Apparatus For Handling Disabled Persons

Abstract

Apparatus for handling hospital patients or other persons who are disabled or infirm facilitates lifting into and out of a bath while firmly supported in a sitting position. The apparatus comprises lifting mechanism including a lifting arm which projects from a lifting column. A patient support member in the form of a seat is in use rigidly supported at the end of the arm remote from the column, with the fore-and-aft centre line of the seat offset from the axis of the column. The said centre line is tangential to a circle centred on the column in plan view, the arm being curved or cranked in plan view for connection at the rear of the seat.

Description

This invention relates to apparatus for handling hospital patients or other persons who are disabled or infirm. It has for its object to provide apparatus which facilitates lifting a person into and out of a bath while firmly supported in a sitting position.

According to the invention apparatus for supporting a disabled or infirm person and lowering and raising that person into and out of a bath comprises lifting mechanism including a lifting arm which projects from a lifting column in use positioned alongside the bath. A patient support member in the form of a seat in use is rigidly supported at the end of the arm remote from the column with the fore-and-aft centre line of the seat offset from the axis of the column, in plan view said arm being cranked or curved so that it lies to one side of and behind the seat, being connectable to the back of the seat. Said centre line is tangential to an imaginary circle which it touches forwardly of the back of the seat, said circle being centred on the column.

Preferably the arm is connected to the back of the seat on said centre line. The lifting column may be adapted for permanent fixing to the floor alongside a bath, with at least an upper portion of the column from which the arm projects rotatable on a base support so that the seat can be swung round with the arm from a position alongside the bath to a position above the bath before lowering into the latter. Alternatively, the column may be mounted on a mobile chassis so that the complete apparatus can be wheeled to and from the bathroom, but a particularly convenient arrangement employs a permanently fixed column with a detachable seat structure which can alternatively be mounted on a mobile chassis for transport purposes. The seat structure is preferably in the form of a "legless" chair with a rigid frame structure with a back portion and seat portion, and the seat structure and the mobile transport apparatus may be generally as disclosed in the specification of our U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,816.

The seat structure is preferably attached cantilever fashion to the end of the arm, and it is desirably so supported at the back of the seat. The arm may be a cantilever arm which, during raising and lowering of the seat, undergoes purely translational bodily movement. When the seat is provided by a legless chair structure the back cantilever support may be provided behind the back portion of the chair, with the arm curved or cranked in plan view.

The lifting column may house screw-jack elevating means for the arm, but in one preferred embodiment the lifting column comprises a hollow mast within which runs a carriage with attachment means which project through a longitudinal slot in the mast and to which the adjacent end of the arm is secured. In this embodiment the mast also houses hoisting mechanism in the form of a flexible driving member, such as a roller chain, which is connected to the carriage and to manually-operated means providing the drive.

A fixed and mobile apparatus embodying the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will now be described, by way of example, with reference thereto.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the fixed embodiment,

FIG. 2 is an overhead plan view thereof,

FIG. 3 is a front view of the mobile embodiment,

FIGS. 4 and 5 are detail views of this embodiment, and

FIG. 6 is a side view of the seat of the mobile embodiment, illustrating ancilliary apparatus which may be used with the seat.

The embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 has lifting mechanism including a telescopic vertical column 10 which, at its lower end, is attached to metal plates 11 and 12 for bolting to the floor. Gussett plates 13 and 14 are welded between the lower outer section 10a of the column 10 and the floor plates 11 and 12, respectively.

Manually-operated drive means, by which the height of the column 10 can be adjusted, comprise a screw jack 15 positioned centrally within the column 10 and a winding handle 16 mounted at the top of the upper inner portion 10b of the column. The jack employs a ball screw nut 17, a screw 15a to which the handle 16 is coupled and a clutch and thrust race assembly 18. The clutch operates to apply a braking torque when the handle is at rest, so that the weight of a supported patient does not override the screw jack 15 and result in uncontrolled lowering of the column 10.

