US404303A - Crutch - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

L. H. REMILLARD. RUTGH.

".,PthtdM 28,1888. Taglia@ e ay i' V IO UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

LOUIS H. REMILLARD, OF NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CRUTCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 2.1.04,303, dated May 28, 1889.

Application tiled April 3, 1889. Serial No. 305,866. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Beitknown that I, LOUIS H. REMILLARD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Northampton, in the county of Hampshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Crutches, of which the following is a specilieation.

This invention relates to improvements in crutches, having for its object the provision of means for controlling the spur in the lower end of the crutch, whereby said spur may be projected for the most efficient use of the crutch out of doors, and whereby said spur may be drawn within the end of the crutch to render the latter most suitable for indoor use; andthe invention consists in the construction and combination of the various parts, all substantially as will hereinafter more fully appear, and be set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the crutch, with the lower part thereof broken away and in section for clearer illustration. Figs. 2 and 3 are similar enlarged sectional views of the lower end portion of the crutch,with movable parts therein comprised shown as in varied positions. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the handlel portion of the crutch on the line 4L 4:, Fig. l; and Fig. 5is a side elevation of the same portion. Fig. G'is a detail view of a construction hereinafter referred to.

The crutch is constructed as usual with respect to the central staff, A, formed split and branched above its lower portion in the members B B, joined at their upper ends by the cross-support D for the armpit of the person, and having the intermediately-disposed transverse hand-rest C, said hand-rest, however, being capable of a rotation'on the said branch members B, as and for the purpose hereinafter explained.

The crutch-staff at its lower end is provided with a knob, E, of india-rubber or other suitable yielding material, being held in place by the ferrule m, overlying the adjacent portions of said knob andthe staff. The said staff of the crutch is axially bored, said bore having three different diameters, as at a, b, and c,

whereby rests or seats d and f within the vlength thereof are formed, and the said yielding knob E is also axially apertured, as at g.

F represents a spindle within the bore c of the staff, having a spur, h, formed on or rigidly attached to its lower end which projects or is adapted to be projected through the aperture in said knob, a shoulder, t', on said spindle just above the spur supporting one end of a spiral spring, j, which lies in said bore, and bears by its other end on the seatf, and said spring acts to force said spindle downwardly to project. its spur end beyond the end of the knob.

The hand-rest C is rotatably mounted on the cross-rod k, which is supported by and between the members B B, and its periphery at one end is of eccentric or cam shape, as at Z, said cam being peripherally grooved, as at n, and with said cam l the ring-head p of a wire or other suitable connection, q, engages said connection by its lower end having an enlargement, o, in which a longitudinal slot, fr, is formed, by which the lower end of said rod engages with a cross-pin, s, carried between the leg members t of the bifurcated upper part of said spur-spindle. A spiral spring, u, surrounds the lower portion of said wire connection, bearing by its one end against the seat (l and by its other end against the shoulder of the said wire enlargement o. The wire connection q is preferably formed in two sections,

having their adjacent screw-threaded ends united by a tension-nut, o, having right and left hand screw-threads.

The use and operation of the improved crutch is as follows: Vhen employed out of doors, the handle-support C is turned so that its cam Z is in its lowermost disposition, as seen in Fig. 1, when, under the action of the springs u and j, the rod and spur-spindle are projected to their lowermost extent. Under the action of the spring j, which is of considerable stiffness, the spur will pierce surfaces having a certain degree of hardness, as ice or ground; but on contact with excessively-hard surfaces-such as pavements-the spur will recede to or within the end surface of the knob E, and on such movement of the spur and its spindle F the pin s moves in the slot fr, any

tendency from friction between said pin and IOO slot to move the end of the Wire connection being resisted bythe springn, and thus at the time of the last-described action on the spur and spindle the same may occur without any buckling effect on the Wire connection (Lwhieh is in a large degree rigid to resist cndwise forces thereon. To adapt the crutch to indoor use, by turning the handle-support C the cam thereon will dranY the connection q upwardly, and with it the spindle and spur, and will so maintain said parts until again turned to permit of their depression under the action of the springs.

The provisioir of the slot-and-pin connection, though preferable, is not absolutely necessary,1`:or by affording suicient flexibility to the connection q-for instance, by making it of cord-an immovable form of attachment between the connection (j and spurspindle may be employed.

That I claim as my invention isl. A crutch having an axial bore through its lower statt portion, and having its intermediate handle-support provided with a cam mounted for rotation, a spur-spindle in said bore and a spring for forcing same outwardly, and a connection7 q, by one end secured to said spindle and by its other provided with a ringhead engaging said cam, substantially as dcscribed. v 2. A crutch having its lower staff portio axially bored and provided therein with the seats CZ and j', and havin g its intermediate handle-support provided with a cam, l, mounted for rotation, a shouldered spur-spindle in said axial bore having the bifurcated end and pin s, the connection q, provided at one end with the ring-head embracing said cam and at its other end with the slot by which ity engages said pin, the springs n and v7', and the apertured yielding knob, substantially as and for the purposes described.

L. lL REhHLL/Xl'tl). lVitnesses:

WM. L. BELLoWs, G. M. CHAni-:ERLAIN

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