WO1998019645A1

WO1998019645A1 - Car for handicapped persons

Info

Publication number: WO1998019645A1
Application number: PCT/KR1997/000212
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chul Hwang
Original assignee: Chul Hwang
Priority date: 1996-11-01
Filing date: 1997-11-01
Publication date: 1998-05-14
Also published as: KR970005076U; KR200153955Y1; AU4794697A

Abstract

A car for handicapped persons having a configuration provided with no driver seat so that the wheel chair of a handicapped person, who drives the car, is used as the driver seat of the car by itself. The car includes a cabin defined in a body of the car, the cabin having a wheel chair passage extending longitudinally from its rear end corresponding to a rear end of the car body while having non driver's seat, a hatch type rear door (2) hingably mounted at its lower end to the rear end of the cabin, a pair of spaced wheel guide channels (7) provided on a bottom (6) of the cabin and adapted to guide the front and rear wheels of a wheel chair entering or exiting the cabin through the wheel chair passage, each of the wheel guide channels (7) having a first channel portion extendind from the front end of the cabin to the rear end of the cabin and a second channel portion extending along the rear door, and a pair of connectors (9) provided at the front end of the cabin and adapted to fix the front wheels of the wheel chair thereto, thereby fixing the wheel chair to the cabin, each of the connectors (9) also serving as a block for stopping the front wheels of the wheel chair entering the cabin, at the front end of the cabin, whereby the wheel chair fixed to the cabin is used as a driver's seat of the car.

Description

CAR FOR HANDICAPPED PERSONS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a car for handicapped persons, and more particularly to such a car having a configuration provided with no driver seat so that the wheel chair of a handicapped person, who drives the car, is used as the driver seat of the car by itself.

Description of the Prior Art

The recent increase in traffic accidents and industrial accidents has resulted in an increase in handicapped persons, in particular, handicapped persons who are paralyzed at their lower half body portions. In connection with this, recent personal and social demands for handicapped persons are to ensure independent life in society, namely, independent outdoor mobility without the aid of an attendant. For satisfying such demands, it is required to develop wheel chairs having special functions. In addition, it is also required to develop cars for handicapped persons having a unique configuration. In order to satisfy the former requirement, the inventor has proposed a wheel chair with a hill-climbing function (Korean Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. j'/ ^~.y£ /c) . The present invention is adapted to satisfy the latter requirement.

Where a handicapped person goes to a desired place by car or bus, he encounters a variety of difficulties in his movements and handling of his wheel chair, in particular, when he gets out of his wheel chair and into the car or bus, and when he gets out of the car or bus and into another car or bus.

In the case of a bus which is a large-size public vehicle, a hydraulic lifter may be equipped in the bus because the bus has a large size. The hydraulic lifter is adapted to safely carry a handicapped person into the bus and from the bus under the condition in which he sits in his wheel chair. Accordingly, it is possible to more or less relieve the difficulty generated when handicapped persons get in and out of the bus, by the hydraulic lifter. However, such a hydraulic lifter for handicapped persons is mainly used in advanced nations. Since the hydraulic lifter is expensive, there is no backward nation using such a hydraulic lifter. Even in advanced nations, however, there are many problems associated with the use of the hydraulic lifter. For example, the use of the hydraulic lifter is limited to only a number of buses in service because of the high costs of the hydraulic lifter. Moreover, the allocation of buses equipped with the hydraulic lifter is limited to the time span outside of the rush hour. Even in that time span, the allocation rate of those buses is also limited to only one or two buses in service. In order to carry a handicapped person into a bus and from a bus by means of the hydraulic lifter, the bus driver should manipulate the hydraulic lifter under the condition in which he gets out of his driver's seat. Furthermore, the manipulation for the hydraulic lifter requires a considerable amount of time. As a result, other passengers in the bus are inconvenienced and waste a lot of time. For this reason, handicapped persons rather refrain from utilizing buses equipped with the hydraulic lifter. Thus, the above-mentioned method is impractical.

