GB1592254A

GB1592254A - Hospital beds

Info

Publication number: GB1592254A
Application number: GB41759/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Kirby H D B
Current assignee: Kirby H D B
Priority date: 1977-10-07
Filing date: 1977-10-07
Publication date: 1981-07-01
Also published as: SE7810438L; SE437468B

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO HOSPITAL BEDS (71) I, HAROLD DOUGLAS BENSON KIRBY, a British Subject, of G.F. Redfern & Co., Marlborough Lodge, 14 Farncombe Road, Worthing, Sussex, do hereby declare the invention, which was communicated from Allan Omming, a Swedish subject, of Lokattsvgen 32, S-161 Bromma, Sweden, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to beds.

Hospitals and long-term care establishments often provide arrangements for transferring a bed-ridden person to a wheelchair.

These arrangements normally include a moveable lifting device, whereby a patient can be lifted from a bed by means of a strap and lowered into a conventional wheelchair.

This procedure is relatively complicated, besides being risky and uncomfortable for the patient. When no such arrangements are available, the bed-ridden patient has hitherto been lifted from his bed manually by for example, two nursing personnel and placed into the wheelchair. This requires strenuous effort on the part of the ward personnel.

An object of the present invention is to provide a bed for facilitating the transfer of person from the bed to a wheelchair.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a bed comprising: a mattress formed by a plurality of separate mattress portions; and a respective support means supporting each mattress portion, one of said portions comprising two mattress parts hinged together along a common edge, one of which parts is pivotable with an associated part of the associated support means, which support means is separable from the remainder of the bed, into a position where the pivotable mattress part is inclined to the remaining bed surface, wherein the separable support means for said mattress parts is provided with a wheeled carriage to allow the separable support means to be wheeled from the bed with said mattress parts.

Preferably, there is provided a frame extending the entire length of said bed which frame carries each of said support means.

Wheels of said carriage may be pressable against the floor to lift the seperable support means before it is wheeled from the bed.

Preferably, the mattress portion comprising two mattress parts is substantially midway between the head and foot of the bed.

Preferably, the mattress portion comprising two mattress parts extends transversely of the bed from one side to the other and said common edge is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bed.

Preferably, said separable support means comprises a hinged frame structure, one hinged portion of which can be locked in an inclined position to support the pivotable mattress part.

Preferably, said separable support means is separable by motion laterally of the bed longitudinal axis.

Preferably, said carriage is detachable from said separable support means whereby the carriage can be completely removed from the separable support means and the bed.

Preferably, said carriage has two elongate arms which engage in respective tubular portions on respective sides of said frame structure.

Preferably, two arm supports are provided on the carriage and are arranged to engage with respective sides of said seperable support means when it is supporting the pivotable mattress part in said inclined position.

Preferably, the combination of said wheeled carriage, said separable support means and said mattress parts forms a wheelchair with said pivotable mattress part serving as a back support.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a wheelchair formed from parts of the bed according to said one aspect of the invention, said parts of the bed comprising said separable support means, said mattress parts, and said wheeled carriage, the wheeled carriage supporting said separable support means and said mattress parts being supported by said separable support means.

So that the invention will be more readily understood, exemplary embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which: Figure I is a schematic exploded view in perspective of a bed according to the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic side view of a bed according to the invention; Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line III-III of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a schematic side view showing how a carrying means is connected to a carriage; Figure 5 illustrates schematically a simplified embodiment of a carrying means; Figure 6 illustrates one way in which a wheelchair can be removed from a bed; and Figure 7 illustrates a raisable and lowerable wheelchair having wheels which can be lifted up beneath a bed.

Figure 1 shows a bed 1 comprising a conventional tubular frame 2 having two tubes extending along each longitudinally extending side of the bed, said tubes being carried by a head and a foot structure each comprising steel tubes 3. Arranged at the head end of the bed is a pivotably raisable and lowerable bed portion 5 whilst at the foot end of the bed there is a further pivotably raisable and lowerable bed portion 4. Each of portions 4 and 5 comprises a steel-tube frame 6 mounted on journals 7 and carrying a plate 8. Arranged between bed portions 4 and 5 is a rectangular steel-tube intermediate separable frame part 9. The frame 9 comprises two tubular sectioned U-shaped parts 10 and 11 the free ends of which are pivotally connected together for rotation about an axis 12 extending parallel with the centre line of the bed.Each U-shaped part comprises two transverse members (15 and 17 or 16 and 18) and one longitudinal member (19 or 20).

