Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
111~31~
This invention relates to portable seats and particu-
larly seats adapted for use on invalid supporting devices.
Various portable supporting frames are known which
enable or assist handicapped, invalid, or infirm persons to walk.
These frames or "walkers" assist a person who has difficulty in
walking to keep his balance and they also enable part of the in-
valid's weight to be supported by his arms.
The more common of invalid support frames are basically
the same in their operation and construction although there are
minor differences in configuration and in their dimensions. Com-
mon walkers consist of a multi-legged lightweight rigid frame
that supports two handles at about waistlevel. The invalid ope-
rates the device by grasping the two handles, lifting and moving
it forward, and then holding onto it for balance and support
while he steps into the cavity. He repeats these motions to pro-
ceed. Recently developed walkers can be folded into a relatively
compact form when not in use. Folding walkers are particularly
advantageous from several standpoints. They require less room
when being shipped to stores or customers and less space is re-
`~ 20 quired to store them either in the home or in the store. Theyare also much more portable when travelling on public transit
vehicles or in private cars.
Another recent and important development in invalid
support frames has been the use of semi-flexible or "swinging
walkers". These walkers are constructed with hinged joints at
the corners where the two, spaced apart side frames meet the con-
necting front frame members. When these walkers are used by an
invalid, two feet of the walker can be maintained on the ground
at all times and permit the user the option to lift less weight.
Also it is known to provide a walker that is both foldable and
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swinging.
It is also known to provide walkers with a temporary
seating arrangement so that if a user should become tired he will
have a seat readily available. I-t will be appreciated that many
invalid persons become tired quite easily and it is important
that such persons not overexert themselves.
One such seating arrangement is shown in U.S. patent
3,993,349 dated November 23, 1976 and issued to Messrs. Newfeld
and Hopson. In the walker of this patent, the temporary seat is
1~ constructed from a sling of canvas or other flexible material.
The seat which is quite narrow has a loop formed at each end so
that each end can be supported by a T-shaped bar. The upper end
of each T-shaped bar is bent so that the bar can engage in a spe-
cially designed metal block. The construction taught by the
patent requires specialized metal parts which increase the cost
of the seat arrangement. In addition carrying the seat on the
person when not in use would be cumbersome since the metal T-
shaped members can not be folded. Also, the seat taught by this
patent distributes the weight of the invalid over a relatively
small area of the body which could cause discomfort. Further-
more the seat arrangement is such that a weak and disabled person
might feel insecure in the seat and he might in fact easily slip
out of the sling and injure himself.
More recent U.S. patent 4,162,101 dated July 24, 1979
issued to McCague Sr. and Elinore M. McCague teaches the use of
a seat in the cavity formed by a walker. The seat is designed
to automatically swing up and out of the way when seating is not
desired. The seat of this U.S. patent requires a number of spe-
cialized mechanical parts which would make it relatively costl~-.
The seat is also heavier and more cumbersome for an invalid to
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transport than the seat proposed by the present invention.
According to one aspect ofthe present invention, there ispro-
vided an invalid seat for mounting on an invalid support apparatus
used to support awalking invalid and having vertical frame members,
the seat comprising amulti-sided foldable sheetofmaterial, means
attached to the sheet ateach corner for connecting the corner to a
respective vertical frame member by means of adjustable clarnping
means, wherein each clamping means i8 adapted to supportits res-
pective connecting means arld to clamp onto a respective frame mem-
ber at a selected height so that the height above the ground oftheinvalid seat formed by the sheet can be varied as desired.
According to another aspectof the invention, there is pro-
vided aportable seat for mounting on asupport frame constructed
with vertical frame members, the seat comprising a four-sided,
foldable sheet of material of sufficient strength to support a
person, four hook means and cooperating eye means for separately
connecting each corner of the sheet to arespective vertical frame
member, one of the hook means andeye means being attached to the
sheet at the four corners thereof and the other of the hook means
20 and eye means being provided with adjustable clarnplng devices for
detachably clamping each of the four hook or eye means to res
pective vertical frame mernbers at a selected height.
The advantages of the portable seat of the lnvention will
be readily apparent. Because the sheet of material can be folded
into d compact configuration, it could be stored ln a pocket
or purse for easy transport. This feature is partlcularly ad-
vantageous for the user of the walker travelling by public tran-
sit vehicles where there is no safe place where the seat can
simply be lald down for transit. Thus the seat of the inventlon
may remove an unnecessary restriction to an invalid's or handi-
capped person's mobility and may enable such people to increase
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the size of the area across which they feel they can travel on
their own.
