US1049862A - Artificial leg. - Google Patents

Description

J. w. 110mm & H. 'E. LA PLANT.

ARTIFICIAL LEG. APPLICATION IILED APILS, 1912.

Patented Jan. 7, 1913.

E llix ATTORN EY WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH (IO-,WASHINGTON, D c.

' I The present inventi position, which can be readily adjusted to.

, UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE. i

JAMES wfrioncn nn HARRY EULA PLANT, or KENNETT, CALIFORNIA.

1 ARTIFICIAL LEG.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I Application filed April 3, 1912. Serial No. 688,126.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that we, JAMES W. Honor: and HARRY E. LA PLANT, citizens of the United States, residing at Kennett, inythe county of Shasta and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Artificial Legs, of which the following.

is a specification. V

'on relates to improvements in artificial legs.

The object of the present invention is to provide an artificialleg having great freedom of movement at the. ankle andhaving a knee and ankle action very closely resembling that of thennatural leg, one which will be extremely free from ar in walking, one which will support with great comfort and ease the wearer when in a standing variations in weight of the wearer, and which will permit of easy ascent or descent, both on fiat surfaces as stairs, and on slop,- ing ground.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a-vertical sectional, view of our improved artificial leg; Fig. 2 is a perspective v ew of a guideway' detached; Fig. 3 is a crossupper portion of the device, which is attached to the stump of theyleg, are here "omitted, being of theusual construction.

. 1 indicates the "casing of the intermediate portion of the :leg, made of any suitable material, and having secured. at the top thereof the hinge straps 2 for attachment to the upper portion of the artificial leg. Within said casing 1 is a guideway 3 formed of a single piece of steel'bent so as to form a central member 4:, screwed as shown at 6, to the front portion of the casing and parallel side members 7 extending from said central member, and bent outwardly at their terminal portions 8 to fit snugly against the inner rear surface of the casing 1 and "'se cured thereto by screws 9. Said members 7 thus form a guideway, in which can slide a rectangular nut 11 screwed ona stem 12,

threaded at its upper portion throughout;

the greater part of its length. Also on said threaded portion 'of'the stein, one oneach side of the nut 11, are sleeves l3, screwed tightly up. against the upper and. lower ends of said nut respectively, for the purpose of furnishing smooth interior guides for up per and lower coiled springs 14,16, which surround the sleeve andstem and are compressed between washers 17 around the sleeves .13'and terminal washers 18. The

terminal washers are held in place by upper andlowernuts19,screwed on said stem, and

PatentedJanQT,1913.

the; washers 17 aresupported against the I spring pressure, by means of rubber rings '21 interposed betweensaid washers and the upper and loweredges respectively ofrthe side members of the guideway, said side members being, at the parts adj acent' to said" rings, formed with outwardly extending flanges 22, against which said rubber rings res't,1so that the cutting of the rubber is avoided. I

23 indicates the foot portion of the artificial leg, hinged inthe usual manner, as

shown at 24,v to the casing 1. The heel of sa d foot is recessed, as shown at 26,and in sa d recessis a transversely extending pivot 27, -whichpasses through a bearing. 28-

formed on thelower end of the stem 12.

The advantages of our invention will now be readily apparent. In the first place, the

upper and lower springs [assist the wearer the erect position is resisted by the pressure of the upper spring, which, bysaidbending in maintaining a standing. position, for any movement, would be compressed, and in like manner; ajrearward movement is resisted by the lower spring. It will be observed that, when either spring is thus called into' action, the other spring has no effect whatever. .For instance, ifthe leg be bent forward, then the stem12 is drawn down, which has the effect of compressing the upper spring 14:betweenthe upper, washers 18, 17,

but thelower spring is, bysaid downward 'movementof the stem, not caused to expand for the nut 11 movesfdownwardwith the stem, and thus the lower spring is compressed equally as before between the lower washers 18, 17.

- 'Itwill readily be seenvthat, with this construction ample angular movement of; the Y ankle inwalkingispossible, and, if the foot be resting on the ground, the lower part of the leg can be moved through a very wide angle relatively to the foot, and therefore also the knee can be bentthrough avery 1 wide angle.

their normal position. For, in walking for- After each such bending, the f upper spring assists in restoring parts to n a Ward, the foot being on the ground and the casing 1 being bent in a forwardly direction,

said upper spring 14 is compressed. .This

compression of said upper spring continues foot upon the ground again in the forward position, the lower spring 16 is first compressed, and the expansion of this spring then not only act-s as a cushion in preventing the jar upon the body when coming in contact with the ground, but it aids the body in passing to the front of the artificial leg which is at this time on the ground.

' On account of the large amplitude of angular movement which is permissible to the foot relatively to the casing 1, this artificial leg is particularly adapted for ascending and descending, both on flat surfaces as stairs, and on sloping surfaces asthe side of a hill.

By adjusting the nuts 11 and 19 to vary thepressures of the springs, the leg can be perfectly adapted to support the weight of the wearer.

While the washers 17 and rings 21 serve to increase the resiliency and durability of the device, it will readily appear that the really essential feature of the construction is that the diameter of the springs should be less than the length of the nut or slide piece 11, and greater than the width of the guideway 7, so that the inner ends of said springs can pass outwardly from the guideway with the nuts, but cannot pass through the guide way with said nuts.

lVe claim 1. In an artificial leg, the combination of a casing, a foot portion pivotally secured thereto, a guideway secured to the said cas ing, a stem pivoted to the foot portion at the rear of the pivot of the latter to the casing and passing through said guideway, abutments on said stem on opposite sides of the guideway, a device secured to said stem and slidable in said guideway, and coiled springs Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents around said stem on opposite sides of said guideway between said device and abutment-s, each spring being of a diameter greater than the width of said guideway, and less than the length of said device.

2; In an artificial leg, the combination of a casing, a foot portion pivoted thereto, a

guideway secured to said casing, a threaded stem pivoted to the foot portion at the rear of the pivot 0f the-latter to the casing and passing through said guideway, nuts screwed on said stem on opposite sides of said guideway, sleeves screwed on said stem between said nuts and the guideway, washers around the stem on opposite sides of the guideway, and coiled springs between said nuts and the washers.

3. In an artificial leg, the combination of .springs between the last-named nuts and the washers. I

4-. In an artificial leg, the combination of a casing, a foot portion plvoted thereto, a

guideway secured to said casing, a threaded stem pivoted to the foot portion at the rear of the pivot of the latter to the casing andpassing through said guideway, a nut screwed on said stem and slidable in said guideway, sleeves screwed on said stem and 0 named nuts and the washers.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscrlblng witnesses.

JAMES W. HODGE. HARRY E. LA PLANT.

Vitnesses L. L. STILLsoN, W. GREGG.

Washington, D. G.

Images