Invalids aids

Abstract

The invention relates to an invalid's aid and relates more particularly to an invalid's wheel chair with a detachable seat and wherein the seat can be inserted into and out of the automobile by moving on a support for the seat carried by the door of the automobile.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an invalid's aid and relates particularly but not exclusively to an invalid's aid for enabling an invalid to transfer into or out of an automobile without substantial lifting of either that person or the aid or both. Preferably the aid is designed to provide little inconvenience to the invalid during such transfer.

Invalids tend to become overweight due primarily to their lack of normal everyday exercising such as walking, bending, stooping and the like manoeuvers and it is not uncommon for such invalids to have a weight in the region of 15 to 18 stones.

Invalids' wheel chairs are provided for moving such persons but problems occur for nurses when the invalids are to be transferred from a wheel chair to an automobile.

Heretofore it has been necessary for an invalid to be manually lifted from the wheel chair into the automobile. This obviously provides extensive unpleasantness for the invalid and additionally it provides extreme physical burden to the nurse.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an invalid's aid which will permit an invalid to be transferred from a movable carriage into or out of an automobile with minimal discomfort to the invalid and to a nurse so transferring the invalid.

STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided an invalid's aid comprising a seat frame in which an invalid can be supported, and normally fastened to a wheeled carriage by detachable fastening means to form an invalid's chair, a support engaging member on said seat frame adapted to be detachably engaged with a support carried on the inner surface of the door of an automobile, the arrangement being such that with the automobile door in an open position said seat frame is engageable with the support thereon and upon detachment of the seat frame from the carriage is supported and movable with said door so that the seat frame and invalid thereon may be carried in the automobile and transferred back to the wheeled carriage.

Preferably the support engaging member is movable along the support which extends generally parallel with the plane of the floor of the automobile.

Preferably the seat frame is secured to the support when engaged therewith and is movable with the door to be positioned within the automobile upon closing of the door and is movable partially outside of the vehicle upon opening of the door.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the invalid's aid;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the aid;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a part cross sectional end view of an automobile showing how the seat frame of the aid is initially moved into the automobile;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing in one position how the aid is used to transfer an invalid into an automobile;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 but shows the aid at a different position during transfer;

FIG. 7 is similar to that shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 but shows the aid at a further position;

FIG. 8 is similar to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 but shows the aid in a locked position in the automobile; and

FIG. 9 shows the locking means in the automobile for locking the aid in the position shown in FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring generally to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 there is a seat frame 1 and a three wheeled movable carriage 3. The seat frame 1 has a seat thereon 5 which is a bucket seat from an automobile. The seat 5 is fastened to an undercarriage 7 by fastening means (not shown). The undercarriage 7 has Nylon slide blocks 9 which permit it to be slid off or onto the movable carriage 3 with minimal frictional resistance with the movable carriage 3. The Nylon slide blocks 9 move over T-shaped rails 11 which are fastenable at various sectable positions longitudinally of the movable carriage 3 by means of bolts (not shown) passing through selected aligned ones of openings 13 and 15 in the rails 11 and on a frame part 17 of the movable carriage 3 respectively -- see FIG. 1. The position of fastening is, in use, selected so that the centre of mass of the invalid is generally central of the movable carriage 3 to provide general stability to the aid. Such position will be different for different invalids depending on their particular incapacity.

Each of the rails 11 has an upwardly extending flange portion 19 at the rearmost end thereof with an aperture 21 therethrough. The aperture 21 is positioned so that a generally horizontally extending pin 23 at each side of the rearmost end of the undercarriage 7 can pass therethrough. A locking pin 25 on a safety chain 27 is then fitted through a generally vertically extending aperture 29 in the pin 23 to lock the undercarriage 7 to the movable carriage by locating behind the flange portion 19.

An inturned lug 31 -- see FIGS. 1 and 2 and 3 -- on the underneath of the undercarriage 7 locates underneath a forward part of the horizontally extending flange part of one of the rails 11 to resist backward swinging of the seat and undercarriage when on the movable carriage 3. It will be noted that the rail 11 which the inturned lug 31 locates under is downwardly inclined with respect to the other rail 11 -- see FIG. 2. The purpose of this will be explained later.

The undercarriage 7 has arm rests 33 and extendible leg supports 35 for supporting respectively the arms and legs of an invalid.

The undercarriage 7 has, on the invalid's left hand side thereof, two roller support engaging members 37. The members 37 are ball roller bearings but other members such as Nylon headed members or wheel members may be used. The members 27 are used when moving an invalid into or out of an automobile as will be explained later.

Underneath the undercarriage 7 there are three ball transfer rollers 39 which are used when moving an invalid into or out of an automobile.

The movable carriage 3 has a frame comprising a central trunk 41 with a forward wheel 43 mounted for rotation thereto in a castor type carriage mechanism 45. The carriage mechanism is free to swing about a vertical axis thereby permitting relatively easy manoeuvering of the aid when moving around corners. Mounted forwardly of the wheel 43 is a foot tray 47 which is swingable upwardly about a horizontal axis from the position shown to make the aid more compact when not in use. At the rear of the trunk 41 the frame has an axle which supports two wheels 49 for rotation. The rails 17 are held in operative spaced apart relation above the rear wheels 49 by frame members 51.

