US20070052271A1

US20070052271A1 - Securing structure of a seat of a cart for use by the elderly and handicapped persons

Info

Publication number: US20070052271A1
Application number: US11/220,562
Authority: US
Inventors: Yung-Shiang Lin; Chih-Sheng Chen
Original assignee: Sunpex Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sunpex Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2005-09-08
Filing date: 2005-09-08
Publication date: 2007-03-08

Abstract

A cart includes a locating tube, a circular part, a bottom plate, and a control rod; the locating tube is secured on a frame of the cart; the circular part is secured at an upper end of the locating tube, and it has several gaps on an edge; the bottom plate is secured on a lower side of a seat, and it has a protruding part on a lower side; the seat is supported on the locating tube with the protruding part being held in the circular part; the control rod is pivoted on the lower side of the bottom plate, and it is normally in a first position and fitted in one of the gaps at a front end thereof, which has slopes on two lateral sides so as to become gradually narrower; the seat is angularly displaceable when the control rod is disengaged from the circular part.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a securing structure of an angularly displaceable seat of a cart for use by the elderly and handicapped persons, more particularly one, which can prevent the seat from hitting the associated part or producing noise to cause discomfort and annoyance to the rider.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In order for the elderly and the physically handicapped to be easily seated on the seats of carts especially provided for use by them, the seats are first angularly displaced so as to make the front edges thereof face the left or the right direction. And, the seats are turned back to the original orientation for the front edges to face the front again after people are seated thereon from the left or the right sides of the carts.
Referring to FIG. 6, a currently existing cart 4 for use by the elderly and handicapped persons includes a frame, and a seat; the frame has an outer tube 43 secured on an upper side, and a locating tube 44 inserted in and secured to the outer tube 43; the seat includes a bottom plate member 41, and a pivotal control rod 42 on a lower side of the bottom plate member 41. The bottom plate member 41 has a protruding part 411 on a lower side thereof. The pivotal control rod 42 is connected to a torsion spring so that it is normally biased to a substantially horizontal position. The locating tube 44 has a circular part 441 at an upper end, which has a cavity 442 on a middle of an upper side thereof, and several gaps 443 on an edge thereof for receiving a front end of the pivotal control rod 42. The seat is supported on the locating tube 44 with the protruding part 411 being held in the cavity 442, and with the pivotal control rod 42 being fitted in one of the gaps 443 of the circular part 441 at the front end thereof; thus, the seat is secured on top of the locating tube 44. Therefore, the orientation of the seat can be changed after the pivotal control rod 42 is pivoted away from the original horizontal position, thus allowing a person to sit down on the seat from a left or a right side of the cart.
Furthermore, in order for the pivotal control rod 42 to be more easily fitted into the gaps 443, the front end of the pivotal control rod 42 has a smaller width than the gaps 443. Consequently, the pivotal control rod 42 will hit the circular part 441, and produce noise when the cart moves along, causing discomfort and annoyance to the rider.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The securing structure of the present invention includes a locating tube, a circular part, a bottom plate member, and a control rod. The locating tube is held in and securely connected to an outer tube secured on an upper side of a frame of the cart. The circular part is secured at an upper end of the locating tube, and it has several gaps on an edge thereof. The bottom plate member is secured on a lower side of a seat of the cart, and it has a protruding part on a lower side thereof. The seat is supported on the locating tube with the protruding part being held in the circular part. The control rod is pivoted on the lower side of the bottom plate member. The control rod is normally in a first position and fitted in a selected one of the gaps of the circular part at a front end thereof, and it can be pivoted upwards by means of exerting an external force thereon; the control rod will pivot back to the first position when there one stops exerting force thereon. The seat is angularly displaceable when the control rod is pivoted and disengaged from the circular part. The front end of the control rod is formed with slopes on two lateral sides so as to become gradually narrower.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the securing structure of a seat of a cart according to the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a lateral section of the securing structure of the invention,
FIG. 3 is a view of the present securing structure in use (1),
FIG. 4 is a view of the present securing structure in use (2),
FIG. 5 is a view of the present securing structure in use (3), and
FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the conventional securing structure of a seat of a cart.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of a cart for use by the elderly and handicapped persons includes a seat 1, and a locating tube 3.
The locating tube 3 is inserted in and securely connected to an outer tube 2 secured on an upper side of a frame of the cart. The seat 1 includes a bottom plate member 11, a protruding part 12 secured on a lower side of the bottom plate member 11, a pivotal shaft 13 position under and supported with the bottom plate member 11, to the right of the protruding part 12, a torsion spring 14 positioned around the pivotal shaft 13, and a control rod 15. The control rod 15 is securely connected to the pivotal shaft 13, and biased to a first position by means of the torsion spring 14; thus, the control rod 15 can be forced to move away from the first position. The control rod 15 has a front end, which is formed with slopes 151 on two lateral sides thereof so as to become gradually narrower towards a bottom thereof.
The locating tube 3 has a circular part 31 at an upper end thereof. The circular part 31 has a cavity 32 on a middle of an upper side thereof, and several gaps 33 on an edge thereof for receiving the front end of the control rod 15.
Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5, in assembly, the seat 1 is supported on the locating tube 3 with the protruding part 12 being held in the cavity 32, and with the control rod 15 being fitted in one of the gaps 33 of the circular part 31 at the front end thereof; thus, the seat 1 is secured on top of the locating tube 3. And, the orientation of the seat 1 can be changed after the control rod 15 is disengaged from the circular part 31 by means of depressing the other end of the control rod 15 so as to pivot the control rod 15 away from its first position, as shown in FIG. 3. Consequently, a person is allowed to sit down on the seat 1 from a left or a right side of the cart after the seat 1 is angularly displaced away from its front-facing position by ninety degrees; when the user stops depressing the other end of the control rod 15, the control rod 15 will be biased back to its first position by the torsion spring 14, and engage the circular part 31 again. Because the front end of the control rod 15 becomes gradually narrower from the top to the bottom, it can be more easily passed into the corresponding gap 33 of the circular part 31. And, when the control rod 15 is biased back to its first position by the torsion spring 14, it will be tightly fitted in the corresponding gap 33 to engage the circular part 31 at the upper portion of the front end thereof, leaving no space between the front end thereof and the circular part 31, as shown in FIG. 4.
From the above description, it can be easily seen that because of the securing structure of the present invention, the seat will be prevented from hitting the circular part or producing noise to cause discomfort and annoyance to the user when the user is riding the cart.

Claims

1. An improvement on securing structure of a seat of a cart for use by the elderly and handicapped persons, comprising

a locating tube inserted in and securely connected to an outer tube secured on an upper side of a frame of a cart;

a circular part secured at an upper end of the locating tube; the circular part having a plurality of gaps on an edge thereof;

a bottom plate member secured on a lower side of a seat of the cart; the bottom plate member having a protruding part secured on a lower side; the seat being supported on the locating tube with the protruding part of the bottom plate member being held in the circular part; and

a control rod pivoted on the lower side of the bottom plate member; the control rod having a front end; the control rod being normally in a first position and fitted in a selected one of the gaps of the circular part at the front end; the control rod being capable of being pivoted upwards and disengaged from the circular part by means of exerting an external force thereon; the control rod being going to pivot back to the first position when one stops exerting force thereon; the seat being angularly displaceable relative to the circular part when the control rod is disengaged from the circular part; the front end of the control rod being formed with slopes on two lateral sides thereof so as to become gradually narrower.