US2631597A - Crutch spur - Google Patents

Description

March 17, 1953 w PHINNEY 2,631,597

' CRUTCH SPUR Filed Jan. 5, 1950 Patented Mar. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CRUTCH SPUR Walter R. Phinney, Versailles, Ind.

Application January 5, 1950, Serial No. 136,915

4 Claims. (01. 135-57) The present invention relates to a crutch spur, and is primarily concerned with the provision of a device, capable of being readily applied to, or removed from, a crutch tip of conventional design, to provide a spurred tip for use on ice, snow, mud, or other relatively soft or slippery surfaces. The primary object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described which shall be inexpensive in construction and extremely light so that, when it is not in use, it can be folded to a condition of very small bulk, whereby it may be carried in a suit coat pocket without bulging the pocket by its volume or dr-ag- I ging the coat by its weight. These characteristics oflight weight and small bulk, together with the ready applicability of the device to a crutch, are of prime importance as objectives of my invention. Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and rel-ated objects, my invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific constructions illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a crutch tip showing a simple embodiment of my invention operatively applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a similar View taken from the lefthand side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the same structure;

Fig. 4 is an inverted perspective view of the said embodiment of my invention, shown without the crutch tip, for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view, similar to Fig. 4, *but showing the embodiment of Fig. 5;

' Fig. 7 is a perspective view of forming a retaining ring; and

a device 'for Fig. 8 is a view of a retaining ring "forming a plate IB which, in the illustrated embodiment, is originally square. The corners of the plate It are bent or turned, in a common direction, out of the general plane of the plate It, to provide spurs l1, l8, l9 and 20; and preferably, a triangular portion near the center of the plate is punched and turned in said common direction to define a central spur 2|.

Two .allochiral ears, indicated generally by the reference numerals 22 and 23, are hingedly associated with the plate It. Each of the spurs ll, [8, I 9 and 20 is formed with a perforation 24 near the plane of the plate I 6. The ears 22 and 23 are identical, and only one will be described in detail.

The ear 23 comprises a loop of malleable wire formed to define two allochiral, opposed legs, each leg terminating at one end in an inturned portion, such portions being aligned, and the two legs merging, at the opposite end of the ear, in a bight. Thus, the ear 23 comprises an inturned end portion 25, an upstandin portion 26 adapted to span the head l3 of the crutch tip H, an inwardly curved portion .21 adapted to conform to the reduction of the shank M of the tip II, and a further upstanding portion 28. Said ear further comprises an inturned end portion 29 aligned with the portion 25, an upstand ing portion 30 corresponding to the portion 26, a curved portion 3! corresponding to the portion 21, and a further upstanding portion 32 corresponding to the portion ;28, the portions 32 and 2 8 merging in a bight 33. Preferably, the upper port-ion of the car will be turned outwardly, relative to the general plane of the ear, as at 34.

The car :22 is in all respects identical to the car 23, but all-ochirally arranged in opposed relation thereto.

The end portions 25 and .29 of the ear 23 are projected through the perforations 24 in the spurs l9 and 20, respectively; and [a tubular sleeve 36, open at its opposite ends, is positioned between said spurs to receive the extremities of the portions =25 and 29 in its opposite open ends. If desired, the extremities of said portions may be welded in place in the sleeve 36.

Similarly, a sleeve 35 is positioned between the spurs li and It to receive the port-ions .25 and 29 of the ear 3.2, which portions are projected I through the perforations 24 in said ears I! and Thus, the ears 22 and 23 are hinged, for independent movement, about parallel axes' disposed substantially in the plane of the body of "the plate 16; and said ears may be swung into overlapping parallel relation, in which the two ears and the plate l6 lie substantially in a common plane, thus reducing the bulk. of the appliance to a minimum.

To apply the device to a crutch, the hinged ears 22 and 23 are swung into opposed relation, and the face of the plate remote from the spurs is placed in contact with the face [2 of the tip H. Now the ears are swung oppositely upwardly into opposed substantial parallelism, in which each ear will straddle, and, to some extent, bite into,

the deformable surface of the tip 1 i. A. ring 43 is slidably mounted on the crutch shank W. of course, that ring will be slipped onto the crutch shank before the tip I I is mounted in place. As the appliance i5 is associated with the crutch, the ring 43 will be above the upper ends of the ears 22 and 23. Those ears are now squeezed as closely together as possible, in some instances flexing the upper ends thereof toward the crutch shank i0, and the ring 53 is dropped over the upper ends of the ears and slipped down substantially to the points 3 where it will act to hold the ears in the relation illustrated in, for instance, Fig. 2. The curved portions 2? and 35, of course, cooperate with the upwardly-facing surfaces of the tip H to hold the appliance firmly in place on the crutch until the ring 43 is intentionally retracted to release the cars 22 and 23.

In Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown a somewhat more expensive, and somewhat more solid, hinging means for the ears 22 and. 23. In that form of the invention, the plate 37 has associated with its lower face a second plate 38, which may be formed with a transverse slot 39 through which a spur 30, similar to the spur 2!, may project. The plate 38 is so proportioned and designed as to be received within the boundaries defined by the corner spurs corresponding to the spurs ll, 18, I9 and and the plate 38 will preferably be spot welded, or otherwise firmly secured, to the plate 31.

At its opposite ends, the plate 38 is deformed, as at 4! and 42, to define open ended channels or sockets, each aligned with the perforations in the two adjacent spurs. The inturned ends of the ears 22 and 23 are received in the channels formed by the deformations 5! and 52, respectively, and are journalled therein to provide a hinged connection between the ears and the composite plate structure.

While a ring of conventional construction may be used with either form of my invention, I prefer to provide a special retaining ring, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, to accommodate the structure to crutch shanks of varying diameters. Thus, I prefer to provide a length'of malleable wire 44, to one end 45 of which is welded or otherwise fixedly secured an open ended sleeve 46, arranged upon an axis parallel to the axis of the wire 44. The user will bend the wire 44 to a shape and size to conform to the shank I B of his particular crutch, as suggested in Fig. 8, making the ring of a diameter sufficient to permit its passage over the ends of the cars 22 and Z3, and threading the end 4? of the wire through the sleeve #5. When the ring 43 has been formed to proper contour and dimensions, the user will bend the extremity of the wire, which projects through the sleeve 45, back upon the outer surface or" said sleeve, in the manner indicated at 48 in Fig. 8, to secure the wire end against withdrawal from said sleeve.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device of the class described comprising a. spurred foot plate, and a pair of cars hinged to said foot plate for free swinging movement, about substantially parallel axes lying substantially in the plane of said plate, into and out of substantially parallel, opposed relation to each other, each of said ears comprising an integral loop of wire shaped to provide spaced, substantially allochiral legs merging in a bight at the free end of the ear and having its ends directed toward each other at the hinged end of the ear, said plate providing bearing means receiving said ends, upon the corresponding axis, to establish a journal mounting for such ear upon said plate, said foot plate comprising a substantially square plate of metal with its four corners turned, in a common direction, to define spurs projecting in substantially perpendicular relation to the general plane of said plate, each of said spurs being provided with a perforation and said perforations receiving said leg ends and comprising said bearing means.

2. A device of the class described comprising a spurred foot plate, and a pair of ears hinged to said foot plate for free swinging movement, about substantially parallel axes lying substantially in the plane of said plate, into and out of substantially perpendicular relation with said plate, said foot plate comprising a substantially square plate of metal with its four corners turned, in a common direction, into substantially perpendicular relation to the general plane of said plate, and a second plate, secured to that surface of said first-named plate facing in said direction, said second plate being provided with portions spaced from said surface to define hinge pockets in which the inner endsof said ears are confined. V

3. The device of claim 2 in which each of said turned-down corners isprovided with a perforation, each of said pockets being axially aligned with a pair of said perforations.

4. A device of the class described comprising a substantially square metal plate with its four corners turned, in a common direction, into substantially perpendicular relation to the general plane of said plate to define spurs, each of said spurs being provided with a perforation therethrough, a pair of ears, each comprising an integral metal loop shaped to provide spaced, substantially allochiral legs merging in a bight at the free end of the ear and having its ends directed toward each other, each end of each loop passing through one of said perforations, and tubular means positioned between said spurs, each tubular means having its axis aligned with the perforations in the spurs adjacent its opposite ends, and sleeved on said ends of the associated loop.

WALTER R. PHINNEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,031,247 Conrad July 2, 1912 1,615,057 Tyden Jan. 18', 1927 1,674,065 Rogers June 19, 1928 2,401,891 Smith June 11, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 235,472 Great Britain June 18, 1925

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