Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7954502 | Mobility assistance apparatus An improved mobility assistance apparatus for use by a person as a walking aid, e.g. a cane, crutch, or walker, has a support capable of bearing vertical forces during use of the apparatus as a walking aid and a resilient device connected to a lower portion of the s... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7588044 | Foot assembly for a walking aid The invention is for a foot assembly for a walking aid. The foot assembly is attached to a strut at a lower end of the walking aid. The foot assembly has a cylinder attached to a bottom of the strut and a foot pivotally attached to the cylinder by a foot bolt. The f... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7481233 | Custom fitted crutch with two shock-absorbers A crutch equipped with double shock absorbers is provided. The crutch of the current invention has an air shock absorber vertically combined with a spring shock absorber in one base shaft. A rubber shoe receives bottom of the spring shock absorber. The crutch of the... | 01/27/2009 |
| 7434592 | Ergonomic collapsible crutch An ergonomic collapsible crutch for providing assistance with ambulatory movement of a user, the crutch including a supporting member having an underarm support surface and a hand grip portion, a gripping pad disposed remotely from the underarm support surface gener... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7395829 | Shock absorber crutch and shock absorber kit A shock absorber conversion kit, for a crutch of the type having a tubular main body and an extension member secured to and fitting within the main body, the kit having a first abutment attachable to the main body, a second abutment attachable to the extension membe... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7377551 | Collapsible snowboard pole A collapsible snowboard pole is presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a snowboard pole can be provided with a manually expandable and compressible shaft, a basket at the tip, and a handle at the top. The basket can slide between a lower tip-wa... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7360547 | Walking assist device and associated methods A walking assist device includes an elongate shaft having an adjustable length, a handle detachably connected to a proximal end of the elongate shaft, and a curved elongate base that matingly engages a distal end of the elongate shaft. The curved elongate base may h... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7357139 | Stair-adjustable crutch A stair-adjustable crutch characterized by an adjusting cuff having a cone with an elongated or extended, flared and offset lip and lip receptacle provided in the crutch foot to facilitate selective angular adjustment of the crutch foot and frame from an aligned con... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7347215 | Ergonomic crutches An improved forearm or under arm crutch. The crutch features an extension which slides horizontally out of one of the handles and solidly connects to the tip of the other handle to form a stable seat where the user can rest. The crutch also features shock absorbing ... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7311110 | Automatic close umbrella with automatic resetting feature An automatic close umbrella is disclosed. As folding an umbrella, the user presses a control device on a handle by one finger so that a tenon is released from a buckle and thus the buckle unit of the lower rib collector is separated from the lower central pole. Furt... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7270138 | Joint mechanism A joint mechanism for use in a rod for bearing at least a portion of a user's weight and a corresponding flexible tip for contacting a substantially horizontal surface. The joint mechanism includes a spring mechanism, a first bushing, and a second bushing. The sprin... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7229101 | Trekking stick with shock absorber A stick, such as a trekking stick, ski pole or walking stick, is provided with a shock absorber between a first and a second tubular section of a stick shaft that is equipped with a handle and a stick tip. According to the invention, the shock absorber comprises a g... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7104271 | Ergonomic collapsible crutch An ergonomic collapsible crutch that may have a shock absorbing device, used to facilitate walking. The crutch has only one supporting member in place of two. The supporting member is ergonomically designed. The hand grip is configured to reduce stress on a patient.... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7087030 | Ambulatory hip fixation-traction splint set An ambulatory hip fixation-traction splint set includes a supporting frame having an upper end arranged for positioning below an armpit of a treated patient and a lower end extending to position below a hip portion of the treated patient, and a side splint assembly ... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7047990 | Articulated cane An improved cane to assist walking, comprising a shaft, a base and an articulated connection allowing the base to pivot relative to the shaft, depending upon the slope of the surface below the base, the connection characterized in that articulation capability decrea... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7025072 | Walking aid Walking aid apparatus comprises handle portion and a shaft portion including a ground-contacting ferrule, the shaft portion comprising telescopically-mounted cylindrical spindle and sleeve elements and a spring means acting between seats of said spindle and sleeve e... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6961967 | Personal lift aid A personal lift aid for lifting and lowering ambulatory patients and other individuals by unassisted and assisted means. The invention device comprises of a stanchion assembly having a palm grip to an upper end thereof; three adjustable hand grips located below said... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6910246 | Furniture leg glide A novel furniture leg glide is disclosed for reducing a screeching sound made by a furniture leg being dragged across a floor. The furniture leg glide is formed from a hollow body portion having an end cap disposed thereon with a flexible coupling formed along the h... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6883530 | Nonslip walking stick rest A nonslip walking stick rest disposed at a lower end of a walking stick, is characterized that, the walking stick rest is provided with a pliable plastic tray having a nonslip surface at a lower housing; the lower housing has a spherical recess provided with a shaft... | 04/26/2005 |