Another advantage of the preferred portable seat arran-
gement disclosed herein is that the seat can be constructed us-
ing simple, readily available metal parts. Thus the cost of the
preferred seat construction is quite low. Also the preferred
portable seat described herein is adjustable in one or more res-
pects. The height of the seat above the ground can be varied by
loosening, shifting, and then tightening a clamping device used
to connect each corner to an adjacent frame member. In addition
the effective size of the foldable sheet for fastening purposes
can be varied so that a single type of foldable sheet can be
manufactured which will fit walkers of different sizes and dif-
fering construction.
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be
described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the
accompanying drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is a rear view of an invalid support appara-
tus provided with a foldable seat;
Figure 2 is a top view of the support apparatus of
Figure 1:
Figure 3 is a right side view of the support apparatus
of Figure 1 with the seat removed;
Figure 4 is a view of the bottom side of the foldable
sheet used to provide a seat on the support apparatus; and
Figure 5 is a detailed view showing how each corner
of the foldable sheet is connected to an adjacent frame member.
An invalid support apparatus 10, modified in accordance
with the teachings of the present invention is shown in Figures 1
to 3. The apparatus consists of 3 connected lightweight rigid
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frames. Two identical spaced apart side frames 12 and 14, one
on each side, are connected together by a third frame 13 in
front. Each side frame has the configuration of an inverted U
with a handgrip 40 on its top horizontal member 24,a horizontal
brace 32 just below knee level, and a foot 15 on each vertical
member. If desired the height above the ground of the two hand-
grips can be adjusted for maximum comfort and safety by providing
telescoping legs 36 on each vertical side frame member 33 and 34.
The third frame 13, in front, consists of two vertical side mem-
bers 29 of internal diameter slightly larger than the outsidediameter of the vertical front members 34 of the two side frames
and rigidly joined by two horizontal members 18 and 20. The ver-
tical front member 34 of each side frame passes through a res-
pective vertical member 29 of the front frame. The front frame
13 is retained in the required position on the side frames by
two sleeves 19 attached to each front member 34 of each side frame
by pop rivets.
It will be appreciated that with this construction a
desirable hinge arrangement is provided that enables the two side
frames 12 and 14 to be folded in the direction shown by the arrows
A in Figure 2 1nto an area whose limits are defined by the front
frame for convenient storage and shipping. When used in the walk-
- ing position, the two side frames 12 and 14 are connected together
at their top members 24 by means of a curved telescoping horizon-
tal member 22 that can be locked open in the walking position by
means of a lock button 21. The telescoping curved horizontal
member 22 is connected by means of a nut and bolt 26 to the top
member of each side frame so that it permits a limited swinging
action of one side frame about the other side frame. This swing-
ing action permits the walking invalid the option to maintain two
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side feet on the ground at all times and, when pivoting the two
swinging legs vertically around the two supporting legs, to be
lifting only a small portion of the total weight of the walker.
It will of course be appreciated that walkers can be and are manu-
factured using a variety of conflgurations and dimensions.
Further description of the support apparatus per se is unnecessary
as such apparatus are known. Each employs two spaced apart side
handles that can be gripped to provide a firm support to assist
an invalid when walking.
The present invention improves the support apparatus
described above by providing a lightweight, compact, and easily
transportable temporary seat for use on the support apparatus.
The seat 42 includes a rectangular, foldable sheet of material
that can be constructed either of fabric or strong, flexible
plastic sheeting. The preferred material is canvas and particu-
larly number 14 duck canvas which is hemmed on all sides. The
hems are formed by folding over each edge and stitching the fold-
ed material as at 44 shown in Figure 5. Each hem 46 is of
course formed on the bottom of the foldable sheet.
If desired, the foldable sheet can be reinforced for
extra strength by means of two strips 48 of material, each strip
extending between opposite corners of the rectangular sheet.
The strips or straps are sewn onto the bottom surface of the sheet
and they are preferably made ~f a tough fabric such as canvas.
A hook and eye means or mechanism 50 shown in detail in
Figure 5 is provided for detachably and separately fastening each
corner of the sheet to a respective one of the frame members. In
; the preferred embodiment illustrated, each corner is connected to
a tubular, vertically extending frame member forming part of a
Sidè frame. When the seat is mounted with the use of the hook
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and eye means, the seat extends generally between the two side
frames 12 and 14 as shown in Figures 1 and 2. With the use of
these preferred fasteners and the aforesaid reinforcing strips 48
most of the weight of an invalid is supported on and transferred
directly in tension uniformly to the four vertical support mem-
bers.
