US1318505A - Crutch - Google Patents

Description

K. J. RABCZYNSKI.

CRUTCH.-

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. 1919.

' 1,318,505. v Patented Oct. 14,1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oFmo- KASIMIR J. RAIBCZYNSKI, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CRUTGIL- 1 p To all whom??? may concern I Be it known that I, KASIMIR- J. RABozYN- SKI, a citizen of Poland, residing at Boston, 7

in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Crutches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to crutches and particularly to an arm support for the same, it

being the object of the invention to provide for a crutch an arm support which will comfortably fit the armpit of the user and be capable of yielding to such an extent that when the weight of the user is placed thereupon the shocks generally incident to the use of the crutch and which are received by the armpits will be greatly diminished. Another object of the invention is to provide a novel construction of padded arm rest and to provide therefor means by which it may be detachably mounted upon 'its supporting spring which is also of novel design and construction and is in turn mounted upon the side bars of the crutch in such a Fig. 2'is an end elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a detail transverse section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

- Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 5 represents an arm rest, the exterior of which is constructed preferably from two pieces of l'eather6and 7,5

while the interior thereof is provided with a Y stuffing of any suitable material 8 distributed in such'a manner as to shape the arm rest to comfortably fit the armpits. The margin of the piece of leather 6 constituting the upper cover of the arm rest 5 is doubled over at .9 to form a hem, while the margin of the under piece'of leather 7 is stitched into said hemas illustrated at 10in Fig. 3. This 1 method of constructing thearm rest 5 results in formin a downwardlyprojecting flange .11 extending entirely therearound, to the underside of which are fastened two U- Specification of Letters Patent.

.the spring 16' are adapted torest.

shaped reinforcing strips of sheet and 13 'by suitable rivets 14:.

The rivets 14 extend through e'achrein- I forcing strip 12 or 18 and through the flange" 11 thereby cooperating with the stitching to fasten thetwo gether.

metal 12,

pieces of leather 6 and 7 to;

Patented Oct. 14,1919.

Application filedJ'une 27, 1919. Serial No. 307,239. I i I Each of the reinforcing strips 12 and 13 have formed integral therewith adjacenttoj I 6 which saidarm' rest is detachably mounted A upon a spring 16. The adjacent ends of the each end of the arm rest '5 a book 15, by

reinforcing strips 12 and 13 are hinged together by rivets 17 beneath the central portion of the arm rest 5. Each rivet 17 extends;

through the flange 11, opposite adjacent ends 10f the reinforcing strips 12 and'1 3, and

through the opposite upturned ends of a spacing member 18 which extends'between' v the flanges 11, the member 18 being pivoted upon said rivets 17.

Thespring 16 1s a semi-elliptic-type and i .is formed of onepieoe of spring wire with two side portions1-9 and 20 in such amanner as to provideineifect'a doublefspring. The side portions 19 and 20 of the spring 16 are arranged parallel to each other for a portion of their length and then each has formed thereina pair of spiral loops 21. The side portions 19 and 20 converge upwardly from the loops 21 and are joined togtherat'their upper ends by across-piece 22 which is long The spring 16 is mountedupon a pair of suitable side bars 23 and 24 which constitute enough to receive the hook 15 and thereby position and support the arm rest 5.

the staif of the crutch; between a spring support 25 and a clamp member 26. The spring.

support 25 is stamped fromsheet metal and has formed integral therewith two sockets 27 and 28 adapted to receive respectively the side bars 28 and 24. Parallel channels 29 are also formed upon said spring support 25 in which the side portions 19 and 20 of The clamp member 26 is likewise stamped from sheet metal and is provided with-channels said channels 30 resting upon the side portions 19 and 20 of the spring 16. The spring 16 is firmly held betweenthe spring support 25 and clamp member 26 by suitable bolts 31.

The clamp member 26 has also formed in tegral therewith cover plates and 33 which fit over "the upper part of the sockets 27 and 28 respectively, thereby inclosing the open ends of said sockets.

The spring support 25 with the sockets 27 and 28 formed integral therewith, together with the clamp member 26 with the cover plates 32 and 33 formed integral therewith, not only constitute a support and clamp for the spring 16 but also provide a means for fastening the two side bars 23 and 24 together at their upper ends.

The spiral loops 21 formed in the spring 16 tend to strengthen said spring and are located directly above the sockets 27 and 28 and adjacent to the points where the side portions 19 and of said spring emerge from beneath the clamp member 26.

A stud 34 is rigidly fastened to the spacing member 18 projecting downwardly therefrom on the center line of the crutch and into openings 35 and 36 provided in the spring support and clamp member 26 respectively. The stud 34 acts to always centralize the arm rest 5 and to prevent the central portion thereof from swinging when in use which might tend to dislodge the same from the spring 16.

The operation of my improved crutch is as follows: WVhen the weight of the user is placed upon the arm support the outer extremities of the spring 16 yield inwardly thereby allowing the arm rest 5 to yield downwardly. At this time the strain caused by the weight of the user will be almost entirely borne by the hinged reinforcing strips 12 and 13 without in any way interfering with the flexibility of the arm rest. As the central portion of the arm rest rises and falls upon intermittently receiving and being relieved of the weight of the user, the stud 34 will slide up and down through the openings 35 and 36 in the members 25 and 26, thereby preventina the arm rest from swinging and always reeping said arm rest centralized relatively to the crutch. The arm rest 5 may be instantly unhooked from the spring 16 when it is so desired by simply springing the extremities of the spring 16 inwardly.

