Friday, June 8, 2018

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,  AU7133996AUS6099021A 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)
Benoît Systèmes - Kitcool

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