MANUFACTURERS OF SPECIALIST ATV AND COMPACT TRACTOR EQUIPMENT
FOR USE IN
AMENITY, EQUESTRIAN, GARDEN, FARM AND FORESTRY APPLICATIONS
Telephone: 01787 227695
Email: jerv@jordanATVeng.com
|
MANUFACTURERS OF SPECIALIST ATV AND COMPACT TRACTOR EQUIPMENT FOR USE IN AMENITY, EQUESTRIAN, GARDEN, FARM AND FORESTRY APPLICATIONS
Telephone: 01787 227695 Email: jerv@jordanATVeng.com
|
|
|
Products for Disabled Persons Jordan Engineering are pleased to have been given the opportunity to develop certain specialist equipment for use by disabled persons, helping them in their daily work and leisure pursuits.
Quad bikes (ATVs) can provide excellent mobility for disabled persons, whether they work outside , enjoy country sports or just like the freedom of being outdoors. However, the standard quad does not always lend itself immediately to use by persons suffering certain disabilities. Because of this, we have in some cases carried out certain modifications to customers bikes to enable easier and safer operation, particularly to the standard control fittings e.g. foot operated gear change, short foot pegs etc. Adapted quads are an ideal form of transport, especially for use in "off-road" situations, but often the persons using them also need to be able to haul them around to various sites, which may be some distance apart. The obvious solution is a trailer, but loading a quad into a standard trailer when you suffer physical disability can be quite a challenge, sometimes impossible and most likely hazardous. Securing the quad after loading can also present difficulties. For example, a person using a wheelchair cannot easily pull on, and tie down ropes, or use ratchet straps. Featured here are two trailers that we have produced. Both designed to carry modified quads, but both widely different in accordance with the users differing disabilities. Self Loading Quad Transporter
The first trailer was designed for a local racehorse stud manager. Suffering paralysis of both lower limbs meant that a wheel chair was his prime mobility aid. Driving a specially adapted auto-box car also presented minimal problems, but what he needed was to be able to travel out to the gallops and watch his horses training, and also travel about at race meetings around the country. A converted quad bike was half the answer, as with a converted hand gear change, larger foot plates and a wider seat he could get from chair to quad and vice versa quite easily, and the quad would travel all types of terrain encountered. However moving the quad from site to site was more of a challenge. A normal trailer was no good because once the quad had been ridden into it up the ramps the rider could not get to his wheelchair. The solution was to build a trailer that would "self load" the quad after the rider had dismounted into his wheelchair safely at ground level. Considerations included the fact that the customer spent time out on his own watching his horses training, therefore the set-up had to be 100% reliable when loading or un-loading, if not he may be stuck out on the gallops with a half loaded quad, attached to the back of his car, with no-one around to help out. For this reason no electrics, hydraulics or other power sources, just simple "man power". All operations had to carried out from a wheelchair, with nothing that required great exertion, or that may effect the stability and therefore the safety of the wheelchair user.
The trailer shown was the result of several hours of development work which involved carrying out various tasks from a standard wheelchair, to test different operational procedures. The final answer was a trailer with a tilting body, fitted with a "running-block" along the centre, that carries an automatic latch, which attaches to the front of the quad when driven up to it. With the quad latched to the block the rider is able to dismount to his wheelchair and roll to the front of the trailer. Here a winch handle is released, winding a worm drive reduction gearbox, this in turn moves the "block" and attached quad up the centre of the trailer, with very little effort. Because the worm drive will not freewheel, winding can be stopped safely at any time. Once the quad is fully on the trailer its front wheels locate in guides, then the winch handle can be locked, and another simple winch used to bring the body back to level. Then a latch at the front secures the body, and at the rear a locking arm swung over the quads ball hitch secures the quad safely. Unloading, simply a reverse process.
No ropes or straps to tie off, no power source to fail, effortless loading and un-loading. The trailer also features a special tow coupling allowing hitching to the tow hitch from a wheelchair, and a "single hand" use jockey wheel.
Easy Loading Tilt Body Quad Transporter
This second trailer was developed for an agronomist who spends much of his time travelling over customers fields checking crop growth and soil condition. Following the loss of a lower limb Patrick decided a quad bike would be the answer to providing the mobility required to carry out his job. We supplied him with a Polaris which, having a hand gear change and large footboards, needed little in the way of alteration. Once again a trailer was needed to haul Patrick's quad from
farm to farm. This time the brief was a bit easier as Patrick had good mobility,
but still had some special requirements nonetheless.Staying aboard the quad was
not a problem when riding onto a trailer, getting off the quad was fairly
straightforward, however a safe descent to the ground was an important
consideration, as was the ability to secure the quad easily for travelling. The answer came in a tilt body trailer, with no sides, fitted with large fold down steps to enable easy dismounting, and similar guides and a simple lock bar to hold the bike. The tilting body obviates the need for ramps which are awkward to get out and stow away. The quad is ridden onto the tilted body of the trailer, and as it reaches the guides at the front end, the momentum causes the trailer body to balance forward to the travel position. At this point latches actuated by a pin under the front of the quad lock the body in the lowered position, making it safe for the rider to dismount, using the swing down steps and hand rails.
The quad is then simply secured by the rear locking bar and the latches are locked with a simple pin. To unload the locks are released and the quad is mounted. As the quad travels rearward the latches release and the body tips allowing the quad to roll off onto level ground.
Swivelling Tri-leg Shooting Chair
With three adjustable legs for stability and a swivel seat it enables him to shoot whilst seated, without fear of toppling, as happened with a single legged shooting stick. The whole seat is foldable and can be carried with a single shoulder strap. As well as shooting it is also ideal for salmon fishing as it
can be adjusted to stand level on the river bed.
"modelled" by the late Ron Jordan |
|
Copyright © 2014
JORDAN ENGINEERING
|
