Patent Application
20090151503
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lever attachments for existing doorknobs and particularly to a doorknob lever arm for allowing a person having poor grip to turn the doorknob which comprises a strip of rubber, similar to a bicycle inner tube, which is formed into a loop with the both ends secured inside a tube, such as a PVC pipe with an end cap; the rubber loop is stretched over a door knob and is tightened using a toggle screw within the tube, then the tube is used as a lever to turn the door knob with ease.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Doorknobs can be difficult to operate for the young, elderly and those suffering such physical handicaps as severe arthritis or partial paralysis affecting the use of the hand. In some cases the disability is so severe that the door knob may not even be turned two-handedly. For this reason doors in many households and in most commercial or industrial buildings now use an operating lever, in place of the standard doorknob. The prior art devices attempting to solve the problem of turning round doorknobs fail to provide an inexpensive simple and easy-to-use device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,883, issued Nov. 15, 1988 to Szalay, indicates lever assists for door knobs. The levers provide for increased leverage to effect a more easy turning of a door knob to which they are attached.
Two U.S. Pat. No. 2,756,088 issued Jul. 24, 1956 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,801,122 issued Jul. 30, 1957 to Sutter, show doorknob extension handles which comprise a lever with an undercurved cavity which embraces the doorknob. A flexible band is attached to a first end of the lever, encircles the perimeter of the knob and is fastened to a mid-portion of the handle and is tightened using a screw fastener. A second end of the lever is then moved to turn the doorknob with ease.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,808,282, issued Oct. 1, 1957 to Peoples, indicates a lever attachment for door knobs which comprises a pliant door knob cover which stretches over the door knob and an operating lever attached to an external portion of the door knob cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,031, issued Sep. 10, 2002 to O'Hanlon, concerns a lever handle for attachment to a round door lock handle which comprises a metal strip which has an arced width which clamps on to two peripheries of the door knob and which arced surface is also curved to encircle and contact 90% of the door knob diameter and which curved section has two free ends which are pulled into a tubular section by means of a hook bolt and end nut, the whole being assembled on to the door knob without the use of any tools or other attaching means and which complete device can be readily attached and removed for further installation on other door knobs as required.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,453, issued Apr. 20, 1971 to Hohl, is for an easy door opener with a door knob grip section and a lever handle section. The door knob grip section is a resilient curved elongated thin element with inner and outer ends, almost closed on itself and having an inverted U-shaped cross section, serrated with teeth on opposed parallel edges. The inner end terminates in an outwardly extending lever handle which is joined to the inner end at a junction, and extending over this junction to the outer end of the grip section is a threaded member whereby the curved grip section can be placed around a door knob and the threaded member fastened so that the resilient grip section closes in on the handle. The serrated teeth grip the contours of the door knob and the user can readily open the door with the lever handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,087, issued Mar. 12, 1985 to Pennington, shows a lever attachment for a rotary door knob which comprises an arcuate collar adapted to embrace the knob, the collar terminating at its opposite ends in arms and being formed on an arc such that the arms have a tendency to diverge. The collar is formed of material sufficiently resilient to enable the arms to be moved into engagement with one another, thereby causing radial contraction of the collar and enabling the latter to grip the knob. The arms are releasably maintained in engagement by any one of a number of different kinds of latches.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,536, issued Aug. 25, 1981 to McCoy, puts forth a universal lever handle attachment for a door knob wherein a knob engaging and gripping portion is adapted to fit over a door knob, an intermediate portion is connected to the knob engaging portion and is configured to operatively receive a universal screw adjusting assembly which tightens the knob engaging portion onto the door knob and a handle portion extending outwardly from the intermediate portion. The universal screw means is operatively arranged to cooperate with the intermediate portion to provide for right or left hand installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,375, issued Nov. 20, 1990 to Grecco, describes a retrofit lever handle used by a disabled person for turning a door knob on a door. The retrofit lever consists of an inner member that fits into an outer member, which has a curved arm and tab thereon. The inner member is adjustable to grip the door knob on the door so that any portion of the disabled person can make contact with the curved arm while the tab will prevent slippage off of the arm. Movement of the arm will turn the door knob thus enabling the disabled person to open and close the door.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,287, issued Sep. 9, 1997 to Sendelbach, provides a handle attachment for round door knobs to make the door knob easy to turn by pushing a levering handle. The handle and clamp are in two pieces that are fastened together to form a single door knob clamp and handle. The two pieces are adjustable relative to each other so the clamp can be opened and closed allowing attachment to a variety of different sized and different shaped door knobs. Easy to install and easy to remove, the invention is designed to remain on the door knob once it has been installed, but it can be removed if desired or necessary. A child cord is affixed through an aperture in the free end of the handle making it easy for a child to open a door.
