DUAL PURPOSE INVALID WALKER

Abstract: A dual purpose invalid walker (1), which is comprised of pairs of legs arranged in first and second planes being in transverse positions relative to the direction of movement, as well as a support frame (5) and/or a bracing frame (4) joining the legs together. The main characteristics of the present invalid walker is that a pair of legs being in one of the planes is simultaneously adjustable and fixable with a manually adjustable snap-bolt (12) arranged on a height adjusting column (11).

Description: DUAL PURPOSE INVALID WALKER The present invention relates to invalid walkers designed to aid in walking and/or particularly in traversing stairs and the like, having adjustable telescopic legs. Nowadays a huge variety of therapeutic devices, more specifically walking aids, is known and commercially available for permanently or temporarily handicapped persons, weakened and/or elderly people. In most cases users of walking aids are in such a state of health that they would be unable to walk alone, i.e., without the help of a nurse or an additional person they might have been severely limited even in their everyday functions. Many invalid walkers are known, which are designed to facilitate going ahead on a horizontal surface and at the same time are convertable in order to be applicable to ascend or descend stairways. U.S. Pat. No. 3176700 describes a walking aid device having spring-loaded and separately adjustable rear legs, while U.S. Pat. No. 3387617 discloses an invalid walker with telescopic front legs and fixed positioned rear legs. U.S. Pat. No. 3421529 describes a dual purpose invalid walker having four separately extendable or rectractable legs arranged on a fixed-height frame. The support portions of the legs are directed into opposite directions and during traversing stairs the device leans against three subsequent steps at a time. Due to its construction this invalid walker, depending also on the material, can be reasonably heavy which makes it inappro- priate to be used by weakened and/or elderly people. The common feature of all the embodiments described in the above mentioned specifications is that users should adjust the relative lengths of legs of invalid walkers in such a position where the hold of the device has to be released. In most cases this places an undesirable physical and menthal strain upon the user. To overcome this latter disadvantage U.S. Pat. Nos. 3455313 and 3800815 suggest such invalid walkers by which the user does not have to leave the device during needed adjustment and readjustment of lengths of device's legs to ascend or descend stairways. U.S. Pat. No. 4094331 further discloses a reversible dual purpose walk- ing frame to avoid any adjustment of lengths of its legs by traversing stairs; in order to make use of this walking frame for ascending or descending stairs, it should be simply turned upside-down relative to the mode of usage on a horizontal surface. However, in most cases this action requires too much effort from a weakened and/or elderly person. U.S. Pat. No. 4922940 describes a further invalid walker with non-adjustable legs for traversing stairs and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4411283 discloses a walking aid with a front leg assembly comprising a pair of guide tubes and a pair of legs capable of moving upwards and/or downwards within the guide tubes, where the legs are fixed at preset locations using locking clips situated on both sides of the assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 4777973 describes an alternate walker having extendible/contractible front and rear legs. As there are quite a lot of conventional invalid walkers in use nowadays, i.e., which can be used safely only on horizontal surfaces, another way to solve the problem of traversing stairs is to provide "supplementary sets" that enable conventional walkers to be used on stairs too. For this purpose U.S. Pat. No. 5349977 discloses a "kit" comprising four supplemental legs, two actuator bars and mechanical means for attaching the kit to a conventional walker used previously only on essentially horizontal surfaces. Finally. U.S. Pat. No. 5603517 discloses such an invalid walker for traversing stairs and substantially level surfaces which has wheels and hence is Tollable. An object of the present invention is to provide a dual purpose invalid walker for handicapped persons, weakened and/or elderly people that can be made use of an aid for either walking on a horizontal surface or ascending/descending stairs or the like. A further object of the invention is to provide a device enabling the user to move about freely and safely, to go for a longer walk without any assistance, and hence to help recovery from an operation or simply to keep or improve the user's physical condition. Another object of the present invention is to provide such a dual purpose invalid walker that can be adjusted and readjusted during usage on stairs or a flat horizontal surface easily and only through a simple action carried out preferably by only one hand. ln order to attain the above objects, a dual purpose invalid walker is thus provided according to the present invention comprising of pairs of legs arranged in first and second planes being in transverse positions relative to the direction of movement, as well as a support frame and/or a bracing frame joining the legs together, wherein the pair of legs being in one of the planes is simultaneously adjustable and fixable, while the pair of legs being in the other plane is independently adjustable and fixable. Furthermore, each leg has a telescopic portion and a fixed portion. The simultaneously adjustable legs have a rigid or an articulated