Each of the frame parts 10 and 11 carries a respective plate 13 and is supported by two transversely extending beams 14 each of which extends between the upper, longitudinally extending tubes of the frame 2. Each beam 14 passes beneath and parallel with a respective pair of said transverse members (15 and 16 or 17 and 18) of the centre frame 9. The parts 15 and 16 and the parts 17 and 18 are pivotally mounted for rotation about a shaft 12. Frame 9 is moveable in the transverse direction of the bed guided by the transversely extending tubular parts of pivotable bed portions 4 and 5 mounted on journals 7.

A mattress lies on the base of the bed, which base comprises plates 8 and 13. The mattress is divided into three separate parts covered by a sheet, namely two parts 4' and 5' lying on the respective plates 8 of bed portions 4 and 5 and a part 9' lying on the two plates 13 of the rectangular centre frame 9. The mattress part 9' is slotted along its under surface to form a hinge line 12' extending parallel with the shaft 12 so that two parts 10' and 11' are formed which are hinged together only along the upper surface of mattress part 9'. The hinge line 12' is displaced towards the part 10' from the shaft 12 by a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the mattress.

Figure 1 also shows a wheelchair carriage 21 arranged to be coupled to the centre frame 9 of the illustrated bed in a simple manner. Figures 1 and 4 illustrate an embodiment in which carriage 21 is provided with two fixed, horizontal lifting arms 22 which are arranged so that they can be inserted into open ends of tubes 15 and 17 of part 10 of the rectangular centre frame 9. The carriage 21 is also provided with four wheels 23 which are mounted on pivotable arms 24.

By means of a pedal 25, a hydraulic pump 26 (operated by said pedal) and a hydraulic cylinder 27 the pivotable arms 24 can be moved. A respective line member 28 connects together arms 24 of each pair of wheels 23. Cylinder 27 acts between links 28 and the frame of the carriage 21. In this way, lifting arms 22 can be raised to a position in which they can be inserted into tubes 15 and 17. Thereafter, they are raised further thus lifting part 10 of the rectangular frame 9 slightly above frame 2 of the bed.

The carriage 21 is also provided with a foot support 29 and two pivotable arm supports 30 which, after pivoting of part 11 to a raised position in which it is locked by means of a latching mechanism 31 arranged on shaft 12, can be coupled with respective pegs 32 on the sides of part 11 by means of locking mechanisms 33 arranged on the arm supports 30 (see Figure 4). If desired, a neck support 34 may also be mounted on the part 11, which after being locked in its raised position serves as a back support.

The arrangement operates in the following way: First the patient is moved laterally in the bed onto the mattress portion 10'.

Part 4 of the head-end of the bed is then lifted up (see Figure 2) thereby to enable the patient to adopt a sitting position in the bed on the mattress part 10' with his legs remaining on the mattress part 5'. This lifting of part 4 can be achieved either by means of hydraulic devices which are often found on hospital beds, or manually. With manual lifting, as illustrated in Figure 2, a manually operated device 35 locks the lifted part 4 in a desired position. The carriage 21 is then moved into position and lifting arms 22 inserted into respective tubular parts 15 and 17 of the frame part 10. The frame part 11 is then raised and locked in an almost vertical position by means of mechanism 31 shown in Figure 3. Frame part 11 then forms a back rest.The legs of the patient are then swung over the side of the bed, the feed of the patient being placed on the foot support 29 and the back of the patient being cushioned by mattress part 11' which covers the back support 11. Arm supports 30 are now pivoted to a position immediately above respective tubular parts 15 and 17 and locked securely to respective locking pegs 32 of tubular parts 16 and 18.

