Claims
- 1. A wheelchair assembly comprising:
- a frame including a pair of spaced-apart frame portions each having a front end and a back end;
- a pair of drive wheels;
- a separate axle assembly mounted to each of said frame portions towards the back end, each axle assembly including:
- an axle adjustment member securable to a frame portion and having an outer surface; and
- an axle housing selectively mounted to said axle adjustment member at a plurality of angular attitudes corresponding to a plurality of cambers of the drive wheel;
- an axle securing each wheel to said axle housing;
- said axle adjustment member and said axle housing including interengaging splined surfaces which permit selectively mounting said axle housing to said axle adjustment member at the plurality of angular attitudes for adjusting the camber for the drive wheel secured to the axle housing;
- a caster wheel assembly adjustable mounted at a plurality of heights to each frame portion towards the front end of the frame portion, each caster wheel assembly including a caster wheel and defining an upwardly extending caster wheel pivot axis, whereby the distance between the caster wheel and the frame portion can be changed to accommodate change in the camber of the drive wheels while keeping the caster wheel pivot axis substantially vertical.
- 2. The assembly according to claim 1 wherein said splined surfaces of said axle adjustment member have a plurality of recesses, and further comprising a movable recess engagement member, selectively engageable with and disengageable from said recesses, carried by said axle housing to permit a front to back position of the drive wheel axis to be selected and changed.
- 3. The assembly according to claim 1, and wherein each axle assembly includes means for toollessly securing the axle housing to the axle adjustment member.
- 4. The assembly according to claim 1 and further including:
- a separate caster spool housing secured to each frame portion, each caster spool housing defining a caster spool cavity;
- and wherein each caster wheel assembly includes a caster spool having an upper end sized for engagement within a caster spool cavity and defining the generally vertical caster wheel pivot axis, the caster wheel in the caster wheel assembly having a generally horizontal axis of rotation, and a wheel mount pivotally mounting the caster wheel assembly to a caster spool so that the horizontal axis of the wheel is laterally offset from the caster wheel pivot axis, and a spindle extending upwardly from the wheel mount for rotation of said spindle within the caster spool about said caster wheel pivot axis.
- 5. The assembly according to claim 4 and further including means for toollessly securing the caster spool of each caster wheel assembly to a caster spool housing.
- 6. In combination with a wheelchair having a frame including a generally upwardly extending rear frame portion, an adjustable seat back assembly comprising:
- a seat back support mounted on said frame for pivotal movement about a pivot axis between first and second orientations, said pivot axis being fixed relative to said frame;
- a first angle adjustment member mounted to one of said seat back support and said rear frame portion at a location above said pivot axis;
- a user-operable adjuster assembly mounted to the other of said seat back support and said rear frame portion at a location above said pivot axis, said adjuster assembly comprising:
- a second angle adjustment member sized for cooperation with said first adjustment member as said seat back support is pivoted between said first and second orientations; and
- a toolless, user-operated adjustment member lock for releasably securing said first adjustment member to said second adjustment member to hold said seat back in a selected one of a plurality of angular positions; and
- a slide mount by which one of said first adjustment member and said adjuster assembly is mounted to slide on one of said seat back support or said rear frame portion relative to said pivot axis as said seat back support is pivoted about said pivot axis between different angular positions.
- 7. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said seat back support has a lower end pivotally mounted to said frame.
- 8. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said first adjustment member is secured to said seat back support and includes an adjustment arm adapted to engage said second adjustment member.
- 9. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said slide mount mounts said adjuster assembly to slide on said rear frame portion.
- 10. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said adjustment member lock includes a pull-to-release member which is spring biased to normally lock together said first and second adjustment members.
- 11. The assembly according to claim 10 wherein said adjuster assembly further includes a lanyard secured to said pull-to-release member.
- 12. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said user-operated adjustment assembly is located to be operable by a user seated in said wheelchair.
- 13. The assembly according to claim 6 further comprising two of said first and second angle adjustment members, said adjuster assemblies and said slide mounts.
- 14. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said adjustment member has a plurality of recesses and said adjustment member lock includes a release pin sized and positioned to releasably engage selected ones of said recesses, and a spring biasing said release pin to engage a selected one of said recesses.
- 15. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein said slide mount includes a slide mount body housing an anti-scratch liner.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 08/365,261, filed Dec. 28, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,893, entitled Wheelchair Frame Assembly, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
US Referenced Citations (41)
Foreign Referenced Citations (9)
Number |
Date |
Country |
501986 |
May 1954 |
CAX |
312969 A2 |
Apr 1989 |
EPX |
2563993 |
Nov 1985 |
FRX |
3517050 |
Nov 1986 |
DEX |
8631974 |
May 1987 |
DEX |
456271 |
Nov 1936 |
GBX |
2249760 |
May 1992 |
GBX |
WP9308782 |
May 1993 |
WOX |
94011235 |
May 1994 |
WOX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Action Pro Product Literature, pp. 10, 11, update Aug. 31, 1993. |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
365261 |
Dec 1994 |
|