Chairs and seats – Movable bottom – Tiltable
Patent
1997-10-24
1999-11-23
Brown, Peter R.
Chairs and seats
Movable bottom
Tiltable
297DIG10, 29745241, 29725613, 56553, 5654, A61G 514
Patent
active
059887478
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a lifting device particularly, but not exclusively for the lifting of a person and typically an elderly, infirm or injured person such that they can move from and onto an object. Such objects can be any of a chair, bath or bed.
At the present time there are several mechanical devices available to aid in the lifting of a person to and from an object. However the mechanical devices are necessarily bulky due to the fact that in order to be able to safely support the weight of the person being lifted they are required to have a relatively large base to ensure that the device does not topple over upon bearing the weight of the person. The size of these devices therefore leads to problems with their use in areas where space is restricted such as in hospital wards, convalescing homes, bathrooms, bedrooms and such like. This has meant that a considerable proportion of the lifting of persons is still undertaken manually as the devices available are either too bulky to be used or the time taken using the devices is regarded as being excessively long.
In an attempt to reduce these problems co-pending application No PCT/G93/01104 discloses the use of an inflatable seating device and control means therefore for use in lifting and lowering a person such as lifting the person to and from a bath. The inflatable seat is manufactured with a single chamber with walls made from a plastics material and allows inflation from a flattened position where the person can sit in the bath to an inflated position where the person is raised to the rim of the bath so that they can then leave the same. This seat relies upon contact with the side walls of the bath, to add to the stability of the device. The need for stability is important as the seating area is relatively small compared to the height of the device when inflated and the use of the side wall contact ensures that the same is guided such that the raising and lowering of the person sitting on the seat during deflation and inflation is smooth and thus the person sitting on the same feels safe. It has been found that this inflatable seat, although operable successfully when side contact walls are provided is prone to inflate and deflate in an unsatisfactory and irregular manner when no such support walls are available or the size of the seating area relative to the inflated height is increased. This can lead to the person sitting on the device becoming unbalanced and the feeling of security, which is important to persons who may be infirm and unable to support themselves, is lost. One alternative is to provide a seat comprising a number of compartments as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,558. However in this type of seat each compartment is independently adjustable so as to offer variation in pressure for comfort purposes. This seat does not allow control of the inflation and deflation of the seat in a balanced fashion and control relative to the pressure in the other compartments of the seat.
The aim of the present invention is to provide an inflatable seat which can be used to raise and lower persons sitting thereon without the need for supporting walls to be present and to allow the device to be operable for relatively shallow lifting operations and to provide the seat and control means therefore, in a manner which allows the person sitting thereon to be raised and lowered in a relatively smooth and balanced fashion.
The present invention provides in a first aspect of the invention a lifting means apparatus including an inflatable seat (2) for the lifting and lowering of a person sitting thereon, said inflatable seat device comprising at least two inflatable compartments (14) and characterised in that the lifting means includes a flow control system (12, 13', 13"), for controlling the inflation and/or deflation of each of the compartments (14) such that the relative rate of inflation and/or deflation of a compartment at any one time is dependent upon the pressure fluid in that compartment and the pressure of fluid in the other compartments of the i
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