Walking Stick Handgrip Locking Mechanism for Rapid Length Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing walking aids suffer from disadvantages such as complexity, weight, space occupation, and safety issues due to mechanical solutions like bolts, toothing, or hydraulic systems, which affect handling, reliability, and durability.
Innovation Solution
A compact, mechanical length-adjustment mechanism using a slide and engaging element on the handgrip, allowing for easy and reliable locking and unlocking of the walking aid's length without electrical or pneumatic components, featuring a roller element for smooth transitions and minimal force application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If mechanical solutions like bolts, toothing, or hydraulic systems are used for length adjustment, then the walking aid can achieve length adjustment functionality, but the device becomes complex, heavy, and occupies more space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a telescopic tube mechanism where an inner tube is nested within an outer tube, allowing the walking aid to change length by extending or retracting the inner tube. This nesting approach achieves length adjustment functionality while maintaining a compact structure, avoiding the complexity of bolts, toothing, or hydraulic systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the length adjustment functionality from complex mechanical systems and implements it through a simpler telescopic tube mechanism with a releaseable locking mechanism. This extraction eliminates the need for bulky hydraulic systems or complex mechanical assemblies, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining adjustability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If complex mechanical systems are used for length adjustment, then length adjustment is possible, but the walking aid becomes heavier
Solution Approach 1:
The telescopic tube design with inner and outer tubes provides length adjustment capability through a lightweight nested structure, eliminating the need for heavy mechanical components like gears, bolts, or hydraulic systems. This nesting approach achieves the desired adaptability while minimizing weight increase.
3Stability of the object's composition
If traditional mechanical locking mechanisms are used, then length positions can be fixed, but the mechanism occupies significant space inside the tube
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is integrated within the telescopic tube structure, with locking elements positioned at the ends of the inner and outer tubes. This nested integration achieves stable length position fixation while occupying minimal space within the tube structure, avoiding the need for separate bulky locking assemblies.
4Ease of operation
If external components protrude from the walking aid, then adjustment mechanisms can be accessed, but they pose safety risks and are awkward to use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the control functionality for length adjustment and integrates it into the handgrip area, which is naturally accessible to the user. The release mechanism is positioned within the handgrip or immediately adjacent to it, allowing easy operation without requiring the user to reach for external protruding components. This extraction eliminates safety risks associated with external protruding parts while maintaining ease of operation.
5Ease of manufacture
If the upper tube is pushed into the larger lower tube, then the mechanism can be mounted fixedly in the upper tube, but this arrangement is inconsistent with mechanical strength requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional tube arrangement by having the larger outer tube contain the smaller inner tube, rather than pushing the upper tube into the lower tube. This inverted configuration allows the locking mechanism to be mounted on the inner tube while maintaining proper structural strength distribution, as the larger outer tube provides the necessary structural support.
6Stability of the object's composition
If known interior mechanisms take up the entire cross-section of the tube, then the mechanism can be securely mounted, but the design becomes complex and heavy
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is designed to fit within the annular space between the inner and outer tubes, utilizing the available space efficiently without requiring the entire tube cross-section. This nested arrangement secures the mechanism in place while maintaining a simple and lightweight design, avoiding the complexity of mechanisms that occupy the full tube cross-section.
Data Source
AI summary
A walking aid with an apparatus for length adaptation by a control element on a handgrip of the aid. The aid has main and adjusting tubes which can slide into each other adapting the length of the aid and can be locked with and/or disengaged from one another with the apparatus for changing length. The apparatus has a slide that can be moved by the control element via a mechanism, and which transitions from a first level to a second level orthogonally to the direction of movement, and an engaging element. The engaging element can be moved by actuation of the slide—into a locked position in the first level, in which the engaging element engages in a recess or indentation on the adjusting tube, or—into an unlocked position in the second level, in which the recess or indentation of the adjusting tube can be released.