JPH09276337A - Wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure that a wheelchair easily goes straight even if it is difficult to do so due to unbalanced force applied to the right and left big wheels, descent toward the other side of the road, a warp of the wheel body, etc., and to ensure that the wheelchair smoothly turns a curve in a desired direction without applying the brake. SOLUTION: This wheelchair is designed so that caster wheels are provided at the front, and big wheels are rotatably attached to a pair of right and left back pipes through shafts. A stem part 18 of the caster wheel is fixed to a front pipe 1 through a fixed arm 13, a movable arm 14 is rotatably attached to the fixed arm 13, the yoke of the caster wheel is attached to the bottom of the movable arm 14, a gear part 19 is provided at the top of the movable arm 14, a pulley 20, which has a pinion 21 engaged with the gear part 19 through the shaft, is rotatably attached to the fixed arm 13, the pulley 20 is wrapped around with a control wire, and a controller is provided which controls the tension of the control wire.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to, for example, a manual wheelchair used by persons with lower limb disabilities. More specifically, the stem portion of a caster wheel is independent of the vehicle body in the left-right direction with respect to the traveling direction of the large wheels. The present invention relates to a wheelchair capable of maintaining straightness even when the straightness is impaired due to various reasons and helping a smooth curve in a curved portion by inclining.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A wheelchair is an indispensable device for a person with a lower limb to act, but especially a manual wheelchair requires a considerable amount of labor for driving the wheelchair.

In a commonly used wheelchair, efforts have been made to reduce the weight of the vehicle body and reduce the running resistance in order to reduce this effort, but in actual driving, the vehicle body goes straight in the following cases. Sex is impaired.

First, the wheelchair moves straight due to the balance of the forces applied to the two large wheels, but it is very difficult to achieve this balance, and therefore the straightness of the vehicle body is impaired even on a flat road.

In addition, the normal road is a kamaboko type road or a single-flow type road for the purpose of improving drainage, and the laterally inclined surface existing on such a road is always placed on the lower side of the road surface due to gravity. As it is washed away, the straightness of the vehicle body is impaired.

Further, in practical use, the straightness of the vehicle body cannot be maintained even if slight deviations occur due to various causes.

As described above, the straightness of the wheelchair is impaired due to various causes, but it requires a considerable effort to move the wheelchair straight.

[0008]

Further, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in the conventional wheelchair, the front pipe 1 of the front pipe 1, the leg pipe 2, and the base pipe 3 constituting the vehicle body is attached to the front pipe 1 of the caster vehicle. Since the structure is welded to the stem portion 15, the caster car behaves integrally with the vehicle body and cannot be operated independently with respect to the vehicle body. If you do, it will require considerable effort.

Further, when a wheelchair is to be curved at a curved portion of a road, in the conventional wheelchair, one side brake must be applied at the curved portion to trigger a bend, which causes energy loss each time. There was inconvenience.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has a caster wheel at the front of the vehicle body,
And, in a wheelchair in which large wheels are rotatably attached to a pair of left and right back pipes respectively, a stem portion of a caster vehicle is fixed to a front pipe via a fixed arm, and a movable arm is pivotally attached to the fixed arm. A yoke of a caster wheel is mounted on the bottom of the movable arm, and a gear portion is provided on the upper portion thereof, while a pulley equipped with a pinion meshing with the gear portion is rotatably mounted on the fixed arm. (EN) A wheelchair in which a control wire is wound around a pulley and a controller for adjusting the traction of the control wire is further provided.

The controller for adjusting the pulling of the control wire may be constituted by a slide portion which slides the guide pipe, or may be constituted by a rotary drum.

[0012]

That is, in the present invention, when the inner wire is pulled by the above means, the pulley is rotated, and when the pinion is rotated accordingly, the gear portion meshing with the pulley is moved in the left and right direction, and as a result, the movable arm is Tilts in the direction
The caster wheel is tilted in the left-right direction with respect to the traveling direction of the large wheels.

As described above, according to the present invention, the caster vehicle can be tilted in the left-right direction with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle body independently of the vehicle body. The function of bending the direction of travel of the wheelchair occurs, and the degree thereof is proportional to the angle at which the caster vehicle is tilted.

