Patent Application
20070267053
Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings showing by way of illustration the preferred embodiments thereof, in which:
Referring to
The cane shaft 12 is preferably adjustable in length. For example, the cane shaft 12 can be of a telescoping configuration made of metal tubes. A split lock ring (not shown) may be retained in position by a threaded collar 24 to lock the telescoping configuration of the cane shaft 12 in a selected length. Preferably, a pin (not shown) and a plurality of positioning holes (not shown) may be provided to the telescoping configuration of the cane shaft 12 in combination with the lock collar 24, for locking the telescoping configuration of the cane shaft 12 in a selected length. All features of the telescoping configuration are well known in the prior art and will not be further described in detail.
Referring to
The top and body portions 28, 26 of the handle 16 in combination define the hand grip 18. An upward projection 30 extends from the top portion 28 in a middle location thereof. The handle 16 increases in width from a front section 32 of the handle 16 towards a rear end 34 thereof which projects rearwardly to form a convex shape. The handle 16 includes a shoulder 36 at the convex rear end 34 extending upwardly from the top portion 28, and a heel 38 of the convex rear end 34 extending downwardly from the body portion 26. A curved transitional surface 40 extends around the handle 16 at the rear end 34 thereof to smoothly connect both the upward shoulder 36 and the downward heel 38 to the hand grip 18 of the handle 16.
The handle 16 further includes a front end 42 formed by a front end section of the rigid body portion 26 forming a radially protruding annular ridge 44. A curved transitional surface 46 extends around the handle 16 at the front end 42 to smoothly connect the radially protruding annular ridge 44 with the hand grip 18. The hand grip 18 is thus defined between the radially protruding annular ridge 44 at the front end 42 of the handle 16 and the upward shoulder 36 and downward heel 38 at the rear end 34 of the handle 16, and is sized in a substantially unchanged dimension in the side view of
A hole 48 (illustrated by broken lines in
The top and body portions 28, 26 of the handle 16 are made in a double injection molding process of in separate molding processes but are configured such that the top portion 28 forms a top layer of the handle 16 as if the top layer of the handle 16 was pealed away to leave a cut off area generally indicated by numeral 50, thereby forming the body portion 26. The cut off area 50 is defined within a complete loop of a cutting edge 52 of the top of the body portion 26. The complete loop of the cutting edge 52 of the body portion 26 is configured and sized to exactly correspond with the peripheral edge 54 of the top portion 58 such that the peripheral edge 54 of the top portion 28 mates substantially seamlessly with the cutting edge 52 of the cut off area 50 of the body portion 26 when the top portion 28 is attached to the body portion 26.
It is just for convenience of description to describe the top and body portions 28, 26 as in a cutting off and pealing away manner. In fact, the top portion 28 is made of a soft and resilient material such as a resiliently deformable plastic or elastomer, and the body portion 26 is made of a rigid material such as polypropylene or other rigid plastic material. They are made in separate molding processes or in two steps of a double injection molding process.
The top portion 28 is preferably a thin layer except for the upward projection 30 such that the body portion 26 is provided with a cross-sectional dimension large enough to define the hole 48 therein. The upward projection 30 is preferably formed entirely by the top portion 28 to provide a suitable resiliency thereof in order to absorb an impact when transferring load from a user's hands therethrough to the cane shaft 12 and then to the ground.
The configurations of the top and body portions 28, 26 in this embodiment are an example of the present invention and can be configured differently without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, a rear end section (not indicated) of the top portion 28 may form the entire upward shoulder 36 similar to the upward projection 30, rather than being a thin layer as shown in
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5A-5C, the soft and resilient tip 14 attached to the lower end of the cane shaft 12 includes a body 56 preferably made of a resiliently deformable plastic, elastomer, rubber, etc. in a molding process. The body 56 of the tip 14 has a substantially triangular bottom 58 and tapers from the substantially triangular bottom 58 towards a top 60 thereof, gradually tapering into a substantially round shape at the top 60. The body 56 defines a hole 62 in the round top 60 thereof, extending into the body 56 for engagement with the lower end of the cane shaft 12. The bottom 58 has a tread design (not indicated) for increasing traction on the ground. Each corner 64 of the triangular bottom 58 is preferably beveled. Such resiliently deformable properties of the tip 14 together with such a configuration thereof, provides a secure contact with the ground even when the cane 10 is in a tilting orientation during the user's walk. A side of the triangular bottom 58 in contact with the ground will greatly increase the contact surface of the tip when the cane 10 is in a tilting orientation, in contrast to the contact surface of a round bottomed tip in a similar condition. Furthermore, the side of the triangular bottom 58 in contact with the ground when pressed onto the ground, will be deformed to increase the contact area between the tip 14 and the ground. When a corner of the triangular bottom 58 in contact with the ground is pressed onto the ground, the beveled configuration of the corner 64 and the resiliently deformable property thereof also make a secure contact between the tip and the ground.
FIGS. 6 and 7A-7B illustrate another embodiment of the present invention in which a cane 100 is partially shown and includes a cane shaft 112 and a handle 116. The cane 100 has a similar configuration to that of cane 10 illustrated in
The handle 116 includes a downward section 166 preferably in a cylindrical configuration, formed by the body portion 126, extending downwardly in a desired angle with respect to the axis 122 of the hand grip 118. The hole 148 is defined in an end of the downward section 166 and extends thereinto for engagement with the upper end of the cane shaft 112.
The handle 116 further includes a front section 168 substantially formed by the body portion 126. The downward section 166 of the handle is located between the front section 168 and the hand grip 118.
The shaft 112 may be similar to the cane shaft 12 of cane 10 in
The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled in the art will recognize that changes maybe made to the embodiments described without departure from the scope of the invention disclosed. For example, the cane of the present invention may include a cane shaft configured differently from the cane shafts described in the above embodiments but with a two-piece handle for the described functions. The two-piece handle of the present invention may also be configured differently from the exemplary configurations described in the embodiments. Still other modifications which fall within the scope of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications are intended to fall within the appended claims.
