Powered wheelchair with a detachable power drive assembly

A wheelchair comprising:

• wheelchair frame having a fore portion and an aft portion;
• a seat assembly carried by said wheelchair frame;
• a power drive assembly including a drive assembly frame, a motor mounted to said drive assembly frame, and power drive wheels mounted to said drive assembly frame and operably coupled to said motor;
• a drive assembly mounting structure releasably coupling said drive assembly frame to said wheelchair frame proximate said aft portion;
• a wheel mounting structure provided on said wheelchair frame and releasably receive a pair of manually-operable drive wheels for mounting to said wheelchair frame means when said power drive assembly is removed from said wheelchair frame;
• and
• an anti-tip suspension assembly mounted to one of said aft portion of said wheelchair frame and said drive assembly frame for preventing rearward tipping on said wheelchair, said anti-tip suspension assembly including a suspension are assembly, and a mounting structure pivotally mounting said arm assembly to said one of said wheelchair frame and said drive assembly frame, said arm assembly having a first arm portion extending away from said mounting structure, and ground engaging element provided on said first arm portion at a spaced distance from said mounting structure and in a normally elevated position above the ground, and said arm assembly further including pivotal motion resisting structure resisting pivoting of said first arm portion about said mounting structure when said wheelchair is tipped by an amount sufficient to cause said ground engaging element to move from said elevated position into contact with the ground.

A wheelchair comprising:

• wheelchair frame having a fore portion and an after portion;
• a seat assembly carried by said wheelchair frame;
• a power drive assembly including a drive assembly frame, a motor mounted to said drive assembly frame, and at least one power drive wheel mounted to said drive assembly frame and operably coupled to said motor;
• a drive assembly mounting structure releasably coupling said drive assembly frame to said wheelchair frame proximate said aft portion for driving of said wheelchair as a powered wheelchair, said drive assembly mounting structure including a downwardly convergently tapered first mounting element carried by said wheelchair frame, and a downwardly convergently tapered second mounting element carried by said drive assembly frame, and fastener means releasably coupling said first mounting element to said second mounting element in mating nested engagement;
• and
• a wheel mounting structure provided on said wheelchair frame and formed to releasably receive a pair of manually-operable drive wheels for mounting to said wheelchair frame when said power drive assembly is removed from said wheelchair frame for operation of said wheelchair as a manually-powered wheelchair.