Turning now to the preferred construction of the hook
and eye means used to attach the sheet of material, these means
include hooks 52 rigidly connected to respective frame members
by means of clamps 54 formed with metal straps. The hooks 52
and clamps 54 add relatively insignificant weight and bulk to the
support apparatus. The clamps can be in the form of known hose
clamps which employ a threaded member or bolt 56 which can be
turned by means of a screwdriver or wrench and can be used to
tighten or loosen the clamp. Each hook 52 includes a straight
lower portion 58 and a curved upper portion 60. The lower por-
tion 58 is firmly clamped against the side of the adjacent frame
member by means of the hose clamp 54.
; Another part of the hook and eye means is provided by a
ring 62 attached to a reinforcing support strap 48 of the sheet
42 adjacent each corner of the sheet. Each of the four rings can
comprise a common "split-ring" often used to hold keys for locks.
Each ring 62 is preferably attached to the reinforcing support
~- strap 48 by means of a connecting loop 64 formed at the end of the
;~ strap. The position of each ring 62 at the corner of the sheet
can be made adjustable so that the sheet can fit on walkers of
different sizes. This feature is provided by making the size of
each loop 64 adjustable by means of a buckle 66 attached near
each end of the reinforcing straps. The buckle engages holes
formed in the material forming the loop 64 in a well known manner.
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Each ring is of course adapted to fit over a respective hook 52
in the manner shown in Figure 5. Preferably the corner 68 of
the sheet extends over the upper portion 60 of the hook to pro-
vide some protection from clothing catching on the hooks and
becoming torn or damaged.
It will be appreciated that with the use of the adjust-
able clamps 54, the height of the seat above the ground can be
raised or lowered as desired. ~ecause the clamps 54 do no~ re-
quire holes in the frame members or any structural changes to
the frame members, it will be appreciated that the adjustment in
the height of each hook can be carried out without any weakening
of or damage to the frame members. Also, it can be appreciated
that such clamps will fit a variety of diameters of tubing. The
hooks 52 can be the type commonly used to support room divider
partitions and thus no special manufacturing process need be
carried out to provide these hooks. If desired a tape can be
wrapped around the frame member prior to attachment of each clamp
54. These tapes 70 which can be ordinary electrical insulation
tape are illustrated in Figure 3 and they act to increase the
friction between the metal clamp and the metal of the frame mem-
ber. They also retard corrosion of the metal parts in a moist
environment.
According to one aspect of this invention, the hooks
52 and cooperating clamps 54 together provide adjustable connec-
tors for detachably engaging the connecting means prcvided by the
~` rings62.
The foldable sheet can be provided in various sizes
which will fit the different walkers being sold to the public.
A typical size for a well known walker has a width which is at
least equal to 60% of the length of the sheet. Thus the portable
~ll3~142
seat provided is quite deep and provides a firm, stable seat in
which the user is likely to feel secure. The sheet is readily
mounted on the more complex of common walkers such as a folding,
swinging walker.
For some walkers, the flexible seat can have a trape-
zoidal configuration. For example, the forward edge could have
a length of only 14 inches and the rearward edge a length of 20
inches. In this embodiment the width of the seat could be 13
inches. The flexible seat and the fittings should be sufficient-
ly strong to support the weight of most persons. A flexible
sheet and fittings which will not be damaged by a weight of 250
pounds are preferred.
In order to support heavier people on a walker of suf-
ficient strength, each hook 52 can be strengthened by inserting
another identical supporting hook behind it. Additionally a
wrapping of sheet metal of greater width than the clamp 54 can be
placed around the frame member prior to attachment of the clamp.
The metal wrapping of this nature will act to distribute the
` load from the hook over a greater area of the frame member.
Although the drawings illustrate a walker constructed
of tubular members which is the common form of frame member em-
ployed, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not
restricted to use with walkers of this construction. The present
;~ invention can be adapted to walkers having frame members of dif-
ferent cross section and size or made with different materials
than the usual material aluminum~
Other forms of hook and eye means, other than the speci-
fic forms illustrated, might of course be employed. For example
in place of the rings 62 one might employ chain or rope loops of
sufficient strength.
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It will be appreciated that the preferred seat con-
struction described herein has a number of distinct advantages,
some of which have already been referred to. It can be readily
adjusted and repaired, if necessary by the use of common skills
and tools. The preferred foldable seat is resistent to deterio-
ration, wear, and breakage. Because of its minimal complexity,
weight, and bulk, it can be manufactured and distributed at a
very low cost. The parts and materials required are readily
available at minimal cost both to manufacturers and to consumers
who may wish to purchase parts as spares or for repairs.
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