Multi-purpose Bed Table Movable Bed's Length Under Patient's Control

Abstract

The apparatus' is characterized by a table positioned above a bed yet not resting thereon, which table is equipped with legs on each side of the bed, which legs are attached to the said table at their upper extremity and having rollers on their lower ends to sit on and move over the floor; the bed has at least one side rail that has a length-wise open channel throughout substantially its length, a flexible cable or substantial cord that is affixed at approximately the mid-height of legs to the legs, which cable passes over a pulley affixed to one end of the bed and over another pulley at the other end of the bed. The movement of the table lengthwise of the bed is controlled by, preferably, a motor with a shaft and a wheel over which the flexible cable passes to be moved one direction or the other. Yet other means can be used, such as an additional pulley or more, over which the cable passes, with pull ends on the cable to be moved one down and the other down when the other is in an up position.

Description

THE OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a bed and a table positioned above it but not resting upon it and free to move with a very minimum of effort by a hospital's patient or the attending nurse, etc., either up the length of the bed or down its length, the table being supported by legs affixed to it on each side thereof, whose lower ends are equipped with rollers to turn and move upon the surface of the floor.

A further object of this invention is to provide a combination of a bed, and a table above the bed, completely under the control of the patient in the bed or the attendant, which table is not supported by the bed or any portion of the bed, but by legs on each side of the bed, whose upper respective ends are spaced and affixed to the table on each side, and whose terminal lower ends are provided with rollers that move over the surface by contact with it; the movement of the table length-wise of bed is accomplished by means of a cable that is attached to legs of the table, which cable passes too over spaced pulleys affixed to the bed at the ends of the latter, the cable being movable, hence the table by the patient, with a very mimimum of effort by means associated with the cable.

Still a further object of this invention is the combination of a table and a bed, the table being positioned above the bed but not supported by it, but supported by legs on each side of the bed, the upper ends of which legs are affixed to the sides of the table and the lower extremity of which legs is provided with a roller, which rollers move by contact with the floor, whereby the table is movable up and down the bed's length, the movement being accomplished by a cable affixed to the front and rear legs on a side of the bed, and extending over rollers at the bed's two length ends and through a channel in a side rail of the bed; the movement is brought about preferable by a motor with a shaft and wheel thereof, over which wheel's channel the cable passes, the motor rotating in both directions moving the cable thus the table lengthwise up and down at the will of the patient or the attendant.

It is still yet another object of this invention to provide that type of table in combination with a bed, which table has a top that is hinged to the base portion of it, which base portion has not only sides but also dividers, thus providing space areas for such things as comb and brush, tooth-paste, paper handkerchiefs, `beauty aids`, eye glasses, etc.

The invention possesses many other advantages in addition to the objects and advantages that have been recited above; ; these will become readily apparent from a of one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, that forms a part of this application for letters patent. This embodiment will be described in detail now. It is, however, to be understood that this attached description is not to be taken in a limited sense, since it is to the appended claims of the invention that a person must look for the scope of the invention.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION VIA AN EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a bed with a table and supporting means for the latter movable longitudinally of the bed.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detached side plan view of the action producing members at the foot of the bed, the bed table and most of the legs being omitted.

FIG. 4 is a detached side plan view of the action producing members at the head of the bed, including the electric motor as power source.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to FIG. 1, the table indicated by the numeral 1, is shown mounted upon four legs, there being two on each side of the table, at the respective top ends; the legs bear the numeral 2. At the lower end of each leg is a roller 3, which is mounted in a conventional manner, utalizing the hollow part of said legs. The rollers, needless to state, by friction due to contact with the floor enable the supported table 1 to be moved. As seen from FIG. 2, the legs 2 clear the sides of the bed to avoid friction that would impede movement of the said supporting legs. Viewing this same figure, it is seen that the bed, itself, has rollers, indicated by numeral 4, as is true of many conventional beds, be they in hospitals or otherwise, forming per se, no part of the novelty of this invention. This figure shows a mattress 5 on horizontal supporting slats 6 of the bed. FIG. 1 shows in dotted lines the supported table and its legs moved to the lower end of the bed. In this embodiment shown in the drawing the bottom 7 of the table 1 is higher in elevation than the foot of the bed, this enabling the table with its movable supporting legs to be more readily positioned in relation to the bed, per se, i.e. lifting is thereby avoided in positioning the table. Both from FIGS. 1 and 2 it can be seen that the movement of the table with reference to the bed is longitudinal of the bed but clearing the bed nevertheless.

