U.S. patent application number 14/532280 was filed with the patent office on 2016-05-05 for four-grip cane.
The applicant listed for this patent is Richard C. Lair. Invention is credited to Richard C. Lair.
Application Number | 20160120276 14/532280 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55851250 |
Filed Date | 2016-05-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160120276 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lair; Richard C. |
May 5, 2016 |
FOUR-GRIP CANE
Abstract
The current document is directed to a four-grip walking-cane
handle that provides four different gripping modes to users of
walking canes that incorporate the four-grip walking-cane handle.
The four-grip walking-cane handle includes a palm grip, a thumb
rest, and two finger-placement channels in addition to a
walking-cane-handle shaft for attachment of the four-grip
walking-cane handle to a proximal end of a walking-cane shaft. A
distal end of the walking-cane shaft may be coupled to any of
various types of ferrules that provide traction and conformance to
various types of surfaces and objects.
Inventors: |
Lair; Richard C.; (Lampang,
TH) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Lair; Richard C. |
Lampang |
|
TH |
|
|
Family ID: |
55851250 |
Appl. No.: |
14/532280 |
Filed: |
November 4, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
16/430 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45B 9/02 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A45B 9/02 20060101
A45B009/02 |
Claims
1. A four-grip walking-cane handle comprising: a
walking-cane-handle shaft; a palm grip; an upper finger-placement
channel; a lower finger-placement channel; and a thumb rest with a
thumb-rest surface and adjacent thumb-placement channel.
2. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 1 wherein the palm
grip has a flared end.
3. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 1 wherein the
four-grip walking-cane handle is composed of one or more of: a
thermoset plastic; a thermoset resin; a polymeric substance; a
composite materials; metal; wood; and natural fibers.
4. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 1 wherein the
four-grip walking-cane handle is characterized by a number of
parameters, the number of parameters including two or more of: a
depth of the lower finger-placement channel; a radius of curvature
of the lower finger-placement channel; a depth of the upper
finger-placement channel; a radius of curvature of the upper
finger-placement channel; a width of the thumb-rest surface; a
depth of the thumb-placement channel; a curvature of the
thumb-placement channel; a radius of the palm grip; a cross-section
shape of the palm grip; a volume of the palm grip; a length of the
palm grip; a relative size of the flare at the end of the palm grip
with respect to the size of the palm grip; thicknesses of ridges
that form the lower and upper finger-placement channels and the
thumb-placement channel; and overall dimensions of the four-grip
walking-cane handle.
5. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 4 wherein the values
of the number of parameters are selected to tailor the four-grip
walking-cane handle to a particular user's hand.
6. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 1 incorporated into a
walking cane having a walking-cane shaft.
7. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 6 wherein the
walking-cane-handle shaft fits into a bore within the proximal end
of the walking-cane shaft.
8. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 6 wherein the
walking-cane-handle shaft includes a bore within which the proximal
end of the walking-cane shaft fits.
9. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 6 further including a
ferrule coupled to the distal end of the walking-cane shaft.
10. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 6 further including
a ring-like fitting that strengthens and covers a juncture between
the walking-cane handle and the walking-cane shaft.
11. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 6 further including
a ring-like fitting that strengthens and covers a juncture between
the walking-cane handle and the walking-cane shaft.
12. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 6 further including
one or more securing devices and/or compositions to secure the
four-grip walking-cane handle to the walking-cane shaft selected
from among: a metal screw; a metal plate; threaded sleeves; and a
glue.
13. A four-grip walking-cane handle comprising: an attachment
feature used to attach the walking-cane-handle to a walking-cane
shaft; and a set of curved surfaces that provide four different,
secure gripping positions, the four different, secure gripping
positions including a first gripping position in which the central
surface of a user's palm, the inner surfaces of the user's fingers,
and the side of the user's thumb wrap around a handle-like surface;
a second gripping position in which the user's thumb fits within a
first channel-like surface that is continuous with the handle-like
surface on which the lower portion of the user's palm rests and
around which the inner surfaces of the user's fingers wrap, a third
gripping position in which the user's thumb fits within the first
channel-like surface that is continuous with the handle-like
surface on which the lower portion of the user's palm rests, the
user's index finger fits within a second channel-like surface, and
the user's remaining three fingers wrap around the handle-like
surface, and a fourth gripping position in which the user's thumb
and index finger wrap around and rest within an annular first
channel-like surface, the user's middle finger fits within the
second channel-like surface, and the user's remaining two fingers
wrapping around the handle-like surface.
14. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 13 wherein a palm
grip provides the handle-like surface; wherein an upper
finger-placement channel provides a first portion the first
channel-like surface; wherein a lower finger-placement channel
provides the second channel-like surface; and wherein a thumb rest
with a thumb-rest surface and adjacent thumb-placement channel
provides a second portion of the first channel-like surface.
15. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 13 wherein the
four-grip walking-cane handle is composed of one or more of: a
thermoset plastic; a thermoset resin; a polymeric substance; a
composite materials; metal; wood; and natural fibers.
16. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 13 wherein the
four-grip walking-cane handle is characterized by a number of
parameters, the number of parameters including two or more of: a
radius of curvature of the first channel-like surface; an area of
the first channel-like surface; the length of a line along the
innermost portion of the first channel-like surface; a radius of
curvature of the second channel-like surface; an area of the second
channel-like surface; the length of a line along the innermost
portion of the second channel-like surface; a radius of curvature
of the handle-like surface; a cross-section shape of the
handle-like surface; an area of the handle-like surface; and
overall dimensions of the four-grip walking-cane handle.
17. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 13 incorporated into
a walking cane having a walking-cane shaft.
18. The four-grip walking-cane handle of claim 17 further including
a ferrule coupled to the distal end of the walking-cane shaft.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The current document is directed to ambulation assistive
devices and, in particular, to a walking-cane handle that provides
four different gripping modes that involve use of different muscle
groups and that produce different force distributions over the
surface of a user's palm and fingers.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Ambulation assistive devices have been used for thousands of
years by physically disabled, injured, and older users to
facilitate standing, walking, and various body motions. There are
many different types of ambulation assistive devices, from
crutches, wheel chairs, and other wheeled devices to walking sticks
and walking canes. It is estimated that, in the United States, at
least ten percent of the population over the age of 65 routinely
uses walking canes to facilitate walking and standing and to
provide balance for additional types of motions, including sitting
and rising from a sitting position.
[0003] There are many different types of walking-cane handles,
including traditional J-shaped and T-shaped handles. Newer walking
canes may feature complex shapes that extend load-bearing surfaces
from the hand only to the hand and entire forearm. For many users
of walking canes, the traditional and currently available handles
are associated with significant disadvantages. One disadvantage is
that traditional walking-cane handles generally provide a single
mode of gripping. As a result, over extended periods of time,
constant pressure on only limited areas of the surface of users'
palms and fingers may results in aches and pains and, over time, to
more serious medical conditions involving both muscle and bone
irregularities and deterioration. Furthermore, a single gripping
mode is often less than optimal for each of various different uses
of a walking cane. The walking cane may provide support for
standing and walking and provide balance for other types of
motions, but may also be used for precise navigation of hazards,
such as metal gratings, cracked sidewalks, and potholes, for
support on irregular surfaces, and for pointing and applying
pressure to remote objects and surfaces. As a result, designers,
manufacturers, and users of walking canes continue to seek new
types of walking canes that more optimally facilitate the various
uses and tasks for which walking canes are employed.
SUMMARY
[0004] The current document is directed to a four-grip walking-cane
handle that provides four different gripping modes to users of
walking canes that incorporate the four-grip walking-cane handle.
The four-grip walking-cane handle includes a palm grip, a thumb
rest, and two forger-placement channels in addition to a
walking-cane-handle shaft for attachment of the four-grip
walking-cane handle to a proximal end of a walking-cane shaft. A
distal end of the walking-cane shaft may be coupled to any of
various types of ferrules that provide traction and conformance to
various types of surfaces and objects.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] FIGS. 1-3 illustrate one implementation of the four-grip
walking-cane handle from three different perspectives.
[0006] FIGS. 4-6 illustrate a complete walking cane that
incorporates the four-grip walking-cane handle discussed above with
reference to FIGS. 1-3 from three different perspectives.
[0007] FIGS. 7-10 illustrate the four different gripping modes
provided by the four-grip walking-cane handle discussed with
reference to FIGS. 1-6.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0008] The current document is directed to a four-grip walking-cane
handle. In the discussion that follows, a particular implementation
of the four-grip walking-cane handle is disclosed, with reference
to numerous illustrations. It should be noted, at the onset, that
the shape and surface geometry of four-grip walking-cane handle may
be refined, and the dimensions and scaling parameters that
characterize a particular implementation of the four-grip
walking-cane handle may be specifically tailored, to produce a
particular implementation best suited to a particular individual's
hand. In one manufacturing and distribution model, each four-grip
walking-cane handle is specifically tailored to the hand of a
particular user. In alternative manufacturing and distribution
models, four-grip walking-cane handles are manufactured in a range
of sizes and shapes, from which a most suitable four-grip
walking-cane handle is selected for a particular user or selected
by a particular user. Furthermore, the implementations discussed
below and illustrated in FIGS. 1-10 are right-hand walking-cane
handles. Left-hand walking-cane handles are related to right-hand
walking-cane handles by mirror-plane symmetry.
