Beds – With means for relocating an invalid – With a hoisting – lifting – elevating – or raising device
Patent
1997-09-09
1999-03-09
Grosz, Alex
Beds
With means for relocating an invalid
With a hoisting, lifting, elevating, or raising device
5 831, A61G 710, A61G 712
Patent
active
058784500
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a device according to the preamble of claim 1.
Such a device is disclosed in GB-A-2,140,773. In this patent specification the position of the lifting arm can be changed with regard to the position of the auxiliary arm by a manually operated cam meganism. In this way the lifting arm can be adapted to the position of the person to be lifted. The lifting arm assembly is hingeably mounted on en essentially vertical frame. With this arrangement it is essential that the length of the lifting arm corresponds to the length of the femur of the person concerned. By turning the lifting arm assembly with respect to the frame, the person can be raised. With this arrangement it is assumed that a sort of parallelogram construction is produced, two sides of the parallelogram being formed by, on one side, the lifting arm and, on the other side, the femur of the patient.
It has been found that a lifting movement of this type is unnatural, offers no possibilities for providing adjustment to suit persons who still have some strength to stand up on their own and is unsuitable for rehabilitation purpose. Moreover, problems arise with people of different heights.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a device which does not have these disadvantages.
This aim is realized with the device as described above having the characterizing features of claim 1.
The invention is based on the insight of replacing the lifting arm assembly by an articulated construction consisting of the lifting arm and an auxiliary arm connected thereto. The auxiliary arm, in turn, is connected to the frame. In this way it is possible to execute a large number of different movements at the ends of the lifting arm, which is gripped by the patient. Such gripping can take place either by attachment means such as grab bars or a strap which is fastened to the ends of the lifting arm, or by both said means.
As a result of the articulated construction it is, for example, possible when raising a person from a seated position first to let said person move essentially forwards towards the device and then move essentially upwards, that is to say in the vertical direction.
This is in contrast to the device according to the above-mentioned British Application GB-2,110,773, in which the first part of the movement will always be essentially vertical or, in an extreme case, horizontal in the direction away from the device.
The movement which is possible using the device according to the invention is much more natural and stimulates the person concerned to cooperate in being raised, so that his or her muscle function is maintained and/or trained as far as possible.
Moreover, this construction offers the possibility of following a different path when moving from the standing position into the seated position. In such a case it is possible for the patient first to be moved from the standing position horizontally to above the seat and then be moved vertically.
It must be understood that numerous other seated/standing/seated paths are also possible with the construction according to the invention.
The means for controlling the movement of the lifting arm from the frame preferably comprise a rod transmission. Because said rod transmission will in practice largely be under tensile stress, a more flexible transmission is likewise possible. Preferably, a safety device is fitted to prevent the person from being trapped between the arm and his or her chair.
If a rod transmission is used, two rods hingeably connected to one another are preferably fitted, one of said rods being pivotably mounted in the hinge point of the auxiliary arm in the frame. In this way the force needed to move the lifting arm essentially bypasses the auxiliary arm. Consequently, independent movement of auxiliary arm and lifting arm is relatively simple to achieve because movement of the one arm has no effect on the operating force on the other arm.
The arms can be controlled by operating elements such as motors. The motors are preferably of such construction that the move
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Careflex Holding B.V.
Gastel Joseph P.
Grosz Alex
Pollock Elliott I.
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