Knee walker
AssigneeMedline Industries, Inc.
InventorsLinda M. Walther, Ethan S. Abernathey, Ishwor P. Adhikari, John H. Kutsch, Vincent R. Lackowski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Knee walker assemblies and methods of manufacturing a knee walker assembly are provided herein. One concept of the present disclosure is directed to a knee walker assembly that includes a frame, a support platform and a handle mounted to the frame, at least one rear wheel mounted proximate the rear end of the frame, and at least two front wheels swivel mounted proximate the front end of the frame. A locking mechanism is operatively engaged with the at least two front wheels. The locking mechanism is configured to substantially simultaneously lock both of the at least two front wheels in a rigid-type mounting configuration.
Claims20
A knee walker assembly comprising:
- a frame with opposing front and rear ends;
- a support platform mounted to the frame;
- a handle mounted to the frame;
- a rear wheel mounted to the frame proximate the rear end thereof;
- a front wheel swivel mounted to the frame proximate the front end thereof such that the front wheel is operable to revolve around a rolling axis and rotate about a non-rolling axis;
- a locking disc mounted for common rotation with the front wheel about the non-rolling axis;
- and
- a retractable locking pin assembly mounted to the frame, the retractable locking pin assembly being configured to selectively engage the locking disc to thereby lock the front wheel such that the front wheel is restricted from rotating about the non-rolling axis without being restricted from revolving around the rolling axis.
A knee walker assembly for aiding a physically impaired person in walking, the knee walker assembly comprising:
- a rigid frame with opposing front and rear ends;
- a support platform mounted to the rigid frame, the support platform being configured to support at least one human appendage;
- a rear wheel mounted proximate the rear end of the rigid frame;
- first and second front wheels each mounted via a respective swivel fork to the rigid frame proximate the front end thereof such that each of the front wheels is operable to revolve around a respective rolling axis and rotate about a respective non-rolling axis;
- first and second locking discs each rigidly mounted to a respective one of the swivel forks for common rotation with a respective one of the front wheels about the respective non-rolling axis;
- and
- first and second retractable locking pin assemblies mounted to the frame, each of the retractable locking pin assemblies being configured to selectively engage a respective one of the locking discs to thereby lock a respective one of the front wheels such that the front wheel is restricted from rotating about the respective non-rolling axis without being restricted from revolving around the respective rolling axis.
A method of manufacturing a knee walker assembly, the method comprising:
- mounting a support platform to a rigid frame, the support platform being configured to support at least one human appendage;
- mounting a rear wheel proximate a rear end of the frame;
- mounting two front wheels proximate a front end of the frame such that each of the front wheels is operable to revolve around a respective rolling axis and rotate about a respective non-rolling axis;
- mounting each of two locking discs for common rotation with a respective one of the front wheels about the respective non-rolling axis;
- and
- mounting two retractable locking pin assemblies to the frame, each of the retractable locking pin assemblies being configured to selectively engage a respective one of the locking discs to thereby lock a respective one of the front wheels such that the front wheel is restricted from rotating about the respective non-rolling axis without being restricted from revolving around the respective rolling axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.