Harness for a disposable urinal

Abstract

A harness for supporting a urine collecting bag on the body of a person, including a bag supporting sheet member draped along the outside of one of the person's legs, a waist band connected to the sheet for vertically supporting the sheet from the person's waist, and a leg band, connected to the sheet and loosely fitting around the inside of the person's leg, for holding the sheet of material and the bag to the leg.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to urinary apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for supporting a sanitary urinal that is worn by persons having certain urological afflictions.

People are sometimes afflicated with urological diseases, maladies, and ailments which impair their ability to control the evacuation or release of urine, so that the discharge thereof is involuntary. Persons suffering from such incontinence of urine frequently wear, beneath their clothing, urine collecting or drainage apparatus which will collect and store the discharged urine.

One such urine collecting apparatus employs a plastic, inflatable, disposable bag which is customarily clamped or held to the leg of a wearer by elastic bands which tightly encircle the wearer's leg. These bands constrict the leg, tend to reduce blood circulation in the leg, and are somewhat uncomfortable.

It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for comfortably supporting a urine collecting bag on a person's body.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a support harness for a urine collecting bag including a bag supporting sheet of material, a waist band connected to the sheet of material for supporting the sheet on the waist of a wearer, and leg bands which loosely fit around one of the person's legs and hold the sheet to the leg.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a leg bag harness which is adapted to support urine collecting bags of various sizes on the body of a person.

Other objects and advantages of the present vention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A urinal support harness including a sheet of material adapted to be draped along the outside of a user's leg, a waist band for vertically supporting the sheet, mechanism for securing a urinal to the sheet, and a band encirling the leg and connection to the sheet for preventing the sheet and the urinal from swaying away from the leg.

The present invention may more readily be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating support apparatus constructed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, front elevational view of the apparatus; and

FIG. 3 is a reduced, sectional side view taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

Support apparatus, generally designated 10 and constructed according to the present invention, is particularly adapted for supporting a water impervious, urine collecting bag generally designated B, which receives urine via a flexible tube 11 and a catheter (not shown) that may be inserted into an individual's bladder. The support apparatus, holster, or harness 10 comprises a cloth sheet 12 which is draped along the outside 14 of a user's leg L. The sheet 12 is vertically supported by a waist band 16 connected to the upper end of the sheet 12 via stitching 18. The waist band 16 encircles the waist 20 of a user and includes cooperating snap fasteners 22 and 24 which are snapped together to hold the ends of the bands together.

The bag supporting sheet 12 is prevented from swinging or swaying outwardly away from the leg L of the user via a pair of vertically spaced, detachable, elastic bands 26 having a plurality of expansible apertures or buttonholes 28 therein for receiving, in the expanded condition, buttons 30 connected to the vertically extending edge portions of the sheet 12 via threads 32, as usual. The elastic bands 26 are of sufficient length such that, in their unstretched condition, they pass freely around the user's leg L without constricting the leg and without inhibiting the flow of blood therein. The button-receiving holes 28 permit the leg encircling straps 26 to be adjusted so that the holster-type support 12 will not substantially swing away from the leg L. The urinal B is mounted on the sheet 12 and includes opposing sides 38 and 40 (FIG. 3) which lie flat (as illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 3) against the sheet 12 when the urinal B is empty. The corners 42 of the opposing bag sides 38 and 40 are sealed together at 43 and include buttonholes or eyelets for receiving buttons 46 mounted on the bag-supporting sheet 12 by threads 47. Additional, vertically spaced, bag mounting buttons 46a are provided on the bag supporting sheet 12 to accommodate bags B of differing sizes.

The top of the urine container bladder bag B is formed with an upwardly extending, plastic conduit 44, connected to the flexible tube 11, which is typically connected to a catheter (not shown) that is inserted into the bladder of an individual. The bottom of the bladder bag B is formed with a plastic vent valve 50 having a removable cap 52 which can be opened to drain the bag B when necessary.

To condition the apparatus for use, the bag b is mounted to the support sheet 12 via appropriately spaced buttons 46 and 46a. The sheet 12 is draped along the outside of one leg L and the waist band 16 is wrapped around the waist 20 of the user and the snaps 22 and 24 are fastened together. The leg bands 26 are then loosely wrapped around the inside of the leg L and fastened to the sheet 12 via the buttons 30 so that the leg bands 26 do not constrict the leg L. The tube 44 is suitably disposed in relation to the bladder to collect urine. When filled, the valve 52 may be opened to drain the bag B. If the bag B is to be replaced, it is merely unbuttoned from the sheet 12 and another urinal B is mounted in its place.

It is to be understood that the drawings and descriptive matter are in all cases to be interpreted as merely illustrative of the principles of the invention, rather than as limiting the same in any way, since it is contemplated that various changes may be made in various elements to achieve like results without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A support harness for supporting a urine collecting container on a person including comprising;

an elongated support means adapted to extend along one side of a person's leg;

waist band means connected to the upper end of said support means for vertically supporting said support means from the waist of said person;

means for detachably mounting a urine collecting container of said support means to be supported thereby; and

at least one leg band means, substantially shorter than said waist band means and connected to the lower portion of said support means, for loosely passing around the opposite side of said leg to inhibit movement of said support means and said bag outwardly away from said person's leg.

2. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 in combination with said urine collectingg container, said container comprising a water impervious bag having an inlet at the upper end thereof and an outlet valve at the lower end thereof for draining said container.

3. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 including additional leg band means connected to said support means intermediate said waist band means and said first mentioned leg band means for encircling the said leg of the user.

4. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 including pluralities of buttons for mounting different size bags.

5. The support harness asset forth in claim 1 wherein said support means comprises a sheet of material adapted to drape along the outside of the person's leg.

6. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein said leg band means comprises a plurality of button-receiving openings spaced along the length thereof, and buttons mounted on said sheet of material, receivable in selected ones of said openings to adjust the length of said leg band means to the leg of the user.

7. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sheet of material comprises a sheet of fabric which will conform to the configuration of the user's leg.

8. The support harness as set forth in claim 7 wherein said waist band means comprises a strip of fabric fixed to the upper end portion of said sheet of material.

9. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein said leg band means is adapted to loosely pass around said leg without constricting same.

10. The support harness as set forth in claim 1 in combination with said urine collecting container, said container comprising a water impervious inflatable bag having button-receiving openings, said mounting means comprises button means on said sheet receivable in said openings.