[0009] FIGS. 1-3 illustrate one implementation of the four-grip
walking-cane handle from three different perspectives. As shown in
FIG. 1, the four-grip walking-cane handle 100 includes an extended
palm grip 102 with a flared end 104, a thumb-rest surface 106,
viewed edge-on in FIG. 1, a thumb-placement channel that
accommodates a user's thumb when the user's thumb rests on the
thumb-rest surface, a lower finger-placement channel 108 and an
upper finger-placement channel 110, and an approximately circularly
cylindrical shaft 112. FIG. 2 illustrates the four-grip
walking-cane handle from a different perspective. The palm grip
102, flared end 104, thumb-rest surface 106, lower finger-placement
channel 108, upper finger-placement channel 110, and
walking-cane-handle shaft 112 are numerically labeled as in FIG. 1.
Similarly, FIG. 3 shows yet an additional view of the walking-cane
handle from a different perspective. Again, the numerical labels
used in FIGS. 1 and 2 are again used in FIG. 3.
[0010] FIGS. 4-6 illustrate a complete walking cane that
incorporates the four-grip walking-cane handle discussed above with
reference to FIGS. 1-3 from three different perspectives. As shown
in FIG. 4, the complete walking cane includes the four-grip
walking-cane handle 100, a walking-cane shaft 402, and a ferrule
404 at the distal end of the walking-cane shaft. The approximately
circularly cylindrical shaft 112 of the four-grip walking-cane
handle 100 fits into a complementary, approximately circularly
cylindrical bore in the proximal end of the walking-cane shaft. A
metal, plastic, or wood ring-like fitting 406 may be used to
strengthen the connection between the four-grip walking-cane handle
100 and the walking-cane shaft 402 as well as cover the juncture
between the four-grip walking-cane handle 100 and the walking-cane
shaft 402 to provide an acceptably neat appearance. Other types of
connections between the four-grip walking-cane handle and
walking-cane shaft are used in alternative implementations. For
example, the approximately cylindrical four-grip walking-cane
handle shaft 112 may have a larger diameter with an internal
approximately circularly cylindrical bore in order to fit over the
proximal end of the walking-cane shaft 402 rather than slipping
into a bore within the proximal end of the walking-cane shaft.
Metal screws, threaded rods and sockets, plates, threaded sleeves,
and other fastening devices and compositions, such as glues, may
additionally be used to secure the four-grip walking-cane handle to
the walking-cane shaft.
[0011] FIGS. 7-10 illustrate the four different gripping modes
provided by the four-grip walking-cane handle discussed with
reference to FIGS. 1-6. FIG. 7 shows a first gripping mode. In the
first gripping mode, a user's hand 702 is positioned so that the
user's palm 704 lays against the top surface of the palm grip 102
and the user's four fingers wrap around the palm grip.
[0012] FIG. 8 shows a second gripping mode provided by the
four-grip walking-cane handle. In the second gripping mode, a
user's thumb 802 extends along the top surface of the palm grip 102
and rests on the thumb-rest surface. As in the first gripping mode
shown in FIG. 1, the user's four fingers wrap around the palm grip
102.
[0013] FIG. 9 shows a third gripping mode provided by the four-grip
walking-cane handle. In the third gripping mode, the user's index
finger 902 wraps around the walking-cane handle in order to lie in
the lower finger-placement channel 108. The remaining three fingers
of the user wrap around the palm grip 102 and the user's thumb 802
rests on the thumb-rest surface.
[0014] FIG. 10 shows a fourth gripping mode provided by the
four-grip walking-cane handle. In the fourth gripping mode, the
user's index finger 802 rests within the upper finger-placement
channel 110 and the user's middle finger 1002 rests within the
lower finger-placement channel 108. The user's thumb 802 rests on
the thumb-rest surface.
[0015] The first gripping mode, illustrated in FIG. 7, provides a
secure, traditional type of gripping useful to facilitate standing
and walking. The second gripping mode, illustrated in FIG. 8, may
also be used to facilitate standing, pointing, and walking, but
also significantly redistributes the force transferred to a user's
palm and fingers in order to shift and relieve pressure points. In
addition, the second gripping mode may provide somewhat greater
lateral stability to the walking cane. The third gripping mode,
illustrated in FIG. 9, also redistributes the forces applied to the
user's hand and fingers. In addition, a third gripping mode
significantly increases directional control of the cane, providing
a user with the ability to easily lift and position the distal end
of the walking cane at precise locations. The fourth gripping mode,
illustrated in FIG. 10, also provides a different distribution of
forces to the user's hand and fingers as well as increased
directional control of the walking-cane shaft.
