Patent ID: 8820339

Claim:
A waking aid for engaging a ground surface comprising a ground-engaging end with a substantially transverse end wall, formed on an end piece, wherein a portion of the need piece is constructed to fit to a lower end of a shaft, and wherein the end piece, intermediate the portion to be fit to a shaft and the transverse end wall, includes a resilient bellows section which is both axially compressible, to impart a degree of axial compressibility between the ground-engaging end and the shaft, and laterally bendable whereby to enable the transverse end wall to adjust position so as to lie flat against various types of ground surfaces and at an angle not normal to a shaft when connected thereto, and wherein the resilient bellows section comprises a pleated bellows with stiff pleats and includes hinge points between the pleats to allow a degree of vertical movement in the pleated bellows, wherein the end piece further comprises a socket constructed to fit onto the shaft and the ground-engaging end constructed to contact the ground surface, wherein the resilient bellows section is located intermediate the socket and the ground-engaging end, and wherein the end piece is constructed so that the ground-engaging end thereof is freely rotatable with respect to the socket tightly fitted onto the lower end of the shaft around an axis parallel to that of the shaft when the end piece is fitted to the shaft.