This invention relates to wheelchair restraints and is concerned with holding a wheelchair secure in a vehicle so that the user can remain in it rather than transfer to an ordinary seat with a seat belt.
Various wheelchair restraints are known, and some are described in GB-B-2176154, GB-B-2197628 and GB-B-2206529. There are others, and a common feature with them is that they hold the wheelchair front and back, and at both sides. This often means four separate attaching operations, and fiddling around near the floor and the user's legs. This is awkward, lengthy, and possibly embarrassing. From US-A-4 093 303 is known a wheelchair restraint according to the preamble of claim 1.
It is the aim of this invention to reduce and simplify the attachment operations, but still secure the wheelchair rigidly to the vehicle.
According to the present invention there is provided a wheelchair restraint according to claim 1.
Thus, the operation is carried out from entirely behind the wheelchair. The abutment should engage the framework of the chair substantially above the axis of the main wheels, while the belting can be entrained around the framework below that axis. When tensioned, there is a moment applied to the wheelchair by the belting and the abutment forcing the small front wheels hard against the floor. Experiments have shown that this is an extremely strong and secure arrangement.
The abutment, at least when raised, may be further adjustable in the fore and aft direction, there being means for urging it towards and holding it in a forwards position to augment the belt tensioning. In other words, the tensioning is completed by adjustment of the abutment, forcing the wheelchair forwards against the belting.
The urging means conveniently includes a cam to act on the base of the abutment and a handle or pedal to operate the cam.
The abutment may also be adjustable when lowered in the fore and aft direction. It can then be arranged that at one extreme it is raisable while at the other it co-operates with stop means to prevent it being raised. This enables the restraint, if portable, to be carried with all parts securely and compactly stowed.
Preferably, the anchorage means includes two anchorage points at rear corners of the base. Each may have an associated adjustable belt that can be formed into a loop and secured back at a fastening at the anchorage point. Conveniently, the abutment is hinged to the base near the rear thereof, and in the raised position inclines upwardly and forwardly. An extensible strut may link the upper part of the abutment with the base to support the abutment in the raised position, or a flexible tie may link the upper part of the abutment with the base to limit the upward hinging of the abutment.The abutment may simply be pulled up directly by hand, but it may prove easier to have a handle or pedal at the rear of the base linked to and operable to raise the abutment.
For a better understanding of the invention, one embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
A rectangular base 1 can be secured to floor tracks 2 by devices 3, such as described in GB-B-2219493, at the middle of two sides of the base 1. At the rear corners there are anchorage points 4 for belts 5 each of which can be formed into a loop with a free end clipped back into a socket 6 linked to the associated anchorage point 4. These sockets 6 can be rapid release devices such as are used with ordinary car seat belts. Tension can be applied to each loop by pulling on a portion 7 free of a jamming cleat 8.
An abutment 9 is hinged to the base 1 about an axis near and parallel to its rear edge. It can assume a lowered position as shown in Figure 1, where it is substantially flush with the base 1, or a raised position as shown in the other figures. In this example, it resembles the Greek letter π and the arms 10, which may be telescopic within limits, have pads 11 for engagement by framework 12 of a wheelchair. The two legs 13 of the abutment are spanned near their upper ends by a bar 14 to which is coupled one end of a telescopic strut 15, the other end of which is pivoted to the base 1. The strut has a spring loaded plunger which engages when the strut is fully extended to hold it in that position, and it can be released by pulling a knob 16. The legs 13 house in recesses 17 in the base 1 on either side of a shorter recess 18 for the strut 15.
Central of the rear of the base 1 there is a handle 19 by which the final tensioning is carried out. The abutment 9 is hinged to a shaft within the base which is capable of limited fore and aft movement, and the handle 19 is the operating member by which this is achieved. When the handle 19 is flat and partially housed within a recess 20, the abutment shaft is at a forward position, urged there by a cam on the lower end of the handle 19. However, when the handle 19 is raised to the vertical or thereabouts, the shaft is released and can assume a rearwards position. If desired, there may be means for locking the handle in the lowered position. Also, it can be arranged that with everything flat as in Figure 1, and with the abutment 9 consequently urged forwards by the cammed handle 19, the abutment will be trapped in that position and not able to swing free if the base 1 is picked up and carried. This may be accomplished by, for example, the bar 14 engaging a C-section member 20 at the front centre of the base 1, concave to the rear and supported not to interfere with the legs 13. When the handle 19 is raised, the abutment 9 can be drawn back for the bar 14 to clear the hook formed by the member 20 and then to be swung upwards.
Before use, the abutment 9, strut 15 and handle 19 are all lowered as shown in Figure 1. A wheelchair can be moved to straddle the base 1 either from the front or the rear. When it is approximately in position, the handle 19 is pulled up, allowing the abutment 9 to be raised and held by the strut 15. Then the belts 5 are looped round parts of the wheelchair, secured and lightly tensioned so that the wheelchair frame 12 engages the pads 11. Finally, the handle 19 is lowered, pushing the abutment 9 and thus the wheelchair slightly forwards and straining the belts 5 to increased tension. This finally secures the wheelchair.
The action of the handle 19 could be reversed; that is it would be lowered while the belts 5 were being fitted and then pulled up to a retained upright position to shift the abutment 9 forwards and finally tension the belts.
For release, the handle 19 is simply lifted (or lowered), the belts 5 are released from the sockets 6, and the abutment 9 is lowered.
It will be understood that there are various alternatives. For example, instead of a telescopic strut there could be a jointed one which acts like a toggle mechanism. Alternatively, there could simply be a strap or other flexible tie, the abutment being held up by hand or by a friction hinge until the wheelchair is backed up against it to hold it there with the strap tensioned. Instead of a manually operated handle 19, there could be a pedal. Also, rather than pulling the abutment 9 up by hand, there could be a mechanism, handle or pedal operated, for raising it, and if this was self-locking there would be less or no need for the strut 15. In a further variation, instead of two separate belt restraints there could be one looped from one anchorage point 4 around the wheelchair frame to the other point 4, and that single belt could be on a retracting reel.
In a further development, instead of having a removable base 1, the anchorage could be built into the floor of a vehicle as a permanent feature.
It will be understood that the base 1 could be reversed so that the wheelchair would then face rearwardly. All references herein to front and rear can therefore be interchanged.