United States Patent
[19]
[111
Montgomery
3,901,258
[45] Aug. 26, 1975
1541 ADAPTER ATTACHMENT FOR CRUTCHES,
808,608
3/1951
Germany ............................ .. 135/59
CANES AND WALKERS
[75]
Inventor: Ferman E. Montgomery, Traverse
City, Mich.
[73]
Assignee: Ben Brandl, Maple City, Mich. ; a
part interest
[22] Filed:
May 1, 1972
[21] Appl. N0.: 249,103
Primary Examiner-—Werner H. Schroeder
Assistant Examiner—Conrad L. Berman
Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cullen, Settle, Sloman &
Cantor
[57]
ABSTRACT
An adapter attachment for a crutch, cane or walker
having a cylindrical barrel adapted to receive a por
tion of said crutch, cane or walker and secured
' [52]
[51]
US. Cl .................................... .. 135/47; 135/59
thereto. A plunger body is reciprocally positioned
Int. CL'Z ........................ ..-. ............... .. A45B 9/04
[58]
Field of Search ........... .. 135/53, 55, 57, 58, 59,
within said barrel and normally spaced from an aper
tured bottom plate with a coiled spring interposed
135/45, 47
[56]
References Cited
UNITED STATES PATENTS
1,580,295
4/1926
barrel. A radial pin is secured to said body and is
Glowacki ............................ .. 135/59
2,480,382
8/1949
Pagliuso . . . . . .
2,667,885
2/1954
Pretc . . . . . . . v
.
3,448,749
6/1969
Stark ................................... .. 135/53
. . . , . . . . . . . . . . v . . ..
135/59
135/59
FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS
863,678
2/1971
Canada ................ ..
1,035,318
169,584
7/1958
4/1951
Austria ..... ..
Germany ............. ..
i
normally retracting said plunger and a spike axially at~
tached thereto and projecting outwardly from said
barrel. A resilient tip is applied to the lower end of the
135/59
135/53
adapted to move relative to a bayonet slot in said bar
rel for advancing the spike against the action of said
spring and anchoring the spike in advanced position to
permit use of the crutch over slippery surfaces. The
pin is threaded into the body and frictionally engages
the spike, further anchoring the same within the body,
and limits retraction of the body.
1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures
Av/l
s
PATENTED M182 6 I975
3,901,258
SHEET 1 BF 2
FIG-2
FIG-l “
FIG-3
1
3,901,258
2
ADAPTER ATTACHMENT FOR CRUTCHES,
cane C as shown in FIG. 5, or may be attached to a
CANES AND WALKERS
crutch in the manner shown in FIG. l.
The present adapter attachment includes a cylindri
cal metallic barrel 23 having a series of longitudinally
spaced opposed apertures 25 adapted to receive suit
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to provide structurally involved compli4
cated mechanisms for the attachment of plural spikes
within crutches such as shown in US. Pat. No.
able fasteners such as fasteners 17, FIG. 1, or the fas
teners 59-63 of FIG. 5 for attachment to the lower end
3,448,749, 2,437,076 and 2,371,246.
of a crutch or cane.
It has been, furthermore, known in the art to con
In the form of the adapter attachment shown in FIGS.
struct crutches with spring retained spikes and utilizing 10 1, 2 and 3, a plastic cap 27 is mounted over the upper
a bayonet pin and slot arrangement for holding the
open end of barrel 23, which upper open end is broken
spike in advanced position, such as in US. Pat. Nos.
off in FIG. 4.
619,235, 47,265, 51,677.
Disc-like end plate 29, apertured axially at 31, is
snugly and frictionally projected up into the lower open
Apparently, there has long existed the need for a sim
ple adapter attachment for an existing crutch or cane
end of said barrel closing the same.
or walker, which can be easily mounted upon an exist
ing cane, rather than to construct an entire crutch hav
The elongated metallic cylindrical body 33 is mov
ably positioned within said barrel and has an elongated
axial bore 35 into which is frictionally projected elon
ing a spring biased retractible plunger and spike.
The art of record indicates various involved struc
tures for accomplishing a similar result, which struc
tures are believed impractical and inefficient.
gated spike 37, whose lower pointed end 21 movably
projects down through end plate 29, as shown in FIG.
4.
The conventional tip 19 in the present construction
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
is made of an oil-resistant plastic material, such as
polyethelene or the like or some equivalent plastic and
It is an object of the present invention to provide an
adapter attachment for an existing crutch, cane or 25 may be normally employed upon the conventional
walker, and wherein, the adapter itself is self-contained
crutch, cane or walker.
and is adapted for removable mounting over the end of
Before assembly of the present adapter attachment to
the crutch, its tip is removed and thereafter the said tip
or a corresponding tip 19 is employed. For this pur
pose, there is provided extending from one end of the
tip, an elongated bore adapted to snugly and friction
ally receive the lower end of barrel 23.
a crutch, cane or walker and is secured thereto in any
desired adjusted position.
This and other objects will be seen from the following
speci?cation and claims in conjunction with the ap
pended drawings.
Said bore terminates in a counterbore of reduced di
THE DRAWINGS
ameter adapted to loosely and slidably receive the
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a crutch with the 35 pointed end 21 of said spike and which is adapted to be
present adapter attachment secured thereto and with
the spike projected for engagement with the ground
retracted to the enclosed position within the tip, FIG.