Therefore, in the case where the straightness of the vehicle body is impaired for various reasons as described above, if the caster vehicle is tilted at an appropriate angle in the direction opposite to the direction in which the vehicle body is easily bent, the vehicle body is labor intensive. You can go straight without the need for.

Further, in the conventional structure, the curved portion of the road is bent after the brake is applied, but in the present invention, if the caster vehicle is tilted in the desired direction, the curve is smoothly cut without applying the brake. be able to.

In this case, only one of the caster wheels may be tilted, but if both caster wheels are tilted in the same direction, the action is doubled.
In this case, the inclinations of both caster wheels may be interlocked.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows a wheelchair according to the present invention, in which the body frame of the wheelchair includes a pair of front pipes 1, 1 and legs similar to a conventional wheelchair. The pipes 2, 2, the base pipes 3, 3 and the back pipes 4, 4 are connected by a cross rod 5, and a seat 6 is stretched between the front pipes 1, 1 and the back pipes 4, 4. , 4
A backrest portion 7 is provided therebetween, a leg rest 8 is provided between the leg pipes 2 and 2, and a footrest 9 is provided at the tip thereof.

A large wheel 11 having a hand rim 10 is rotatably supported below the back pipe 4, and a brake 12 for the large wheel 11 is provided at an appropriate position on the side of the vehicle body.

On the other hand, a fixed arm 13 having a U-shaped lower end is provided at the lower portion of the pronto pipe 1, and the fixed arm 13 is further provided.
A movable arm 14 having a U-shaped lower end is pivotally attached to a shaft 15 by a shaft 15.

The bottom of the movable arm 14 is a caster wheel 16.
The yoke 17 is mounted on the base end of the yoke 17 via a bearing, and the stem pipe 18 is fixed on the fixed arm 13 with its axis aligned with the yoke axis.

On the other hand, a gear portion 19 is provided on the upper portion of the movable arm 14, a pulley 20 is pivotally mounted on the upper portion of the fixed arm 13, and a pinion 21 meshing with the gear portion 19 is mounted on the pulley 20.

Also, one end of the outer wires 22, 22 of the control wire is attached to the upper part of the fixed arm 13, and the inner wire 23 inserted through the outer wires 22, 22 is wound around the pulley 20 at one position. The other ends of the outer wires 22 and 22 are attached to the controller of the inner wire.

In this embodiment, the controller of the inner wire is slidable on the guide pipe 24 so as to be slidable on the slide portion 25.
And a pulley 26 is provided at the end of the guide pipe 24.

Then, the inner wire 23 led out from the one outer wire 22 is fixed inside the slide portion 25, and the tip thereof and the end of the inner wire 23 introduced into the other outer wire 22 are connected to the inner wire 23. It is connected with a bracket 27 so as to be endless and engages with a pulley 26. The pulling condition of the endless wire is adjusted by the inner wire receiving fitting 27.

In the above structure, the caster wheel 13
In the straight traveling state, the pinion 21 meshes with the center of the gear portion 19 (Fig. 3A), but when the slide portion 27 of the controller is slid in one direction and the inner wire 23 is pulled, the pulley 20 rotates in one direction. When the pinion 21 rotates, the gear part 19 meshing with the pinion 21 moves, and as a result, the movable arm 14 tilts with the shaft 15 as a fulcrum, and the caster wheel 13 with respect to the traveling direction of the large wheel 11. Tilt to the left and right in one direction (Fig. 3B).

When the sliding portion 27 of the controller is slid in the opposite direction and the inner wire 23 is pulled, the pulley
When 20 rotates in the opposite direction and the pinion 21 rotates accordingly, the gear part 17 meshing with this moves in the opposite direction,
As a result, the movable arm 14 tilts in the opposite direction about the shaft 15 as a fulcrum, and the caster wheel 13 tilts in the opposite direction to the traveling direction of the large wheels 11.

In this way, the sliding portion 25 of the controller
The caster wheel 13 can be tilted in the left-right direction with respect to the traveling direction of the large wheels 11 by sliding the
By adjusting 25, the stem 15 of the caster wheel can be fixed with an appropriate inclination with respect to the traveling direction of the wheelchair.

Therefore, if the wheelchair tends to turn to the right even if the user wants to go straight, the slide part 25 provided on the controller provided with the caster wheel on the left side is slid to the left side, for example, and the wheelchair is in a straight running state. Will be corrected to.

