LONG BARS
The pair of long bars has the purpose of assisting Elsa with the process of taking off a shirt. These rods are
situated a bit further apart than the short rods found on the DressyBars, at slightly wider than hip-width
apart. At this distance they can get as close to her hips as possible so the hooks on their ends reach the
bottom of the shirt. Since they are also slightly wider than the short bars, both sets of bars can lie flat when
in the storage position.
The pair of long bars extend from the base of the door to her hips at a steep angle in order to keep the
perpendicular force required to rotate them as horizontal as possible, which is easier for Elsa than
pushing in a more vertical direction due to the limited range of motion in her shoulders observed in user
observation (Appendix C: User Observation Summary). The long rods are longer than the short rods so they
can cover the distance between the door and the wheelchair while keeping plenty of distance between the
user and the door so there is no chance of bumping her arms, head, or legs.
A handle bar stretches across the separation between the two long rods at a distance easily reachable with
straight arms when Elsa is sitting in an upright position. The handle bar is covered with a soft, frictional
surface, such as tennis grip tape, so it is easily gripped by Elsa. The bars are made out of a lightweight
material to minimize the amount of force required by elsa to push them forward.
HOOKS
The tip of each of the long bars ends in a shallow, widely curved hook covered in a soft, smooth surface
to eliminate any dangerous edges. The wide shape of the hook was determined by what was most easily
attached onto a shirt by Elsa in user testing (Appendix G: User Testing Summary). The upward curve on
the end of the hook allows the device a strong grip onto the shirt as the mechanism moves away from her,
ensuring that the shirt will move with it.
RATCHET
The long bars are attached to the board by a hinge on each rod, which includes a ratchet mechanism. The
ratchet allows the Elsa to push the rods away from her with a small amount of force, but inhibits backward
motion when Elsa stops applying force. This allows the bars to pull the shirt up and away from Elsa in
order to take the shirt off without it falling back down during use. The bars can be rotated to their ulfolded
position against the direction of the ratchet by releasing the ratchet mechanism with one hand and using
the other hand to guide the rods into place.
STORAGE CLIPS
Two additional storage clips are added to the device, one for each of the long bars, to hold them in an
upright storage position so the device may still lie flat against the door when not in use.
17