EP0456584A1 - Apparatus for transferring patients and handicapped persons - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus is distinguished by the fact that it comprises a fixed supporting structure (A) which can be positioned at any suitable point near a bath or another transfer position; the said structure is equipped to carry, in a vertically adjustable manner, a bracket (7) which is mounted freely rotatably on the structure and receives at its end a transfer seat (9 or 22); the vertical displacement at least of the bracket relative to the structure being obtained using a drive member which is controlled by a means (19 or 21) accessible to the user when he/she is seated on the seat of the apparatus. <IMAGE>

Description

The object of the invention relates to the technical sector of means of transport for the sick and disabled.

In hospitals, clinics, health and convalescent homes, retirement homes, it is necessary to have means of transferring the sick and disabled from one place to another, in particular for carrying out bodily care such as as baths, or to transport people in a road vehicle.

To facilitate the work of nursing staff, devices have already been developed for transferring people from a wheelchair to a bathtub. These devices consist in particular of a seat supported by a supporting structure on which it can pivot or straps attached to a gantry crane or to a motorized rail suspended under the ceiling or even a seat on a trolley fixed above the bathtub .

In general, these devices do not allow or very difficult the transfer of invalids by themselves without the help of a person which does not solve the problem of the lack of care staff and forces this staff to manipulations tedious and painful. This is why, the device according to the invention has been designed which, judiciously placed near a bathtub for example, allows the patient or the disabled person to transfer from his chair to the device and then to place himself in the bathtub and vice versa, independently and with the greatest of ease.

For this and according to a first characteristic, the device comprises a fixed support structure which can be positioned at any suitable point near a bathtub or other transfer location; said structure is equipped to carry an adjustable height bracket mounted with free rotation on the structure and which receives at the end a transfer seat; the displacement in height at least of the bracket relative to the structure being obtained from a motor member controlled by a means accessible to the user when seated on the seat of the device.

According to another characteristic, the bracket is mounted on the support structure with a variable rotation capacity by means of a hollow upright subject at these ends to pivot axes associated with support plates of the structure.

Other features are found in the fact that the seat is rotatably mounted on the stem, that the seat is linearly adjustable along the stem, that the stem is lockable in at least one angular position relative to the structure and unlockable by the user installed on the seat, that the height adjustment of the stem relative to the structure is obtained by a motor-reducing member actuated by a control accessible by the user installed on the seat and that the other relative movements are also controlled by any means accessible to the user installed on the seat.

These characteristics and others will emerge from the description which follows.

To fix the subject of the invention without however limiting it in the appended drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a front view of the apparatus according to Figure 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 2.

Figures 4 and 5 are schematic plan views illustrating two positions extreme features of the device.

Figure 6 is a front view illustrating another embodiment of the apparatus.

Figure 7 is a plan view corresponding to Figure 6 with dashed lines a 90 ° position of the bracket.

Figure 8 is a plan view showing a different positioning of the apparatus relative to the bathtub.

In order to make the object of the invention more concrete, it is now described in a nonlimiting manner with reference to the exemplary embodiments of the figures of the drawings.

The apparatus according to FIGS. 1 to 5 firstly comprises a fixed support structure (A) having a vertical beam (1) fixed in any suitable manner between floor and ceiling, between floor and partition, on partition, or as illustrated, only on the ground by a sole (1a). In this case, the upper part of the beam is connected to a horizontal plate (1b), while another horizontal plate (1c) is fixed in the lower part of the beam. Between these two plates is mounted for free rotation by axes (2 and 3), an assembly comprising a hollow upright (4) connected at the lower part to a casing (5) containing a motor-reducing member (not shown) intended to move in height by rolling along the upright (4), forming a rail, a support member (6) or carriage forming part of a seat-holder assembly (C). This type of guidance and translation control by screw-nut system and bearings was the subject of a previous Patent Application N ° 89.07917 of which the applicant is also the holder. Of course, other guiding and translational displacement devices can be provided without departing from the scope of the invention. On the support member (6) is fixed a triangulated bracket (7) comprising for this purpose an arm horizontal (7a), a vertical arm (7b) and a flying buttress (7c).

At the lower part of the vertical arm (7b) is mounted with free rotation in (13) a squared support (8) on which is fixed a seat (9). The square support is part of a deformable parallelogram device (D) composed of two parallel crosspieces (8a and 10) and two parallel coupling bars (11 and 12). The crosspiece (8a) is integral with the squared support (8) thus being movable relative to the vertical arm (7b) of the bracket, while the rear crosspiece (10) is articulated at (14) at the rear of the horizontal arm (7a) of the gallows. The tie rods (11 and 12) are connected at the front to the crosspiece (8a) by pins (15), pass through pins (16) articulated under the crosspiece (10), and their rear end forms a ring (11a and 12a) to be connected with free articulation around two fixed lateral columns (17 and 18) carried by the upper plate (1b) of the fixed structure and by bent legs (1d) integral with the beam (1) of said structure. In this way, the seat (9) keeps the same orientation relative to the structure all along its pivoting.

As is apparent from FIGS. 4 and 5, it is understood that with a device thus produced and judiciously arranged, a patient or a disabled person in a wheelchair can easily transfer himself into a bathtub. For this, he approaches the device to grab a remote control (19) of the gear motor assembly, or a sealed manipulator (21) fixed on the stem (7) to bring the seat, then he placed in the seat (9), acts on the remote control or the manipulator to raise said seat above the bathtub. He can then either by manually pulling on an articulated bar (20) fitted along the bathtub (broken lines in Figures 4 and 5), or by resting on the ground by his feet, or even by a complementary arrangement of the remote control or the accessible manipulator acting on a gear integrated in the casing (5) and controlling the pivoting of the seat carrier (C), place yourself above the bathtub, then descend into said bathtub. Note that the bar (20) can then be pivoted inside the bathtub (Figure 5) to serve as a support bar or support for serving tray.

