Foot rest arrangement for wheelchairs

Claim 1

A foot rest arrangement for wheelchairs comprising: (A) a frame system including (i) a wheelchair frame, and (ii) a chair seat frame supported by said wheelchair frame and mounting a chair seat; (B) a foot rest formed with an upstanding back edge and a glide roller at the back edge of the lower portion of said foot rest; (C) a strut structure comprising an outer strut and an inner strut operatively interconnected and mutually displaceable in an axial direction, the upper portion of said upstanding back edge of said foot rest being pivotably attached to the lower end portion of said outer strut and the upper end portion of said inner strut being secured to said frame system so that said strut structure carries said foot rest at a distance from said chair seat; (D) releasable latching means operatively engageable with said inner and outer struts and adapted to lock said inner and outer struts in a latched position relative to each other with said foot rest at an appropriate distance from said chair seat; and (E) means operatively connected to said latching means for permitting varying the distance between said foot rest and said chair seat by raising or lowering one relative to the other; the lengths of said struts being selected such that in the latched position of said struts the lower end portion of said inner strut defines a bevelled edge projecting out from said lower end portion of said outer strut to bear against said glide roller, thereby by abutment of said bevelled edge and said glide roller to lock said foot rest in a given angular position relative to said strut structure when the struts are in the latched position.