Patent Grant
7169169
The present invention generally relates to a rotation hub for a chiropractic adjustor apparatus used to apply vibratory energy or force to a patient. More particularly, the invention relates to a chiropractic adjustor apparatus that allows limited, controlled rotation of a force-transmitting head during use.
Chiropractic adjustments of the spinal vertebrae of a body involve the application of pressure or force in a known manner directly to the body by the hands of a chiropractor or by a chiropractic adjustor apparatus. Examples of such chiropractic adjustor apparatuses found in the prior patent art are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,890 to Bichel and U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,955 to Evans et al.
Another example of a prior art chiropractic adjustor apparatus is described in the Applicant's earlier patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,236. This patent describes an apparatus that includes a housing, a handle on the housing, a trigger reciprocally mounted to the handle, an electronic control module provided in the handle and activated by depression and release of the trigger, and an elongated force-transmitting shaft reciprocally mounted through the housing. An electromagnetic drive mechanism is disposed in the interior cavity of the housing and connected electrically to the electronic control module. The chiropractic adjustor is operable by the actuation of the trigger and the return action of a compressible spring near the rear portion of the housing, causing the shaft to transmit vibratory energy to the human body.
The electromagnetic drive mechanism includes a spool with stationary electrical windings supported in the interior cavity of the housing and a stator mounted on the shaft and disposed within a bore of the spool in an electromagnetically coupled relationship with the electrical windings about the spool. Depressing the trigger activates the electrical control module to apply predetermined pulses to the electrical windings so as to actuate the stator and thus the shaft into a repetitive reciprocal vibratory type of movement along a longitudinal axis of the shaft and relative to the housing.
One operation performed by a chiropractor is manipulation of the spine. A U-shaped force-transmitting head is commonly fitted to the shaft for this operation. The U-shaped head is placed to straddle the spine such that one arm of the U is on each side of the spine.
During operation, many of the prior art devices tend to rotate, or twist, out of the user's grip, as a result of the rotational components of the force exerted on the shaft by the electromagnetic drive mechanism, requiring the operator to exert significant effort to hold the device substantially perpendicular to the patient's vertebrae. The earlier patent of the Applicant, U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,236, describes a mechanism to resist such rotation so that the device can be held in the proper position along the patient's spine. The mechanism described is a pin mounted across a forward portion of the shaft that moves with the shaft. The pin moves in a slot formed in a sleeve attached to the housing of the adjustor. The pin and slot combination allows the shaft to move longitudinally but prevents rotation. The description in U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,236 is incorporated herein by reference.
It has been found that it is desirable to allow some degree of rotation of the force-transmitting head during operation of the chiropractic adjustor. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a device that allows a controlled amount of rotation of the head during operation. It is a further object of this invention to provide a head that depresses a controlled distance while rotating a controlled distance. It is a further object to provide a force-transmitting head that can be rotated to the right or left a desired amount.
In one form the invention resides in a force-transmitting head for a chiropractic adjustor apparatus, the head comprising a body; a cavity formed in one end of the body; a hub rotatable in the cavity relative to the body; at least one track formed in the hub; and at least one rotation pin extending from the body into the cavity and engaging the track such that longitudinal movement of the hub relative to the body causes rotational movement of the body with passage of the rotation pin along the track. In the preferred embodiment, the track is substantially L shaped.
In a further form the invention resides in a chiropractic adjustor apparatus having a housing having a central interior cavity; an electromagnetic drive mechanism mounted in the interior cavity of the housing; a shaft extending through the electromagnetic drive mechanism and extending beyond the housing; means for actuating the electromagnetic drive mechanism to cause repetitive reciprocal movement of the shaft along a longitudinal axis of the shaft and relative to the housing; and a force-transmitting head comprising a body; a cavity formed in one end of the body; a hub attached to the shaft and rotatable in the cavity relative to the body; at least one track formed in the hub; and at least one rotation pin extending from the body into the cavity and engaging the track such that repetitive reciprocal movement of the shaft and hub causes rotational movement of the body with passage of the rotation pin along the track.