The lifting mechanism also includes a lifting arm 19 which is of tubular form and bent round to a right angle in plan view, as shown in FIG. 2. The arm 19 projects horizontally from the upper portion 10b of the column, which portion can turn within the lower portion 10a and hence relatively to the floor plates 11 and 12. The end of the arm 19 remote from the column 10 is attached to a seat 20, generally in the form of a legless chair and comprising a rigid tubular frame structure 21 which supports a moulded plastics seat portion 22 and a moulded plastics back rest portion 23.

The frame 21 is attached to the arm immediately behind the back rest 23 adjacent the top thereof, so that the seat 20 is attached cantilever fashion with the fore-and-aft centre line A--A of the seat offset from the axis of the column 10. In plan view this centre line A--A is tangential to a circle centred on the column 10. The frame 21 includes two arm rests 24 which project at the sides of the back rest 23, and the latter is inclined rearwardly whereas the seat portion 22 is inclined forwardly and upwardly to maintain a firm seated position for the patient. The seat portion 22 is apertured at 25, for toilet purposes, and is adjustable in height, relative to the back rest 23, between the positions illustrated respectively in full and broken lines in FIG. 1. In one specific design this adjustment totals 6 inches, in three steps each of 2 inches, and the screw jack has a lift of 16 inches. The minimum clearance of the seat portion 22 with respect to the floor is 5 inches, and it has a width of 141/2 inches. These dimensions have been found suitable for most hospital bath arrangements.

The seat 20 is detachably secured to a U-shaped bracket 19a at the end of the arm 19. It is fixed by a bolt 29, removal of which allows the seat to be detached.

The lifting mechanism of the embodiment of FIGS. 3 to 6 includes a vertical column 30 comprising a square-section hollow mast which at its lower end has a spigot mounting at 31 in a mobile wheeled chassis 32 to allow transport of a seated patient to and from the bathroom. In the bathroom the column can be lifted off the chassis 32 and the spigot 31 dropped into a fixed base support bolted to the floor (not shown). A carriage (also not shown) which runs within the mast 30 has vertically spaced rollers engaging the latter and provides attachment means 33 which project through a longitudinal slot in the mast 30.

The manually-operated drive means comprise a winding handle 34, of handlebar type, disposed on the side of the mast 30 opposite to said longitudinal slot, the handle being disposed at a height convenient for hand operation. The arm 35 has a main portion 36 of tubular form bent round to a right angle in plan view (see FIG. 5) and with an attachment flange 37 or 38 at each end. The flange 37 at the end remote from the column is bolted to a support bracket arm portion 39 of generally plate-like form. The other end flange is bolted to a projecting plate of the attachment means 33 of the carriage, with the adjacent end of the main arm portion extending parallel to the slotted side wall of the mast.

A detachable seat 40 is again in the form of a legless chair with a rigid tubular frame 41 supporting a moulded plastics seat portion 42 and a moulded plastics back rest portion 43 of the chair. It is in this case detachably but rigidly mounted on the bracket arm portion 39, so that the arm 35 supports the chair cantilever-fashion directly behind the back rest 43. The back rest 43 is supported by an A frame section of the seat frame 41, a top lateral member 44 of this section hooking into an upwardly facing support channel provided by a hook-like projection 45 at the front of the bracket portion 39 adjacent the top thereof. When in this channel the frame is secured against inadvertent detachment by a manually-operable gravity latch 46.

The bracket portion 39 is of generally triangular shape, tapering towards a bottom apex adjacent which it provides a forwardly facing reaction abutment 47 which engages behind and across the frame 41, thus providing firm and rigid support for the chair. The abutment 47 is disposed slightly forwardly of the support channel 45 (see plan view of FIG. 5), so that the chair 40 is again supported in a slightly backwardly tilted position.

The arm 35 is of symmetrical cranked shape, and it is thus reversible for either lefthand or righthand mounting of the chair 40. To enable reversal the arm flanges 37 and 38 can be bolted to either side of the bracket arm portion 39 and to either side of the attachment plate 33, respectively.

