addition, 6 in the figure
Reference numeral 4 denotes an operating rod provided on the upper end side of the cane 54 described above for opening and closing the valve mechanism 63 via a wire 65. When the compression spring 60 described above is stretched to the maximum, the length from the ground plane of the base 51 to the chair body 11 side becomes longer than the length from the ground plane of the traveling device 12 to the chair body 11 side, and the spring 60 The length from the ground plane of the base 51 to the chair main body 11 side is configured to be shorter than the length from the ground plane of the traveling device 12 to the chair main body 11 side in the shortest state. Further, the above-mentioned rotating shaft means 52 includes the direction changing base 51, the chair body 11, and the traveling device 12.
Any configuration is sufficient as long as it is connected to be rotatable around a vertical axis so that it can be relatively rotated in the horizontal direction, and although the specific structure has been omitted, a well-known bearing structure etc. may be adopted as appropriate. do it.

[0017] According to such a configuration, the chair 1
A person sitting on seat 1 of the chair transfers his or her weight to the seat 1 of the chair.
3 and the cane 54 as appropriate, it is possible to select either the traveling device 12 or the base 51 of the direction change device 50 to ground, and when the direction change device 50 side touches the ground, the base 31 and the base 51 can be grounded. The direction of the traveling device 12 can be freely changed by the relative movement of the traveling device 12, thereby making it possible to freely change the traveling direction to any desired direction, which has great practical advantages.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the structure of the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that the shape, structure, etc. of each part of the mobile chair 10 can be modified and changed as appropriate. For example, in the above-described embodiment, as the traveling device 12 of the moving chair 10, two types of ground contact legs 21 and 22, long and short, are connected to the drive belt 2.
4 illustrates a case in which the seat portion 13 provided on the traveling device 12 is moved by moving the endless track 23 formed by connecting them at a predetermined interval around the traveling frame 20. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and legs of the same length may be arranged at appropriate intervals, or a large number of legs may be arranged in close contact with each other. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case where the seated person himself or herself moves the traveling device 12 using the drive lever 30 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a person other than the seated person pushes the chair 10 auxiliary. Of course, by doing so, part of the total kinetic energy required for running may be assisted.

[0019]

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the traveling device for a moving chair according to the present invention, the chair is formed to be elongated along the traveling direction and has curved edges at the upper and lower edges and at both ends thereof. A pair of left and right traveling frames each having an endless rail section formed in a series by a series of sections and supporting the chair body, and a plurality of grounding feet that are moved along the endless rail section at the periphery of each of these traveling frames. In addition, at least two of these plurality of grounding feet are always positioned on the lower edge of the grounding side of the traveling frame and are in contact with the ground. By sequentially moving the multiple grounding feet that are movable along the endless rail section, it is possible to move the chair body in the desired direction in the desired state via the traveling frame. In addition, it is possible to reduce the up-and-down movement that occurs when the mobile chair runs on an uneven ground surface as much as possible compared to the conventional structure, and it also reduces the size and structure of the entire device. This has various excellent effects such as simplifying the process. Further, according to the present invention, the plurality of grounding feet are configured by mixing at least two types of grounding feet with different lengths from the contact point to the endless rail portion on the running frame side to the grounding point. Alternatively, by arranging a plurality of these grounding feet at predetermined intervals on the endless rail part of the running frame while interconnecting them with an endless band, obstacles on the track and Depending on the length of the longer leg of the uneven part, the influence of low obstacles can be avoided, which has the advantage of allowing smooth running with less vertical vibration with the minimum necessary force. There are also advantages such as stable driving conditions, which are both necessary and sufficient.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a traveling device for a moving chair according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an enlarged configuration of main parts of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view and a plan view illustrating a traveling frame used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view and a side sectional view of a long grounding foot.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view, a side sectional view, and a schematic plan view of a short-length grounding foot.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view for explaining the general configuration of a grounding foot.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing only the main parts for explaining the state in which the grounding feet are assembled to the running frame side.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall general configuration of a mobile chair to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view of FIG. 8;

[Explanation of symbols]

10　　　Movement chair 11 Chair body 12 Traveling device 13 Seating seat part 14 Legs 18 Biasing means 19 Folding adjustment mechanism 20 Traveling frame 21 Grounding feet 22 Grounding feet 23 Endless orbit 24 Drive belt 25 Pivot pin 26 Rolling roller 30 Drive lever 31 Rotation transmission mechanism 32 Transmission belt 33 Drive gear 34 Braking gear 50 Direction change device

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1. A traveling device for a transportation chair that travels by being grounded while supporting a chair body having a seat portion, the traveling device having a chair body that is formed to be elongated along the traveling direction and that , a pair of left and right running frames having endless rails formed in series by a lower edge and curved edges on both ends, and moving along the endless rails around the periphery of each of these running frames. and a plurality of grounding feet, and at least two of these plurality of grounding feet are always positioned at the lower edge of the grounding side of the running frame and are configured to be in contact with the ground. Features a traveling device for a mobile chair. 2. In claim 1, the plurality of grounding feet movably provided on the endless rail portion at the periphery of the running frame are arranged so that the plurality of grounding feet have at least two different lengths from the point of contact with the rail portion to the point of contact with the grounding point. A traveling device for a mobile chair, characterized in that it is configured with a mixture of different types of ground contact feet. 3. According to claim 1 or 2, a plurality of grounding feet movably provided on the endless rail portion at the periphery of the traveling frame are arranged at predetermined intervals and are interconnected by an endless band. A traveling device for a moving chair, characterized in that it is configured to operate in conjunction with each other.