Handrail/leaning rail

Fences – Rail

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C256S001000, C256S065080

Reexamination Certificate

active

06270058

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to handrails and, in particular, to a handrail that is configured to enable infirm persons to either grasp it or lean on it for support and to prevent any part of a user's hand or arm from passing through a space between a handgrip portion and the wall to a position below the handgrip portion, should the user lose his or her grip on the handgrip portion.
Hospitals, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities make extensive use of handrails so that infirm persons have something to hold onto when they walk from place to place. The handrails are often designed not only for providing support to infirm persons but for protecting the walls from impacts by food carts, equipment carts, litters and other objects that are moved through the building. As far as the present applicants are aware, all handrail systems commonly used in hospitals and nursing homes have rails that are mounted on brackets that are spaced apart along the wall and support the rails some distance from the wall, thus leaving a gap between the wall and the rail. The gap is usually wide enough to accept the hand and forearm of a person. It is, therefore, possible for a user's hand to accidently slip from grasping engagement with the handgrip and pass through the gap. If the person falls while his or her arm extends into the gap between the handrail and the wall, his or her hand, wrist or arm can be broken.
Some infirm persons are not physically able to get a good grasp on the handgrip of a handrail or not able to grasp the rail at all. Instead, they rest their hand or lean their forearm on the rail for support. Many previously known handrails are not well suited for being leaned on, either because they lack a wide upper surface or the upper surface is spaced widely apart from the wall and can uncomfortably trap or pinch the forearm of the user between the wall and the handgrip portion of the rail or even allow the forearm to pass between the handgrip and the wall.
Another shortcoming of many previously known handrails of the type used in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities is an “institutional” or commercial appearance. A pleasant environment contributes to the well-being of the occupants. Attractive special functional fixtures, such as handrails, should have a residential appearance to the extent possible.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a rail—a “handrail/leaning rail”—that can be grasped or leaned on for support. It is also an object to provide a handrail/leaning rail that presents surfaces that are free of discontinuities along the length of the rail that can catch a user's fingers or hand. In addition, it is desired to ensure that a user's hand or forearm cannot protrude though a gap between the handgrip and the wall and be injured. Yet another object is to protect the wall on which the handrail/leaning rail is mounted from impacts by objects such as food and equipment carts. Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a handrail/leaning rail in which, preferably, the wall surface adjacent the rail is covered by a shield portion of the rail and the rail is attractive in appearance, durable, economical to produce and install, and easy to clean.
The foregoing objects are attained, in accordance with the present invention, by a handrail/leaning rail that includes a mounting system adapted to be attached to a wall and an elongated rail separate from the mounting system and removably attached to the mounting system. The rail has a handgrip portion having a top surface and undercut front and rear surfaces shaped for grasping by a user, the rear surface being positioned on the rail to be spaced apart from the wall. A safety blocking portion that is longitudinally coextensive with the handgrip portion and extends rearwardly from a lower base portion of the rear surface of the handgrip portion substantially blocks a gap that would otherwise exist between the lower base portion of the handgrip portion of the rail and the wall. In preferred embodiments, the rail also has a wall shield flange portion extending upwardly from the safety blocking portion and spaced apart from the rear surface of the handgrip portion.
The mounting system may consist of mounting brackets adapted to be attached to the wall in spaced apart relation and received under the rail. Alternatively, the mounting system may have elongated brackets that extend lengthwise substantially coextensively with the rail. The elongated brackets may, for example, have a rail-supporting flange portion that extends out from the wall and is received either in a slot in the safety blocking portion or in a recess in the underside of the safety blocking portion.
In preferred embodiments, the handgrip portion, the safety blocking portion and, when included, the wall shield flange portion are unitary. A unitary rail can be made of a metal, such as aluminum, brass or stainless steel, a rigid polymeric material, such as polyvinyl chloride (“pvc”), a rigid structural foam polymeric material having a solid skin, such as pvc, or wood. The rail can be solid or hollow. It is also possible for the rail to have a structural base or retainer and a rail cover of a rigid polymeric material, such as pvc. Although the rail may have a textured surface, it is preferred that the surface be smooth so that it is easy to clean.
In some cases, the material of the rail is inherently impact resistant and provides good protection for the wall while retaining a good appearance after impacts from carts an other objects. Otherwise, for example when the rail is of wood or aluminum, the front surface of the handgrip portion may have a bumper insert of a suitable impact-resistant material, such as a rigid or semi-rigid polymeric material.
Walls are rarely absolutely flat. In order to avoid leaving gaps between a wall shield flange portion of the rail and the wall, the wall shield flange may have at its upper edge a flexible sealing lip that is adapted to engage the wall and to conform to irregularities in the wall. The sealing lip not only improves the appearance of the rail as installed but closes up any gaps where dirt can collect.
In embodiments of the present invention in which the rail includes a wall shield flange portion extending upwardly from the safety blocking portion and spaced apart from the rear surface of the handgrip portion, the mounting system may consist of elongated L-shaped brackets that extend substantially coextensively with the rail and have upper mounting flange portions received rearwardly of the wall shield portions in rear recesses of the wall shield portion. The upper flange portions receive fasteners, by which the brackets are attached to the wall. The mounting flange portions and fasteners are completely concealed by the wall shield portions of the rails.
The handgrip portion of the rail can have any shape in cross-section, such as round, rectangular with small-radius corners, or generally oval, that allows it to be grasped. It is preferred that the upper surface of the handgrip portion be shaped and dimensioned to conform substantially to a comfortably open palm of an outstretched hand of a person. For example, the upper, front and rear surfaces may form in cross-section a portion of an oval, modified to have a generally convex upper surface. A desirable configuration for the handgrip portion is an oval with a slightly convex upper surface and having a major dimension of about two inches and a minor dimension of about one inch. The wall shield flange portion, preferably, has an upper edge configured to engage the wall and a smoothly convexly curved frontal surface adjacent the upper edge. The rear surface of the handgrip portion should be spaced apart from the upper edge of the wall shield flange portion by about one and one-half inches to leave room for a user to grasp the rear edge with his or her fingers but to prevent a user's open palm or forearm from intruding into the space. The forearm can, in fact, nest comf

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