초록 ▼

A carriage for descending stairs carrying a person under the control of an operator, i.e., an able-bodied person walking behind the carriage. The person in the carriage rests upon a seat with an upright back. The carriage is supported at its sides upon two support units each of which has an endless

A carriage for descending stairs carrying a person under the control of an operator, i.e., an able-bodied person walking behind the carriage. The person in the carriage rests upon a seat with an upright back. The carriage is supported at its sides upon two support units each of which has an endless belt which extends along a rigid longitudinal frame with two pulleys mounted upon horizontal axes at the opposite ends of the frame, and with belts extending around those pulleys and forming two longitudinal runs between the pulleys. Each belt is formed by a continuous strip of heavy fabric with a continuous strip of flexible rubber bonded to the fabric. The belts of the support units act as brakes to retard the movement down the stairs. Each frame construction is a rigid channel member with a channel within which the bottom run of the belt is positioned, and the fabric belt has a high-friction surface which slides along the bottom surface presented by the frame construction and the entire weight is supported by those mating surfaces. The top run of each belt is held in an upper channel which insure alignment of the belts and may also impose a braking action on the free movement of the belt. The flexible rubber of the bottom runs of the belts cling to the edge of each stair step so as to permit movement of the carriage only by overcoming the braking action on the belts. A fixed handle is provided for use in moving the carriage to the stairway and directly onto the top steps by a continuous movement. An extensible handle is then pulled out so that the operator can control the carriage more readily during the descent on the stairs.

대표청구항 ▼

In a carriage for descending stairs carrying a person in seated position under the control of an operator, the combination of, a main frame having parallel side portions which are spaced from each other to provide a seating space located between said side portions and forwardly thereof, seat means p

In a carriage for descending stairs carrying a person in seated position under the control of an operator, the combination of, a main frame having parallel side portions which are spaced from each other to provide a seating space located between said side portions and forwardly thereof, seat means positioned within said seating space and adapted to be collapsed adjacent said area, said seat means including a back located rearwardly of said side portions when the device is in operation and a seat which extends from said back forwardly of said side portions, two wheels rotatably mounted upon the lower portion of said main frame and adapted to provide support for the carriage when it is moved along a level surface, and an elongated support structure which is attached to said main frame at the lower end thereof and is adapted to move between a collapsed position wherein it is substantially parallel to an adjacent said main frame and an extended position wherein it is adapted to support said main frame and said seat means upon stairs when said seat means is positioned to carry a person, said elongated support structure comprising endless belt means and mounting means for said belt means including means for defining and engaging bottom-run of the belt means which bottom-run engages the edge of each step of stairs as said carriage moves downwardly thereon and which has a length sufficient to engage the edges of at least two steps at the same time to provide a fixed supporting relationship between said bottom-run and each of said stairs, said mounting means and said bottom-run having co-extensive relatively flat mating surfaces whereby said mounting means is supported by said bottom-run solely through said mating surfaces as said mounting means slides down said stairs on said bottom-run, said mating surfaces having friction characteristics along their entire length which produce resistence to the movement of said mounting means upon said endless-belt means at each point of engagement of said bottom-run with a stair edge to thereby provide a continuous braking action of a predetermined range which restrains the movement of said carriage down said stairs while a person on the seat means is supported between said side portions above said elongated support structure.