Head Rest Attachment For Wheel Chairs

Abstract

The attachment is composed of a tubular frame which includes two laterally spaced upstanding legs having a bridging portion or member joining their upper ends. A cushion is secured to said legs with its upper edge spaced below the bridging member whence the latter serves as a hand grip. The lower ends of the legs have mutually parallel extensions from the same side of the frame as that on which the cushion is mounted. Such extensions are insertible into the tubular handles of the chair. When the headrest is in use the frame extends upward from the common plan e of the chair handles. When not in use, the frame is mounted upside down in the same manner.

Description

Wheel chairs in common use have no provision for the patient to rest his head while seated therein, which is a handicap to many. Wheel chair frames are commonly of tubular construction, with hollow handles, open at their ends, to be grasped by a person pushing the chair. Such handles usually have rubber or plastic coverings slipped over them. The instant attachment is preferably so made that it is adapted to have its frame extensions inserted into the chair handles after removing the said coverings, although the said extensions might also be made of sufficiently large diameter to slip over the chair handles. In either case releasable means is preferably provided to lock the interengaged extensions and handles together.

Referring briefly to the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wheel chair with the instant attachment mounted in place to serve as a head rest and shows at the right, in phantom, the instant attachment per se, to illustrate how the latter is secured to the chair handles.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged rear elevational view of the wheel chair frame with the attachment mounted thereon to serve as a head rest.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view, with parts broken away and partly in section, as seen along the arrows 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the chair of FIG. 1 but showing the chair tilted backward, and in section a room wall or the like stationary support having a hook attached thereto, which engages the hand grip of the attachment to maintain the chair in the tilted position.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the wheel chair with the instant attachment mounted in inverted position when not in use as a head rest.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a wheel chair frame which is commonly formed of hollow tubing and includes substantially upright portions 11. The tubular handles 12 of the chair are mutually parallel and lie in a common substantially horizontal plane above the plane of the arm rests 13.

The head rest attachment is shown composed of an approximately V-shaped frame 14 having the diverging legs 20 of equal length, but instead of having the legs meet at an apex a substitute therefor is provided in the form of a bridging portion or member 15 which is preferably arcuate, as shown. The member 15 serves as a hand grip and is therefore preferably covered by a rubber or plastic sleeve 16.

A board or the like 17, having a cushion 18 secured in any desired manner to its face, is attached as by means of bolts or screws 21 to one side of the frame 14. The lower ends of the legs 20 have extensions 19 unitary therewith of equal length and extending from the same one side of the frame 14. Preferably the entire frame 14 is made of tubing having an external diameter such that the extensions 19 register slidably within the hollow handles 12.

FIG. 1 illustrates clearly how the attachment is mounted on the chair, by sliding the extensions 19 into the chair handles 12. Frictional interengagement of these parts may suffice to maintain the attachment in place, but preferably releasable means is provided for locking the parts together. One such means is illustrated in the form of vertically aligned holes through both the handles 12 and the extensions 19, with a pin 22 inserted from above in each set of such aligned holes. In order to have the pins always on hand, each pin is on the end of a chain or the like 23 attached to its adjacent leg 20.

With the instant attachment mounted as illustrated in FIG. 1, it is apparent that the patient may rest his head against the cushion while in seated position. FIG. 4 shows the chair of FIG. 1 in tilted position, whence the weight of the patient is more widely distributed against the chair back and the cushion 18 as well as against the seat.

In order to augment the softening effect of the cushion 18, the following added structure has been provided: The board has a hole or opening 24 extending either wholly therethrough, as shown, or only part way thereinto, not shown, and positioned intermediate the width and height thereof. Thus, with the patient's head bearing against the cushion 18, which would be most often against the portion of the cushion directly forward of the hole 24 in the board, the cushion will be deformed inwardly into the hole thereby forming a depression 25, FIG. 3, in the face of the cushion and permitting the rear portion of the cushion to bulge partly in to the hole, as shown at 26.

FIG. 4 shows the chair of FIG. 1 as it may be left in tilted position by engaging the hand grip 15 about a hook or the like 27 anchored in a wall or equivalent fixed support 28. Such a rest position of the chair with the head rest attachment in place is advantageous for a number of purposes. For example, when the patient requires dental treatment he may be maintained in the comfortable tilted position for a relatively prolonged period of time, rather than having to be lifted out of the wheel chair into a dentist's chair and then back again into the wheel chair. Another advantage is that the patient may relax in the tilted chair with his weight distributed as mentioned above rather than having all his weight bear down upon the chair seat. For in the latter case the patient's buttocks are subject to suffer from "bed sores." In actual use of the instant tilted chair with the head rest in position, a patient with a severe and painful case of bed sores was soon relieved of them.

Still another practical advantage of the wheel chair with the head rest in position, is that the chair may be tilted and maintained in the tilted position by the by the person pushing or pulling the chair, with his hand grasping the grip 15. It has been found in practice that the chair can thus be pushed much more easily over a rough terrain as well as pulled up or let down a flight of stairs.

When the wheel chair is to be used without the head rest in position, the latter may readily be removed from its position in FIG. 1 by first disengaging the pins 22 and then sliding the extensions 19 out of the chair handles 12. The attachment when so removed may be carried by the chair by merely turning it upside down and again inserting the extensions 19 into the chair handles, as illustrated in FIG. 5, with the pins 22 against inserted into the aligned holes in the handles and extensions. Thus the head rest will at all times be at hand for immediate installation when desired.

Like the frames of most if not all wheel chairs, the frame 14 of the head rest is most desirably and economically made of hollow tubing. Instead of having the extensions 19 of smaller diameter than that of the chair handles 12, it is obvious that the reverse may serve equally well. That is, the extensions 19 may have such diameter that they slide over the chair handles. Further, the frame 14 may obviously have other than an approximate V-shape, so long as it possesses the features of the extensions 19, the cushion 18 and a hand grip equivalent to the grip 15 spaced upward from the cushion.

The hand grip 15 need not necessarily be arcuate, as shown, for it may also be linear and parallel with the top edge of the cushion. It is preferably arcuate, however, for a more secure and safer engagement with the hook 27, FIG. 1, as the chair is then less subject to sidewise slippage.

Claims

What is claimed is as follows:

1. An attachment for a wheel chair having rearwardly extending mutually parallel tubular handles adapted to be grasped by a person pushing the chair, comprising a headrest assembly including a pair of upwardly extending spaced legs converging toward each other, a bridging member connecting the upper ends of said legs to form an inverted substantially V-shaped frame, said bridging member being a single hand grip for said wheel chair, a cushion secured to said legs on one side of said frame and spaced below said bridging member, the lower ends of said legs having mutually parallel tubular extensions extending from said one side of said frame and being laterally spaced from each other the same distance as the distance between said handles, said handles and said extensions having complementary diameters to permit slideable interengagement of each of said handles and one of said extensions, said attachment being selectively adapted to be mounted on said chair with said legs extending upward from said handles or with said legs extending downward from said handles.

2. An attachment according to claim 1, having releasable means for interlocking said extensions and said handles when interengaged as aforesaid.

3. An attachment according to claim 2, said releasable means comprising two pins, each of the interengaged extensions and handles having a set of mutually aligned holes therethrough, each of said pins being insertible in one of the sets of mutually aligned holes.

4. An attachment according to claim 3, having chains connecting said pins to said frame.

5. An attachment according to claim 1, said frame having a board interposed between said cushion and said legs.

6. An attachment according to claim 5, said board having a hole extending at least part way thereinto on the side thereof facing said cushion, said hole being positioned substantially intermediate the width and height of said board.

7. An attachment according to claim 1, said bridging member being arcuate and bulging upward with respect to said cushion.

8. An attachment according to claim 1, said extensions having a smaller external diameter than the internal diameter of said handles.

9. A combination of an attachment for a wheel chair having rearwardly extending mutually parallel tubular handles adapted to be grasped by a person pushing the chair and means for maintaining the wheel chair in a tilted position comprising a headrest assembly including a pair of upwardly extending spaced legs converging toward each other, a bridging member connecting the upper ends of said legs to form an inverted substantially V-shaped frame, said bridging member being a single hand grip for said wheel chair, a cushion secured to said legs on one side of said frame and spaced below said bridging member, the lower ends of said legs having mutually parallel tubular extensions extending from said one side of said frame and being laterally spaced from each other the same distance as the distance between said handles, said handles and said extensions having complementary diameters to permit slideable interengagement of each of said handles and one of said extensions, said attachment being selectively adapted to be mounted on said chair with said legs extending upward from said handles or with said legs extending downward from said handles, and a rigid retaining member mounted on a fixed support whereby said hand grip bridging member may be releasably engaged by said retaining member in order to maintain said wheel chair in said tilted position.

10. The combination as claimed in claim 9 wherein said rigid retaining member is a hook.