Patent ID: 6338496
Filing Date: 2002-01-15
Classification: A61G

Abstract:
A manually propelled wheelchair,said wheelchair having large paired drive wheels mounted on axles, and paired, smaller independently castered front wheels, and including patient seating apparatus supported by a support frame mounted on said axles, said seating apparatus including seat, back, legrests and armrests, said wheelchair having X-braced, folding frame means which permits the unoccupied wheelchair to be folded side-to-side for ease of transport from one site to another, said wheelchair having means for effecting rotation about said axles of said patient seating apparatus while maintaining said drive wheels and said castered front wheels all in fixed spatial relationship with respect to each other, which means for effecting rotation enables a patient seated in said wheelchair to be tilted backwardly or forwardly so as to rotate said patient spatially while maintaining all relative positions of said patient's body and limbs fixed with respect to one another, and means for locking said patient seating apparatus in place at a desired extent of rotation, said wheelchair having two generally elongate supporting braces, each having a forward end and a rearward end, the rearward end of each being affixed to said support frame in close proximity to said axle, one adjacent each drive wheel, the forward end of each having a caster housing which houses one castered front wheel, and two tilt-adjusting brace members each acting cooperatively with one of said supporting braces, each tilt-adjusting brace member being affixed to said support frame intermediate between said forward and rearward ends of its cooperating support brace and in adjacent proximity thereto, and means for effecting relative movement of each said tilt-adjusting brace member relative to its cooperating supporting brace so as to effect rotation about said axle of said patient seating apparatus, and means for locking said supporting braces in fixed positional relationship with respect to said tilt-adjusting brace members at a desired extent of rotation.