Claims
- 1. A telescopic combined crutch and walking stick, comprising:
- a lower ground-engaging tube:
- a middle tube slidably mounted in said ground engaging tube;
- first locking means in the middle tube for positioning said middle tube in said lower tube in one of several selectable positions;
- an upper tube slidably mounted in said middle tube, said upper tube having a free upper end;
- second locking means in the upper tube for positioning said upper tube in said middle tube in one of several selectable positions;
- an armpit support mounted at the upper end of said upper tube; and
- a walking stick handle mounted at the upper end of said middle tube;
- wherein said lower, middle and upper tubes are of a length such that, when said tubes are fully retracted one into the other, the length of said combined crutch and stick is about 1/3 the length thereof when fully extended;
- wherein said middle tube and said lower tube are each formed with aligned holes through and spaced along the walls thereof;
- wherein said first locking means mounted in the middle tube for positioning said middle tube in said lower tube comprises a first detent knob transversally extending inside of and at the lower end of said middle tube, and spring means for resiliently pressing said first knob into a hole of said aligned holes of said lower tube when in registry therewith;
- wherein said second locking means mounted in the upper tube for positioning said upper tube in said middle tube comprises a second detent knob, transversally extending inside of and at the lower end of said upper tube, and spring for means resiliently pressing said second knob into a hole of said aligned holes of said middle tube when in registry therewith; and
- wherein said combined crutch and walking stick further comprises means for preventing relative rotation of said lower, middle and upper tubes and means for blocking all but one of said aligned holes of said lower tube and all but one of said aligned holes of said middle tube.
- 2. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rotation preventing means consists of flattened sections provided in said lower, middle and upper tubes, said flattened sections facing one another, and wherein said aligned holes of said lower and middle tubes are respectively formed through the flattened sections of said lower and middle, tubes.
- 3. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein said aligned holes of said lower and middle tubes are each formed with a groove along at least part of their walls, and said blocking means comprise resilient rings removably lodged into all of said grooves of said holes but one, for blocking entry of said detent knobs.
- 4. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein straight slide grooves are formed lengthwise of and inwardly of said middle and lower tubes flattened sections, said slide grooves bordering the aligned holes of said middle and lower tubes, and wherein said blocking means comprises flat strips slid in said grooves, said strips having essentially the same length as said middle and lower tubes, respectively, and being each provided with a single hole positioned so as to register with a preselected hole of the corresponding middle or lower tube thereby to allow the corresponding detent knob to move only into said preselected hole when the tubes are adjusted with respect to each other.
- 5. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein said aligned holes of said middle and lower tubes are evenly spaced from one another.
- 6. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein said aligned holes of said middle tube are evenly spaced from one another; said aligned holes of said lower tube are evenly spaced from one another; and said spacing between the aligned holes of one of said middle and lower tubes is greater than the spacing between the aligned holes of the other tube.
- 7. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein said first locking means are mounted in a small well provided in a first plug made of plastic material and fixed to the lower end of the middle tube, and wherein said second locking means are mounted in a small well provided in a second plug made of plastic material and fixed to the lower end of the upper tube, said first and second plugs being each provided with an outwardly projecting skirt for slidably guiding the lower ends of said middle and upper tues centrally inside said lower and middle tubes, respectively.
- 8. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein said first and second detent knobs each have a rounded outer end surface projecting out of said lower and middle tubes when said knobs are in registery with the holes of said lower and middle tubes and of said middle and upper tubes, respectively.
- 9. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 2, wherein said armpit support comprises a T-shaped member having a transverse armpit rest; a pair of free ends; a central cavity extending perpendicularly into said armpit rest, said cavity being sized to fit over the upper end of the upper tube; and means for detachably fixing said armpit rest onto said upper end of said upper tube when said upper end is fitted in the cavity.
- 10. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 9, including a pair of round-ended, cushioning sleeves made of flexible material force-fitted over said T-shaped member from the free ends thereof toward said central cavity, said sleeves each having a cross-section evenly increasing in size from said central cavity to the free ends of said T-shaped member.
- 11. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 10, wherein said sleeve material is rubber.
- 12. A combined crutch and walking stick according to claim 10, wherein the upper end of the upper tube is closed by a round shaped plug, and further including a plurality of matching corrugations in the central cavity of the armpit support and in the surface of said round-shaped plug at the upper end of the upper tube to prevent said armpit support from rotating away from a predetermined angular position with respect to the handle.
- 13. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 7 further including:
- a first annular sleeve made of plastic material at the upper end of the lower tube for slidably guiding the middle tube centrally inside said lower tube;
- a second annular sleeve made of plastic material at the upper end of the middle tube for slidably guiding the upper tube centrally inside said middle tube, said second annular sleeve being slitted in a radial plane and being integrally extended from both sides of its slit with a handle tube, said handle tube forming said walking stick handle and having a slit along a portion of its length in alignement with the slit of the second sleeve; and
- releasable tightening means on said handle tube to pinch the slit of said handle tube and the slit of said second sleeve in order to rigidly fix said second sleeve around the upper end of said middle tube.
- 14. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a round-ended cushioning sleeve made of flexible material force-fitted over said handle tube, said sleeve having a cross-section evenly increasing in size from said second sleeve to the free end of said handle tube.
- 15. A combined crutch and walking stick as claimed in claim 14, wherein said sleeve material is rubber.
- 16. A combined crutch and walking stick according to claim 9, wherein the upper end of the upper tube is closed by round shaped plug, and further including a plurality of matching corrugations in the central cavity of the armpit support and in the surface of said round-shaped plug at the upper end of the upper tube to prevent said armpit support from rotating away from a predetermined angular position with respect to the handle.
CROSS-REFERENCE
The application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 828,700 filed on Feb. 12, 1986, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
122694 |
Jan 1919 |
GBX |
2136290 |
Sep 1984 |
GBX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
828700 |
Feb 1986 |
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