connection and the element/elements connecting these legs together is/are coupled to a height adjusting column adjoined to the support frame and/or bracing frame. To achieve a simple conversion of the invalid walker from a mode of functioning over a horizontal surface into a mode of functioning on stairs an axially movable snap-bolt having a plastic handle is arranged on the height adjusting column. The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a back elevation view of an embodiment of the present invention illustrated during the horizontal surface mode of functioning, - Figure 2 is a side elevation view of an embodiment of the present invention illustrated during the horizontal surface mode of functioning, and - Figures 3 and 4 illustrate how to use the invalid walker of the present invention for traversing stairs. Referring now to the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 show a dual purpose invalid walker 1 facilitating preferably ascending or descending movement of handi- capped persons on stairways The invalid walker 1 shown in Figs 1 and 2 is comprised of a pair of simultaneously adjustable legs 2 arranged in a first plane being in a transverse position relative to the direction of movement a pair of independently adjustable legs 3 arranged in a second plane being also in a trans- verse position relative to the direction of movement, a bracing frame 4 and a support frame 5 Each leg has a telescopic portion that can slide into a fixed portion 7 To reach a more stable construction the legs are tilted from vertical by a given angle Fixed portions 7 of legs arranged in the first plane are attached, preferably screwed, through plastic elements 6 to the hollow tubular cold- worked bracing frame 4 Optionally, fixed portions 7 of legs arranged in the first plane can be attached to the bracing frame 4 with metal rings 10 too, in order to reach higher loading capability during usage The support frame 5 and the fixed portions 7 of legs arranged in the second plane are preferably fabricated via cold-working as an integral unit that is attached, preferably screwed through plastic elements 6 together with fixed portions 7 of legs arranged in the first plane To make user's grasp firmer, there are rubber handgrips 8 arranged on support frame 5 The lower ends of telescopic portions of legs are covered with antislip rubber caps 9 The shown embodiment of the present invention also has a vertically arranged height adjusting column 11 that is attached, preferably screwed through plastic elements 6 to the bracing frame 4 and support frame 5 There are three arrays of apertures 14 formed under one another in height adjusting column 11 each of them consists of five individual apertures being equally spaced from each other The distance between the uppermost apertures of two different arrays of apertures 14 under one another is just the height of a single grade of stairway The height adjusting column 11 is equipped with an axially movable snap-bolt 12 containing a pivot engaging with one of the apertures to fix the snap-bolt 12 in a predetermined position The above mentioned snap-bolt 12 and the simultaneously adjustable legs 2 arranged in the first plane have an articulated connection therebetween, preferably consisting of solid bracing rods 13 The telescopic portions of legs arranged in the second plane have an array of apertures 15 consisting of five individual apertures Furthermore, the fixed portions 7 of legs arranged in the second plane are equipped with blocking elements 16 containing also pivots to fix the telescopic portions in predetermined positions Referring now again to Figs 1 and 2 the bracing frame 4, the support frame 5, the fixed portions 7 of legs and the independently adjustable legs 3 are made of suitable light and rigid material such as pipe of aluminium alloy The simultaneously adjustable legs 2, the height adjusting column 11 and the bracing rods 13 are pipes made of brass The pivots of snap-bolt 12 and blocking elements 16 are of steel To make the required conversion of the present invalid walker 1 relatively easy, snap-bolt 12 has a plastic handle 17 attached to it The required height of the invalid walker 1 is set by snapping the pivots of blocking elements 16 mounted on lower ends of fixed portions 7 of legs arranged in the second plane into the corresponding apertures in the array of apertures 15 Contemporaneously, the pivot of snap-bolt 12 mounted on height adjusting column 11 is fitted into one of the apertures in the middle array of ap- ertures 14 due to which the ends of legs contacting the surface will be situated all in the same plane. This mode of functioning of the dual purpose invalid walker 1 facilitates moving on a horizontal surface without any additional human assistance, similarly to conventional walkers. Nevertheless, the invention is aimed to help with traversing stairs, too. Referring now to Fig. 3, it is shown schematically how the preferred embodiment of the present invention is used during ascending stairs. For this purpose first handle 17 is drawn back towards the user. After this movement the pivot of snap-bolt 12 no longer fits into any of the apertures formed in the height adjust- ing column 1 and as a result the fixedness of simultaneously adjustable legs 2 also ceases to exist. Next, snap-bolt 12 is made to slide axiaily upwards along the height adjusting column 11 and finally the pivot is snapped by the handle 17 into a preselected aperture belonging to the upper array of apertures 14 formed in height adjusting column 11. After finishing with these steps the lower ends of simultaneously adjustable legs 2 will be just with the height of a single grade of stairway higher than lower ends of