| 摘要 |
An all-terrain and all-weather wheelchair includes a frame and a seat hand has drive wheels mounted to the rear of the frame independently rotatable and operable to both drive and steer the chair. A front wheel is pivotally mounted on the front of the frame and is free to rotate about an axis lying in its plane of rotation. Each of the rear wheels of the chair is independently mounted to the frame in such a manner as to provide for a predetermined amount of vertical movement of the wheels with respect to the frame. The suspension systems mounting the rear wheels to the frame are independent of one another and include a damping means to damp the vertical movement of the rear wheels. The seat is mounted to the frame in such a manner as to be hingedly attached at an upper end thereof so that the lower end of the seat can move between a first position in which it is adjacent the frame and a second position in which is raised from the frame to assist in ingress and egress of a user from the chair. Also, the seat has its own suspension system to absorb the shock of travel over rough terrain. Preferably, the drive system includes a pair of DC motors independently drivingly affixed to each of the rear wheels and operable by a simple control panel. The drive motors are coupled to the wheels through a two- or three-speed gear box. The simplicity of the control panel allows easy interchangeability to accommodate pushbuttons, a joystick, an air-operated mouth-tube switch, a head-actuated switch, or any other type of electrical switch that is usable by someone having limited upper body strength and mobility. |