Downwardly inclined tubes 48 which project outwardly from the sides of the frame 41 provide stub bearings in which ends of two tubular arm rests 49 are pivotally mounted. These arm rests 49 are bent round to extend alongside a supported person and are inturned in front of the latter to provide any necessary forward support. The arm rests can be turned over to the back of the chair 40 and alongside the support bracket arm portion 39 with the patient seated, in order to release the latter. The top lateral chair frame member 44 is extended on each side of the chair to provide a laterally extending handlebar, with moulded hand grips 50 fitted at its ends.

The moulded seat portion 42 has an aperture 51, provided by a front cut-out, for toilet purposes and it also has two holes 52 positioned at the front and respectively adjacent the side edges of the seat. These holes extend fore-and-aft the chair and provide mountings for a detachable telescopic leg rest 53 (see FIG. 6) on which the legs of a patient can be supported. When detached from the bracket 39 the seat 40 can be fitted on to a mobile wheeled frame 54 (FIG. 6), to provide a wheel chair arrangement. The back of the seat portion 42 has holes, similar to the front holes 52, into which frame members 55 fit to support the seat.

As the chair is in each embodiment supported at the back the width of the chair is not increased by its attachement to the arm and hence a disadvantage of some prior constructions is avoided. Such constructions employ a side support for a non-detachable seat so that the overall width is increased and it becomes too wide to lower to the bottom of any but the broadest bath, whereas the present seat is of a width such that it can be lowered to the bottom of any normal bath. The detachability of the seat additionally allows attachment to a separate mobile chassis to serve as a wheel, commode or sanitary chair.

Claims

I claim:

1. Apparatus for supporting a disabled or infirm person comprising lifting mechanism including a lifting arm which projects from a lifting column, and a patient support member in the form of a seat which in use is rigidly supported at the end of the arm remote from the column with the fore-and-aft centre line of the seat offset from the axis of the column, in plan view said arm being cranked or curved so that it lies to one side of and behind the seat, being connectable to the back of the seat, with said centre line tangential to an imaginary circle which it touches forwardly of the back of the seat and which is centred on the column.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arm is connected to the back of the seat on said centre line.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lifting column is adapted for permanent fixing to the floor alongside a bath, with at least an upper portion of the column from which the arm projects rotatable so that the seat can be swung round from alongside to above the bath.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the column is mounted rotatably on a mobile chassis.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the column is detachably mounted on the mobile chassis and can be removed therefrom and rotatably fitted to a base support adapted to be fixed to the floor alongside a bath.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the seat is in the form of a detachable "legless" chair and has a rigid frame structure supporting a back portion and a seat portion of the chair.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the seat is cantilevered at the end of the arm.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arm is tubular and bent round through a right angle.

9. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the column is telescopic and houses a screw jack with an elevating winding handle mounted at the top of the column and by which the column height can be varied and the screw jack is associated with a clutch assembly operative to provide a braking torque which prevents the weight of a supported patient overrunning the screw jack.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arm is reversible in respect of its end connections, on the one hand with respect to the column and on the other hand with respect to the seat.

11. Apparatus for supporting a disabled or infirm person comprising lifting mechanism including a lifting column, an arm support member projecting from the column, a lifting arm having a curved or cranked main portion with end attachment flanges and a bracket portion attached to one of the flanges, the other flange being attached to said arm support member, and a patient support member in the form of a seat which is detachably supported by said bracket portion at the end of the arm remote from the column with the fore-and-aft centre line of the seat offset from the axis of the column, in plan view said centre line being tangential to a circle centred on the column with said bracket portion supporting the seat at the back thereof, said flanges being attachable by bolts to either side of the bracket portion or of the support member, respectively, whereby the arm is reversible in respect of its end connections, on the one hand with respect to the column and on the other hand with respect to the seat.