Wheelchairs
OwnerBrian Waiteinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mechanism for transferring a wheelchair through a side door opening of a motor vehicle includes a hoisting device (10,13) disposed in the vehicle and a linkage (16,17, 20) linking the chair to the hoist. Once hoisted off the ground, the wheels of the chair are retracted and the chair is swung by the parallel links (16, 17) through the door opening. The chair is suspended at a rear corner of a generally box-like frame so that final pivoting of the chair about its point of suspension not only brings the chair to its front facing position in the vehicle but simultaneously completes its sideways movement into the vehicle. The chair is then lowered into its seated position.
Claims8
A wheelchair for handicapped or elderly persons, comprising a generally rectangular box-like frame, a seat supported in the frame, the frame being supported on at least three wheels when resting on the ground and each of the wheels being retractable toward the frame when the wheelchair is lifted off the ground to facilitate transfer of the suspended chair through a door opening in a motor vehicle, and means for oppositely inclining the axes of at least the two rear wheels when the wheels are retracted to reduce the track width at the base of the chair.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.