Patent Application
20170136619
1. Field of the Invention
A reacher assembly to assist an individual with limited mobility at the arms, legs, and back.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such Reacher assemblies are well known and are generally referred to as health aid assemblies. One such assembly, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,025,191 granted Sep. 27, 2011 to Michael T. Sullivan and Wayne J. Gullick, discloses an assembly with a shaft extending between a manual length and a retriever length opposing one another and defining a guideway with a rectangular shape. The assembly contains a handle attached to and extending transversally away from the manual length and a trigger pivotally attached to the shaft and being spaced from the handle. A closeable jaw is pivotally attached adjacent to the retriever length for movement away from and towards the retriever length of the shaft for gripping an object. A cable is disposed in the guideway of the shaft and interconnects the closeable jaw and the trigger. The closeable jaw is used to grasp objects. A shoehorn is slidably connected to the top wall of the shaft and is slidable from a retracted position to an extended position.
Another such reacher assembly, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,609 granted Oct. 21, 1965 to G. C. Pickard, discloses an assembly with a snare extending in a loop between a fixed end and a movable end with the fixed end connected to the retriever length of the shaft and the movable end of the snare extending into the guideway. This assembly is used to snare and lasso objects by expanding and contracting the closed loop of the snare.
The invention provides such an assembly including a slide slidably supported by the shaft and connected to the movable end of the snare for expanding and contracting the loop of the snare with the snare extending in parallel relationship to the cable in the guideway for controlling the jaw.
The invention in its broadest aspect presents an assembly that is useable by an incapacitated person to perform multiple tasks thereby allowing the person to possess only one assembly to perform multiple tasks.
Other advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring to the Figures, wherein like numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, a reacher assembly 20, generally shown, assists an incapacitated individual with limited mobility at the arms, legs and/or back.
The reacher assembly 20 includes a shaft 22, generally indicated, constructed of metal or plastic material, and extending between a manual length or extremity 24 and a retriever length or extremity 26, which lengths 24, 26 extend in opposite directions from one another. As shown in
A handle 40 is secured, as by gluing, in the channel 38 adjacent the manual length 24 and extends transversally away from the manual length 24 for a person to grip and operate the reacher assembly 20. The handle 40 presents a hole 42 extending through the handle 40 for carry and storage functions, e.g., storage on a hook or looping a cord through the hole 42 for fastening around a person's wrist.
A trigger 44 is pivotally attached 46 between the side walls 36 in the channel 38 and is spaced from the handle 40 at a distance allowing a user to engage the trigger 44 with an index finger while holding the handle 40 with the remainder of the user's hand. A fixed jaw 48 is secured in, as by glue, and fills the channel 38 adjacent the retriever length 26 and extends out of the channel 38.
A closeable jaw 50 is pivotally connected 49 to the shaft 22 adjacent to the retriever length 26 and extends in an L-shape away from the shaft 22 and then towards the retriever length 26 of the shaft 22 for operating between an open position and a closed position. The trigger 44 operates the closeable jaw 50 between an open position, as shown in solid lines in
A track 58 is disposed on the top wall 32 of the shaft 22. A shoehorn assembly 60 is slidably supported by the track 58 for rectilinear movement between a retracted position, as shown in phantom in
A snare 66, made of a flexible material, e.g., a meshed material such as hemp, leather, cotton, polymer, or wire, extends in a loop with a fixed end 68 connected to the top wall 32 at the retriever length 26 of the shaft 22 and extends in an arch or circle through the opening 28 and into the guideway 30 to a movable end 70. The size of the snare 66, i.e., the loop, is controlled by a slide 72 constructed of a polymer or metallic material. The slide 72 is slideably supported in a slot 74 in the side wall 36 of the shaft 22 and is connected to the movable end 70 of the snare 66 for expanding the loop of the snare 66 in response to movement of the slide 72 by manually pushing the slide 72 towards the manual length 24. The snare 66 and the cable 56 extend in parallel and side by side relationship with one another in the guideway 30 of the shaft 22 for movement relative to each other in the guideway 30 in the shaft.
The reacher assembly allows an individual with limited mobility to do multiple tasks in sequence without using separate tools for separate tasks. For example, an individual may perform multitasks by using the slide 72 of the reacher assembly 20 to contract the snare 66 over the toe of a shoe, pull it towards their foot, and then proceed to slip the shoehorn assembly 60 along the track 58 to an extended position to apply the shoehorn assembly 60 and dress out the shoe onto the individual's foot. Another such use would be to open a kitchen cabinet door by squeezing the trigger 44 of the closeable jaw 50 to grab the door handle and open the door to then move the slide 72 and tighten the loop of the snare 66 about an object, e.g., a can of soup. An additional sequence of uses include the removal of socks from feet by grabbing a foot with the loop of the snare 66 to bring the foot closer and then push the sock off their sock from their foot by inserting the shoehorn assembly 60 into the sock. They could finally, use the closeable jaw 50 to pick the sock up off of the floor. Clearly. The user need only carry a single reacher assembly to perform a multitude of tasks.
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings and may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described while within the scope of the appended claims. That which is prior art in the claims precedes the novelty set forth in the “characterized by” clause. The novelty is meant to be particularly and distinctly recited in the “characterized by” clause whereas the antecedent recitations merely set forth the old and well-known combination in which the invention resides. These antecedent recitations should be interpreted to cover any combination in which the inventive novelty exercises its utility. The use of the word “said” in the apparatus claims refers to an antecedent that is a positive recitation meant to be included in the coverage of the claims whereas the word “the” precedes a word not meant to be included in the coverage of the claims. In addition, the reference numerals in the claims are merely for convenience and are not to be read in any way as limiting.
This application claims the benefit of application Ser. No. 62/255,858 filed Nov. 16, 2015.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62255858 | Nov 2015 | US |
