This invention relates to a manually powered tricycle for a person with one or both lower limbs disabled.

The tricycle is meant to be used by a person affected with lower limb disability, but has both hands active for use.

The tricycle proposed herein is simple in its construction, yet effective in performance. It lends itself to mass manufacture and can be made available to disabled users at a reasonable price.
Various other features of this invention will be readily discernible from the following further description thereof given below.

The manually powered tricycle for a person with one or both lower limbs disabled, according to this invention, comprises one wheel in the front and two in the rear, the two rear wheels being mounted on two independent wheel-carriages pivoted with the chassis;; the front wheel being manually powered by a crank-pedal assembly; brake-lever and parking-brake clip provided on the tiller; independent rear shock-absorbers; at least one openable arm-rest on at least one side of the vehicle with a lock therefor; independently adjustable foot-rests; and a parking-brake clip attachment

This invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, and not by way of limitation, a preferred embodiment of this invention,

Fig.l illustrating a general layout of the embodiment Fig. 2 illustrating the shock absorber assembly Fig. 3 illustrating the left wheel carriage Fig. 4 illustrating an arm rest and arm rest lock

Fig. 5 illustrating a separate view of the arm rest lock

Fig. 6 illustrating the independently adjustable foot rest

Fig. 7 illustrating the brake lever and parking brake arrangement

Fig. 8 illustrating the brake lever and parking brake arrangement gear Components of the embodiment illustrated are listed below together with their corresponding reference letters and numerals;

1 Front wheel
2 Crank-pedal assembly
3 Brake-lever
4 Parking-brake clip
5 Seat frame
6 Back-rest frame
7 Openable arm-rest
8 Rear wheels
9 Rear left suspension (and shock-absorber)
10 Rear right suspension (and shock-absorber)
11 Left wheel-carriage
12 Right wheel-carriage
13 Left foot-rest
14 Right foot-rest
15 Fixtures for wheel-axle
16 Fixture for suspension
17 Fixture for brake-shoes
18 Bushing for pivoting with chassis
19 Fixture welded with seat frame
20 Left foot-rest tube
21 Right foot-rest tube
22 Tiller
23 Slot on brake lever
24 Bent edge of parking-brake clip
25 Left vertical tube
26 Right vertical tube S Spring
M Cam-link
L, O Links in the arm-rest lock
P Protruding tube welded with link L
T Tube welded with openable arm-rest
F Flat metal piece welded with tube T

The tricycle has one wheel in the front and two in the rear. The front wheel is manually powered by a crank-pedal assembly provided on the tiller. On the tiller brake-lever and parking-brake clip are provided. The two rear wheels are mounted on two independent wheel-carriages, which are pivoted with the chassis and with the shock-absorbers. Openable arm-rest on left-hand side is provided.
Independent rear shock-absorbers:

Left and right rear wheels are pivoted on the independent wheel-carriages at brackets indicated as OL and OR respectively. Left and right wheel-carriages are pivoted with chassis at bushings indicated as CL and CR respectively such that these can swing about axis joining CL-CR. Top end of the left and right suspensions are pivoted with the brackets welded with chassis at SL and SR respectively and the bottom end is pivoted with the brackets welded with respective wheel-carriages at PL and PR respectively.

Openable arm-rest and its lock.

Arm-rest provided on one of the sides is openable (In this case, it is the left arm-rest which is openable).

The arm-rest is hinged with the chair at H1-H2 such that it swings about axis joining H1 and H2. A tube T is welded with the armrest. With the end of the tube, a flat rectangular metal piece F is welded. The cam-link M is connected with link

L via link O. The link L is attached with a pre-tensed spring S. Other end of spring is fixed with the fixture welded with the seat-frame. The link L is welded with a tube, which protrudes slightly out of the seat frame. This protrusion is used by the user to engage and disengage the lock.

When the arm-rest is closed, F comes in contact with surface bb'ee', of cam-link M. As arm-rest is pushed in, F slides from bb' to ee', thereby pushing cam-link M. The cam-link M transmits motion to link L via link O. The spring S which is connected to link L and fixture welded with seat frame extends and gets further tensed. Once F crosses ee' cam-link M snaps back and locks F. F therefore is hindered to move and thus the arm-rest is secured in its closed position.

Independently adjustable foot-rests
The foot-rests are designed to be independently adjustable. The left and right foot-rests are fixed with the left foot-rest tube and right foot-rest tube respectively. The left foot-rest tube is mounted on vertical tube, LV and similarly the right foot-rest tube is mounted on the vertical tube, RV. The vertical tubes are welded with the seat frame. The position of the left and right foot-rest tubes can be adjusted independently.

Parking-brake attachment (clip)

A slot is provided on the brake-lever. The brake-lever when actuated (actuation direction is as shown by arrow) can be locked to the actuated position by inserting the edge of the parking-brake clip (which is bent at one end) into the slot.

It will be appreciated that various other embodiments are possible without departing from the scope and ambit of this invention

We Claim:

1. A manually powered tricycle for a person with one or both lower limbs disabled, comprising one wheel in the front and two in the rear, the two rear wheels being mounted on two independent wheel-carriages pivoted with the chassis, the front wheel being manually powered by a crank-pedal assembly; a brake-lever and parking-brake clip provided on the tiller; independent rear shock-absorbers; at least one openable arm-rest on at least one side of the vehicle with a lock therefor; independently adjustable foot-rests; and a parking-brake clip attachment

2. A manually powered tricycle for a person with one or both lower limbs disabled as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the brake lever has a slot, the brake ,when actuated, being capable of being locked in the actuated position by insertion of the edge of the parking-brake clip , bent at one end, into the slot.

3. A manually powered tricycle for a person with one or both lower limbs disabled wherein the arm-rest is hinged with the chair for being moved about the hinge and locked in position.

4. A manually powered tricycle for a person with one or both lower limbs disabled substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.