Foldable walker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10857056-B2
Application number	US-201816611127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2018
Priority date	May 19, 2017
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A walker is provided that is movable between a compact, folded configuration and an expanded configuration. The walker includes a pair of side frames, each with a forward leg and a rearward leg. The legs are joined at their top portions by an upper support member. A cross member extends between the forward legs of each of the pair of side frames. The cross member has a hinge disposed between the forward legs. The components of the cross member can be folded relative to one another about the hinge to move the walker between the expanded and folded configurations, which allows for the frames to be positioned in an adjacent and generally aligned orientation when folded. The hinge has a locking mechanism for locking the hinge in the expanded configuration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A walker comprising:
a pair of side frames, each of the side frames having a forward leg and a rearward leg, the forward leg and the rearward leg being joined at their top portions by an upper support member; and
a cross member extending between the forward legs of each of the pair of side frames, the cross member comprising first and second cross member components, the cross member components being foldable relative to one another about a hinge, each of the cross member components being rotatable relative to one of the side frames to permit movement of the walker between expanded and folded configurations, whereby in the folded configuration the side frames are closer together as compared to the expanded configuration and the cross member components are folded about the hinge;
wherein the hinge includes a locking pin that is movable between a locked position in which the cross member components are prevented from rotating about the hinge, and an unlocked position in which the cross member components are permitted to rotate about the hinge;
wherein a pivot housing is disposed at least partially over the locking pin and is operably connected to the locking pin, the pivot housing being pivotable between a first position wherein the locking pin is in the locked position, and a second position wherein the locking pin is in the unlocked position;
the pivot housing being connected to the locking pin via a flexible cable, the movement of the pivot housing from the first position to the second position causing the flexible cable to pull the locking pin from the locked position to the unlocked position.

2. The walker of claim 1 , the first cross member component extending between one of the pair of side frames and the hinge and the second cross member component extending between the other of the pair of side frames and the hinge, and wherein the first cross member component is coupled to a first sleeve in which the forward leg of the one of the pair of side frames is rotatably disposed, and the second cross member component is coupled to a second sleeve in which the forward leg of the other one of the pair of side frames is rotatably disposed.

3. The walker of claim 2 , wherein the cross member includes a pair of braces, with a first of the braces extending from the first sleeve to the first cross member component and the second of the braces extending from the second sleeve to the second cross member component.

4. The walker of claim 1 , wherein each of the forward and rearward legs has an extensible leg with a foot at one end and an opposite end for slidably engaging one of the each of the forward and rearward legs, the foot of each extensible leg being closer to the lower support member in the folded configuration as compared to the expanded configuration.

5. The walker of claim 1 , wherein a grip is provided on each of the upper support members.

6. The walker of claim 1 , wherein an actuator cable extends between the pivot housing and the one of the pair of side frames, the cable having a length such that rotation of the one of the pair of side frames relative to the cross member from the unfolded toward the folded configuration causes the pivot housing to move from the first position to the second position and the locking pin to move from the locked position to the unlocked position.

7. The walker of claim 6 , wherein the locking pin is biased by a spring toward its locked position.

8. The walker of claim 1 , the pair of side frames being further joined by a lower support member; the hinge being disposed below the upper support members and above the lower support members.

9. The walker of claim 8 , the hinge being disposed between the forward leg and rearward leg when in the folded configuration.

Assignees

• Medline Ind Inc

Inventors

• Mass Paige
• Shah Nirja
• Agrawal Vasundhara
• Tong Yixuan

Classifications

• A61H2203/0406

  Standing on the feet · CPC title

• A61H2201/1635

  Hand or arm, e.g. handle · CPC title

• A61H2201/149

  rotation-linear or vice versa · CPC title

• A61H2201/0192

  Specific means for adjusting dimensions · CPC title

• A61H2201/0161

  Size reducing arrangements when not in use, for stowing or transport · CPC title