Patent ID: 7690389
Filing Date: 2010-04-06
Classification: A45B,A61G

Abstract:
1. A wheelchair umbrella for providing a barrier between a user and the sun and rain thereby allowing the user to comfortably employ an existing wheelchair in outdoor environments, said wheelchair umbrella comprising: an umbrella section; a pair of coextensively shaped rectilinear arms having top ends directly connected to said umbrella section; means for removably attaching bottom ends of said arms to associated ones of the handles of the existing wheelchair; means for storing and transporting said wheelchair umbrella during non-operating conditions; and means for securing said storage and transport means to the existing wheelchair during operating conditions; wherein said umbrella section comprises: a circular canopy, said canopy having a center region statically attached to said top ends of said arms, said top ends of said arms being attached to a lower surface of said canopy and extending downwardly and away therefrom, said canopy having an outer perimeter equidistantly spaced from said top ends of said arms, said canopy being formed from a flexible material such that said canopy can be folded about the longitudinal lengths of the arms during storage and transport procedures; wherein said canopy is suitably sized such that said canopy provides a barrier between the sun or rain and the user sitting in the existing wheelchair as well as another person pushing the existing wheelchair during operating conditions; wherein each of said arms comprises: an upper section and a lower section respectively, said upper section having a diameter that is less than a diameter of said lower section such that said upper section telescopically interfits within said lower section along respective longitudinal lengths thereof, said respective longitudinal lengths being equal; wherein said removably attaching means comprises: a pair of plates directly attached to diametrically opposed outer surfaces of each of said bottom ends of said lower sections of said arms, each of said plates having a top surface registered perpendicular to said longitudinal length of an associated one of said arms, said plates having a bottom edge residing flush with a bottom edge of said bottom end of said associated one of said arms; a flexible and planar band having a first end directly attached to an outer edge of each of said plates simultaneously and spanning therebetween, said band having a longitudinally opposed second end extending downwardly and away from said first end of said band; a flexible and planar tab having a first end monolithically formed with said second end of said band, said tab having a longitudinally opposed second end extending outwardly and away from said first end of said tab, said tab having a lateral width that is less than a lateral width of said band and a thickness that is equal to thickness of said band, said tab having an inner surface oriented parallel with an inner surface of said band; a pair of coextensively shaped knobs monolithically formed in opposed lateral corners of said second end of said tab, each of said knobs having a diameter that is greater than said respective thicknesses of said tab and said band; and a ring-shaped fastener directly attached to an inner edge of each of said plates simultaneously and spanning therebetween, said fastener having a diameter that is substantially equal to said lateral width of said band, said fastener having an open end oriented opposite said inner surfaces of said plates, said open end of said fastener extending outwardly and downwardly from said plates; wherein said tab is interfitted within said open end of said fastener when said band is wrapped about an associated one of the handles of the existing wheelchair, said knobs prohibiting said tab from prematurely and undesirably exiting said open end of said fastener; wherein said band and said tab and said knobs and said fastener respectively cooperate to securely fasten said bottom ends of said arms to an associated one of the handles of the wheelchair and thereby prohibit said arms from prematurely and undesirably separating from the handles of the existing wheelchair during operating conditions.