Conventionally, handrails are used for the purpose of aiding walking or preventing a person from falling or tumbling when traversing a flat floor or ascending or descending a stairway.
Various materials are used for manufacturing a handrail. For example, metals such as stainless steel and aluminum, wood, bamboo, and resin including fiber reinforced resin, among others, are used as handrail materials, and the shape of such a handrail is often formed to have a relatively simple cross-section such as a tube or pipe shape, or a shape where the cross section thereof is a round bar shape or a square bar shape. This is based on manufacturing simplicity and cost reduction demands.
In recent years, the number of elderly people is on the rise, and, from the perspective of preventing senescence or deterioration of functional capacity through independent efforts or self-reliance of physically handicapped persons, there are demands in hospitals, nursing homes, public facilities and even general households for improvements in handrails to aid particularly in walking and movements such as standing up from a wheelchair into a standing position or sitting down onto a toilet seat from an upright position for physically handicapped persons, persons with weak grip strength, and persons of low functional capacity caused by collagenosis or rheumatism.
Nevertheless, the conventional purpose of improving handrails is simply to make a handrail of a resin material since a stainless steel handrail is too cold to use in the winter, and since minute unevenness can be formed on the surface of a resin handrail to prevent a hand from slipping on the handrail when the handrail is wet. In addition, a resin handrail has been used since an antibacterial coating can be applied to the resin handrail. However, the known handrails capable of aiding walking and movements to a standing or sitting position as described above for physically handicapped persons, persons with weak grip strength, and persons of low functional capacity caused by collagenosis or rheumatism have not been realized.
As specific functions of a handrail, for instance, there are 1) a function of aiding movements or preventing dangers upon gripping the handrail or placing one's hand on the handrail in emergency situations when there is danger of the body falling while walking on a flat floor or stairs; 2) an aiding function for aiding a person of low functional capacity, in particular, a person having depressions in bones, muscles and muscular strength when such person walks with a hand placed on the handrail or in a state in which an entire arm including the elbow is placed on the handrail so that unstable postures of staggering or wobbling of the body are corrected during the walk; 3) an aiding function for aiding a person of low functional capacity, in particular, a person having depressions in bones, muscles and muscular strength when such person places a hand on the handrail when standing up into a standing position from a sitting position or from a toilet seat or in a state in which an entire arm including the elbow is placed on the handrail so that unstable postures of staggering or wobbling of the body are corrected and a corrected posture is maintained; 4) an aiding function for aiding a person of low functional capacity, in particular, a person having depressions in bones, muscles and muscular strength when such person places a hand on the handrail when moving from a standing position to a sitting position such as onto a toilet seat or in a state in which an entire arm including the elbow is placed on the handrail so that unstable postures of staggering or wobbling of the body are corrected and prevent accidents such as falls; and 5) a function for preventing dangers such as the body falling from high places or upon notifying the danger area in the likes of a vaulted structure or stairwell.
Generally speaking, conventional handrails that have a round, tubular or square cross section are basically useful for functions 1) and 5) described above. Nevertheless, with respect to foregoing functions 2), 3) and 4), such conventional handrails are basically useless for physically handicapped persons or persons of low functional capability. This is an extremely critical issue. There is even fear that such conventional handrails may complicate walking and movements to a standing or sitting position, and may make a person fall.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds