JPH0928736A - Steering lever for wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wheelchair with a steering lever capable of being easily combined with a wheelchair having no steering lever. SOLUTION: This steering lever consists of a fitting part 14 fitted to a head part of a swivel axis 9 of a wheelchair front wheel 8, a fixing part 15 fixing a steering lever 12 to the wheelchair, and a manual steering handle 16. A driver turns the front wheel by a designated angle by means of turning the steering handle part to change the direction of traveling of the wheelchair by the designated angle.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wheelchair traveling rudder which is useful when mounted on a wheelchair that is pushed by a caregiver by hand.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows the structure of a typical conventional wheelchair. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a chair portion, which includes a seat 2, a backrest 3, and an armrest arm 4. Reference numerals 5 and 5 are handles provided on the rear portion of the chair portion 1, that is, on the upper end of the backrest 3, and are for the caregiver to push with their hands. Reference numerals 6 and 6 are a pair of rear wheels attached to the left and right of the lower rear portion of the chair portion 1, and 7 is an operation wheel fixed to the outside of the rear wheel 6. Reference numerals 8 and 8 denote a pair of front wheels attached to the left and right of the lower front part of the chair 1 via a turning shaft 9, and can turn horizontally.
Reference numerals 10 and 10 denote foot rests attached to the lower front portion of the chair portion 1, and 11 denotes a brake provided on the side of the chair portion 1. The passenger sits on the seat 2 and is pushed by the caregiver when there is a caregiver, and when operating alone, the operation wheel 7 is rotated by itself to move. Normally, this type of wheelchair does not have a rudder function for the passenger to operate the moving direction, so that when the caregiver pushes the wheelchair, the passenger needs to verbally inform the caregiver of the moving direction. However, there are cases where it is difficult for passengers with language impairments, etc., and assuming such a case, a structure has been proposed in which the passenger is equipped with a rudder that can operate the moving direction by himself (actual Kaihei 7- 9330).

[0003]

When the caregiver pushes the wheelchair with the above-mentioned conventional structure, the passengers often feel inconvenience because the moving direction cannot be freely controlled by the passenger himself. In the wheelchair disclosed in the above publication, a foot plate provided with a pulley is attached to the front wheel, and the foot plate is operated with one foot to change the direction of the front wheel.However, in such a structure, the movement direction is controlled by the foot. Actually, there is a problem that the operation is difficult and it is difficult to accurately control the moving direction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a wheelchair equipped with a traveling rudder that is easy to operate and easy to attach to and detach from the wheelchair.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a seat,
A chair portion including a backrest and an armrest arm, a handle provided on the rear portion of the chair portion, a pair of rear wheels attached to the left and right lower portions of the chair portion, and left and right lower portions of the chair portion. A traveling rudder mounted on a wheelchair, comprising a pair of front wheels mounted in a state capable of horizontal turning via a turning shaft, and a footrest mounted on a lower front part of the chair part. The lower end has a fitting portion that fits into the head of the turning shaft of any one of the pair of front wheels, and has a support portion for the chair portion at an intermediate position of the pillar. A handle portion for horizontally turning the one front wheel is provided at the upper end of the pillar.

According to the present invention, the fitting portion has a hole having a shape slightly larger than the shape of the head of the turning shaft, and the hole is fitted into the head of the turning shaft. The structure may be such that the fitting portion is coupled to the swivel shaft.

In the present invention, the fitting portion may be formed separately from the support, and the fitting portion may be detachably attached to the support.

In the present invention, the support column is formed of a cylindrical body, and the operation rod is supported inside the support column so as to be movable up and down by a predetermined distance. The handle portion is connected to the operation rod to operate the operation rod. When the operation rod moves with the rod and is at the lowest of the movable distance, the handle portion is housed in the support column, and when the operation rod is at the highest of the movable distance, the handle portion is The structure can be exposed to the outside of the pillar.

[0009]

The fitting part of the traveling rudder is fitted to the head part of the turning shaft of the front wheel, and the support part is fixed to the chair part. By rotating the handle portion by hand, the front wheels turn by a predetermined angle, and the moving direction of the wheelchair is controlled.

When the size of the head portion of the turning shaft of the front wheel is different depending on the model of the wheelchair, a fitting portion having a hole corresponding to the head portion is attached to the lower end of the column.

When the traveling rudder is not used, the operating rod is positioned at the lowest position of the movable distance within the support column. As a result, the handle portion is stored in the column. On the other hand, in the case of using the traveling rudder, the operation rod is positioned at the top of the movable distance within the support column. In this way, the handle portion is exposed outside the support column and can be operated by a hand.

[0012]

1 and 2 show a wheelchair traveling rudder 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is formed at an intermediate position between a fitting portion 14 formed at the lower end of a pillar 13 made of a metal cylinder and a pillar 13. The support portion 15 and the handle portion 16 provided on the upper ends of the columns 13 are provided. Reference numerals 1, 8 and 9 respectively denote the chair portion, the front wheel, and the turning shaft, which are the essential constituent parts of the wheelchair, and 17 is a metal pipe which is a framework of the wheelchair. The fitting portion 14 has a hole 18 opened downward, and the hole 18 has a shape slightly larger than the head nut 19 of the swivel shaft 9. That is, since the head nut 19 has a hexagonal outer shape, the hole 18 is formed in a hexagonal shape slightly larger than this, and in the fitted state, the holes 18 are coupled to each other in a non-rotatable state.

The structure shown in the figure is the most general front wheel structure of an existing wheelchair. That is, the swivel shaft 9 is fixed to the pipe 17 at the connecting portion 20, and the bolt 22 fixed to the upper end of the caster 21 is rotatably penetrated into the swivel shaft 9, and the nut 19 is screwed onto the upper end of the bolt 22. It will be stopped. Numerals 23 and 24 are washers arranged at both upper and lower ends of the swivel shaft 9 and serve to facilitate the rotation of the bolt 22 in the swivel shaft 9. With such a structure, the head nut 19 turns according to the turning of the front wheel 8, and by controlling the rotation of the head nut 19, the turning direction can be determined.

The support portion 15 comprises a cylindrical body 25 through which the support column 13 penetrates, and a fixing metal fitting 26 for fixing the cylindrical body 25 to the pipe 17. Fixing and releasing of the cylindrical body 25 to the pipe 17 by the fixing metal fitting 26 is performed by a screw 27 provided on the fixing metal fitting 26. The supporting portion 15 is attached to an appropriate position on the longitudinal portion of the pipe 17.

3 to 5 show a mounting structure of the handle portion 16, 28 is an operating rod having a cylindrical shape housed in an upper portion of the column 13, and the handle portion 16 is provided with a pin 29 at the upper end.
It is rotatably attached via. Reference numeral 30 denotes a hole formed in the operation rod 28, which has two different lengths in the vertical direction.
Two holes 30a and 30b are connected at the lower end to form a J-shape. The angle formed by the two vertical holes 30a and 30b is set to 90 °. A pin 31 is inserted through the hole 30, and the pin 31 is formed in the hole 32 of the support column 13.
It is fixed to. 4 shows a state in which the pin 31 is located at the upper end of the hole 30b, that is, a state in which the handle portion 16 is housed in the column 13 (non-use state), and FIG.
1 shows a state in which 1 is located at the upper end of the hole 30a, that is, a state in which the handle portion 16 is taken out from the column 13 (in use state). In order to change the handle portion 16 from the unused state to the used state, the handle portion 16 housed in the support column 13 is pulled up and rotated by 90 ° so that the pin 31 is inserted into the holes 30b to 30a.
It is only necessary to move it to and support it at the upper end of the hole 39a. The position of the hole 30a is set so that when the handle portion 16 is tilted to be horizontal, the direction thereof coincides with the traveling direction of the front wheel 8 (FIG. 1).

FIG. 6 shows an example in which the fitting portion 14 is formed separately from the support 13 so that both can be attached and detached. That is, the fitting portion 14 is inserted into the lower end of the support column 13 and is coupled with a pair of bolts 34 and nuts 35 through the holes 33 provided in the support portion 13 and the support column 13. Since the size of the nut 19 may be different depending on the type of wheelchair, it is possible to apply it to many kinds of wheelchairs only by preparing a fitting part 14 having a hole matching the size of the nut 19 and replacing it. I did it.

In the above embodiment, the handle portion 16 has a rod shape, but as shown in FIG. 7, a spherical rotatable grip portion 36 is attached to the tip of the handle portion 16 so that it can be easily grasped and operated. May be. Similarly, in order to improve the operability, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG.
Belts 37 and 38 made of leather may be attached to the leather.
These belts 37 and 38 are attached to the handle portion 16 with screws 3
It can be attached in a detachable state by 9.

[0018]

According to the present invention, by mounting a traveling rudder on an existing wheelchair, this function can be easily added to a wheelchair that does not have a traveling rudder function, and passengers can freely move the wheelchair. It is possible to determine the direction.

Further, according to the present invention, since the traveling direction of the front wheels is controlled by hand, the operation is easy and the direction control can be made accurate.

Further, according to the present invention, since the prop of the traveling rudder and the fitting portion are formed separately so that the fitting portions having different hole sizes can be used, the size of the head portion of the front wheel turning shaft is increased. Even if the wheelchair is different, by replacing only the fitting part,
A rudder can be used.

Further, according to the present invention, when the traveling rudder is not used, the handle portion can be stored inside the column, so that the handle portion does not become an obstacle when the passenger gets on and off when the traveling rudder is not used. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a state in which a wheelchair traveling rudder according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached to a wheelchair.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a handle portion.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which a handle portion is stored.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which a handle portion is pulled out.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure in which a column and a fitting portion are separate bodies.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a modified example of the handle portion.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing another modification of the handle portion.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing still another modified example of the handle portion.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the structure of a general wheelchair.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ………… Chair section 6 ………… Rear wheel 8 ………… Front wheel 9 ………… Swivel axis 12 ………… Running rudder 13 ………… Supporting pole 14 ………… Mating section 15 ………… Support part 16 ………… Handle part 17 ………… Pipe 18 ………… Hole 19 ………… Head 22 ………… Bolt 25 ……… Cylinder 26 ……… Fixing bracket 28 ……… Operating rod

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A chair portion comprising a seat, a backrest and an armrest arm, a handle provided on the rear portion of the chair portion, and 1 attached to the left and right of the lower rear portion of the chair portion.
A pair of rear wheels, a pair of front wheels attached to the left and right of the lower front portion of the chair portion in a state of being horizontally turnable via a turning axis, and a footrest attached to the lower front portion of the chair portion. A traveling rudder attached to a wheelchair including a stand, comprising a fitting portion at a lower end of a column, the fitting portion being fitted to a head portion of the turning shaft of one of the pair of front wheels. A wheelchair running rudder having a support portion for the chair portion at an intermediate position of a column and a handle portion for horizontally turning the one front wheel at an upper end of the column. 2. The fitting portion has a hole having a shape slightly larger than the shape of the head of the swivel shaft, and the hole is fitted into the head of the swivel shaft, whereby the fitting is performed. The wheeled vehicle rudder according to claim 1, wherein a joint portion is connected to the turning shaft. 3. The wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the fitting portion is formed separately from the pillar, and the fitting portion is detachably attached to the pillar. For rudder 4. The supporting column is formed of a cylindrical body, and an operating rod is supported inside the supporting column so as to be movable up and down by a predetermined distance, and the handle portion is connected to the operating rod and moves together with the operating rod. However, when the operation rod is at the lowest position of the movable distance, the handle portion is stored in the column, and when the operation rod is at the highest position of the movable distance, the handle portion is outside the column. The wheelchair traveling rudder according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it is exposed.