The technique relates to a rolling walker, and more particularly to a rolling walker which can be can be temporarily converted to a transportation chair.
Rolling walkers or wheeled walkers are widely used by elderly people and/or other people experiencing difficulty walking without a walking aid. A rolling walker typically has a frame mounted on four rollers or wheels and a pair of rearwardly extending hand grips to be gripped by the user for support while walking. Rolling walkers permit the user to be positioned behind the hand grips and to push and roll the walker forward over the ground. Rolling walkers usually include a seating surface to allow the user to rest in a sitting position with the user's feet typically resting on the ground, which requires the user to turn around and sit down in a rearward-facing direction, opposite to the direction of travel. Such a sitting position of the rolling walker cannot be used to temporarily transport the user when the assistance of a care-giver is required because there is very little space between the user and the care giver when the user is seated in the rearward facing position between the hand grips. Furthermore, the conventional rolling walker does not have dedicated feet support elements which are required to support the user's feet when seated for transportation.
Therefore, there is a need for a rolling walker which provides the functionality of assisting people in walking and is temporarily convertible to a wheeled transportation chair.
One object of the technique of the disclosure is to provide a rolling walker which is temporarily convertible to a wheeled transportation chair.
In accordance with one aspect of the technique, a walker device for assisting an individual with mobility comprises a frame structure including: two front legs in a substantially parallel relationship, each having an upper end and a lower end and two rear legs in a substantially parallel relationship, each having an upper end and a lower end, the rear legs being connected at the upper end thereof to the respective front legs, and a leg extension adjustably attached to the lower end of each of the front and rear legs; means for rolling the walker device along a support surface, the means being attached to each leg extension of the front and rear legs; a seat extending between the front legs and between the rear legs and attached to the frame structure to provide seating at a selected height, enabled by the adjustable attachment of the leg extensions to the respective front and rear legs; and a detachable backrest adapted to be selectively attached to the front legs in a front position or to the rear legs in a rear position.
In accordance with another aspect of the technique, a walker device for assisting an individual with mobility and being convertible to a transportation chair comprises a frame structure, including: two front legs in a substantially parallel relationship, each having an upper end and a lower end and two rear legs in a substantially parallel relationship, each having an upper end and a lower end, and a leg extension adjustably attached to the lower end of each of the front and rear legs; a rotatable wheel attached to each leg extension of the respective legs for rotatably supporting the frame structure; a seat attached to the frame structure to provide seating at a selected height, enabled by the adjustable attachment of the leg extensions to the respective front and rear legs; a backrest attached to the frame structure, adapted to be selectively disposed in a front position for a rearward seating condition or in a rear position for a forward seating condition; and a footrest assembly attached to the frame structure and adapted to pivot about first and second pivoting axes parallel to each other, between a folded position and an unfolded position.
Other aspects and features of the technique will be better understood with reference to the preferred embodiments described hereinafter.
Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, showing by way of illustration the preferred embodiments thereof, in which:
Referring to
The frame structure 12 includes two front legs 14 disposed in a substantially parallel relationship on the respective sides, each having an upper end 16 and a lower end 18 thereof. The front legs 14 are preferably made of metal tubes and are disposed in a slanted orientation with the lower end 18 thereof preferably slightly bent in a vertical direction.
The frame structure 12 further includes two rear legs 20 in a substantially parallel relationship, each have an upper end 22 and a lower end 24 thereof. The rear legs 20 are connected at the upper end 22, preferably through a hinge device (not indicated), to the upper end 16 of the respective front legs 14. The rear legs 20 are also preferably made of metal tubes.
An interconnecting frame, preferably a folding frame assembly, is provided with two foldable rods 26 which are pivotably fastened to the front leg 14 and the rear leg 20 at each side of the frame structure 12. The foldable rods 26 are provided about a bracing rod 28 which extends transversely across the frame structure 12 and is pivotably connected to the respective foldable rods 26. Therefore, the frame structure 12 preferably presents an A-shaped configuration in a side view thereof. However, due to the foldability, the frame structure 12 can be collapsed into a packing condition for storage and/or transportation. A locking device such as a lock pin or lock bolt (not shown) may be provided to the pivoting connection of the bracing rod 28 and the foldable rods 26 at one or both sides of the frame structure 12 in order to lock the folding frame assembly either in the collapsed packing condition or in the extending A-shaped confirmation for use.
Rollers, castors and/or small wheels 30 are rotatably mounted to the lower ends 18, 24 of the respective front and rear legs 14, 20 for rolling the walker device 10 along a support surface, for example, a ground surface. The two small wheels 30 attached to the front legs 18 are preferably pivotably fastened to the vertical lower ends 18 such that the two small front wheels 30 are capable of a 360° rotation, which is well known in the industry and will not be further described herein.
