Claims
- 1. An electrically driven wheel chair comprising a foldable frame supported on two pairs of wheels, the rear pair of said wheels being independently driven by electric driving means comprising an electric motor for each wheel of said rear pair; and battery power means connected to said electric motor through operable control means, a pair of wheel plates each supporting one of said rear wheels and said electric motor associated therewith, mounting means connected to said frame and mounting independently each one of said wheel plates for pivotal resilient movement of each of said wheel plates together with said rear wheel supported thereon about a horizontal axis inependent of said frame.
- 2. A wheelchair according to claim 1 wherein said mounting means comprises for each wheel plate a bracket connected to a member of said foldable frame, a bushing mounted in said bracket, a resilient media incorporated in said bushing, a suspension pin connected to said wheel plate and horizontaly mounted in said bushing.
- 3. A wheelchair according to claim 2 wherein said bracket includes a first part mounting said bushing, a second part connected to said first part by bolt means with the said frame member being clamped between said first and second parts.
- 4. A wheelchair according to claim 1 wherein said foldable frame comprises two main frame members connected together by foldable links and flexible seat and back panels extending between said two main frame members, one of said two main frame members carrying an arm rest, said control means being mounted adjacent said arm rest.
- 5. A wheelchair according to claim 1 wherein each one said electric motor is coupled to a respective drive transmitting means including a driven pinion, a fixed pinion carried on each said wheel plate associated with each said electric motor, said driven and fixed pinions being interengaged for driving rotation of said rear wheel associated with each wheel plate.
Priority Claims (1)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
| 54518/71 |
Nov 1971 |
UK |
|
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a division of application Ser. No. 308,790 filed Nov. 22, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,337, issued Aug. 26, 1975.
This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to a wheel chair embodying electric driving means.
Many different forms of electric driving means for wheel chairs have already been proposed and certain proposals have been used. Many forms of electric drive now in use embody power transmissions including belts. Because of various factors, such belts can be hazardous to invalid users, and in fact the use of power driven wheel chairs with belt transmission is precluded in certain countries. To avoid this problem there have been various proposals to provide a direct form of drive transmission from an electric motor instead of belts. However, these proposals have not been acceptable because the wheel chairs have been so cumbersome, bulky and heavy, or the driving arrangement has been so complicated and such that when a power failure or other fault has developed, it has not been possible for the wheel chair to be manually propelled either by the invalid or an ambulant person.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved form of wheel chair having electric driving means attempts to overcome the foregoing disadvantages, and to provide a simple, inexpensive arrangement with adequate versatility for use with different designs of wheel chairs.
According to this invention, I provide an electrically driven wheel chair comprising a foldable frame supported on two pairs of wheels, the rear pair of said wheels being independently driven by electric driving means comprising an electric motor for each wheel of said rear pair, and battery power means connected to said electric motor through operable control means, a pair of wheel plates each supporting one of said rear wheels and said electric motor associated therewith, mounting means connected to said frame and mounting one of said wheel plates for resilient movement of said one wheel plate together with said one rear wheel supported thereon independent of said frame.
Accordingly, this invention provides independent suspension on the two rear wheels of an electrically driven wheelchair.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
308790 |
Nov 1972 |
|
Patent Grant
3955639
