US1225364A - Crutch. - Google Patents

Description

Py W. SANDERS. CRUTCH.

AFPLxcATIoN msn uic. 1s. me.

Tl 5,295,364@ atene May 8,1917.

Z5@ f /m @Q5/ MA;

E@ mi UNTED STATES' 'PATENT @lblfillQEo PETERW. SANDERS, 'OE BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

CRUTCI-I.

Application filed December 19, 1916.

To all-whom t may concern:

Beit known that "I, PETER WV. SANDERS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Belleville, county of Essex, and State of N ew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Crutches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved crutch that. is adjustable so that it can be made longer or shorter in order to be used successively by different people, as in hospitals, and one in which the handle can be adjusted relative to the side arms ofthe crutch, the parts that are movable being locked when in desired position by one clamping means.

The invention further resides `in a handle that, when locked, ris not-rotatable nor slidable and is thus adapted to give the user a sense of security asin a solid crutch.

The invention is further designed to provide a crutch with a minimum of projecting parts and one that has sliding sections provided with slots disposed so that one part of each section is supported by the other section.

The invention is designed to provide 'a simple formy of crutch, easily adjusted by any one, secure and stable as a support for a cripple or an injured person, andonethat.

is economically manufactured.

The invention is illustrated in the accom-y panying drawing,in whichFigure 1 isa perspective viewof my improved crutch.-

Fig. 2 is a central .vertical section of the crutch showing that part of the crutch in the` vicinity of the handle. F ig. 3 is a face view of one of the clamping plates used-in' the embodiment shown.l

The crutch proper which I call the body portion of the crutchconsists of twomembers slidable relative to each other, onemember, the upper member, having arms'lO `and the other, or lower member, having arms 11. r1`he arms extend substantially vertical but are preferably slightly bowed, as shown, to give ample room for the handle. The upper member has a saddle or arm rest 12 secured to and-connecting the arms `10, the arms 11 of the lower member being formed at their lower endsv into a base. In the forml shown, the arms: are spread by the brace, then brought togetherto form a foot 14: and pro- Spec'cat-onof Letters Patent.

)Patented May 8, 1917.

serial No. 137,756.

vided with a cap or top 15, the latter usually y being constructed to guard against slipping.

slide on each other, keeping substantiallyv their proper form and curvature when such arms are curved, the ends being held by suitable clips 16 secured to the ends of the arms 11 and sliding on the arms 10, and clips 17 fastened to the arms 10 and sliding on the arms 11. Vithout any clamping action by the clampingmeans, these arms slide readily on each other, their contacting faces being substantially flatA and smooth and offer noserious resistance to the easy spreading or assembling of these arms. In view of this easy sliding, when the members are to be adjusted, the saddle 12 can be grasped in the hands, theoperator yplaces one of his feet againstthe brace 12 and the members can be pulled apart to the desired distance, although it isl customary to adjust the crutch by the person to use it, setting the foot of the crutch on the ground, moving the arm rest until it is in proper position, and then operating the clamp to fasten all the parts in their proper positions. The clamp also embodies the handle 18 which is placed between the members and is provided with a bore through which a bolt 19 passes, the bolt having on one end a head 20 and on the other end a thunib-nut 21 screwing on a screw-threaded end 22 of thev bolt 19. The bolt also passes through slots in the arms of the crutch, these slots being long enough to provide a considerable variation between the extreme extended positions and the eXtreme contracted positions of the sliding members of the crutch. One pair of arms, in the illustration the inner pair 11, is provided with slots 28, the outerpair being provided with slots 24, in the illustration these slots 24 being shorter than the slots 23. Clamping plates are preferably placed on opposite sides of each pair of sliding arms, such clamping plates 25 being provided with end 'flanges 26 which embrace the sides of the arms 10 and 11, the inner faces of the clamping plates being placed against the front and rear faces of the arms and being preferably provided with gripping projections 27, those shown extending from side to side and being adapted to be pressed slightly into the wood of which the arms are made when the thumbnut 21 is screwed up to clamp the parts together. It will thus be seen that the clamping device not only is used for adjusting the arms 10 and 11 relative to each other, but is also used to fasten the handle in its proper position. 1t will also be evident that similarly when the thumb-nut 21 is loosened, that not only is the handle free to be adjusted, but the members 1() and 11 can be slid on each other. 1n this way the parts are compactly assembled when the crutch is ready to be used and the clamping plates grasp the sides of the arms 10 and 11 at the slotted portions to strengthen these portions opposite the point where the clamping is done, thus minimizing the chance of any splitting of these arms at these points. Furthermore, the portion provided with the long slot is strengthened for a considerable length of its slotted portion by reason of the adjacent arm being provided with a shorter slot, so that the distance along the assembled arms between the top and bottom edges of the clamping plates 25 and the ends of the short slot, is not long enough to permit such strain on such slotted portion as will cause any breakage or splitting at that point. The sliding of the arms is limited by the ends of the slots, and with each arm slotted, none of the slots need be of any excessive length to permit relatively wide adjustment between the extreme length to which the crutch can be extended and the shortest length to which it can be contracted. The ends of the handle portion 18 are engaged by the inner limits of the side arms of the crutch, in the form sho-wn, such inner limits being the inner clamping plates 25, and the pressure so disposed on the handle holds the handle against any rotation so that a iirm grip is provided for the hands of the person using the crutch, which provides a better sense of security than a handle that is adapted to be easily rotated or one that is subject to movement by any possible rotative strain applied to it by the hand. The clamping plates with the side flanges 26 and gripping parts 27 are positively held in position against rotation on the bolt 19, and the parts are thus held inapproximate alinement and in position to be assembled, even when separated enough, after the thumb-nut 21 is unloosened, to permit the arms 10 and 11 to be slid on each other.