Frame part 9 with the hinged mattress part 9' now forms, together with carriage 21, a comfortable wheelchair to which the patient has now been transferred in a simple manner. The wheel-chair is still resting on the support beams 14 of the bed 1. In order to release the wheelchair from the bed, pedal 25 is depressed so that the wheels 23 are forced against the floor thereby raising the carriage 21 a small distance above support beams 14. The wheelchair can then be rolled away from the bed in a direction perpendicular to the longiudinal direction of the bed.

Figure 5 illustrates part of a simplified embodiment, which can be used in combination with beds having soft, sprung bases.

Corresponding to centre part 9 of Figure 1, is provided a member of strong fabric having a panel 41 and two tubular members 42 and 43 extending transversely of the bed at the side edges of the panel member. The lifting arms 22 of the carriage 21 are inserted into the tubular members 42 and 43. In this instance, the length of each lifting arm 22 must be equal to the length of each of members 42 and 43 in order to give the necessary rigidity to members 42 and 43.

The lifting arms 22 are in this case provided with lockable pivots (not shown) corresponding to the shaft 12 and the latching mechanism 31 of the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4. The construction requires a large amount of space when inserting the lifting arms 22 into members 42 and 43. Lifting arms 22 may therefore each comprise two parts one of which is a removeable part which can be inserted into one of members 42 and 43 from the opposite end to that into which the part connected to the carriage 21 is inserted. The two parts are coupled together at a respective one of said lockable pivots (not shown). Alternatively, as illustrated in Figure 5, a hinged unit comprising members 44 to 48 may be provided. Two carrier arms 44 and 45, the length of which corresponds to the length of the passages 42 and 43, are each pivotable about a respective hinge 46 or 47 provided with a latch device 31.Arms 44 and 45 are connected together at one end by a stay-bar 48.

Members 44 to 48 form a separate unit such that when pivoted into the position shown by chain lines in Figure 5 arms 44 and 45 can be inserted partially into the first half of members 42 and 43. After straightening, arms 44 and 45 can be inserted fully into members 42 and 43. The exposed ends of the arms 44 and 45 are open and lifting arms 22 of carriage 21 can then be inserted into arms 44 and 45 in a similar manner to that previously described. In this embodiment, bosses 49, or another suitable attachment device, are provided on members 42 and 43 to function as pegs 32 of Figure 4.

Carriage 21 need not be provided with means for raising and lowering the lifting arms 22 relative to the wheels 23. Instead, means may be provided for raising and lowering the base of the bed.

It is also possible to arrange small pulleys 61 on the support beams 14 of the bed and/or on the carriage 21. The necessary changes in height are then obtained by tipping the carriage 21 slightly whilst, at the same time moving the carriage in towards the bed or away from the bed by means of a pulley 61, as shown in Figure 6. A threaded coupling 50 serves as a height-adjusting device.

Figure 7 illustrates a particularly preferred embodiment in which carriage 21 is fixedly joined to the centre part 9 of the bed. The parts 9 and 21 thus form a removeable part of the bed. The purpose is to enable a patient who finds it very difficult to move to seat himself in the wheelchair and move away from the bed and vice versa.

Since, with this embodiment, it is unnecessary to couple the carriage to the centre section of the bed, the centre section 9 can simply be lifted slightly above the remainder of the bed solely by means of hydraulic cylinder 27, which in this embodiment is powered by an electrically driven pump (not shown). The electric motor of the pump is driven by an accumulator 51 which is also used to energise an electric motor 52 for propelling and guiding the wheelchair. A worm-gear motor 54 may also be provided for raising and lowering the frame part 11 and may also be driven by accumulator 51.

Operation of the arm supports and their connection with locking pegs 32 of the frame part 11 can also be effected in a comparatively simple manner by means of hydraulic or electric devices. The only muscles which the patient need use in such an extreme case are those required to operate a keyboard 55 or the like and those required for swinging his legs and rotating his body. The trunk of the patient is constantly supported by the two raised parts 4 and 11 shown in Figure 1.

