Secure wheel locking system

Abstract

A wheelchair wheel locking system reduces the likelihood that a wheel will inadvertently disengage from the wheelchair. An axle is attached to the wheel and has a protrusion for engaging annular grooves within a wall forming an inner passage through an axle receptor attached to the wheelchair. The axle is inserted in an axial direction into the inner passage and has a first locked position in which the axle is fully engaged with the axle receptor, and a second locked position in which the axle is partially engaged with the axle receptor. If a quick release lock is inadvertently released by, for example, pressing a release button, the protrusion retracts and disengages from a first annular groove within the wall of the axle receptor, the axle may start to move axially relative to the axle receptor to a position in which the wheel will disengage from the wheelchair. However, when the axle reaches the partially engaged position, the protrusion will engage a second annular groove within the wall of the receptor thereby locking the axle into a second locked position relative to the axle receptor thereby preventing the wheel from disengaging from the wheelchair.