The frame structure 12 is reinforced by cross members 32, 34 and 36 preferably made of metal tubes, which extend transversely across the frame structure 12 to interconnect the two sides of the frame structure. In particular, cross member 32 is connected at opposed ends thereof, for example by fasteners (not shown) directly to the lower ends 18 of the respective front legs 14, and extends therebetween. The cross member 34, preferably in a U-shape, is attached to the respect front legs 14 at a middle section thereof by a pair of brackets 38. The brackets 38 which can be made of a small section of tube or can be formed as a sleeve, for example, are attached to the front legs 18, for example by welding, and define a hole (not shown) extending through the respective brackets 38. The two ends of the U-shaped cross member 34 are inserted into the respective brackets 38 from a lower end thereof, and are affixed to the brackets 38 by fasteners (not indicated). It should be noted that the ends of the U-shaped cross member 34 are received only half way into the mounting hole of the brackets 38, and therefore the upper portion of the mounting hole in the respective brackets 38 are still available for receiving a tubular connection member therein.
The cross member 36, preferably in a U-shape, is connected to the rear legs 20 by a pair of brackets 40 in a manner similar to the connection of the cross member 34 to the front legs 14, and therefore the description thereof will not be repeated herein.
A seat 42 is provided with the frame structure 12 to extend between the front legs 14 and between the rear legs 20, and is supported on the cross members 34, 36. It is preferably to pivotably attach the seat 42 to one of the cross members 34, 36 (such as to the front cross member 34) and detachably rest the seat 42 on the other (such as the rear cross member 36) such that the seat 32 can be pivoted about one of the cross members 34, 36 to allow the rear legs 20 to pivot towards the front legs 14 when the frame structure 12 must be collapsed. The cross members 34, 36 are disposed at substantially a same height relative to the support surface such that the seat 42 is disposed in a substantially horizontal orientation. A cloth bag 43 is optionally provided under the seat, for example by being tied to the respective cross members 34, 36
A pair of hand grips 44 are provided to the frame structure 12. Each of the hand grips 44 is preferably made of a metal tube which can be slidably received in the upper end 16 of the tubular front legs 14 such that the height of the hand grips 44 can be adjusted relative to the support surface in accordance with the user's requirements. The hand grips 44 can be locked in a desired position by a variety of locking means (not indicated) which are well known in the industry and will not therefore be described herein. Each of the hand grips 44 includes an upper end which is bent at an angle relative to the slanted orientation of the front legs 14 in order to form a grip portion 46 to which a lever assembly 48 is attached to activate a brake 50 mounted to the lower end 24 of the respective rear legs 20 through a cable (not indicated). The lever assembly 48 and the bracket 50 are conventional and will not be further described in detail.
A backrest 52 is detachably and selectively mounted to the frame structure 12 in a front position, as shown in
In particular, when the backrest 52 is disposed in the front position as shown in
The backrest 52 can be conveniently detached from the brackets 38 and, in a similar way, can be attached to the respective brackets 40 on the rear legs 20 to permit a rear seating position as shown in
Further referring to
The arms 64 are bent at a location near the first end 66 thereof at an angle substantially similar to the angle between the vertical lower end 18 and the slanted major portion of the front leg 14. In the folded position, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3-4, the arms 64 of the footrest assembly 58 are pivoted about the first pivoting axis 60 such that the arms 64 extend upwardly in an orientation similar to that of the slanted front legs 14. The U-shaped footrest bar 72 is suspended downwardly from the second end 68 of the upwardly extending arms 64, preferably pivoting slightly towards the cloth bag 43 and is releasably attached to the cloth bag 43 for example by a strap fastener 76. Therefore, when the footrest assembly 58 is disposed in this folded position, the footrest assembly 58 is somewhat hidden within the frame structure 12.
When the footrest assembly 58 is disposed in an unfolded position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5-6, the arms 64 extend forwardly from the frame structure 12 with the U-shaped footrest bar 72 suspended downwardly from the second end 68 of the forwardly extending arms 64. The footrest bar 52 is positioned above and spaced apart from the ground surface to allow the walker device 10 to move along the ground surface without interference. The hinge device 70 which pivotably connects the first end 66 of the arm 64 to one of the front legs 14, is preferably attached to the front leg 14 at a location slightly above the cross member 32 such that a section of the arm 64 near the first end 66 thereof rests on the cross member 32 when the arms 64 extend forwardly in a substantially horizontal direction, as more clearly shown in
In accordance with one embodiment, the hinge device 70 (as well as the hinge device 74) is illustrated in
It should be noted that any desirable pivoting range can be obtained by choosing the circumferential dimensions of the protruding members 706 and 707. It should also be noted that in order to have the footrest assembly 58 pivotable between the desired orientations (the folded and unfolded positions as shown in the respective
In operation, the frame structure 12 is fully extended from its collapsed storage condition to form a stable A-shaped configuration which can be pushed and rolled on the ground or other support surfaces. When the walker device 10 is used as a roller walker for assisting an individual while walking, the backrest 52 is placed in the front position and the footrest assembly 58 is disposed in the folded position and is secured to the cloth bag 43, as shown in
When the walker device 10 is temporarily used as a wheeled transportation chair, the backrest 52 is detached from the brackets 38 and the arms 56 thereof are then inserted into the brackets 40 on the rear legs 20, thereby forming the rear position of the backrest 52. The upper portion 54 of the backrest 52 extends between the two hand grips 44 behind the seat 42, as illustrated in
Referring to
In the embodiment of
Each of the front legs 14 is tubular and each leg extension 19 thereof includes a tube 118. The tube 118 has a diameter relatively smaller than the diameter of the tubular section of the corresponding front leg 14 to allow one end of the tube 118 to be axially inserted into the lower end 18 of the corresponding front leg 14 to different depths, while the other end of the tube 118 is connected to the roller or small wheel 30 in a manner to allow the wheel 30 to rotate in a 360° rotation about the axis of the tube 118.
