BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view that is partly in section of a first embodiment of the mechanical weight bearing indicator of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a snap dome that can be used in many of the embodiments on the invention, including the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with an upper load transfer partly transparent to reveal the snap dome structure;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1, but of a second embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but of the second embodiment;
FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but with additional features according to a third embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of footwear it a portion cut away to reveal the mechanical weight bearing indicator of FIG. 6 in combination with the footwear;
FIG. 8 is a side elevational view, partly in section of a fourth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view thereof;
FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but of a fifth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 9 but of the fifth embodiment;
FIG. 12 is a schematic side view of a sixth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of a seventh embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 14 is a schematic side view of an eighth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 15 is a schematic side view of a ninth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 16 is a schematic side view of a tenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 17 is a schematic side view of an eleventh embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 18 is a schematic side view of a twelfth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 19 is a schematic side view of a thirteenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 20 is a schematic side view of a fourteenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 21 is a schematic side view of a fifteenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 22 is a schematic side view of a sixteenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 23 is a schematic side view of a seventeenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 24 is a schematic side view of an eighteenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 25 is a schematic side view of a nineteenth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 26 is a schematic side view of a twentieth embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 27 is a schematic side view of a twenty-first embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings in particular, the invention embodied in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 comprises a purely mechanical weight bearing indicator generally designated 10, having a load transfer plate and base plate that sandwiches two snap domes 16 and 18 of different buckling loads in a back-to-back arrangement, that is with the large diameter bases of the domes, facing away from each other. One snap dome buckles at the lower load of a limb load range prescribed by a medical professional (e.g., an orthopedist), for example 40 lbs., while the other snap dome buckles at the higher or maximum load, e.g. 100 lbs. In this arrangement, the lower load dome 18 will buckle first when the total load through the stack exceeds 40 lbs., followed by the large dome 16 buckling when the total load exceeds 100 lbs. In normal operation, the patient will hear and feel a high-pitched click from the lower load dome buckling every time they exceed 40 lbs. For correct rehabilitation, the patient should hear and feel this every time they step on the injured limb. However, they will hear and feel a louder click from the upper load dome buckling every time they exceed 100 lbs. This indicates that the patient has put too much load on the limb.
The choice of snap dome(s) buckling load for the upper and lower load limits is critical to the operation of this invention. In general, the upper load snap dome(s) must buckle at a load greater than the lower load snap dome(s). For example, if the lower load is 20 lbs, then a single or stack of domes would be chosen appropriately to buckle at this load. Then, the upper single or stack of domes for the upper load must be chosen so as to buckle at a load greater than 20 lbs; say 30 lbs for this example. The load limb range would approximately be 20 lbs (i.e. lower load dome(s) buckling) to 50 lbs (i.e. lower load dome(s) compressed at 20 lbs+30 lbs from upper load dome(s) buckling). In essence, the upper and lower load domes behave similarly to two springs in a series arrangement. If the upper load dome(s) were chosen to buckle at less than 20 lbs, say 15 lbs for this same example, then 15 lbs would actually serve as the lower load limit.
FIG. 2 is a non-limiting example of a metal snap dome that is commercially available in a wide variety of sizes and load specifications. If has four curved lobes 20 formed as one piece with a central concave area 22 having a hole 24 through its center.
Such snap domes are available, for example from, Snaptron Inc. of 960 Diamond Valley Drive, Windsor, Colo. 80550. While these domes are used primarily in switches, the person of ordinary skill in the art of the present invention can utilize their service to provide snap domes for use with the present invention. Snaptron Inc. maintains a website at URL: http://www.snaptron.com/f_series.cfm. A wide variety of snap domes in various designs and loads are available from this company.
When a snap dome with lobes (see FIG. 2) is used in a stack for the upper and/or lower load, the lobes must be aligned with each other as shown at 28 in FIGS. 4 and 5 for the stack to work properly. Furthermore, for the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5, the lobes of the upper and the lower snap domes (or stacks) should be offset with respect to each other, for optimal performance of the device. Or else the lobes will interfere with each other due to their collision preventing the apex of the snap dome from reaching the neutral plane coincident with the lobes of the same snap dome, if a plate is placed between the two individual or stacked domes, the bent ends of the domes will provide interference of a similar fashion.
In practice, the mechanism of the present invention is meant to be placed inside a shoe or orthotic, e.g. in the heel area as shown in FIG. 7, so that the upper plate 12 may or may not come into direct contact with the wearer's heel or other area of the foot and the lower plate 14 will not come into direct contact with the ground. The forces, however, from the foot to the ground are transmitted through the device.
