Mobility aid

Abstract

A mobility aid assembly for lifting and lowering a user; the assembly including an articulated lifting arm releasably mounted to a base structure; a first portion of the lifting arm operable between a lowered position and a raised position by a linear actuator; a first end of the linear actuator pivotally connected to the first portion of the lifting arm and, wherein a second end of the linear actuator is releasably mounted so as to avoid injury to the user if the linear actuator moves the first portion of the lifting arm to an excessively lowered position in which the first portion of the lifting impinges on the user. Also described is a method of changing disposition of fork elements of a fork of a disability aid assembly from a first position in which the fork elements are parallel to a horizontal centerline of the disability aid assembly and a second position in which outer ends of the fork elements are more widely separated than inner ends of the fork elements; the method including the steps of:—providing swivellable wheels at the outer ends of the fork elements with locking mechanisms,—locking each of the swivellable wheels at an angle in which the direction of the swivellable wheel is “toed out” relative to a centerline of the fork element,—moving the disability aid assembly in a forward direction to drive the fork elements from the first position into the second position, moving the disability aid assembly in a rearward direction to drive the fork element from the second position into the first position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.