GB2101540A

GB2101540A - Collapsible wheelchair

Info

Publication number: GB2101540A
Application number: GB08219651A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patrick Ronald Holmes
Original assignee: Vessa Ltd
Current assignee: Vessa Ltd
Priority date: 1981-07-08
Filing date: 1982-07-07
Publication date: 1983-01-19

Abstract

The wheelchair, which may be assembled or disassembled by an active disabled person from the driving seat of his car comprises a wheel-carrying base frame 20 and a detachable folding seat and backrest assembly 21. The base frame comprises a pair of lateral frame members 22, 25 interconnected by two part centrally hinged front and rear gate structures 26, 27, 28 which may be folded towards one another to collapse the base frame. Frusto- conical sockets 32 or other formations depending from the seat mate with spigots 33 on the base frame to maintain the lateral frames of the erected wheelchair in the appropriate alignment and spacing. Hooked toggle clips 34 on the base frame engage the seat to hold it in place. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Collapsible invalid chair The present invention relates to a wheelchair that may be collapsed into a very compact space enabling an active disabled person to assemble and disassemble it from the driving seat of his car and lift it into the car without the help of another person, thus affording him or her complete independence.

The present invention provides a folding wheelchair comprising: left hand and right hand lateral frames mounting wheel, castors or other rotatable members and each constituted by tubular front and rear posts and upper and lower lateral rails fastened together to define a rigid frame structure; forward and rear cross links hinged to the lateral frames and each having hinge means at their mid point so that they may be folded towards one another to collapse the wheelchair; and seat means detachable from the lateral frames and including a chair squab having formations depending therefrom that mate with corresponding formations on the lateral frames to hold the lateral frames and the cross-links in the correct relative position.

The combination of a wheelchair chassis having end members that may be folded together in a fore and aft direction to collapse the chassis together with a detachable seat structure that has depending formations that mate with formations on the chassis to maintain it in its correctly aligned and positioned etected state is believed to be novel.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1 and 2 are side and front views of a wheelchair according to the invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the seat and wheelchair frame not in complete alignment; and Figure 3a is an enlarged view of a hinge detail.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but with the seat correctly positioned and aligned; Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of the seat and part of the wheelchair frame in the neighbourhood of a seat fixing with the seat not in complete alignment; and Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but with the seat correctly positioned and aligned.

In Figures 1 and 2, a wheelchair is formed with a wheel-carrying base frame 20 and a detachable seat and backrest assembly 21. The base frame consists of a pair of lateral frame members spaced apart to either side of the wheelchair and each consisting of a steel or aluminium tubular front post 22, rear post 23 and upper and lower side rails 24 and 25 brazed or welded together. The lateral frames are interconnected at each end by two part folding gate structure constituted by upper and lower arms 26, 27 each hinged at one end to an upper or a lower side rail adjacent the respective corner post and hingedly meeting at their other end in a bracket structure 28.Thus the gate structure may be folded towards one another in a fore and aft plane to collapse the wheelchair frame and then folded outwards to an over-centre position defined by the brackets 28 when the wheelchair frame is to be erected.

The seat has a rectangular squab frame 31 supported on the base frame by four legs 30 depending therefrom and each terminating in a frustoconical socket 32. The four sockets 32 mate with upstanding frusto-conical spigots 33 secured at appropriate locations on the top side rails 24 of the base frame. The seat is releasably retained in position by toggle clips 34 that are secured to the side rails 24 and hook at their upper ends 35 over side rails 36 of the squab frame to hold the seat down in position on the base frame.

In Figures 3 and 5 the folding gate structures 26, 27, 28 are shown fully open but untensioned and the spigots 33 fixed to the base frame are misaligned with the sockets 32 attached to the seat. In this condition location is achieved but there is no locking action that maintains tension in the frame or correct alignment. Instead the gate structures are maintained to an extreme overcentre position by springs 28a and the chair frame is in a relatively stable state in which the frame structure is kept rectangular in plan using abutting ends of members 26 as stops. But by engaging the hooks 35 with the seat rails 36 and engaging the toggle clips 34 the sockets 32 are centralized on the conical spigots 33 so that the lateral frame members of the base frame are held in correct alignment at the correct relative position.In this way the seat frame is both located and locked and the gate structures are stabilised in a less extreme over-centre locked position as shown in Figure 4.

From the squab frame 31 a pair of upstanding stub posts 40 hingedly support a seat back 41 that is held in its working position by releasable locking plates 42 that when undone permit the back of the seat to be folded down to the seat squab. Arms 43 are pivoted to the seat back and to the seat squab so as to permit the folding to take place.

In use a disabled driver wishing to dismantle his wheelchair positions it adjacent his car and transfers to the car seat. He releases the locking plate 42 and folds the seat back onto the seat squab. Then he releases the toggle clips 34 after which he can lift the seat and backrest assembly from the base frame and place it in his car, then the folding gate structures can be folded towards the centre of the base frame to effect collapse thereof. Reassembly of the wheelchair is the reverse of the foregoing procedure.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

.1. A folding wheelchair comprises: left hand and right hared lateral frames mounting wheels, castors or other rotatable members and each constituted by tubular front

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

SPECIFICATION Collapsible invalid chair The present invention relates to a wheelchair that may be collapsed into a very compact space enabling an active disabled person to assemble and disassemble it from the driving seat of his car and lift it into the car without the help of another person, thus affording him or her complete independence.