In this embodiment, the stem 15 of the caster wheel can be adjusted within a range of about 5 degrees left and right by sliding the slide portion 25.

5 to 6 show another embodiment of the controller for the inner wire. In this embodiment, the controller has a drum 28 having a handle portion 28a at its upper end.
It is configured by attaching.

When the handle portion 28a is rotated in one direction, the inner wire 23 wound around the drum 28 is pulled in one direction, the pulley 20 is rotated in one direction, and the pinion 21 is moved accordingly. When it is rotated, the gear part 19 meshing with it is moved, and as a result, the movable arm 14 is tilted about the shaft 15 as a fulcrum, and the caster wheel 13 is tilted leftward and rightward with respect to the traveling direction of the large wheels 11.

When the handle portion 28a is rotated in the opposite direction, the inner wire 33 wound around the drum 28 is pulled in the opposite direction, the pulley 20 is rotated in the opposite direction, and the pinion 21 is moved accordingly. When it is rotated, the gear portion 19 meshing with it is moved in the opposite direction, and as a result, the movable arm 14 is inclined in the opposite direction about the shaft 15 as a fulcrum, and the caster wheel 13 is different from the above in the traveling direction of the large wheels 11. Tilt in the opposite direction.

In the present invention, the gear portion 19 and the pinion 21
The tilted state of the caster wheel 13 is fixed by the engagement of the caster wheel 13. Therefore, even if a force is applied to the caster wheel 13 from the outside, the tilted state of the caster wheel 13 does not collapse.

[0036]

Therefore, according to the present invention, the imbalance of the force applied to the left and right large wheels, the lateral inclination on the road surface,
If the wheelchair does not go straight due to a vehicle body misalignment, etc., if the caster vehicle is tilted in the direction opposite to the direction in which the vehicle body is easily bent, the straightness of the vehicle body can be easily guaranteed.
The effort to move the vehicle body straight is reduced.

Also in the curved portion of the road, according to the present invention, the vehicle body can be smoothly curved by inclining the caster wheel according to its curvature in the desired direction of bending without applying the brake, and therefore this characteristic is obtained. ,
It is maximized when coasting down a gentle slope.

The present invention is mainly intended for a wheelchair which should be driven by itself. However, even in a wheelchair driven by an assistant, it is difficult to keep a straight line when pushing a laterally inclined road surface, Since the user feels the same inconvenience as described above, such as having to apply a brake on one side to create a trigger for turning when entering, the function of the present invention is effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wheelchair showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the caster vehicle tilting mechanism of the above.

FIG. 3 (A) is a front view showing a caster vehicle in a straight running state by the same tilting mechanism, and FIG. 3 (B) is a front view showing a caster vehicle tilting state by the same tilting mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the same inner wire controller as above.

[Fig. 5] Side view of a wheelchair with another inner wire controller attached.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the above inner wire controller.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a caster wheel portion of a conventional wheelchair.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 is front pipe 2 is leg pipe 3 is base pipe 4 is back pipe 5 is cross rod 6 is seat 7 is backrest 8 is leg rest 9 is footrest 10 is hand rim 11 is large wheel 12 is brake 13 is fixed arm 14 is movable The arm 15 is the pivot shaft 16 is the caster wheel 17 is the yoke 18 is the stem pipe 19 is the gear part 20 is the pulley 21 is the pinion 22, 22 is the outer wire 23 is the inner wire 24 is the guide pipe 25 is the slide part 26 is the pulley 27. The inner wire bracket 28 is a drum having a handle portion 28a at the upper end.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a wheelchair having a caster wheel at the front of the vehicle body and having large wheels rotatably attached to a pair of left and right back pipes, the stem portion of the caster wheel is connected to the front pipe via a fixed arm. The movable arm is pivotally attached to the fixed arm, the yoke of the caster wheel is attached to the bottom of the movable arm, and the gear portion is provided on the upper portion thereof, while the fixed arm is provided with the gear portion. A wheelchair characterized in that a pulley having an intermeshing pinion is rotatably mounted, a control wire is wound around the pulley, and a controller for adjusting the traction of the control wire is further provided. 2. The wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the controller for adjusting the traction of the control wire is constituted by a slide portion that slides the guide pipe. 3. The wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the controller for adjusting the traction of the control wire is composed of a rotating drum.