Patent Application
20190008663
The present invention relates generally to a prosthesis socket vacuum device, which includes a base and a positioning assembly that are connectable to each other in a more stable and quiet manner through an arrangement of a plurality of channels and sealing gaskets and provide an effect of cushioning and shock absorption after the connection.
To mount a limb prosthesis to a prosthesis user with a known structure, it is common to first wrap an inner lining (96) made of a soft material and a sealing strip (98) is fit outside the lining at a suitable location to work, in combination with a socket (95), to prevent undesired skidding thereby achieving the purpose of sealing.
Referring to
The above-described process of putting on a limb prosthesis has numerous disadvantages, such as:
(1) To allow for complete extension through the socket base (90), the arrestor axle (97) is often made to have an extended length so that it often need to repeat the process of putting on once undesired positional shift occurs during the process of putting on; and if such a situation has not been noticed by the user, it may cause an unsmooth operation of the device during subsequent use of stepping or simply results in discomfort. The socket base (90) does not involve a well designed positioning measure so that it takes much time for the user to properly put the device on.
(2) The toothed wheel (92) has a one-way design for positioning purpose and in a regular process of inserting the arrestor axle (97), rotation is often caused during the process and gives off sound that might become annoying to other people staying around in a quite environment.
(3) The vacuum device (94) must be constantly actuated to evacuate residual air out of the unsealed space (99) in order to maintain stable mounting of the prosthesis, and thus, the prior art structure requires additional inclusion of the vacuum device (94). This results in additional weight and makes the structure complicated. In view of the prior art exhibiting such situations of being complicated and inconvenient operation in use thereof, there are still drawbacks that require further improvement.
The present invention provides a prosthesis socket vacuum device, of which a general technical purpose is to provide an improvement on coupling between a base and a positioning assembly such that the coupling may easily achieve a vacuum condition and maintain stable connection by means of a plurality of sealing gaskets and channels and also to alleviate the sounding caused in making coupling with a prior art device by switching to a soundless operation (much more quite as compared to the prior art), but without the need for additional inclusion of extra device for air evacuation, while providing a certain degree of cushioning after coupling with the positioning assembly.
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a prosthesis socket vacuum device, which structurally comprises a base, which is formed, in an interior thereof, with a first chamber and a second chamber. The first chamber is formed therein with a discharge channel and a vacuum relief channel. The second chamber is provided, on an underside thereof, with a locking assembly. A positioning assembly is made up of a locking pin that extends through the positioning member. The locking pin has a lower portion formed with a recess and a plurality of second sealing gaskets are fit to one side of the recess. The positioning member comprises a plurality of first sealing gaskets fit to an outside surface thereof. When the positioning assembly is set into the base for coupling, the positioning member squeezes and expels air contained in the first chamber to the outside and also makes the locking pin drive the locking assembly to displace until the recess and the closure hole are fixed relative to each other, making the locking assembly close the vacuum relief channel. With a gap present between the closure hole and the recess, a certain degree of buffering may be provided after the positioning assembly is coupled to the base.
The present invention is made such that the positioning assembly is provided with a plurality of sealing gaskets for coupling with the base that is provided with the discharge channel and the vacuum relief channel so as to effectively form a vacuum condition through expelling air to the outside through the channels, allowing a mounting operation performed by a user not to make any noise and also forming a mechanism of buffering to enhance comfortableness of wearing.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Better understanding of the present invention can be made through a detailed description given below generally for a preferred feasible embodiment according to the present invention with reference to
A locking assembly (20) comprises, assembled in sequence, a position-constraining block (22), a connection member (23), and a push member (25). The connection member (23) is of an inverted T-shape and the connection member (23) is formed with a first through hole (232) and a second through hole (233) respectively in upper and lower portions thereof. The first through hole (232) receive a valve block (24) to which a fourth seal gasket (241) is fit to insert and retain therein. The second through hole (233) receives the push member (25) to insert and retain therein. A plurality of projections (231) is arranged on a side surface of the second through hole (233) for connection with the position-constraining block (22). The locking assembly (20), as being set in a biased and pushed condition by a spring (21), is disposed under the second chamber (112), and a bottom lid (12), in combination with a plurality of fixing bolts (121), is threadingly fixed to the base (10) to retain the locking assembly (20) in an interior of the base (10).
A positioning assembly (30) has an upper portion configured for the socket prosthesis-lining (40) that is fit to a stump of a user. The positioning assembly (30) is formed of a locking pin (31) extending through a positioning member (32). The locking pin (31) has an upper portion that is provided with a third sealing gasket (313) at a site of coupling to the lining to prevent entry of air. The locking pin (31) has a lower portion that is provided with a recess (311) and is provided, on a side surface adjacent to the recess (311), with a plurality of second sealing gaskets (312) fit thereto. The positioning member (32) has an outside surface over which a plurality of first sealing gaskets (321) is fit. When the positioning assembly (30) is set into the base (10), the positioning member (32) squeezes and expels air contained in the first chamber (111) to move through the discharge channel (13) to discharge, in a soundless manner, to the outside by way of the one-way valve (122). When the positioning member (32) is squeezing the first chamber (111), air that is located outside the inner lining (40) and inside the socket (50) is not expelled into the first chamber (111), and only the air that is originally contained in the first chamber (111) will be discharged to the outside so as to generate a vacuum condition inside the first chamber (111) and also allow the locking pin (31) to drive the locking assembly (20) to move until the recess (311) and a closure hole (221) are fixed with respect to each other so that the locking assembly (20) closes the vacuum relief channel (14). The sealing gaskets described above can be adjusted in respect of the quantity thereof in view of actual needs for applications and are not limited to what described herein.
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The present invention provides a prosthesis socket vacuum device, which comprises a locking pin (31) that is reduced in size and used in combination with sealing gaskets so that a user may uses a length-reduced or shorter positioning assembly (30) to couple with the base (10) thereby improving the issue of poor coupling. Further, during coupling, the base (10) discharges internal air through the discharge channel (13), and the vacuum relief channel (14) to prevent flowing of air so as to achieve the purpose of completely fixing without additional inclusion of devices for air evacuation and vacuuming thereby reducing the load carried by the user. Further, the positioning assembly (30) and the locking assembly (20) provide certain spacing or gap therebetween to help buffer or cushion reaction force induced by stepping of the user so as to make the user feel comfortable.
It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the claims of the present invention.
