Self operable transfer system for the disabled

A playground apparatus having a departure platform accessible by a person in a wheelchair, a transfer platform at a remote location, conveyor to transport the person between the platforms and a play apparatus to return to the departure platform. The conveyor is unidirectional to permit only upward movement and a handrail extends along the conveyor for pushing or pulling upwardly. The conveyor is inclined, having a belt on rollers, one of which is unidirectional. A clutch in the roller permits movement of the belt only in the upward direction. A handrail is used is used to pull or push upwardly and a slide used to return the person to the departure platform and the wheelchair.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention is in general a system that enables disabled persons to 
transfer themselves without assistance from one location to another, 
especially from one elevation to another in a playground environment for 
using equipment otherwise inaccessible to the impaired. 
2. Background Information 
The American Disabilities Act of 1990(ADA 90)requires that municipal, state 
and federal parks and playgrounds become accessible to the disabled. Most 
playground equipment uses wheel chair ramps in an attempt to solve the 
accessibility issue of getting participants on and off playground climbing 
structures. 
The major problem with ramps is that while disabled participants can gain 
with them access to elevated playground equipment, it is usually necessary 
to abandon a wheelchair to use the equipment. When using a slide, for one 
example, a disabled participant vacates the wheelchair at the ladder of 
the slide, climbs the ladder with great difficulty, if at all, and slides 
to the ground at a location removed from the wheelchair with only 
extremely difficult ability to return to the wheelchair without 
assistance. 
Integrating disabled children into accessible playgrounds and playground 
equipment has been an intermittent and loosely defined goal for 
approximately one hundred years. But only since the late 1940's has there 
been an active movement to appropriately accommodate disabled children in 
playgrounds. Legislation in the 1960's and 70's initially targeted 
accessibility issues within the context of civil rights laws. Only with 
the passage of ADA 90 has accessibility finally been mandated by the U.S. 
Government. 
The initial response to the issue of accessibility, and integration of 
handicapped with the able-bodied, focused on institutionalization that 
contained a "separate but equal" approach. Institutionalization began to 
give way in the 40's and 50's to the creation of a system of workshops 
that only dealt with simple games for recreation. The 60's and 70's saw 
specialized playgrounds designed for specific institutions and 
capabilities--focusing on activity achievement with little thought given 
to integration. The 80's and 90's have initiated a new era when access is 
the main focus. 
Unfortunately, access has been limited to the root formula of moving a 
participant from point A to point B with little thought of the actual goal 
of integration. A series of long, difficult ramps is the most common 
approach to providing accessibility for the disabled participant. This 
approach, although satisfying the letter of the law, does not deal with 
the practicalities of true accessibility and integration for able bodied 
as well as disabled participants. 
Past strategies and methods dealt with accessibility only by creating other 
barriers at different areas of play. Access should be at every point of 
the playground and play area and not only at the play initialization 
areas. Lay terms define this as an access to the play loop or path that 
takes a participant from one play apparatus from start to finish, then to 
another play apparatus and so on, returning the participant to the place 
of origin where a wheelchair may be parked. 
Past technology only extends the play accessibility issue to the next 
illogical barrier, i.e. ,ramps that transport the individual to the start 
of a play apparatus via wheelchair but leaves the wheelchair parked at 
another point of the apparatus. This excessively challenges the 
participant to not only negotiate the next play area, but also, to 
retrieve the wheelchair from a remote area of abandonment. In the best 
known example of this approach is an "Up/Down Crawl Through" which uses an 
inclined plane and a "tunnel rung/handrail" to facilitate movement of an 
impaired person up the plane by pushing or pulling along the handrail. The 
plane must be only gradually inclined to prevent excessive exertion and 
rapid loss of interest. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore the general object of the invention to provide for the 
disabled a transfer system that will enabled convenient and safe use 
without assistance of otherwise conventional apparatus such as playground 
equipment. An object is to free participants from the confines of a 
wheelchair, ramp or other assisted device and allow movement from the 
ground to an elevated playground apparatus or from one playground 
apparatus to another. An accessibility path is created that may be used by 
both able bodied and handicapped participants and becomes a part of the 
apparatus that may help develop strength and endurance. This is achieved 
with a playground apparatus having a departure platform accessible by a 
person in a wheelchair, a transfer platform at a remote location, conveyor 
means to transport the person between the platforms and a play apparatus 
to return to the departure platform. The conveyor means is unidirectional 
to permit only upward movement and a handrail extends along the conveyor 
for pushing or pulling upwardly. 
The above as well as additional objects, features, and advantages of the 
invention will become apparent in the following detailed description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
With reference now to the drawings and in particular with reference to FIG. 
1, the numeral 11 designates a playground apparatus that contains a 
departure platform 13 supported on legs 15 at an elevation accessible to a 
disabled person in a wheelchair. That is, a person in a wheelchair may 
move normally onto the departure platform with relative ease and without 
assistance, assuming the physical impairment did not result in substantial 
paralysis of the arms. 
A conveyor belt 17 is supported on a carriage 19, inclined at a selected 
oblique angle, with a lower end 21 adjacent the upper surface 23 of the 
departure platform 13 and an upper end 25 adjacent a transfer platform 27 
at a remote, elevated location from the departure platform 13. 
A pair of handrails 29, 31 are supported above and along the length of the 
carriage 19, which with the transfer platform 27 is supported by suitable 
legs 33. Both the departure and transfer platforms 13, 27 are constructed 
of preferably stainless steel or some other durable material with a 
relatively low coefficient of friction. 
Supported by the carriage 19 upon a series of rollers 35 (see FIG. 2) is 
the conveyor belt 17 of conventional reinforced conveyor belt material. 
The lowermost roller 39 (see FIG. 2) is unidirectional, containing 
preferable a sprag clutch mechanism 41 that engages to prevent rotation in 
one direction and enable rotation in the other direction. As seen in FIG. 
2, the roller 39 will rotate in the clockwise direction but not in the 
counterclockwise direction. Thus, the upper part of the conveyor belt loop 
will move only in the upper direction but not in the downward direction. 
The clutch in the unidirectional roller 39 is preferably of the type 
referred to as a sprag clutch and is available from manufactured by Dodge, 
Part No. 290V21. There are a variety of clutch mechanisms and ratcheting 
devices that can be used to accomplish unidirectional rotation of the 
roller 39. 
Parallel to the conveyor belt 17 is a conventional slide 43 having its 
upper end adjacent to the transfer platform 27 and its lower end adjacent 
to the departure platform 13. Supported on the outer edges of the transfer 
platform 27 is a safety barrier 45. 
In operation, the playground apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 is accessible to a 
disabled person, who enters the departure platform 13 after parking a 
wheelchair adjacent to the upper surface 23. Then, the disabled person 
uses the handrails 29, 31 to pull or push upwardly, causing movement of 
the upper surface of the conveyor belt 17 to move upwardly toward the 
transfer platform 27. The sprag clutch mechanism 41 of the lower roller 39 
causes unidirectional movement of the belt to resist regression of the 
person downwardly and toward the departure platform 13. Once the transfer 
platform 27 is reached, the person moves laterally and onto the slide 43, 
sliding to the departure platform 13 to return to the conveyor belt 17 or 
to the wheelchair. The invention has the advantage of easily enabling a 
disabled person to have access to the slide with a wheelchair, to utilize 
the play apparatus and return to the wheelchair without assistance. 
While the invention has been shown in only its preferred form, it should be 
apparent to those skilled in the art that it is not thus limited, but is 
susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from 
the spirit thereof.