| 6675820 | Safety support device with adjustable arm support members & method The safety support device of this invention includes a frame having a mounting section. A pair of forward legs are attached to a forward end of the mounting section and a pair of rear legs are attached to a rear end of the mounting section. Each leg has a... | 01/13/2004 |
| 6527001 | Stabilizing cane attachment A stabilizing cane attachment for supporting a user upon sandy and snow covered surfaces. The stabilizing cane attachment includes a support member having a bore extending therethrough and being adapted mount at a bottom end portion of a cane; and also in... | 03/04/2003 |
| 6378540 | Walking assistance device and walking assistance attachment for the device A walking assistance device for assisting ambulatory movement of a user afflicted with Parkinson's disease is disclosed. The device includes a body member, a shaft member fixedly disposed in a lower end portion of the body member so as to extend generally... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6374841 | Flexibly elastic tip for stick use and stick shod with the same An object of the invention is to provide a tip for stick use without any movable portion and any sliding portion, which is monolithically formed to be flexibly deformable having a restoring function as well as a simple constitution, and a stick shod with ... | 04/23/2002 |
| 6361515 | Walker The invention comprises a walker having a frame which provides a bottom and sides. Apertures are provided in the bottom, and a sole piece is positionable adjacent the outer surface of the bottom of the frame in a manner such that parts of the sole piece e... | 03/26/2002 |
| 6286529 | Shock absorber for crutches A device is provided for absorbing shock during use of crutches wherein are provided two telescopic tubes (6, 7) which, on the one hand, make possible adjusting the effective height of the crutch and, on the other hand, absorb the impact of the crutch to ... | 09/11/2001 |
| 6279592 | Flexibly elastic and light reflective tip for sticks The object of the present invention is to provide a flexibly elastic and light reflective tip for stick use, which improves the safety in use of a stick. In the present invention, this object is attained by providing an irregular reflecting surface on the... | 08/28/2001 |
| 6254134 | Shock absorbing device for ski poles, walking sticks, crutches and similar articles A shock absorbing device for poles for skiing, for excursions, for walking, for crutches and similar articles has two structures (1) and (2) in general cylindrical, coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the structure to be dampened. One of the two structu... | 07/03/2001 |
| 6164305 | Mobility assisting device A mobility assisting device which includes a vertical support structure pivotally coupled to a substantially planar base structure. The vertical support structure can have an underarm support so that the base remains parallel to the ground as the base mov... | 12/26/2000 |
| 6155998 | Walker The invention comprises a walker having a frame which provides a bottom and sides. Apertures are provided in the bottom, and a sole piece is positionable adjacent the outer surface of the bottom of the frame in a manner such that parts of the sole piece e... | 12/05/2000 |
| 6138699 | Anti-slip base for a crutch An anti-slip base for a crutch including a frustro-conical body having a recess at a bottom end thereof, a ball-shaped housing arranged on a top end of the frustro-conical body, a raised camber formed inside the recess with an anti-slip surface thereon, a... | 10/31/2000 |
| 6055998 | Shock absorbing fixture A shock absorbing fixture for attachment to a device for aiding a user in walking such as a crutch. The fixture comprises a frame with a spring disposed within the frame that compresses under the weight of the user. The fixture is attached to the lower en... | 05/02/2000 |
| 5954075 | Walker The walker of the invention comprises a chassis including a bottom plate. A sole is engaged or engageable with the underside in use of the bottom plate and a liner is placed within the chassis. The movement characteristics of the walker being determined b... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5901724 | Adjustable crutch with spring biased handgrip The present invention relates to an orthopedic crutch that includes a pair of vertical supports which may be formed from tubular members, connected together at one end by a cross-member, which may be cushioned, forming an armpit support. The other ends of... | 05/11/1999 |
| 5865204 | Walking cane assembly having pivoting safety tip A pivoting tip assembly for a walking cane, which accommodates both tilting and rotation of the shaft of the cane while the base of the tip remains in stationary engagement with the floor. A disk member is mounted to the lower end of the shaft for rotatio... | 02/02/1999 |
| 5862824 | Mobility assisting device A mobility assisting device which includes a vertical support structure pivotally coupled to a substantially planar base structure. The base remains parallel to the ground as the base moves relative to the ground. The underarm support is mounted to the ve... | 01/26/1999 |
| 5826606 | Cane tip A cane tip having a body incorporating a resilient, shock-absorbing member which has radial projections extending to the surface of the cane tip.... | 10/27/1998 |
| 5810038 | Medical walker foot with collapsible tip A medical walker foot includes a shell having a base portion for engaging a floor or the ground when weight is applied to the walker and a sleeve portion for receiving the lower end of the medical walker leg. A biasing member is disposed within the shell ... | 09/22/1998 |
| 5794638 | Composite base assembly for cane having fifth leg A patient support device, particularly a cane, includes a fifth leg that extends outwardly from a central portion of a base assembly at a region intermediate the first, second, third, and fourth legs. The fifth leg provides increased balance and stability... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5794639 | Adjustably controllable walker A controller for wheeled vehicles includes a mechanism which selectively shifts the vehicle between a mobile and a stable state. The vehicle may be a walker for easing an operator's efforts in walking and includes a selectively actuable stabilizer which f... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5778605 | Glide cap for walker A glide cap for a walker of the type has four legs that extend into contact with the ground and support an upper handgrip portion. The glide cap encompasses at least a portion of the bottom of an elastomeric tip placed on the end of at least one of the le... | 07/14/1998 |
