Patent ID: 7588044

Claim:
A foot assembly for a walking aid to assist a person in moving across a walking surface, the foot assembly being attached to a strut positioned at a lower end of the walking aid, the foot assembly comprising: (a) a cylinder attached to a bottom of the strut, the cylinder having a cylinder wall that encloses a cylinder void with a cylinder void bottom, the cylinder having a generally concave bottom wall with a cylinder lower edge, wherein the cylinder bottom wall has a bottom opening defined therein; (b) a dome-shaped foot with a hemispherical portion and a flat ring portion, the hemispherical portion having a dome hole defined at the top of the hemispherical portion, the dome having a circumferential wall, wherein the cylinder lower edge moves atop the outer surface of the foot hemispherical portion as the cylinder pivots about the foot; (c) a foot bolt having foot bolt threads and a foot bolt head, wherein the foot bolt attaches the foot to the cylinder, wherein the foot bolt is positioned through the dome hole and the cylinder bottom opening, wherein the foot bolt is secured by a jam nut that tightens on the foot bolt threads to a predetermined torque to attach the foot hemispherical portion to the concave cylinder bottom wall, and wherein the dome-shaped foot swivels about the foot bolt within a sperical angle of travel defined by the circumferential wall of the dome hole; (d) a generally circular spacer that fits onto the foot bolt and retains the foot bolt head inside the hemispherical portion of the foot, wherein the spacer having a diameter larger than a diameter of the dome hole, wherein the spacer substantially conforms to the inside surface of the foot hemispherical portion, and wherein the spacer has a tapered edge that defines a portion of a sphere that has substantially a same radius as an inside wall of the hemispherical portion of the dome-shaped foot; and (e) a resilient foot pad attached to a bottom of the foot flat ring portion.