It is an objective, a fortiori, of this invention to enable a patient to move with a very minimum of physical effort, thus exertion, the supporting table with no danger of upsetting any portion of the contents of a tray of food or glasses containing liquid, and other things placed upon the table by nurses or hospital attendants. How this is accomplished will be set forth now in detail with reference to the drawing. Looking at FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it will be seen that attached to the foot 8 of the bed is a L-shaped flange, numbered 9, to which in turn is fastened a longitudinal rail 10. From FIG. 2 it will seen that said rail 10 has a longitudinal slot 11 therein. Like the rail itself, the slot extends the entire length of the rail, the purpose of which will be elucidated. As seen from FIG. 3 a U-shaped bracket 12 is attached to the lower end of the bed. Rotatably affixed to the sides of this bracket is a pulley 13 with a centrally positioned groove in its exterior surface, in which a cable 14 moves upon rotation of the pulley. This end of the cable 14 is attached by a snap-on buckle 15 to the eye of a bolt 16 extending through table leg 2 nearest the end of the bed. As seen from FIG. 4 the other end of the cable is attached to the leg nearest the head of the bed by a snap-on buckle 17, which holds to the eye of a bolt 18 that extends through this last mentioned leg. Only the front run portion of cable 14 and its connections to the two respective table legs is shown in the drawing. But obviously the back run of this cable parallels the front run except for connections to the front table legs; the two legs on the back side need not be connected to a cable in order for the table to move longitudinally. Four table legs are needed for the complete, effective support of the table, and these are attached at their upper extremities to the said table. The cable, inasmuch as the pulley at the lower end of the bed and the pulley at the head end of the bed, identified by numerals 13 and 19, are within the slotted longitudinal rail 10, would not pose any danger to people from contact therewith, such as hospital workers or visitors of patients in the hospital room. Rail 10 is attached by a L-shaped bracket 20 to the head 21 of the bed. There is an electric motor 22, which is affixed to the head of the bed, in a conventional manner. Electric current carrying wires 23 are shown in FIG. 1. The wires, per se, are not exposed but are encased as shown in FIG. 1. Projecting from the top portion of this electric motor is represented pulley 19 on a shaft that rotates, 19'. Like pulley 13 referred to above it too has a groove or channel on its exterior cylindrical surface for the contacting cable 14.

From FIG. 1 it will be seen that the electric wire carrying cable has a plug 24 at its extremity for insertion in a wall socket. An electric line 25 runs from the electric motor, and to its extremity there is attached a push button type activator with several buttons, numbered 26. Assume that a tray of food has been placed by a hospital employee upon table 1 at the location of the latter shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1; the patient need but to push one of the buttons in activator element 26, and immediately the motor 22 will start, causing the pulley 19 to turn, thus the cable 14 to move in the direction toward the head of the bed. Because the table is affixed to the lower and upper leg pair, the table 1 moves up toward the patient's body until he or she pushes the inactivating button. When the patient has finished the meal he or she pushes another button that will reverse the rotation of the pulleys, thus causing the table to move longitudinally to the position shown in the dotted lines in FIG. 1. It is believed that this assembly above described has advantages over tables supported by the bed itself through members attached to the bed for this purpose.

Whereas the preferred force for moving or turning the pulleys, which cause the cable to move up the length of the bed or to its lower end, carrying the table longitudinally with it, is an electric motor, hand force can be used instead. In this situation additional pulleys would be needed to bring the ends of the cable with handles thereon to a locus near the patient, so that he or she could pull one end of the cable to effect movement of the table longitudinally toward the patient, and the other end of the cable to cause the table to move toward the lower end of the bed. This is not shown in the drawing, however, but arrangement of pulleys to achieve movements by handles on cable's ends is known, such as in moving curtains in houses.

Reference has been made above to tables by numeral 1. For the convenience of patients, particularly female patients, the table can be more than a simple flat surface with little depth. By utalizing enclosed yet accessable space within the table and below the flat surface, the table can be caused to replace a night stand conventionally used to hold the supplies of the patient. To this end such an embodiment will be briefly described. The top, numbered 27, can be hinged, as shown in FIG. 5. The lower portion 28 of such table can have a plurality of compartments 29, for the storage or keeping of such things as tissue paper, shaving instruments and brush or spray can of soap, eye glasses, `make-up` accessories for women, etc. A mirror may be affixed to the rear surface of the hinged top of the table. It is advantageous to have a table that has a rounded surface that approximates the contour of the midsection of a person rather than a straight line.

The foregoing description and the drawing to which the wording refers discloses a preferred embodiment of this invention; but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustrative, and that changes may be made within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. The combination of a bed and a table positioned over the bed but not resting thereon, which table has spaced legs positioned on each side of the bed, the bed having a side rail with channel therein substantially the entire length thereof, the said legs being attached to the said table at their upper extremity, and at their lower end provided with rollers to contact and move upon the floor, a flexible cable which is attached at approximately the mid-height of the legs to legs of the table, pulleys fastened to the respective ends of the bed contiguous the channel in the side rail, the cable movable within the side rail and contacting the pulleys in the length-wise channel in the side rail, means for activating the cable in opposite directions, whereby a person lying in the bed can cause the table to move in the direction of the length of the bed up and down at will.

2. The combination of movable table and a bed as set out in claim 1, wherein the means for activating the cable comprises at least one additional pulley and pull handles.

3. The combination of a movable table and a bed as set out in claim 1, wherein the means for activating the cable comprises a motor with shaft and wheel, in the channel of which wheel the cable fits to be moved in alternate directions.

4. The combination of a bed and a movable table as set out in claim 1, wherein the table has a cover fastened by hinges to a base of approximately the same shape, which base has sides to form a receptacle for holding articles.

5. The combination of a bed and a movable table as set out in claim 1, wherein the table has a cover fastened by hinges to a base of approximately the same shape, which base has both sides and divider members to form compartments in the base section for holding articles.