Folding shower seat

Abstract

 A seat for use by a handicapped person in a shower comprises two seat portions 10 and 12 pivotally mounted on posts 18 and 20. A person standing between the posts 18 and 20 can swing the seat portion into place behind him and then sit to have a shower. A mechanism may be provided to swing the seat portions into position auto­matically as a person moves into a standing position between the posts.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a seat for use by a handicapped person.

[0002] In general it is well recognised that the more that a handicapped person can do for himself the better the quality of life that he enjoys, and this is particularly true in the area of washing and bathing.

[0003] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide assistance for a handicapped person in a shower.

[0004] The present invention is a seat comprising a pair of seat portions each pivotally mounted on a support such that the seat portions can be swung together to form a seat or swing apart to allow a person to move between the seat portions.

[0005] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig 1 is a perspective view of the basic structure of a hinged seat according to the present invention; and

Fig 2 is a plan view of a mechanism for moving the hinged seat of Fig 1 into position for use.

[0006] Referring now to Fig 1, a seat according to the present invention is provided in two halves 10 and 12 each mounted on hinges 14 and 16 respect­ively on support posts 18 and 20 respectively. To strengthen the posts a frame 22 connects the posts to a beam 24 which is in turn secured to the wall of a shower. It can be seen from Fig 1 that a handicapped person, even for example in a wheelchair, can stand using hand grips 26 if necessary in the space between the posts 18 and 20, and swing the two halves 10 and 12 of the seat into position and then sit down while having a shower from a sprayhead on the wall above the hand grips 26. Although not illustrated in Fig 1 it is preferred that the two halves of the seat be provided with a simple catch mechanism to hold them together while in use.

[0007] A handicapped person is likely to be unsteady on their feet and for many it is un­realistic to expect them to stand and perform the awkward manoeuvre of swinging the two halves of the chair into position behind them. To overcome this problem the mechanism shown in Fig 2 is provided.

[0008] A support beam 30 is fixed, preferably to the frame 22, by any suitable means some nine inches (twenty three cm) from the wall of the shower and carries a bush 32 of nylon or similar low friction material. A rod 34 slides in the bush 32 and carries a cross member 36 and a pair of lugs 38 to which are pivotally connected ends of a pair of short links 40.

[0009] At its other end each link 40 is pivotally connected to one end of a lever 42 which pivots on a lug 44 on the frame 22. The other end of each lever 42 pivotally connects to a link 46 which in turn pivotally connects to a lug 48 on one of the chair halves.

[0010] The mechanism is designed to operate automatically as a person stands up between the posts 18 and 20 as then the persons chest or upper abdomen engages the cross member 36 and pushes it towards the beam 30, the rod 34 sliding in the bush 32 and guiding the rod 34. The short links 40 move with the cross member 36 and pivot the levers 42 on the lugs 44 to push the link 46 thus the chair halves 10 and 12 which move into the closed position.

[0011] In a modified embodiment a weak spring is incorporated into the mechanism so that when the person has stood up from the chair and dis­engaged any latch mechanism fitted the spring acts to swing the halves of the chair into the position shown in Fig 1. A similar effect can of course be achieved by moving the upper hinge of the hinges 14 and 16 outwards from the vertical from the lower hinges.

Claims

1. A seat comprising a pair of seat portions each pivotally mounted on a support such that the seat portions can be swung together to form a seat or swing apart to allow a person to move between the seat portions.

2. A seat as claimed in claim 1, including a mechanism interconnecting the seat portions so that they swing together.

3. A seat as claimed in claim 2, in which said mechanism includes a member automatically engageable by a person in the act of standing to cause the seat portions to swing in behind the person.

4. A seat substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

Drawing