Pram braking system
A braking system for a pram to keep the child safe if the mother has an epileptic seizure.
The Challenge
The client, who has epilepsy, wanted to take her newborn daughter on walks in the park in her pram with confidence that were she (the mother) to have a seizure, the pram would not roll away. The device had to be easily removable from the pram and not interfere with the folding mechanism which was needed to put the pram in the car.
The solution
The original intention was to design a reverse brake system (dead man’s brake), controlled by a handle at the pram handlebar and operated by cables. A calliper was designed and mounted to the wheel with bike brakes and strings creating the friction braking. However, there was no structure around the wheel to connect to and the design was relatively complex and, therefore, not easy to disassemble.
The final solution was to create a custom mounting brake which was affixed to the pram frame. The mounting housed a dog lead which was cut and sewed to length and a wrist strap was connected to the end of the lead. When pushing the pram, the mother will always be connected to the pram. If she were to fall, the mounting is low down so would not tip the pram over. The lead was short enough that the pram would not roll away.
The benefit
The client is now able to take her daughter for walks in the park with more confidence.
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