The slots 23 in the inner arms 11 are usually used to provide adjustment of the members toward and from each other, thus permitting the location of the bolt 19 in about the center of the slots 24 so that these slotted portions are strengthened about in the center, the wide range of movement thus afforded to the inner arms having the slots 23 in them, providing such slotted portions with the support due to the contact with the outer arms 10, such contact being due to the spring of the material and also to the binding pressure induced by the clamping means mounted on the bolt 19. 1n other words, the bolt is preferably kept in the center of the slot 24 unless the adjustment necessary is beyond the limits of the slots 23, and in this case, the bolt is slid in the slots 24, but the fact that the inner arms 11 have been slid so that the ends of the slots 28, either the top or bottom one, engage the bolt 19, leaves but a slight distance of slotted portion in register with the slot 24 so that, with this extreme adjustment, nearly the whole length of the slot 23 will be backed up and supported by its contact with the unslotted portions of the outer arms 10.

rlhe limitations of the extension and contraction of the crutch, due to the ends of the slots engaging the bolt 19, provide a maximum and a minimum of length, and these slots 23 and 24 are so disposed and proportioned that when the crutch is extended to its full length or contracted to its shortest length, the handle 18 is in a normal position, that is, it is in a position where a person adapted to use the crutch, at either its shortest or longest length, will naturally have his hand come.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A crutch comprising two members having arms adapted to slide on each other, the arms on each side of the crutch being slotted with alined slots, a bolt passing through the slots and having means on its ends for exerting pressure inward, a handle on the bolt between the arms on each side, and plates, each vplate having an opening through which the bolt passes and being adapted to bear against the outer face of one of the arms and having projections to enter the arm to prevent slipping, each plate having side flanges to engage the sides of the slotted portion of the arm with which said plate engages, the flanges having their engaging faces terminating short of the arm adjacent to the one with which said plate is in contact.

2. A crutch comprising two members having arms, the arms of one member sliding on the inner faces of the arms of the other, said arms being narrow and having vertical slots therein, clamping plates engaging the outer faces of the assembled pairs of arms, the

plates having end flanges to engage the parts are so forced together, the slots in the outer edges of the slotted parts of the arms, outer arms being short, the slots in the inner a handle, a headed bolt passing through the arms being materially longer. 1o

plates, the slots and the handle, a nut on one In testimony that I claim the foregoing, end of the bolt for forcing the parts in bind- I hereto set my hand, this 18th day of ing engagement, said clamping plates hav- December, 1916.

ing projections to enter the arms when the PETER W. SANDERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

Images