Apparatus for coupling wheelchairs to ventilator carts

A portable cart for releasable attachment to a wheelchair, the wheelchair having frame components, said cart comprising:

• a base having a holder adapted to receive equipment for a person seated in the wheelchair;
• a tubular frame adjacent at least a portion of said base and presenting forward facing open ends, each of said open ends operable to receive a wheelchair frame component therein;
• a pair of elongated pins operable to releasably secure said cart to said wheelchair frame components when said frame components are received in said open ends and permitting up and down relative movement between the cart and the wheelchair in order to afford an articulated connection between said cart and the wheelchair to pass over uneven surfaces without breaking the connection therebetween;
• and
• at least one elongated pivotal connector arm coupled with said base and including a coupler at the end thereof remote from said base in order to releasably couple with a frame component of the wheelchair.

A portable cart for releasable attachment to a wheelchair, the wheelchair having frame components, said cart comprising:

• a base having a holder adapted to receive equipment for a person in the wheelchair;
• at least one elongated pivotal connector arm coupled with said base and including a clamp at the end thereof remote from said base in order to releasably clamp with a frame component of the wheelchair,
• said connector arm having a pair of pivotally interconnected arm segments, one of said arm segments including a hinge member pivotally coupling the one arm segment to said base, said pivotally interconnected arm segments permitting relative pivoting between the arm segments and up and down relative movement between the cart and the wheelchair in order to afford an articulated connection between the cart and the wheelchair allowing the cart and wheelchair to pass over uneven surfaces without breaking the connection therebetween;
• said hinge member including an attachment pin operatively attaching said one connector arm to said base;
• a plate secured to and radially displaceable with said attachment pin;
• and
• a fastener releasably secured to said plate and operable for limiting radial displacement of said plate and said attachment pin.