Pestes, U.S. Pat. No. 6,645,127, discloses a wheelchair exercise apparatus in which a wheelchair is driven up a ramp onto a platform. A pair of side by side rollers, which extend above the platform, support the wheelchair driving wheels. A clamp mechanism holds the wheelchair immovably on the rollers. The rollers are connected to a flywheel which provides the momentum associated with actual wheelchair operation. One difficulty with this prior art apparatus is that elderly people or people who are new to using a wheelchair may have limited arm strength and overcoming the resistance caused by driving two rollers for an extended period of time may not be possible for them. However, it is very difficult to drive the driving wheels of a wheelchair up onto a single roller and lock it in place with the driving wheels centered on the roller.
The subject invention overcomes the problem with the prior art by providing a wheelchair exercise device having a platform that will support a wheel chair with an elongate slot extending across the platform substantially normal to the plane of the driving wheels of the wheelchair. An elongate roller is movable between a lowered position where it is substantially below the platform and a raised position where it projects through the slot and extends partially above the platform. The axis of the roller is directly below the center line of the slot so that when the driving wheels of the wheelchair are positioned in the slot they are centered above the roller. A locking mechanism holds the wheelchair in place once it is positioned in the slot. The roller is then moved to its raised position where it supports the driving wheels.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to
Referring now also to
A support tower 48 extends upwardly from the frame 16 forward of the slot 18. In the embodiment illustrated the flywheel 42 is mounted on the support tower but it could be mounted elsewhere if desired. The support tower also carries a locking mechanism 50 which is used to prevent the wheelchair from moving when the roller is being moved to its raised position and when the wheelchair is being driven on the roller 22. Referring now also to
If desired a control panel 76 can be mounted on the support tower 48. A sensor 78, which senses the rotational speed of the roller, is connected to the control panel to provide the user with a readout of the speed the wheelchair is simulating. The control panel 76 can also be used to start and stop the motor 40 and to move the roller between its lowered and raised positions. The control panel also can be used to control the brake 46 to set and see the level of resistance. Finally, the control panel can provide performance data, such as the elapsed time of an ongoing exercise and the user's heart rate.
In use with the roller 22 in its lowered position the wheelchair 13 is propelled up the ramp 14 onto the platform 12 with the driving wheels 20 positioned in the slot 18. The two clamps 52 are then attached to a suitable component 54 of the wheelchair and the locks on the second blocks 72 are locked. The roller 22 is then moved to its raised position and the exercise apparatus is ready to be used. As can be seen in
The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.
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Number | Date | Country |
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11332917 | Dec 1999 | JP |