In the case of a car, in particular, for private use, there is a convenience for handicapped persons in that it can be optionally used. However, it is impossible to install the hydraulic lifter in such a car because the car is small in size. In this case, accordingly, a pair of crutches are generally used which are typically stored in cars. Where a handicapped person desires to go to a desired place by car, he first approaches his car by his wheel chair, and then removes crutches from the car to support his body by those crutches. Thereafter, he gets out of the wheel chair while supporting his body by the crutches, and then folds and stores the wheel chair in the rear seat space or trunk of the car. After the storage of the wheel chair, the handicapped person approaches the driver's door and then opens the door to get in the car. After the handicapped person sits on the driver's seat, he stores the crutches in the rear seat space of the car. Under this condition, he drives the car. Where the handicapped person gets out of the car after reaching a desired place by the car, he should act in a manner reverse to the above- mentioned manner. However, such actions required for the handicapped person to get in and out of the car are inconvenient and difficult for the handicapped person. Furthermore, many difficulties are encountered because the above actions are carried out under the condition in which the handicapped person is supported by the crutches which are held under his arms. For instance, there is a difficulty in handling the wheel chair, namely, folding the wheel chair, storing the folded wheel chair in the car and removing the wheel chair from the car. Also, there is a difficulty in that there is no appropriate space in the car to store the wheel chair because the car has a small inner space. Where a motor- driven wheel chair is used, it is basically impossible to store the wheel chair because this wheel chair can not be folded while having a very large weight. Moreover, accidents may occur during the above-mentioned handling of the wheel chair. In particular, there is a possibility of accidents caused by the side door of the car which is kept open during the handling of the wheel chair, because a passing car may collide with the door of the car of the handicapped person. Pedestrians -may also be struck against the open door of the car. Due to such problems, the use of the above method using crutches has been greatly limited. Thus, it has been considered that it is impossible to ensure independent life of handicapped persons in society, namely, independent outdoor mobility of handicapped persons without the aid of an attendant. In spite of such situations, the demands for handicapped persons to ensure independent outdoor mobility without the aid of an attendant have increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a car for handicapped persons having a configuration provided with no driver seat so that the wheel chair of a handicapped person, who drives the car, is used as the driver seat of the car by itself, thereby eliminating the problems encountered in the conventional methods when a handicapped person gets in or off a car.

Another object of the invention is to provide a car for handicapped persons having a configuration enabling a handicapped person to get in and out of the car through the rear door of the car without getting out of his wheel chair, thereby eliminating the problems occurring when the handicapped person gets in and out of the car- through one of the side doors of the car and when the handicapped person gets out of his wheel chair to get into the car. In accordance with the present invention, these objects are accomplished by providing a car for handicapped persons comprising: a cabin defined in a body of the car, the cabin having a wheel chair passage extending longitudinally from a front end thereof corresponding to a wheel steering position of the car to a rear end thereof corresponding to a rear end of the car body while having no driver's seat; a hatch type rear door hingably mounted at a lower end thereof to the rear end of the cabin in such a manner that it hinges between a closed position and an open position where the rear door is in contact with the ground at an upper end portion thereof while being upwardly inclined at an inner surface thereof; a pair of spaced wheel guide channels provided on the bottom of the cabin and adapted to guide the front and rear wheels of a wheel chair entering or exiting the cabin through the wheel chair passage, each of the wheel guide channels having a first channel portion extending from the front end of the cabin to the rear end of the cabin and a second channel portion extending along the rear door; and a pair of connectors provided at the front end of the cabin and adapted to fix the front wheels of the wheel chair thereto, thereby fixing the wheel chair to the cabin, each of the connectors also serving as a block for stopping the front wheels of the wheel chair entering the cabin, at the front end of the cabin; whereby the wheel chair fixed to the cabin is used as a driver's seat of the car.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a wagon type car provided with a hatch type rear door having a configuration according to the present invention, under the condition in which the rear door is closed;

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating the wagon type car under the condition in which the rear door is open;

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the inner construction of the cabin of the car shown in FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the bottom construction of the cabin of the car shown in FIG. 2; and

