A Wheelchair Drive Mechanism

摘要

A manually operable wheelchair drive mechanism 30 has a support plate 9 for attachment to a wheelchair frame 6. A drive pinion 14 rotatably mounted on the support plate 9 drivably connects through a freewheel unit 18 with a wheelchair wheel to drive the wheelchair wheel. A drive lever 31 may be mounted in two positions by a pivot 37 on the support plate 9 for pivoting back and forth. In a first position, a C-shaped crank 32 at a lower end of the drive lever 31 has an arcuate arm 33 with gear teeth 34 which drivably engage an intermediate gear 16 which in turn drives the drive pinion 14 for moving the wheelchair wheel forward with each push stroke of the drive lever 31. In a second position, the gear teeth 34 on the drive lever 31 directly engage the drive pinion for moving the wheelchair wheel forward with each pull stroke of the drive lever 31. Brake mechanisms including a caliper 43 and a parking brake 50 may be provided.