A wheelchair which is operated by means of a keyboard 55 mounted on the arm support 30 of a wheelchair is previously known, this known wheelchair also being driven and guided by an electric accumulator. This known wheelchair can be readily modified to the form of wheelchair illustrated in Figure 7. In this instance, the head end 4 of the bed (See Figure 1) is also raisable and lowerable by means of electric or hydraulic devices, as is normal with hospital beds.

The scope of the invention also extends to such modifications as permit the wheelchair to be rolled over a toilet basin and the seat 10' and associated plate 13 temporarily removed.

It is also possible to lock the wheelchair, or at least the centre portion 9, on the frame of the bed 1 by means of collapsible locking pegs, thereby rendering it unnecessary to make the wheelchair unit raisable and lowerable.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A bed comprising: a mattress formed by a plurality of separate mattress portions; and a respective support means supporting each mattress portion, one of said portions comprising two mattress parts hinged together along a common edge, one of which parts is pivotable with an associated part of the associated support means, which support means is separable from the remainder of the bed, into a position where the pivotable mattress part is inclined to the remaining bed surface, wherein the separable support means for said mattress parts is provided with a wheeled carriage to allow the separable support means to be wheeled from the bed with said mattress parts.

2. A bed according to claim 1 wherein wheels of said carriage can be pressed against the floor to lift the seperable support means before it is wheeled from the bed.

3. A bed according to claim 1 or 2 wherein there is provided a frame extending the entire length of said bed which frame carries each of said support means.

4. A bed according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the mattress portion comprising two mattress parts is substantially midway between the head and foot of the bed.

5. A bed according to claim 4 wherein said mattress portion comprising two mattress parts extends transversely of the bed from one side to the other and said common edge is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bed.

6. A bed according to claim 5 wherein said separable support means comprises a hinged frame structure, one hinged portion of which can be locked in an inclined position to support the pivotable mattress part.

7. A bed according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said separable support means is separable by motion laterally of the bed longitudinal axis.

8. A bed according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said carriage is detachable from said separable support means whereby the carriage can be completely removed from the separable support means and the bed.

9. A bed according to claim 8 when dependent on claim 6 or 7 wherein said carriage has two elongate arms which engage in respective tubular portions on respective sides of said frame structure.

10. A bed according to claim 9 wherein two arm supports are provided on the carriage and are arranged to engage with respective sides of said separable support means when it is supporting the pivotable mattress part in said inclined position.

11. A bed according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the combination of said wheeled carriage, said separable support means and said mattress parts forms a wheelchair with said pivotable mattress part serving as a back support.

12. A bed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A wheelchair formed from parts of the bed of claim 11, said parts of the bed comprising said separable support means, said mattress parts, and wheeled carriage, the wheeled carriage supporting said separable support means and said mattress parts being supported by said separable support means.

14. A wheelchair according to claim 13 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. are those required to operate a keyboard 55 or the like and those required for swinging his legs and rotating his body. The trunk of the patient is constantly supported by the two raised parts 4 and 11 shown in Figure 1. A wheelchair which is operated by means of a keyboard 55 mounted on the arm support 30 of a wheelchair is previously known, this known wheelchair also being driven and guided by an electric accumulator. This known wheelchair can be readily modified to the form of wheelchair illustrated in Figure 7. In this instance, the head end 4 of the bed (See Figure 1) is also raisable and lowerable by means of electric or hydraulic devices, as is normal with hospital beds. The scope of the invention also extends to such modifications as permit the wheelchair to be rolled over a toilet basin and the seat 10' and associated plate 13 temporarily removed. It is also possible to lock the wheelchair, or at least the centre portion 9, on the frame of the bed 1 by means of collapsible locking pegs, thereby rendering it unnecessary to make the wheelchair unit raisable and lowerable. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A bed comprising: a mattress formed by a plurality of separate mattress portions; and a respective support means supporting each mattress portion, one of said portions comprising two mattress parts hinged together along a common edge, one of which parts is pivotable with an associated part of the associated support means, which support means is separable from the remainder of the bed, into a position where the pivotable mattress part is inclined to the remaining bed surface, wherein the separable support means for said mattress parts is provided with a wheeled carriage to allow the separable support means to be wheeled from the bed with said mattress parts.