FIGS. 5a and 5b illustrate non-skid members attached on each wheel guide channel included in the car shown in FIG. 2, in which FIG. 5a is a sectional view whereas FIG. 5b is a side view. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a wagon type car provided with a hatch type rear door is shown which has a configuration according to the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention, the hatch type rear door, which is denoted by the reference numeral 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2, is mounted at its lower end portion to the rear end portion of a car body 1 by means of a hinge 5 in such a manner that it hinges between a closed position a and an open position b. At the open position b, the rear door 2 is in contact with the ground GL at its upper end portion. That is, the rear door 2 is configured so that it is downwardly opened while being upwardly closed. In order to open and close the rear door 2, a motor- driven winch 4 is fixedly mounted to the rear end portion of the car body 1 at an appropriate position. A winch cable 4-1 is wound around the motor-driven winch 4. One end of the winch cable 4-1 is fixed to the motor-driven winch 4 whereas the other end of the winch cable 4-1 is connected to a connector 4-2 fixed to an appropriate portion of the rear door 2. By virtue of such a configuration, the rear door 2 moves between the closed and open positions a and b by an operation of the motor-driven winch 4. FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the inner construction of the cabin of the car shown in FIG. 2 whereas FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the bottom construction of the cabin. A wheel chair, in which a handicapped person sits, can upwardly run on the inner surface of the rear door 2 at the open position b, where the upper end of the rear door 2 is in contact with the ground GL, in accordance with a motion of the handicapped person. Accordingly, the wheel chair can enter the cabin of the car. Thereafter, the wheel chair can run on the bottom surface 6 of the cabin. When the caster wheels, namely, front wheels, of the wheel chair reach the front end of the cabin, the handicapped person stops the running of the wheel chair and then fixes the wheel chair to the front end of the cabin.

In order to fix the wheel chair to the front end of the cabin, a pair of connectors 9 are provided at the front end of the cabin in accordance with the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The connectors 9 serve to fix the front wheels of the wheel chair thereto, thereby fixing the wheel chair to the cabin. Each connector 9 also serves as a block for stopping the front wheels of the wheel chair.

Generally, the front wheels of wheel chairs serve as caster wheels to steer the wheel chair. However, such front wheels of wheel chairs have a very simple and passive steering function as compared to those of cars or bicycles. In the case of cars or bicycles, front wheels thereof are configured to have a positive steering function enabling a steering even in a stopped state. In the latter case, accordingly, an easy steering is achieved. In the case of a wheel chair, the steering thereof is achieved by manipulating the rear wheels of the wheel chair. For this reason, the manipulation for the steering is difficult. Furthermore, the steering may be unstable when one of the rear wheels of the wheel chair is spaced from the ground.

In this regard, it is difficult for a handicapped person to drive his wheel chair to a steering wheel position in the cabin. Since the cabin is narrow, it is also impossible to turn the wheel chair through an angle of 180° inside of the cabin so that the wheel chair exits the cabin as it advances. For this reason, the wheel chair should run backwardly to exit the cabin. However, it is difficult to achieve an easy and safe backward running of the wheel chair, in particular, on the slope of the rear door.

In order to solve such a problem, a pair of spaced wheel guide channels 7 are provided on the bottom 6 of the cabin to guide the front and rear wheels of the wheel chair entering or exiting the cabin. The wheel guide channels 7 extend from the front end of the cabin to the rear end of the cabin. The wheel guide channels 7 also extend along the rear door 2.

The rear door may have a construction improper to form the wheel guide channels 7 thereon because of an aerodynamic purpose or a particular design. In order to solve this problem, a pair of curved girders 3 are attached to the inner surface of the rear door 2. The girders 3 extend from the upper end of the rear door 2 to the lower end of the rear door 2. On the girder 3, the wheel guide channels 7 are formed, respectively. The girders 3 have a convex curved structure so as to allow them to support the weight of the wheel chair running thereon while allowing the wheel chair to run smoothly thereon. A plurality of uniformly spaced non-skid members 7-2 are attached on each wheel guide channel 7 so as to prevent the wheel chair from skidding on the wheel guide channel 7, as shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b.

In order to allow the front wheels of the wheel chair to enter easily the wheel guide channels 7, in particular, at night, hopper-shaped guide members 7-1 are provided at the ends of channels 7 disposed at the upper end of the rear door 2, respectively.

A chain belt channel 11 may be provided which extends longitudinally along the rear door 2 to a desired portion of the bottom 6 of the cabin. The chain belt channel 11 receives a chain belt adapted to pull a wheel chair having no hill- climbing ability on the upwardly inclined inner surface of the rear door 2 at the open position b. In this case, the wheel chair is coupled to the chain belt by a well-known coupler. Accordingly, even in the case of a wheel chair having no hill- climbing ability, it can enter easily the interior of the cabin. Although such a wheel chair can get out of the car by its braking operation, it may utilize the chain belt for the same purpose.

Now, the operation and effect of the car according to the present invention will be described.

