Lightweight wheelchair having swing-away footrest assembly

A lightweight wheelchair including a frame having a front frame member, a footrest assembly, mounting means mounting said footrest assembly to said front frame member for movement between a first position in front of said wheelchair and a second position beside said wheelchair, and a latch assembly releasably latching said footrest assembly in said first position, wherein the improvement in said wheelchair comprises:

• said latch assembly including a latch pin, a pivoted lever mounted to engage said latch pin in said first position, and spring biasing means mount to bias said lever to a position preventing movement of said footrest assembly from said first position to said second position, said lever having a manually engageable distal end and said lever being pivotable by said end in one direction to latch said latch assembly and pivotable in an opposite direction against said spring biasing means release said latch assembly, said latch pin being mounted to said frame member in spaced generally parallel relation thereto and said lever being carried by said mounting means for movement with said footrest assembly.

A lightweight wheelchair having a foldable frame including a side frame assembly and a seat frame foldable between a collapsed position and deployed position, said seat frame assembly including a seat frame member positioned in superimposed relation above a side frame member when said seat frame assembly is in said deployed position, a frame mounting block secured to one of said side frame member and said seat frame member and having a recess receiving the other of said side frame member and said seat frame member when said seat frame assembly is in said deployed position, wherein the improvement in said wheelchair comprises:

• said mounting block further including resiliently displaceable detent means proximate said recess engaging and releasably detaining said seat frame assembly in said deployed position.