The present invention provides a folding wheelchair comprising: left hand and right hand lateral frames mounting wheel, castors or other rotatable members and each constituted by tubular front and rear posts and upper and lower lateral rails fastened together to define a rigid frame structure; forward and rear cross links hinged to the lateral frames and each having hinge means at their mid point so that they may be folded towards one another to collapse the wheelchair; and seat means detachable from the lateral frames and including a chair squab having formations depending therefrom that mate with corresponding formations on the lateral frames to hold the lateral frames and the cross-links in the correct relative position.

The combination of a wheelchair chassis having end members that may be folded together in a fore and aft direction to collapse the chassis together with a detachable seat structure that has depending formations that mate with formations on the chassis to maintain it in its correctly aligned and positioned etected state is believed to be novel.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1 and 2 are side and front views of a wheelchair according to the invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the seat and wheelchair frame not in complete alignment; and Figure 3a is an enlarged view of a hinge detail.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but with the seat correctly positioned and aligned; Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of the seat and part of the wheelchair frame in the neighbourhood of a seat fixing with the seat not in complete alignment; and Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but with the seat correctly positioned and aligned.

In Figures 1 and 2, a wheelchair is formed with a wheel-carrying base frame 20 and a detachable seat and backrest assembly 21. The base frame consists of a pair of lateral frame members spaced apart to either side of the wheelchair and each consisting of a steel or aluminium tubular front post 22, rear post 23 and upper and lower side rails 24 and 25 brazed or welded together. The lateral frames are interconnected at each end by two part folding gate structure constituted by upper and lower arms 26, 27 each hinged at one end to an upper or a lower side rail adjacent the respective corner post and hingedly meeting at their other end in a bracket structure 28.Thus the gate structure may be folded towards one another in a fore and aft plane to collapse the wheelchair frame and then folded outwards to an over-centre position defined by the brackets 28 when the wheelchair frame is to be erected.

The seat has a rectangular squab frame 31 supported on the base frame by four legs 30 depending therefrom and each terminating in a frustoconical socket 32. The four sockets 32 mate with upstanding frusto-conical spigots 33 secured at appropriate locations on the top side rails 24 of the base frame. The seat is releasably retained in position by toggle clips 34 that are secured to the side rails 24 and hook at their upper ends 35 over side rails 36 of the squab frame to hold the seat down in position on the base frame.

In Figures 3 and 5 the folding gate structures 26, 27, 28 are shown fully open but untensioned and the spigots 33 fixed to the base frame are misaligned with the sockets 32 attached to the seat. In this condition location is achieved but there is no locking action that maintains tension in the frame or correct alignment. Instead the gate structures are maintained to an extreme overcentre position by springs 28a and the chair frame is in a relatively stable state in which the frame structure is kept rectangular in plan using abutting ends of members 26 as stops. But by engaging the hooks 35 with the seat rails 36 and engaging the toggle clips 34 the sockets 32 are centralized on the conical spigots 33 so that the lateral frame members of the base frame are held in correct alignment at the correct relative position.In this way the seat frame is both located and locked and the gate structures are stabilised in a less extreme over-centre locked position as shown in Figure 4.

From the squab frame 31 a pair of upstanding stub posts 40 hingedly support a seat back 41 that is held in its working position by releasable locking plates 42 that when undone permit the back of the seat to be folded down to the seat squab. Arms 43 are pivoted to the seat back and to the seat squab so as to permit the folding to take place.

In use a disabled driver wishing to dismantle his wheelchair positions it adjacent his car and transfers to the car seat. He releases the locking plate 42 and folds the seat back onto the seat squab. Then he releases the toggle clips 34 after which he can lift the seat and backrest assembly from the base frame and place it in his car, then the folding gate structures can be folded towards the centre of the base frame to effect collapse thereof. Reassembly of the wheelchair is the reverse of the foregoing procedure.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

.1. A folding wheelchair comprises: left hand and right hared lateral frames mounting wheels, castors or other rotatable members and each constituted by tubular front and rear posts and upper and lower lateral rails fastened together to define a rigid frame structure; forward and rear cross links hinged to the lateral frames and each having hinge means at their mid point so that they may be folded towards one another to collapse the wheelchair; and seat means detachable from the lateral frames and including a chair squab having formations depending therefrom that mate with corresponding formations on the lateral frames to hold the lateral frames and the cross-links in the correct relative position.
2. A wheelchair according to claim 1 that in its correctly erected state has the forward and rear cross-links folded away from one another to an over-centre position.
3. A wheelchair according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the seat is located on the lateral frame by four mating cone and socket formations.
4. A wheelchair according to any preceding claim wherein each lateral frame has a releasable toggle clip having a hooked end that engages the seat means to hold it in position on the lateral frames.
5. A wheelchair according to any preceding claim wherein the seat means include means defining a chair back and left hand and right hand arms, hinge means permitting the back and arms to be folded towards the squab.
6. A folding wheelchair substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
7. A collapsible wheelchair comprises a chassis having end members that may be folded together in a fore and aft direction to collapse the chassis together with a detachable seat structure that has depending formations that mate with formations on the chassis to maintain it in its correctly aligned and positioned erected state.