Referring to the drawings and particularly to
A pin 88 is mounted through the forward portion of the shaft 44 in a transverse relationship thereto. A sleeve 90 extends about and along the forward portion of the shaft 44 and has a longitudinal slot 92 receiving each end of the pin 88 such that the shaft 44 can undergo longitudinal movement through the sleeve 90 relative to the housing 42 but cannot undergo rotation about a longitudinal axis of the shaft 44. Front plug 114 provides a stop which is abutted by each end of pin 88. The arrangement of the pin 88, sleeve 90, slot 92 and front plug 114 is shown most clearly in
The force applied by the elongated shaft 44 can be adjusted by rotation of knob 108 disposed on a rear end of the shaft 44 which cooperates with first and second springs 110, 112 disposed on either side of rear plug 116. By turning the knob 108 the return force imposed by the springs 110, 112 on the shaft 44 can be increased or decreased to thereby adjust the amount of vibratory force applied to the human body at the front end of the shaft 44.
A plurality of force transmitting heads of different configurations, such as 122, are adapted to be fitted to a hex shaped segment 124 on the front end of the shaft 44 and placed against a part of the human body to be treated. Other polygonal shapes may be used to resist rotation, as explained in the prior art. The different configurations of the heads 122 allow for the application of force in different ways to the human body. The head shown in
Referring now to
Detail of the improved force-transmitting head is shown in the exploded perspective view of
It will be appreciated that other means of locking the hub 126 to the shaft 44 will also be suitable. For instance, the hub 126 may be held directly on the shaft 44 with a pin that passes through the hub and the shaft. It will also be appreciated that heads having other than U shapes may be implemented with the improved hub.
A rotation pin 132 passes through the body 128 into the cavity 131, and hence into a track 135 formed in the hub 126. The track 135 is shaped so that relative longitudinal movement between the hub 126 and the head 125 causes a relative rotation due to the passage of the rotation pin 132 in the track 135. Alternatively the pin may be an integral extension from the body 128 into the track 135. A bias means, such as a spring 136, biases the head 125 towards an end of the track 135. It will be appreciated that other resiliently deformable bias means, such as a rubber block, will also be appropriate.
Since the hub 126 is keyed to the shaft 44 by the matching cavity 133 and element 124, the hub 126 will remain rotationally stationary relative to the chiropractic adjustor apparatus 40 and the head 125 will rotate as it vibrates. The exact amount of relative rotation of the head 125 will depend upon the shape of the track 135 and the position of the rotation pin 132 in the track 135. Increased pressure applied by the user will compress the bias means 136 thus moving the rotation pin 132 into a different portion of the track 135. It is envisaged that a range of hubs 126 may be available with each head 125 and a suitable hub chosen for a certain chiropractic procedure.
As shown in the preferred embodiment of
The preferred embodiment has been described with reference to a single track 135 and rotation pin 132. The track shown in the preferred embodiment of
Although the invention has been described by reference to the application to an electronic chiropractic adjustor, it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the rotation hub is not limited by the actuation mechanism of the chiropractic adjustor. Thus the invention may also be applied to pneumatic chiropractic adjustors, such as those described in the prior art of Bichel referred to earlier.
While there has been illustrated and described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that this invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/174,622 filed Jun. 19, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,211 which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/749,023 filed Dec. 26, 2000 and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,236.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4716890 | Bichel | Jan 1988 | A |
| 4841955 | Evans | Jun 1989 | A |
| 6537236 | Tucek | Mar 2003 | B2 |
| 6602211 | Tucek | Aug 2003 | B2 |
| 6805700 | Miller | Oct 2004 | B2 |
| 6875186 | Tucek et al. | Apr 2005 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20050131461 A1 | Jun 2005 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10174622 | Jun 2002 | US |
| Child | 10735033 | US | |
| Parent | 09749023 | Dec 2000 | US |
| Child | 10174622 | US |
