Beds – Bedclothing – Multilayer
Reexamination Certificate
1995-12-08
2001-03-13
Melius, Terry Lee (Department: 3628)
Beds
Bedclothing
Multilayer
C005S4130AM, C005S417000, C005S420000, C002S069500, C024S662000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199232
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a protective apparatus for use in emergency care situations. The present invention more particularly relates to protective blankets that may be used in providing an insulated weather resistant covering for an individual in need of assistance. Even more specifically, the present invention concerns emergency care blankets which are adapted to be selectively assembled into a plurality of desired arrangements to accommodate a patient in need of assistance and to protect the patient against prevailing environmental conditions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In many emergency situations, it is critical for a patient to receive prompt and proper attention to his/her injuries in order to avoid exacerbating injuries which have already occurred. Often, the first rescuers to arrive on the scene are emergency medical staff who are responsible for preparing the patient for transportation to the nearest medical facility where the individual's injuries can be treated. Depending upon the particular circumstances surrounding the patient's injuries and the location of an accident scene, these rescuers are typically emergency medical squads who are employed with either a fire department, a local hospital, a law enforcement agency, rescue patrols and the like. In most situations, the patient is transported to the most appropriate medical facility by a ground ambulance, but air ambulances are also employed when circumstances dictate that this would be most efficient.
One of the many concerns of certified rescue workers during their preliminary treatment of a patient is to provide, to the extent possible, the most comfortable surroundings for the individual. This can both place the patient at ease and can be vital to the success or failure of initial medical treatment, particularly in instances where weather conditions are severe or where the patient is in shock. For instance, rescues which take place in cold or wet weather conditions, such as those often encountered by ski patrols, require that the patient be adequately insulated from the cold to avoid further reduction in body temperature, while rescues occurring in windy or rainy climates require that the patient be covered with a material which is repellant to these elements. Therefore, it is vital that the emergency rescue personnel be adequately equipped so that they can quickly and properly adapt to the specific situation at hand.
In the past, it was not uncommon for patients to be strapped onto a gurney and provided with little more than a protective pad or ordinary blanket coverings during transportation to a medical facility. Not surprisingly, such accommodations did little to help improve the patient's condition. Moreover, such an approach was cumbersome and did little to provide adequate protection from the elements. Accordingly, efforts were made by manufacturers to provide a more compact and durable protective blanket which was able to provide all-season comfort and protection to a patient. Products which exist today are typically in the form of insulated sleeping bags which are designed to stabilize the patient's body temperature.
While these techniques are adequate for adapting to some of the situations which may arise during the preliminary stages of a rescue, they are limited in their application. Most notably, these approaches are limited in their versatility because it is cumbersome for the rescue workers to efficiently arrange the bedding systems to provide a stable environment for the patient in all types of prevailing environmental conditions.
For example, when conditions are extremely cold these bedding systems, in and of themselves, would likely not provide sufficient insulation to the patient. The potentially disastrous consequence could be a drop in body temperature resulting in a complication to existing injuries or an otherwise avoidable fatality. At the other extreme, these bedding systems may function to retain too much heat around the body which can also jeopardize the success of the rescue attempt. In order to circumvent these problems, the rescue workers would be required to either add additional layers of insulation over the existing sleeping bag arrangement to stabilize the patient's body temperature or manipulate the fastening assembly on the sleeping bag to allow for more circulation into the interior. It is also not uncommon for rescue personnel to join the patient in the sleeping bag in an effort to better regulate body temperature. If these options cannot be performed in an efficient manner, the health and welfare of the patient is at risk.
A further disadvantage of these approaches is that it is difficult to safely transport the patient, when in the sleeping bag, from one location to another without the need for additional equipment. Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved emergency care blanket which is adapted to adequately protect the patient during a variety of prevailing environmental conditions. There is a further need to provide such an emergency care blanket which allows for easy accessibility to the patient during rescue and which is simplified in construction so as not to interfere with rescue efforts.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful emergency care blanket which may be selectively assembled into a variety of desired arrangements to accommodate an individual in need of assistance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an emergency care blanket which is adapted to protect an individual against prevailing environmental conditions.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an emergency care blanket which is foldable into a compact state to allow for easy transportation thereof when not in use.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an emergency care blanket which allows for easy accessibility to a patient during a rescue attempt.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an emergency care blanket which is sized sufficiently to allow a rescue worker to join a patient within the blanket in an effort to better regulate the patient's body temperature.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a modular emergency care blanket system which can be selectively assembled into a plurality of desired configurations to accommodate an individual in need of assistance and to protect the individual against prevailing environment conditions.
According to the present invention, then, an emergency care blanket is provided which is adapted to be selectively assembled into a plurality of desired arrangements to accommodate an individual in need of assistance and to protect the individual from heat loss and against prevailing environmental conditions. Broadly, the emergency care blanket according to the present invention comprises first and second flexible coverings of a selected geometric shape, preferably rectangular, and a plurality of fasteners. The first flexible covering has an upper first covering surface and a lower first covering surface, and the second flexible covering likewise has an upper second covering surface and a lower second surface. Either one of the first and second flexible coverings is fabricated from a thermally insulating, heat reflective material which includes a weather resistant, yet breathable, shell layer affixed to the thermally insulating material such that a dead air space is thereby formed to trap air therebetween and provide added insulation to the emergency care blanket. Another of the first and second flexible coverings is fabricated from a weather resistant material which is preferably also fire resistant.
Each of the plurality of fasteners includes two fastening structures with each of these fastening structures projecting from opposite respective ones of the upper surface and lower surface of its associated one of the first and second flexible coverings. As such, selected ones of the fastening structures are operative to matably engage selected
Henson Michael R.
Martin Timothy J.
Melius Terry Lee
Santos Robert G.
Weygandt Mark H.
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