[0016] The four-grip walking-cane handle can alternatively be
described as providing a set of surfaces that provide the four
gripping positions described above with reference to FIGS. 7-10.
For example, the set of curved surfaces may be described as
providing: (1) a first gripping position in which the central
surface of a user's palm, the inner surfaces of the user's fingers,
and the side of the user's thumb wrap around a handle-like surface,
as shown in FIG. 7; (2) a second gripping position in which the
user's thumb fits within a first channel-like surface that is
continuous with the handle-like surface on which the lower portion
of the user's palm rests and around which the inner surfaces of the
user's fingers wrap, as shown in FIG. 8; (3) a third gripping
position in which the user's thumb fits within the first
channel-like surface that is continuous with the handle-like
surface on which the lower portion of the user's palm rests, the
user's index finger fits within a second channel-like surface, and
the user's remaining three fingers wrap around the handle-like
surface, as shown in FIG. 9; and (4) a fourth gripping position in
which the user's thumb and index finger wrap around and rest within
an annular first channel-like surface, the user's middle finger
fits within the second channel-like surface, and the user's
remaining two fingers wrapping around the handle-like surface, as
shown in FIG. 10.
[0017] There are many parameters and characteristics of the
four-grip walking-cane handle that can be varied in order to tailor
a particular four-grip walking-cane handle to a particular user.
Some of these parameters include the depth and radius of curvature
of the lower and upper finger-placement channels, the width of the
thumb-rest surface, the depth and curvature of the thumb-placement
channel, the radius, cross-section shape, volume, and length of the
palm grip, the relative size of the flare at the end of the palm
grip with respect to the size of the palm grip, the thicknesses of
the ridges that form the lower and upper finger-placement channels
and the thumb-placement channel, and the overall dimensions of the
four-grip walking-cane handle. When viewed as a set of surfaces,
the parameters and characteristics may include a radius of
curvature of the first channel-like surface, an area of the first
channel-like surface, the length of a line along the innermost
portion of the first channel-like surface, a radius of curvature of
the second channel-like surface, an area of the second channel-like
surface, the length of a line along the innermost portion of the
second channel-like surface, a radius of curvature of the
handle-like surface, a cross-section shape of the handle-like
surface, and an area of the handle-like surface.
[0018] Tailoring of the four-grip walking-cane handle to a
particular user's hand may be accomplished experimentally, by
allowing a user to try a wide range of differently shaped and
differently dimensioned four-grip walking-cane handles, or by using
a computer application that images a user's hand, computes values
of the various different parameters and characteristics based on
measurements of the hand image, and then generates a
three-dimensional model of the four-grip walking-cane handle that
can be input to any of various different computer-controlled
machine tools and three-dimensional-object printers.
[0019] Although the present invention has been described in terms
of particular embodiments, it is not intended that the invention be
limited to these embodiments. Modifications within the spirit of
the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For
example, the four-grip walking-cane handle may be made from a wide
variety of different types of materials, including thermoset
plastics and resins, various different types of polymeric
substances, composite materials, such as fiberglass, metal, wood,
natural fibers, and other natural and artificial substances. The
four-grip walking-cane handle may be fabricated by casting,
molding, injection molding, three-dimensional printing,
computer-controlled milling and shaping, and by many additional
types of fabrication methods. As discussed above, the parameters
and characteristics of the palm grip, flare, lower and upper
finger-placement channels, thumb-rest surface, and thumb-placement
channel may be tailored to specific users. Other portions of the
four-grip walking-cane handle may be varied for aesthetic reasons
as well as to provide surfaces and attachment points for additional
types of devices and equipment. For example, the top surface of the
four-grip walking-cane handle may be shaped to hold a flashlight or
for mounting of a cell phone. Various different types of electronic
appliances may be incorporated within the volume of the four-grip
walking-cane handle along with power supplies and other components
and subsystems. The four-grip walking-cane handle may have various
different types of textured and chemically treated surfaces to
facilitate gripping, comfort, and usability in moist
environments.
[0020] It is appreciated that the previous description of the
disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in
the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various
modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to
those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein
may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the
spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is
not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is
to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and
novel features disclosed herein.
* * * * *