Mobility is an important part of physical and cognitive development for children. Children born with gross motor disabilities are frequently limited in terms of their mobility. Some children with gross motor disabilities may never be able to walk or crawl on their own or may only be able to traverse very short distances by dragging their body across the floor. Child-sized wheelchairs can offer some mobility to these children when they are old enough, strong enough, and experienced enough to use them. However, wheelchairs are limiting for children in a home environment as they tend to be heavy and large and do not allow the child to adequately maneuver independently.
Mobility devices are disclosed to enable a child with gross motor disabilities to maneuver around the child's environment. The mobility device comprises a skid plate of substantially rigid material having a front end and a back end and two rigid side plates. The mobility device also has two wheels rotatably attached to the rigid side plates by way of first and second axles. Additionally, it has a seat for supporting an underside of the child in an upright, seated position and an adjustable leg holder that moves up and down to support the child's legs and to keep the child in the upright, seated position. An adjustable backrest is provided to position the child an appropriate distance from the leg holder so that the leg holder holds the appropriate part of the child's legs.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other aspects and advantages of the present technology will be apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments and the accompanying drawing figures.
The figures described below depict various embodiments of the present invention. It is understood that these figures depict exemplary embodiments. The exemplary features illustrated in the figures are intended to represent these aspects of the various disclosed embodiments and not intended to limit the claimed scope to any particular feature. Further, whenever possible, the following description refers to the reference numerals included in the figures, in which features depicted in multiple figures are designated with consistent reference numerals.
The following text sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments. However, it is understood that the detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical. In light of the teachings and disclosures herein, numerous alternative embodiments may be implemented.
It is understood that, unless a term is expressly defined in this patent application using the sentence “As used herein, the term ‘ ’ is hereby defined to mean . . . ” or a similar sentence, there is no intent to limit the meaning of that term, either expressly or by implication, beyond its plain or ordinary meaning, and such term should not be interpreted to be limited in scope based on any statement made in any section of this patent application.
The following detailed description of the technology references the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific embodiments in which the technology may be practiced. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the technology in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the technology. Other embodiments may be utilized and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present technology. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the present technology is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
In this description, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus, the present technology may include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein.
In various embodiments, removable tray table 14 can be removed. In various embodiments, it attaches with a hook-and-loop or touch fastener such as a Velcro™ type fastener (not shown). It is understood that other types of fasteners such as clips or snaps could be employed to removably fasten the removable tray table 14 to the mobility device 10. In various embodiments, removable tray support 13 is provided to support the removable tray table 14. In various embodiments, the sides and front of skid plate 19 are protected by a side shroud 16 and a front shroud 17, thus protecting the child's feet and legs from running into obstacles. In various embodiments, a carrying handle 18 is provided in connection with the front shroud 17. In an embodiment a second carrying handle is provided as further described in connection with
In various embodiments, backrest 15 is adjustably attached to sides of the mobility device 10 with bolts 45 and washers 44 as further described in connection with
In various embodiments, the sides and front of skid plate 19 are protected by a side shroud 16 and a front shroud 17, thus protecting the child's feet and legs from running into obstacles. In various embodiments, a carrying handle 18 is provided in connection with the front shroud 17. As noted, in various embodiments, the backrest 15 is adjustably attached to sides of the mobility device 10 with bolts 45 and washers 44. The angle and position can be thereby altered by loosening the bolts 45 sliding into the desired position and retightening the bolts 45. This is to allow for different leg lengths of children. In various embodiments, straps are attached to the backrest 15 to hold the child's torso upright. Such straps are useful for children with low trunk support function. In various embodiments, the large wheels 12 are attached to the side plate at a cambered angle to add stability and bring top of wheel closer to child's midline to allow for easier pushing.
As noted above (and illustrated in connection with
In various embodiments, the removable tray table 14 is supported by the tray support 13. In various embodiments additional horizontal tray support 33 is provided for additional support of the removable tray table 14.
In various embodiments, the backrest 15 is adjustably attached to a side plate 47 of the mobility device 10 with bolts 45 and washers 44 such that when the bolts 45 are loosened, the angle and position of the backrest 15 can be changed by loosening the bolts 45 sliding the backrest 15 into a desired position within slots 46 and 48 and retightening bolts. This is to allow for different leg lengths of children. If the position of a top one of the bolts 45 in the slot 46 is closer to the front of the mobility device 10 than a bottom one of the bolts 45, the backrest 15 will be tilted forward. Alternatively, if the top one of the bolts 45 is further from the front than the bottom one, the backrest 15 will be tilted backward. As shown in
Mobility in the device is very simple and intuitive for the user to achieve. The large wheels in the center of the device allow the user to traverse across many different surface types, from smooth flooring to thick carpeted flooring, and over small obstacles such as rugs or flooring transitions. These large wheels also allow the user to maneuver the device with a small amount of effort, allowing for users to use the device to traverse relatively long distances without fatigue. The center positioning of the wheels 12 ensures that the user has a low risk of getting a finger or hand caught or pinched underneath a wheel. As noted above, the relatively high positioning of skid plate 19 gives the device a high clearance so that the user is able to maneuver over obstacles such as small toys or features of outdoor terrain. This feature combined with previously stated features allows for this device to be used comfortably over an extended period of time.