4, or projected forwardly thereof as shown in dotted
surface;
lines, as well as in FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary partially sectioned view of the
Pin 43 with lead 41 slidably projects through the up
right portion of bayonet slot 45 and its inner threaded
present adapter attachment for a crutch, cane or
walker for use as shown in FIG. 1, with the spike pro
end 44 projects into and is secured to body 33. Addi
jected;
tionally, pin 43-41 forming the part of a bayonet slot
FIG. 3 is a similar view with the spike retracted;
and pin arrangement is in frictional operative and re
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal section of the
taining engaging registry with spike 37 to further assist
45
present adapter attachment, partially broken away;
in anchoring same within body 33.
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary partially broken away and
The bayonet slot includes at its lower end the trans
sectioned view of a cane to which the present adapter
versely extending portion 47 into which position the
attachment has been secured.
headed pin 43 moves as the body 33 and attached spike
It will be understood that the above drawings illus
is projected downwardly and outwardly for anchoring
trate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention
for illustration, and that other embodiments are con
the same in the forwardly projected position shown in
dotted lines, FIG. 4 and in solid lines, FIG. 2. A suitable
templated within the scope of the claims hereafter set
forth.
55 are nested within said barrel with a suitable stabliz
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1, the
present adapter attachment, generally indicated at 11,
is shown for illustration, adjustably positioned between
coiled spring 49 and an additional axially aligned spring
55
the converging struts 15 of a conventional type of
crutch l3 and affixed thereto by the fasteners 17.
of spring 55 bears against bottom plate 29. Thus, body
33 is under spring tension and at all times, biased up
wardly to the stop position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with
the headed pin 43 engaging said barrel at the upper end
of slot 45.
The resilient tip 19 is mounted over the lower end of
the adapter attachment and encloses a normally re
tracted, but in FIG. 1, forwardly projected spike for en
gagement with a slippery ground surface G.
FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section on an increased scale,
showing the assembly and construction of the adapter
attachment, which may be mounted upon the end of a
ing washer 53 interposed between said springs for loose
guiding engagement with respect to the interior wall of
said barrel.
The upper end of spring 49 is nested and retained
within a counterbore 51 in the body 33. The lower end
65
MODIFICATION
In the modi?cation shown in FIG. 5, the present
adapter assembly 51’ represents that portion of FIG. 4
3,901,258
3
4
which terminates at the end cap 39 which is normally
projected over the upper end of the barrel 53' and fric
into an axial bore in said body, and with its pointed
end normally positioned through said bottom plate;
tionally retained therein by the depending resilient re
a resilient tip having an axial bore frictionally posi
tainers 40, forming a part of said cap.
This cap 39 is removed as is also the conventional tip
19 from cane C of FIG. 5. Thereafter, the lower end
portion of the cane at 57 is snugly and frictionally pro
jected down into bore 55' of barrel 53' and is secured
thereto by a pair of fasteners 59 which extend through
corresponding opposed apertures 61 in said barrel at its
tioned over the end of said barrel and having an
axial counterbore of reduced diameter loosely re
ceiving said spike enclosing the same when re
tracted;
said spike adapted on adjustment of said body to
project beyond said tip to assist walking upon an
icy or slippery ground surface;
upper end, through apertures in the cane, and are an
spring means interposed in compression between said
chored in place by wing nuts 63.
bottom plate and body normally urging said body
The remainder of the adapter construction for the
to a retracted position;
cane is exactly the same as shown and described with
respect to FIG. 4.
a bayonet slot in said barrel;
a headed pin normally positioned on said slot pro
In FIG. 5, the pointed end 21 of spike 37 is shown
projected beyond the lower end of the tip 19 for coop
eration with the ground surface in the same manner as
shown in FIG. 1.
In FIG. 5, the barrel 53' may be elongated and termi 20
nate in the cap 27, FIGS. 2 and 3, adapted for attach
ment to crutch 13 of FIG. 1.
holding said body against retraction;
Having described my invention, reference should
now be had to the following claims.
I claim:
said pin being threaded into said body and friction
25
1.‘ An adapter attachment for a crutch, cane or
ally and retainingly engaging said spike;
said spring means consisting of a pair of springs ar
ranged end to end; a stablizing washer interposed
between said springs and loosely engaging said bar
walker as an article of manufacture comprising;
an elongated cylindrical barrel adapted for attach
ment to a crutch, cane or walker, having a plurality
of transverse apertures to receive fasteners for se— 30
curing to said crutch, cane or walker;
rel; one end of one spring being nested and pro
jected up into a counterbore in said body, an end
of the other spring bearing against said bottom
plate;
a centrally apertured botton plate within the lower
open end of said barrel and frictionally retained
and a cap removably and frictionally secured upon
the upper open end of said barrel, adapted for re
therein;
a cylindrical plunger body slidably and reciprocally
jected radially into and secured to said body, the
slot upon one end retainingly engaging said pin,
limiting retraction of said body and spike; manual
movement of said pin along said slot and into the
offset end thereof projecting said spike beyond the
end of said top, compressing said spring means and
35
mounted within said barrel and spaced from said
plate;
moval to permit insertion of the lower end of a
crutch, cane or walker frictionally down thereinto,
having ?rst removed the crutch tip.
an elongated spike at one end snugly projected up
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