Oh, patents! Benoît Systèmes Kitcool (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Benoît Systèmes Kitcool was designed as a wheelchair accessory for the purposes of providing a stable reclined wheelchair position, conducive to relaxation for the wheelchair-enabled. For this purpose, the Kitcool was also specifically designed with the following specifications:

• installation  on any wheelchair
  
• swift, user-operated, mounting and unmounting of the accessory (otherwise, no  attendant technical skills required)
• absolute security of the tilting mechanism
• foldable for easy transportation or storage, in compliance with wheelchair manufacturer guidelines
• adjustable according to body types and relaxation positions
• usable on any type of ground surface
• normal and usual wheelchair function when not reclined
• easy toggle between reclined and upright positions

The Kitcool invention is recited in a family of patents:  FR2739019, 

WO/1997/010791,  AU7133996A, US6099021A and EP0959860A1, titled (in English) Accessory for supporting a wheelchair in a stable reclined position. 

The set of 8 patent figure drawings is included below.

Figures 1 to 6 (left) show the various positions of the wheelchair, from upright to reclining, and back to upright.

Figure 7 (right) shows the adjustable backrest and supporting pole, attached to the wheelchair handles, and to be connected to the inverted stabilizing “T” bar.

Figure 8 (right) shows a detail view of the mounting assembly, designed to attach the Kitcool to the wheelchair handles.

References

Benoit Systèmes (website)

http://www.benoitsystemes.com/entreprise2.html (English version)

lhttp://www.benoitsystemes.com/index.html

http://www.benoitsystemes.com/minotor.html 

Benoît Systèmes - Kitcool

http://www.benoitsystemes.com/kitcool2.html