Each snap dome 16 and 18 is preferably a thin dome-shaped disk of spring metal (e.g. stainless steel) or plastic which is shown in its stable condition in FIGS. 1 and 3, and, when receiving more than its design load, will snap-through to an unstable compressed condition. The domes operate in the same way as the bottom of an oil-can or lid of a canning jar. If sufficient downward force is exerted, the snap dome will snap or buckle into its unstable position shown, becoming now upwardly concave. If the force is removed, a restoring internal force, from a build-up of internal material strains similar to a compressed spring, will cause dome to return to its upwardly dome-shaped position of FIGS. 1 and 3. The upper plate 12 and lower plate 14 are made of any suitable material, for example, hard ABS plastic, metal or the like.
Plates 12,14 are approximately 3 to 5 cm in diameter to fit comfortably in a patient's shoe or medical appliance. Varying thicknesses, material and geometry (i.e., radius of curvature, height, diameter) of each dome 16 and 18 can be selected so that they collapse or buckle to their unstable conditions under different, but specifically selected, forces corresponding to minimum and maximum weights or load desired for the user's heel. The material of each dome may be any spring-like metal such as steel or other metal alloy, having high tensile strength, or may be plastic capable of having the stable and unstable positions, such as nylon. The overall height of the device 10 should be approximately 0.6 to 1.2 cm so that it can be received in the shoe, medical appliance, or orthotic without obstruction.
As noted above, no power source is needed and the invention automatically resets once the load has been removed.
A second embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 where rather than two single snap domes 16 and 18, at least one of the domes or both of them are replaced by one or two stacks 26 and 28 of at least two snap disks for each dome. A stack of identical domes buckles at the combined buckling loads of the individual domes. Instead of the medical professional having to stock an assortment of domes or disks depending on the load range required for their patient, they would only stock one load disk of, for example 10 or 20 lbs. If the desired minimum load range were 40 to 100 lbs, as before, the medical professional would stack two 20-lb disks (40 lbs total) concave up under the upper transfer plate 12, and three more 20-lb disks (for a total of 100 lbs) concave down on the base plate 14. The stack 26 of two snap domes would be the first to buckle when the limb load exceeds 40 lbs, followed by the stack 28 of three snap domes buckling when the limb load rises an additional 60 lbs to reach the desired maximum of 100 lbs. The stock domes can also be pre-packaged depending upon patients weight range.
A third embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 6.
It is noted that in a preferred form of the invention as shown in all of FIGS. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the load transfer plate 12 has a center post 30 to retain the lateral positions of both dome stacks. All snap domes in these embodiments will have the central hole 24 (see FIG. 2). This post 30 rides in a hole 32 provided in the base plate 14 as the plates are force toward each other during each step the user takes. The load transfer plate 12 will also be covered with a low-durometer foam or polymeric gel material, if needed.
Assembly of all the components is facilitated by a snap fit between the load transfer plate 12 which, as shown in FIG. 6 has multiple, e.g. four, retaining legs 40 that are evenly spaced around the plate 12 and embrace the base plate 14. Four support tabs guide the load transfer plate.
FIG. 7 shows the embodiment of FIG. 6 installed in the heel of a shoe 60 but it will be understood that any embodiment of the invention as illustrated here or to be developed in the future can be installed in any part of footwear to be used with the present invention.
A fourth embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 and uses low and high load domes 54 and 52 respectively, that are integrated into a single component 50 shown in the un-loaded position in FIG. 8. This dual snap dome is custom manufactured and includes a large diameter dome 52 that is in contact with the base plate 14, and a smaller snap dome 54 whose apex is in contact with the load transfer plate 10. When the lower desired load is reached, part 54 will buckle signaling the wearer via an audible click and a tactile sensation under the foot. When the upper desired load is reached, part 52 will buckle with the smaller diameter part 54 still in its compressed condition and, again, signaling the wearer with a lower-pitched audible click and tactile sensation under the foot.
A fifth embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, which is very similar to the fourth embodiment except that the smaller diameter dome 56 is a separate part that nests in a recess at the apex of the large diameter dome 52 of the two-part dome 50.
Other non-limiting embodiments of the invention are shown in FIGS. 12 to 27.
In these embodiments a separator plate 62 is provided between the load transfer plate 12 and base plate 14 in each case, and in each case, between the two single domes (16 and 16), two dome stacks (28 and 28), or single dome and a dome stack (16 and 28). In this way the two domes, two dome stacks, or single dome and dome stack that provide the lower and the upper load signal, can be oriented to be both concave up as in FIGS. 12 to 15, or concave down as in FIGS. 16 to 19, or concave away from each other as in FIGS. 20 to 23 (which was also the case in FIGS. 1-4 except without the plate 62), or concave toward each other as in FIGS. 24 to 27.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.
Patent Application
20080041169