In stamping the spring support 25 and clamp member 26 from sheet metal and forming integral therewith the sockets and covers for said sockets, a practical and neat arrangement is provided for simultaneously fastening the upper portions of the side bars 23 and 24 together and also for detachably mounting the spring 16.

It is evident that instead of forming the semi-elliptic spring 16 from wire, the said spring may be formed from sheet metal without departing from the spirit of this invention.

If it should be desired to allow the arm rest 5 to swing, the spacing member 18 together with the stud 34 may be swung out of engagement with the spring support and clamp and into the position illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

IIaving thus specifically described my invention what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is:

1. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a semi-elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, and an arm rest, the extremities of said arm rest being attached to the extremities of said spring.

2. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a semi-elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, said spring having a plurality of spiral loops formed therein, and an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring.

3. A crutch having, in combination, a stafi, a semi-elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, and means fast to said arm rest adapted to receive the strain placed thereupon.

4. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a semi elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, and hinged members fast to said arm rest adapted to reinforce said arm rest and to receive the strain placed thereupon.

5. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a semi-elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, hinged members fast to said arm rest adapted to reinforce said arm rest and to receive the strain placed thereupon, and means to prevent said arm rest from swinging upon said spring.

6. A crutch having, in combination, a

pair of side bars, a semi-elliptic type spring, means constructed and arranged to simultaneously connect said side bars together and to clamp said spring therebetween, and an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring.

7. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a semi-elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, a plurality of spiral loops formed in said spring, said spring being constructed of one piece of wire, and an arm rest mounted upon said spring.

8. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a spring mounted upon said staff, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, said arm rest being provided with a downwardly projecting flange extending therearound, and a pair of reinforcing strips fast to said flange, said reinforcing strips being hinged together beneath the central portion of said arm rest.

9. A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a spring mounted upon said staff, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, said arm rest being provided with a downwardly projecting flange extending therearound, a pair of reinforcing strips fast to said flange, said reinforcing strips being hinged together beneath the central portion of said arm rest, and means attached to said reinforcing strips at the central portion of said arm rest adapted to separate the flanges thereof.

10. A crutch having, in combination, a stafl, a semi-elliptic type spring mounted upon said staff, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, said arm rest being provided with a downwardly projecting flange extending therearound, a pair of reinforcing strips fast to said flange, said reinforcing strips being hinged together he neath the central portion of said arm rest, and means attached to said reinforcing strips at the central portion of said arm rest adapted to separate the flanges thereof and prevent said arm rest from swinging upon said spring.

11. A prutch having, in combination, a pair of side bars, a semi-elliptic type spring, an arm rest mounted upon said spring, a spring support extending between said side bars, said spring support having formed integral therewith a pair of sockets constructed and arranged to fit the end of said side bars, and means to clamp said spring to said spring support.

12. A crutch havin in combination, a pair of side bars, a semi-elliptic type spring, an arm rest mounted upon said spring, a spring support extending between said side bars, said spring support having formed integral therewith a pair of sockets constructed and arranged to fit the end of said side bars, said spring support also being provided with parallel channels adapted to position said spring, and a clamp member whereby said spring may be fastened to said spring support.

13. A crutch having, in combination, a pair of side bars, a scum-elliptic type spring, an arm rest mounted upon said spring, a spring support extending between said side bars, said spring support having formed integral therewith a pair of sockets constructed and arranged to fit the end of said side bars, said spring support also being provided with parallel channels adapted to position said spring, a clamp member provided with channels oppositely disposed to the channels of said spring support, and cover plates formed integral with said clamp member and adapted to inclose the ends of said sockets. I

14. An arm support for crutches having, in combination, a spring, an arm rest provided with an upper and under outer covering so fastened together as to form a downwardly projecting flange, a pair of hinged reinforcing strips fastened to the underside of said flange, and means integral with said reinforcing strips whereby said arm rest may be detachably fastened to said spring.

15. An arm support for crutches having, in combination, a semi-elliptic type spring, a plurality of spiral loops formed in said spring, an arm rest provided with an upper and under outer covering, the margins of which are so fastened together as to form a downwardly projectin flange extending therearound, hinged reinforcing strips fastened to said flange, and means whereby said reinforcing strips may be detachably fastened to said spring.

16. An arm support for crutches having, in combination, a spring, said spring being formed of one piece of wire and, havmg two semi-elliptic side portions, a pair of spiral loops formed in each of said side portions, an arm rest provided with a downwardly projecting flange extending therearound, a pair of reinforcing strips fastened to said flange, said reinforcing strips being hinged together beneath the central portion of said arm rest, and means to fasten said arm rest to said spring. 7

17 A crutch having, in combination, a staff, a spring support mounted upon said staff, a spring clamped to said spring support, an arm rest detachably mounted upon said spring, said arm rest having a downwardly projecting flange extending therearound, reinforcing strips fastened to said flange and hinged together beneath the central portion of said arm rest, and means pivoted to said arm rest and detachably engaging a stationary member on said staff whereby said arm rest may be prevented from swinging upon said spring or allowed to swing thereupon as desired.

18. A crutch having, in combination, a pair of side bars, a spring support mounted upon said side bars, means integral with said spring support adapted to tie said side bars together, a spring clamped to said spring support, an arm rest mounted upon said spring, said arm rest being provided with a downwardly projecting flange extending therearound, reinforcing strips fastened to said arm rest, said reinforcing strips being hinged together beneath the central portion of said arm rest, means pivoted to said arm rest adapted to space said flanges, and means projecting from said spacing means adapted to prevent said arm rest from swinging upon said spring.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

KASIMIR J. RABCZYNSKI Witnesses FRANKLIN E. Low, BRONISLAS A. JEZIERSKI.

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

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