A brake mechanism 53 is mounted on the movable carriage 3 on the underside of rails 17. Such mechanism comprises two shaft supporting brackets 55, a shaft 57 supported for rotation therein, an operating lever 59 and two eccentric cam action brakes 61. In the position shown in FIG. 1 the brake is in the off position. To cause the brake to operate the lever 59 is rotated to cause the cam brakes 61 to engage with the associated rear wheel 49 to prevent rotation of that rear wheel.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 to 9, the automobile 60 has a support 61 fastened to the passenger door. The support 61 is of elongate `C` channel section and extends generally horizontally the full length of the door. The open face of the `C` channel faces the interior of the automobile and is provided so that the axle 63 of the members 37 can fit between the opening.

The floor of the automobile is fitted with a planar horizontally extending floor part 65 of plate steel.

In use, when moving an invalid into an automobile the passenger door is opened and one or both of the leg supports 35 is extended and the invalid's legs placed thereon. The aid is then pushed towards the automobile so that the support engaging members 37 locate in the support 61.

With such a manoeuver the wheeled carriage 3 moves underneath the automobile -- see FIG. 6.

The pin 25 is then removed from locking the seat and undercarriage from the wheeled carriage 3 and the seat and undercarriage are then pushed into the automobile -- the transfer rollers 39 rolling over the floor part 6 and the support engaging members 63 rolling and/or sliding along the support 61.

During such transfer the weight of the invalid plus the weight of the seat and undercarriage are shared between the door, the floor part 65 and in the initial stages of manoeuvering the movable carriage 3.

When the seat and undercarriage are moved off the wheeled carriage 3 to the forwardmost position in the support 61 as shown in FIG. 6, the undercarriage 3 is removed. The door is then closed the transfer rollers 39 allowing the seat and undercarriage to move over the floor part 65.

The seat and undercarriage are then in the position as shown in FIG. 7.

The undercarriage and seat are then moved rearwardly in the automobile so that a threaded pin 70 and co-operating nut 71 locate in a recess in a flange 73.

The co-operating nut 71 is then screwed to clamp against the flange 73 to hold the undercarriage and seat in that position in the automobile.

Removal of the invalid is achieved by the reverse procedure.

To assist supporting the automobile at a given height above ground level corresponding to a transfer height for the undercarriage and seat onto the movable carriage a chock 75 -- see FIG. 4 -- is fitted under the automobile. This is particularly provided for when the weight of the invalid, undercarriage and seat are partly taken on the door, the extra moment created thereby does not cause the transfer level to drop below a predetermined level.

The reason for the downwardly inclined rail 11 is to provide for any dropping of the transfer height when the door is opened.

In a modification of the above a roller (not shown) may be mounted on the floor part 65 to engage with a forward edge of the undercarriage to automatically push the seat rearwardly to lock with the flange 73 when the door is closed. Additionally the seat frame may be provided with a finger which engages with such roller to cause the undercarriage to move forwardly when the door is opened to unlock from the flange 73.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An invalid's aid comprising a seat frame, in which an invalid can be supported, and normally fastened to a wheeled carriage by detachable fastening means to form an invalid's chair, a support engaging member on said seat frame detachably engaged with a support carried on the inner surface of the door of an automobile, the arrangement being such that with the automobile door in an open position said seat frame is engageable with the support thereon and upon detachment of the seat frame from the carriage the said frame is secured to the support and upon closing of the door is movable with the door to be positioned within the automobile, and upon opening of the door is movable partially outside of the vehicle so that the seat frame and invalid thereon may be carried in the automobile and transferred back to the wheeled carriage.

2. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the support engaging member is movable along the support which extends generally parallel with the plane of the floor of the automobile.

3. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the seat frame is lockable in the automobile by locking means on the seat frame which is co-operable with further locking means in the automobile.

4. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 3 wherein the locking means in the automobile is situated rearwardly of the position that the seat frame occupies when first introduced in the automobile and wherein the seat frame must be moved rearwardly in the automobile when moved inwardly of the automobile to lock therewith and must be moved forwardly to unlock therefrom before moving outwardly of the automobile.

5. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the support is an elongate channel and the support engaging member has a head thereon which engages in the channel.

6. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 5 wherein the support is a C-shaped channel member and the support engaging member is located therein to inhibit relative movement of the seat frame to the door in a direction transverse to the plane of the door.

7. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the seat frame has extendible foot rests on which an invalid's legs may be rested during moving inwardly and outwardly of the automobile.

8. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 which includes a movable carriage selectively for carrying the seat frame when the seat frame is detached from said support, the position at which the seat frame is held on the movable carriage by the detachable fastening means being variable to place the invalid's centre of mass centrally on the movable carriage consequent on their particular incapacity.

9. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 which includes a carriage selectively for carrying said seat frame when the frame is detached from said support, said movable carriage being constructed and arranged so that a forward end is fittable under the automobile when the seat frame is being moved inwardly or outwardly of the automobile.

10. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 which includes a movable carriage selectively for carrying said seat frame when the frame is detached from said support, said movable carriage having rails on which the seat frame is movable during movement inwardly or outwardly of the automobile.

11. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 10 wherein the seat frame has rail engaging means for inhibiting relatively upward movement of the seat frame with respect to the movable carriage.

12. An invalid's aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the floor of the automobile has a planar surface over which the seat frame is moved by sliding to provide for smooth sliding transfer of the seat frame into or out of the automobile.