When a handicapped person approaches the car by his wheel chair and then manipulates a switch (not shown) to open the rear door 2 of the car, the rear door 2 hinges in a downward direction about the hinge 5 mounted to the lower end thereof from its closed position a to its open position b. At the open position b, the upper end of the rear door 2 comes into contact with the ground GL. Thereafter, the handicapped person manipulates the wheel chair so that the front wheels, namely, caster wheels, of the wheel chair are positioned at the ends of the wheel guide channels 7 which are in contact with the ground GL. The front wheels of the wheel chair can be easily guided by the hopper-shaped guide members 7-1 provided at the ends of channels 7 disposed at the upper end of the rear door 2, respectively, so that the wheel chair moves along the wheel guide channels 7. In this state, the wheel chair can run upwardly on the rear door 2 by a motion of the handicapped person or a drive force of the chain belt received in the chain belt channel 11. Accordingly, the wheel chair can enter the cabin 6 of the car. As the handicapped person continuously manipulates the wheel chair, the wheel chair reaches the steering wheel 8 of the car and then stops by the connectors (blocks) 9. At the stopped position, the front wheels of the wheel chair are fixed to the connectors 9, thereby causing the wheel chair to be fixed to the car. Under this condition, the fixed wheel chair can be used as a driver's seat. When the handicapped person seated in the fixed wheel chair manipulates a rear door opening/closing switch (not shown) on the dash board of the car to close the rear door 2, the rear door 2 moves from its open position b to its closed position a. In this state, the car can start to run to a destination under the control of the handicapped person. As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a car for handicapped persons having a configuration provided with no driver's seat so that the wheel chair of a handicapped person, who drives the car, is used as the driver's seat of the car by itself, thereby enabling the handicapped person to get in and out of the car without getting out of his wheel chair and without the aid of any attendant or crutches. Accordingly, it is possible to eliminate problems occurring when the handicapped person gets in and out of a car through one of the side doors of the car and when the handicapped person gets out of his wheel chair to get into the car, difficulties in handling the wheel chair, namely, folding the wheel chair, storing the folded wheel chair in the car and removing the wheel chair from the car, and a possibility of accidents caused by the side door of the car, which is kept open during the handling of the wheel chair. By virtue of the car according to the present invention, handicapped persons can be ensured of an independent and safe life in society, namely, independent and safe outdoor mobility of handicapped persons without the aid of an attendant, even though their outdoor and mobile activities are more or less limited.

As shown in FIG. 4, the car to which the present invention is applied may still have seats other than the driver's seat, taking into consideration a possibility that there are travellers going along with the driver. Taking into consideration a specific situation associated with handicapped persons, the car may be equipped with a simple washroom and a simple refrigerator at a rear cabin space thereof. In this case, the car provides an advantage in that handicapped persons can solve, in the cabin of the car, their inconvenience encountered during their outdoor mobility.

Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and additions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A car for handicapped persons comprising: a cabin defined in a body of the car, the cabin having a wheel chair passage extending longitudinally from a front end thereof corresponding to a wheel steering position of the car to a rear end thereof corresponding to a rear end of the car body while having no driver's seat; a hatch type rear door hingably mounted at a lower end thereof to the rear end of the cabin in such a manner that it hinges between a closed position and an open position where the rear door is in contact with the ground at an upper end portion thereof while being upwardly inclined at an inner surface thereof; a pair of spaced wheel guide channels provided on the bottom of the cabin and adapted to guide the front and rear wheels of a wheel chair entering or exiting the cabin through the wheel chair passage, each of the wheel guide channels having a first channel portion extending from the front end of the cabin to the rear end of the cabin and a second channel portion extending along the rear door; and a pair of connectors provided at the front end of the cabin and adapted to fix the front wheels of the wheel chair thereto, thereby fixing the wheel chair to the cabin, each of the connectors also serving as a block for stopping the front wheels of the wheel chair entering the cabin, at the front end of the cabin; whereby the wheel chair fixed to the cabin is used as a driver's seat of the car.

2. The car in accordance with Claim 1, further comprising: a pair of curved girders attached to the inner surface of the rear door, the girders having a convex curved structure extending from the upper end of the rear door to the lower end of the rear door while carrying the wheel guide channels, respectively.

3. The car in accordance with Claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of uniformly spaced non-skid members attached on each wheel guide channel and adapted to prevent the wheel chair from skidding on the wheel guide channel.

4. The car in accordance with Claim 1, further comprising: a pair of hopper-shaped guide members respectively provided at ends of the second channel portions disposed at the upper end of the rear door.

5. The car in accordance with Claim 1, further comprising: a chain belt channel extending longitudinally along the rear door to a desired portion of the bottom of the cabin; and a chain belt received in the chain belt channel and adapted to pull the wheel chair on the upwardly inclined inner surface of the rear door at the open position.