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The disclosure and prior art relates to wheelchair devices and more particularly pertains to a new wheelchair device for facilitating a disabled person to use a toilet without leaving a wheelchair.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant toilet of any conventional design. A wheelchair is provided that has a seat portion for bearing a disabled person. The seat portion has a height of at least 20.0 inches thereby facilitating the seat portion to be positioned over the ADA compliant toilet when the wheelchair is rolled over the ADA compliant toilet. Moreover, the seat portion has an opening extending therethrough and the opening is aligned with the ADA compliant toilet when the seat is positioned over the ADA compliant toilet for directing the disabled person's waste into the ADA compliant toilet. A control circuit is coupled to the wheelchair and a cover unit is movably coupled to the wheelchair. The cover unit is electrically coupled to the control circuit and the cover unit is positionable into a covering position to cover the opening. Thus, the cover unit can be sat upon by the disabled person. The cover unit is positionable in an exposing portion having the opening being exposed thereby facilitating the disabled user to relieve themselves without leaving the wheelchair.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The seat portion 16 has a top surface 21, a bottom surface 22, a first lateral surface 24, a second lateral surface 26 and a front surface 28, and the opening 18 extends through the top 20 and bottom 22 surfaces. A control circuit 30 is coupled to the wheelchair 14, a cover unit 32 is movably coupled to the wheelchair 14 and the cover unit 32 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 30. The cover unit 32 is positionable into a covering position having the cover unit 32 being positioned on the seat portion 16 and covering the opening 18. Thus, the disabled person sits on the cover unit 32 when the disabled person is sitting on the seat portion 16. The cover unit 32 is positionable in an exposing portion having the opening 18 being exposed thereby facilitating the disabled user to relieve themselves without leaving the wheelchair 14.
The cover unit 32 comprises a cushion 34 that has a bottom side 36, a first lateral side 38 and a second lateral side 40. The first lateral side 38 rollably engages the first lateral surface 24 of the seat portion 16 and the second lateral side 40 rollably engages the second lateral surface 26. The bottom side 36 rests on the top surface 21 of the seat portion 16 when the cover unit 32 is positioned in the covering position. Additionally, the cushion 34 hangs downwardly from the front surface 28 of the seat portion 16 when the cover unit 32 is positioned in the exposing position.
The cover unit 32 further includes a pair of motors 42 that are each coupled to the seat portion 16 and each of the motors 42 is positioned on a respective one of the first 24 and second 26 lateral surfaces of the seat portion 16. Each of the motors 42 is in mechanical communication with a respective one of the first 38 and second 40 lateral sides of the cushion 34, and each of the motors 42 is actuatable in a first direction and a second direction. Each of the motors 42 urges the cushion 34 rearwardly on the seat portion 16 to cover the opening 18 in the seat portion 16 when the motors 42 are actuated in the first direction. Alternatively, each of the motors 42 urges the cushion 34 forwardly on the seat portion 16 to expose the opening 18 when the motors 42 are actuated in the second direction. Each of the motors 42 may be an electric motor or the like and the cover unit 32 may include a pair of tracks, a plurality of enmeshing gears or any other mechanical means of converting the rotation of the motors 42 into linear motion with respect to the cushion 34.
A first button 44 is coupled to the wheelchair 14 and the first button 44 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 30. Each of the motors 42 is actuated in the first direction when the first button 44 is manipulated. A second button 46 is coupled to the wheelchair 14 and the second button 46 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 30. Each of the motors 42 is actuated in the second direction when the second button 46 is manipulated. A power supply 48 is coupled to the wheelchair 14, the power supply 48 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 30 and the power supply 48 comprises at least one battery 50.
In use, the first button 44 is manipulated to urge the cushion 34 rearwardly onto the seat portion 16 thereby covering the opening 18 in the seat portion 16. Thus, the disabled person can sit on the cushion 34 and employ the wheelchair 14 in conventional means. The wheelchair 14 is wheeled over the ADA compliant toilet 12 such that the opening 18 in the seat portion 16 is aligned with the ADA compliant toilet 12. The second button 46 is manipulated to urge the cushion 34 forwardly on the seat portion 16 thereby exposing the opening 18 in the seat portion 16. Thus, the disabled person can remain seated on the wheelchair 14 while the disabled person urinates or defecates.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
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Amazon.com—DMI Rolling Shower and Commode Transport Chair with Wheels and Padded Seat for Handicap, Elderly, Injured and Disabled (https://www.amazon.com/DMI-Transport-Handicap-Disabled-Capacity/dp/B000EX61KQ?ref_=ast_sto_dp) (Year: 2006). |
DMI Shower Transport Chair with Rear Wheel Locks manual (Year: 2016). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200060904 A1 | Feb 2020 | US |