What is needed is an inexpensive easy-to-use device for instantly converting a round doorknob into a lever handle door opener and instantly converting back to the round doorknob as desired.
An object of the present invention is to provide a lever arm with an adjustable elasticized loop extending out one end of the lever arm so that the loop is removably attached and tightened around a round doorknob so that the lever arm turns the doorknob thereby providing an easy-to-use device for instantly converting a round doorknob into a lever handle door opener and instantly converting back to the round doorknob as desired.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a simple tube with an internal threaded fastener for receiving the ends of an elasticized loop to tighten and loosen the loop around a doorknob as an inexpensive means for attaching a lever arm to a round doorknob.
In brief, the present invention comprises a tubular lever arm handle having a protruding elasticized loop extending out a distal end of the lever arm so that the present invention converts a regular door knob into a latch or lever type door handle by attaching the elasticized end loop around a doorknob and tightening the loop around the doorknob with a loop adjusting knob on the proximal end of the lever arm and using the lever arm to turn the doorknob. It attaches to any existing door knob. The purpose of the present invention is to make it easier for people suffering with disabilities such as authorities to open doors.
An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a low cost product that will make life a little easier for people with any sort of disability that makes operating a regular round type door knob difficult.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it is a portable device which may be moved to other doorknobs as desired.
These and other details of my invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are furnished only by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention, and in which drawings:
In
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The threaded adjustment mechanism comprises a threaded shaft 34 installed at one end through a washer at one end of the tube 31. The threaded shaft 34 is rotatably attached to an internally threaded shaft receiving element 33 slidably mounted within the hollow interior of the lever arm tube 31. The two ends of the elasticized loop 20 are attached to the shaft receiving element 33 with the loop extending out of the distal end of the lever arm 30, so that turning the threaded shaft 34 alternately tightens or loosens the elasticized loop 20 around the doorknob 40.
The shaft receiving element 33 preferably comprises a threaded shaft toggle bolt 34 having two spring loaded toggle wing arms and the means for gripping and retaining the two ends of the elasticized loop 20. This may be accomplished with slots in the spring loaded arms for engaging the two ends of the elasticized loop. An end cap 32 covers the toggle bolt.
Preferably, the lever arm tube 31 comprises a piece of ¾″ PVC pipe 3-¾″ to 4″ long, and the adjusting mechanism comprises a ⅛″×3″ toggle bolt assembly 34 and 33, a ⅛″×1″ flat washer 35 where the threaded bolt shaft 34 connects to the ¾″ PVC end cap acting as the adjustment knob 32, and a 9″ long section of 2.325″ bike inter tube used as an elasticized loop 20. A 3-¾″ to 4″×4-½″ long strip of heavy duty shelf covering may be used as an optional covering over the tube as a decorative cover. Metallic paints and self adhesive shelf covering can be used to make the assembly a bit more attractive, but this is not necessary if it adds too much to the cost of the product.
To assemble the attachable lever arm 10, the following steps may be used:
In use, the exposed “U” shape tube loop 20 slides over any door knob 40.The lever arm is positioned in the desired location, usually horizontally.
A screwdriver may be used to tighten the toggle bolt until the tube is snug. The end cap is snapped over the end of the PVC tube to cover up the head of the toggle bolt and the flat washer. Then the round doorknob 40 may be turned easily by leaning down on the attached lever arm 10.
It is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention and that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.