According to another embodiment illustrated in Figures 6, 7 and 8, the bracket (7) associated with the carriage (6) sliding the upright (4) fixedly carries a seat (22). According to this embodiment, when the bracket pivots on the axes (2 and 3) of the structure, the seat (22) passes from a position perpendicular to the bathtub (for transfer from the chair) to a position parallel and superimposed on the bathtub ( for diving in the bath).

Of course in the two embodiments and as required the pivoting of the stem by about 90 ° can be increased until the stem stops against the beam (1) if care is taken to spread the amount sufficiently (4) thereof.

On the other hand, it is also possible in this second embodiment to mount the seat (22) in a rotary manner on the stem with locking in the chosen position. This rotation has been symbolized by the circle (23) in FIGS. 7 and 8.

In addition, in both embodiments, it is also possible to mount the seat (9 or 22) with a capacity for linear movement along the stem (arrow F1) with in this case also a means of locking in position.

This additional equipment allows the device to be very precisely adapted to the position of the bathtub in the room.

Obviously, the relative movements of the seat relative to the stem (rotation, translation) as well as the pivoting of the bracket relative to the structure can be controlled in the same way as the displacement in height of the bracket on the upright (4) of the structure, that is to say by a manipulator or a remote control.

Provision has also been made, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, for an automatic locking means in position of the bracket relative to the structure when the seat is outside the bathtub, in order to ensure the safe transfer of the user. from his wheelchair for example.

For this, use is made of a device comprising a link (24) articulated on the upper plate (1b) of the structure and to a vertical rod (25) located within easy reach of the user seated on the seat of the apparatus. At the bottom, the rod is articulated by a spacer (26) to a lever (27) itself centered on a yoke (28) formed in the plate (1c) of the structure.

By its own weight, the rod (25) switches the lever (27) so that its free end enters a notch in the plate (1c) when the bracket reaches the position outside the bathtub. Given the configuration of the device, unlocking (release of the lever) is easily carried out by simply pulling the rod (arrow F2) of the user in its direction. A sleeve (29) or handle can be provided on the rod to facilitate gripping.

Of course, numerous variant embodiments may fall within the scope of the invention. For example, the seat can be replaced by a carrycot, by straps; the amplitude of the angular displacement can be variable according to the needs, in particular in another targeted application concerning the transfer of a person from a wheelchair into a vehicle for transporting the like minibuses, ambulances, vans ...

The advantages emerge clearly from the rest of the description, in particular the easy transfer between two seats by the user is emphasized, the numerous possibilities of adaptation of the device, the simplicity of operation.

Claims (10)

-1- Transfer device for the sick and disabled, characterized in that it comprises a fixed support structure (A) which can be positioned at any suitable point near a bathtub or other place of transfer; said structure is equipped to carry in a height-adjustable manner a bracket (7) mounted for free rotation on the structure and which receives at the end a transfer seat (9 or 22); the displacement in height at least of the bracket relative to the structure being obtained from a motor member controlled by means (19 or 21) accessible to the user when seated on the seat of the device. -2- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the bracket (7) is mounted on the supporting structure (A) with variable rotation capacity via a hollow upright (4) subject at its ends to axes (2 and 3) associated with support plates (1b and 1c) of the structure. -3- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the transfer seat (9 or 22) is mounted on the bracket (7) rotatably with locking means in the selected position. -4- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the seat (9 or 22) is mounted on the bracket (7) with capacity for linear movement along said bracket and locking means in the selected position. -5- Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the connection between the bracket (7) and the support structure is obtained by a device deformable parallelogram (D) composed of two parallel crosspieces (8a and 10) articulated at the front and rear of the stem (7) and two coupling bars (11 and 12) articulated at (15) at the crosspiece (8a), passing through pins (16) articulated to the crosspiece (10) and connected to lateral columns (17 and 18) carried by the fixed structure (1). -6- Apparatus according to claim 2, the bracket (7) is connected to the hollow upright (4) of the support structure by a support member (6) moved in rotation by a motor-reduction unit controlling an associated screw-nut system to the support member (6), is characterized in that the control is ensured by a sealed manipulator (21) fixed on the bracket (7) within easy reach of the user installed on the seat (9 or 22) . -7- Apparatus according to claim 2, the bracket 7 is connected to the amount of the supporting structure by a support member (6) moved in rotation by a motor-reduction unit controlling a screw-nut system associated with the support member (6 ), is characterized in that the control member is a remote control (19) accessible by the user. -8- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the bracket (7) is locked automatically in the position of exit from the bathtub or other transfer location by a lever device (27) articulated to the lower support plate (1c ) of the supporting structure and subjected to the weight of a vertical rod (25), also associated with the upper support plate (1b), in order to penetrate a notch in the plate (1c) for locking purposes. -9- Apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the vertical rod (25) is positioned within easy reach of the user when installed on the seat (9 or 22) so that by simple manual traction on the rod in its direction, the lever (27) rocks to disengage from the locking notch. -10- Apparatus according to any one of claims 2, 3 and 4, characterized in that the relative movements of the seat relative to the bracket, and the rotation of the bracket relative to the support structure are controlled by an accessible means manipulator type (21), remote control (19).

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