Patent Application
20080093816
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 and 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 legs 14 and the rear legs 20 at the respective sides 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.
Rollers, castors and/or small wheels 30 are rotatably mounted to the lower ends 18, 24 of the respective front a rear legs 14, 20 for rolling the walker device 10 along a support surface, for example, a ground surface. The two small wheels 20 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 28 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 of the present invention, 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
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 invention disclosed. For example, the present invention 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 present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications are intended to fall within the appended claims.