When the tube 118 is inserted into the lower end 18 of the corresponding front leg 14, the depth of insertion provides a relatively long or short added length to said front leg 14.
A hole 101 is provided in each of the front legs 14, extending laterally through the tubular leg 14, preferably along the longitudinal axis of a cross member 32 which is also preferably tubular. A plurality of laterally extending holes 103 (two are shown in
Positioning means may be provided in order to conveniently align the hole 101 in the lower end 18 of the front leg 14 with a selected one of holes 103 in the tube 118 of the leg extension 19. For example, a spring biased positioning pin 107 may be provided on the tube 118, which laterally projects out from the tube 118 of each leg extension 19 and can be pressed into the tube to allow the tube 118 to be inserted into the lower end 18 of the tubular leg 14 and slide freely therein until the spring biased positioning pin 107 pops up into a selected one of holes 109 (two are shown) in the lower end 18 of the front leg 14. The respective holes 109 and the positioning pin 107 are accurately located such that when the positioning pin 107 engages in one of the holes 109, hole 101 in the lower end 18 of the front leg 14, is accurately aligned with a selected one of the holes 103 in the tube 118 of the leg extension 19 for receiving the locking pin 105 therethrough.
When the tube 118 of the leg extension 19 is fully inserted into the lower end 18 of the front leg 14, tube 118 is substantially surrounded by a portion of the lower end 18 of the front leg 14 and will not be visible. When the tube 118 is partially inserted into the lower end 18 of the front leg 14, a lower portion of the tube 118 which is not inserted into the lower end 18 of the front leg 14, will be visible. Therefore, a separate tubular sleeve 111 may be provided for selective use to surround the un-inserted portion of the tube 118 when the tube 118 is partially inserted into the front leg 14 in order to present a uniform and aesthetically pleasing appearance.
The rear legs 20 are also tubular and are adjustably connected with the respective leg extensions 25 in a telescoping configuration similar to the telescoping connection of the front legs 14 and leg extensions 19, and will be only briefly described herein. Each leg extension 25 includes a tube 124 having a least a section thereof having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the corresponding tubular rear leg 20, in order to allow axial insertion of the tube 124 into the lower end 24 of the rear leg 20 to different selected depths. A hole 113 extends laterally through the lower end 24 of the rear leg 20 and a plurality (two are shown in
The E-clip pin 117 as illustrated in
Similar to the telescoping connection configuration provided in the front legs 14, spring-biased positioning pin 119 may also be provided on the small-diameter section of the tube 124 for selective engagement with one of the positioning holes 121 defined in each rear leg 20. The features of these components such as separate tubular sleeves 112, are similar to those provided to the front legs 14 and will not be further repeated herein. The roller or wheel 30 is rotatably attached to the end of the tube 124 of each leg extension 25 remote from the end for insertion.
In the embodiment shown in
Locking and positioning means which, for example, may include a spring-biased positioning and locking pin 123 provided on each inner section of the telescoping configuration of the side sections of the footrest bar and a plurality of positioning/locking holes 127 (two are shown) defined in each outer section of the respective side sections of the footrest bar 72, functions for both positioning and load bearing because the load thereon acted by a user's feet when the user is sitting on the seat 42 is relatively smaller in contrast to the user's weight which is born by the respective legs of the frame structure 12′.
The remaining parts and functions of the footrest assembly 58 are similar to those in walker device 10 of
This embodiment of the walker device 10′ advantageously provides comfortable seating and footrest heights to different users.
The above description is meant to be exemplary only and one skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments described without departure from the scope of the disclosed technique. For example, the technique can be applicable to a walker device having a frame structure different from the described frame structure, such as one which is not collapsible, and/or not presenting a general A-shaped configuration. The hand grips, brake system and wheels may be configured differently from those of the described embodiments and the cloth bag is optional. Still other modifications which fall within the scope of the disclosed technique will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of a review of this disclosure.
This application is a Continuation-In-Part of Applicant's pending application Ser. No. 11/552,177, filed on Oct. 24, 2006.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11552177 | Oct 2006 | US |
Child | 12031195 | US |