independently adjustable legs 3. For traversing upwards first the user puts the simultaneously adjustable legs 2 arranged in the first plane of the above-set invalid walker 1 on the first grade of the stairway and then steps up onto that. At this moment the inde- pendently adjustable legs 3 arranged in the second plane bear on the horizontal surface. Now, invalid walker 1 is lifted up and its legs arranged in the first plane are put on to the next (second) grade and as a following step the user of the invalid walker 1 steps up also onto this grade. With a repetition of the above described process the user can easily and safely climb up the stairs. At the top of the stairway the invalid walker 1 can be set back to the mode of functioning applied on horizontal surfaces (see eg. Fig. 1 ). Referring now to Fig. 4, it is shown schematically how the preferred embodiment of the present invention is used for descending stairs. In this case the setting of simultaneously adjustable legs 2 of invalid walker 1 is carried out following the previously mentioned steps, i.e., first handle 17 is drawn back towards the user, which results that the pivot of snap-bolt 12 no longer fits into any of the apertures formed in the height adjusting column 11 and hence the fixedness of simultaneously adjustable legs 2 also ceases to exist. Next, snap- bolt 12 is made to slide axially downwards along the height adjusting column 11 and finally the pivot is snapped into a preselected aperture belonging to the lower array of apertures 14 formed in height adjusting column 11. After finishing with these steps the lower ends of simultaneously adjustable legs 2 will be just with the height of a single grade of stairway deeper than lower ends of inde- pendently adjustable legs 3. Having conversed the invalid walker 1 , it can be now used for descending stairs in a similar manner described previously in case of ascending stairs. While the invention has been illustrated and described with respect to only a preferred embodiment, it is understood by those skilled in the art that the present embodiment can be fabricated depending on the physical condition and/or height of the user with various weights and/or height of fixed portions of legs without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Dual purpose invalid walker (1) comprising of pairs of legs arranged in first and second planes being in transverse positions relative to the direction of movement, as well as a support frame (5) and/or a bracing frame (4) joining the legs together characterized in that a pair of legs being in one of the planes is simultaneously adjustable and fixable. 2. An invalid walker as claimed in Claim 1 characterized in that the pair of legs being in the other plane is independently adjustable and fixable. 3. An invalid walker as claimed in any of the preceeding Claims charac- terized in that the legs are tilted from vertical by a predetermined value of an¬ gle. 4. An invalid walker as claimed in any of the preceeding Claims characterized in that each leg has a telescopic portion and a fixed portion (7). 5. An invalid walker as claimed in any of the preceeding Claims charac- terized in that telescopic portions of independently adjustable legs (3) have apertures formed in them and fixed portions (7) thereof are equipped with blocking elements (16) containing pivots to fix the telescopic portions in predetermined positions. 6. An invalid walker as claimed in Claims 1 to 5 characterized in that the simultaneously adjustable legs (2) have a rigid connection. 7. An invalid walker as claimed in Claims 1 to 5 characterized in that the simultaneously adjustable legs (2) have an articulated connection. 8. An invalid walker as claimed in any of Claims 6 or 7 characterized in that the element/elements connecting the simultaneously adjustable legs (2) together is/are coupled to a height adjusting column (11 ) adjoined to the support frame (5) and/or bracing frame (4). 9. An invalid walker as claimed in Claim 8 characterized in that a manually adjustable, axially sliding snap-bolt (12) is arranged on the height adjusting column (11 ). 10. An invalid walker as claimed in any of Claims 8 or 9 characterized in that the snap-bolt (12) has a pivot to be engaged with a given aperture be- longing to one of the arrays of apertures (14) formed in the height adjusting column (11 ). 11. An invalid walker as claimed in any of Claims 7 to 10 characterized in that the articulated connection means bracing rods (13) having one end coupled to the snap-bolt (12) and other end coupled to the lower tip of simultane- ousiy adjustable legs (2). 12. An invalid walker as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11 characterized in that the bracing frame (4), the support frame (5), the fixed portions (7) of legs and the independently adjustable legs (3) are pipes made of aluminium alloy. 13. An invalid walker as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11 characterized in that the simultaneously adjustable legs (2), the height adjusting column (11 ) and the bracing rods (13) are pipes made of brass. 14. An invalid walker as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11 characterized in that the pivots of snap-bolts (12) and blocking elements (16) are made of steel. 15. An invalid walker as claimed in any of the preceeding Claims characterized in that the snap-bolt (12) has a plastic handle (17). 16. An invalid walker as claimed in any of the preceeding Claims characterized in that there are rubber caps (9) on the lower tips of the telescopic portion of legs.

Inventors: BACSKAI JANOS, BACSKAI, JANOS
Applicants: BACSKAI JANOS, REHAB BT, BACSKAI, JANOS
Application year: 1999
Main classification: A61H3
IPC codes: A61H3