Patent Application
20110220161
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Not Applicable
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(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to canes used by those who need assistance in maintaining stability while walking.
(2) Description of the Related Art including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Walking canes are well known to those with ordinary skill in the art. Walking canes from prior art include the ancient walking cane consisting of a single stick held in one hand and providing stability when the user places the distal end on the ground in the direction of travel so that the stick provides a third point of contact with the ground as the user moves. Modern walking canes can be more complex, with three or four legs on a foot assembly (U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,784), allow for an adjustment of staff length (U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,763), or telescoping canes for easy storage when not in use (U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,807).
Newer multiple-leg canes attempt to provide superior stabilization by providing more than one point of contact with the ground. With two or more contacts, the cane is less likely to twist or turn than when a single point of contact is maintained. However, the success of these canes is limited because the points of contact must change during the gait.
For example, a four-legged cane usually has only two of its legs in contact with the ground for most of a user's gait; the back two legs of a four-legged cane touch the ground when the user extends it out to take a step. As the user's center of gravity reaches the cane's contact points, all four legs are on the ground, and then as the user passes the contact points and before the user pulls up the cane and places it forward again, only the front two legs of the cane remain in contact with the ground. This creates a multiple-stage use of the cane that is less graceful than the use of a standard one-legged cane.
Another challenge for multiple-legged canes comes when the ground upon which the user is walking is uneven. If a user is walking on unimproved dirt or rock, a multi-leg cane may have only two or three legs touching the ground. Under such circumstances the user can be surprised by the lack of contact of one leg that creates in an unexpected lack of support and result with the user falling.
Existing canes are bulky, not easily dissembled, and require the same amount of space whether they are in use or not.
What is needed is a multi-legged cane that can, a) maintain multiple points of contact during the entirety of the user's gait, b) easily self-adjust to changing ground surfaces, and c) can be easily dissembled when not in use.
The general object of the multi-legged cane is to offer those needing assistance to walk with a cane that provide the increased stability of a multi-legged cane with the ability to adjust to rough ground, as well as to provide a graceful motion of the cane throughout a user's gate. The invention uses independently adjustable and tensioned legs on the cane to gain these advantages.
The cane also can be easily dissembled and reassembled by use of a single nut which holds the multiple legs at the lower end of the threaded cane.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.
The attached drawings are provided as non-limiting examples of the invention:
FIG. 1—Orthogonal view of the cane.
a—Orthogonal view of a three-legged leg base.
b—Orthogonal view of a four-legged leg base.
FIG. 3—Section view of the cane's lower end with optional locking end cap.
a—Side view of the optional locking end cap.
b—Orthogonal view of the cane's lower end, showing leg slots.
c—Top view of a leg.
FIG. 4—Orthogonal partial view of cane's base.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a cane as in
The base 15 can be fixed to the cane's lower end by threads, screws or other means. Different bases can be interchanged onto the cane to allow for different numbers of legs, typically two to four on a base.
As an alternative to a base into which the legs are affixed, the lower end of the cane can be slotted and threaded, so each leg slides into a slot and is held in place with a locking cap 19 which screws into the lower end of the cane, as shown in
To replace a leg, the user slides the leg 17 up into the slot 27, positions it, and then screws the locking cap 19 into the cane's end. The locking cap 19 has an upper portion 21 that fills the bulk of the interior space of the cane, and assists in holding the assembly element (typically a back plate) 29 in place when the locking cap is screwed into the cane.
As shown in
Other embodiments use compressed air or tensioned rubber products to allow for the compression. In the preferred embodiment, the cane has three legs, but other embodiments could have fewer or more. In all cases, the cane's user would place his weight on the cane, and the cane would respond by allowing some compression in cane legs equipped with compression elements such that the user's weight is distributed on the several legs, irrespective of uneven ground.
Another optional construction is to have a middle leg that does not compress. On the cane construction using a locking end cap in
There are many possible combinations, such as a cane the center leg rigid, but other legs compressible. In unusual cases, one or more of the other legs would be rigid, with others compressible, depending on a user's rehabilitative needs.
As the user walks, the cane's angle with the ground changes. The legs will decompress and compress as the user walks, just as he would with a single-legged cane, but with the added assistance of the other legs' contact with the ground, the cane is less likely to twist or slip.
