Claims
- 1. A pathway for enabling the rolling passage of a wheelchair including a person therein along a pedestrian route from Point A to Point B over one of a sand or grass recreational surface terrain that is otherwise resistant to the rolling traction of a wheelchair, the wheelchair including a plurality of wheels, the pathway comprising a mat having an area defining the pathway and being intrinsically formed from a three dimensionally flexible material selected from the group of: flexible metal, wood, plastic, rubber and polymer materials; fiber reinforced plastic and rubber type polymers, flexible T cross-linked polymers; UV resistant polymers; woven natural fibers; flexible wood grid materials; and a metal media conformable to the sand or grass surface, the mat being longitudinally extended over and pliably conforming to the terrain surface along the route, said mat having a width at least as wide as the separation distance of the wheels of the wheelchair such that the width is sufficient to maintain the wheelchair thereon, the mat having a thickness with a cross-sectional construction such that the mat includes a plurality of openings therethrough that allow the mat to be porous with respect to the one of sand or grass and to allow the respective one of the sand or grass to migrate upward from the terrain surface through the mat to anchor the mat on the terrain and to be pliable such that the mat conforms to the terrain surface and supports the wheelchair thereon, the openings included in the mat having an aggregate area with respect to area of the mat defining the pathway (a) as the area of the mat defining the pathway is measured by the length of the mat times its width and (b) as the area of the openings is defined as the sum of the areas of the openings in the mat within the area of the mat, is from approximately 20% to approximately 80% of the area of the mat, the openings further having, in the section of the mat passed over by the wheelchair, a longitudinal length not more than about 1/2 of the diameter of the smallest wheel of the wheelchair with which the mat is used the pathway being initially in a rolled unit having an overall length at least sufficient to extend from Point A to Point B. the pathway in rolled form being unrolled along the route on an as needed basis when required for the transit of a person in a wheelchair.
- 2. The pathway of claim 1 including an upwardly extending side curb extending from a longitudinal side edge of the mat that defines the width thereof, the curb extending along a segment of the length thereof.
- 3. The pathway of claim 1 in which an end of the roll is secured to a wheelchair accessible path.
- 4. The pathway of claim 1 in combination with a destination pod at Point B to which the route connects from an otherwise wheelchair passable path at Point A, the pod being at a location on the terrain distant from Point A, the destination pod at Point B comprising an extended wheelchair tractionable surface on the terrain sufficiently large to allow turning movement of a wheelchair within the surface area of the pod.
- 5. The pathway of claim 1 in which the pathway is a mat including on the lower surface thereof facing toward the sand or grass terrain, a plurality of nibs intrinsically formed in the lower terrain facing surface of the mat from the material of the mat, the nibs comprising solid shapes projecting downward toward the terrain surface from the lower surface of the mat and with respect to which, the sand or grass of the terrain surface migrates upwardly to the lower surface of the mat material and through the openings in the mat.
- 6. The pathway of claim 5 in which the nibs are one or more than one of a conical, cylindrically-sectioned, cubical or other three dimensional shape.
- 7. The pathway of claim 1 in which the mat includes a plurality of differently sized and differently oriented openings in a pattern in the surface thereof.
- 8. The pathway of claim 1 in which the length of the openings along the longitudinal axis of the mat is less than about 1/4 of the diameter of the smallest,wheel of a wheelchair with which the mat is used.
- 9. The pathway of claim 1 in which the length of the openings along the longitudinal axis of the mat is less than about 1/3 of the diameter of the smallest wheel of a wheelchair with which the mat is used.
- 10. The pathway of claim 1 in which the length of the openings along the longitudinal axis of the mat is less than about 5/12 of the diameter of the smallest wheel of a wheelchair with which the mat is used.
- 11. The pathway of claim 1 in which the length of the openings along the longitudinal axis of the mat is from about 1/4 to about 1/3 of the diameter of the smallest wheel of a wheelchair with which the mat is used.
- 12. The pathway of claim 1 in which the thickness of the mat is about 0.2 to about 0.4 inches.
- 13. The pathway of claim 1 in which the thickness of the mat is about 1.0 centimeter.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/555,440, filed Nov. 9, 1995, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/157,719 fled on Nov. 26, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,339 in turn a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 07/826,838, filed on Jan. 27, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,818.
US Referenced Citations (23)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
555440 |
Nov 1995 |
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Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
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157719 |
Nov 1993 |
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Parent |
826838 |
Jan 1992 |
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