[0001] The invention refers to a bed assembly to support and lift up a bedridden patient
to an adjustable height and position. Said equipment consists of a modular apparatus
set on tracks, the said apparatus holds on opposed upright components, by means of
a vertical translation either combined or disjointed, two couples of supports which
hook two couples of holding means protruding from the sides of a plane lying support
with an adjustable basis which allows long-term patients confined to bed to have a
reduced body pressure against the bed surface or no body contact at all with the bed
of predetermined parts of their body. In case of disabled patients confined to bed,
to allow bedside procedures or to facilitate precise positioning for treatment with
specialist equipment (i.e.: to help patients with bed-pans, urinals, or to wash them,
to dress and undress them, to carry out surgical dressings and therapies, to change
soiled bed linen, etc.), the whole patient's body or part of it should be lifted up
from the bed. This may result a laborious and rather difficult operation if carried
out manually. At present, traditional hospital technologies make use of mechanical
counterweight elevators which operate in the same way as the hospital systems featured
to set limbs in traction during the post-operative course and in the therapies for
the recovery of the mobility. All these apparatuses mast be carried out in special
treatment rooms and under the specialist's control as their use outside the hospital
could he unsafe; the said bed assemblies also allow specific treatments to be carried
out during short-term stays of patients at hospital. To treat long-term disabled patients
confined to bed at hospital or at home, it is known the device described in the Italian
Patent Application no. B094A 000569 featured a winch elevator with an adjustable protruding
arm, hand-wheel operated, and located in the bed support basis, which permitted to
lift up by hand the patient lying in bed by means of a passing belt set over his pelvis.
If compared with traditional systems, the above stated device was easier and simpler
to use, even if the patient was lifted up under conditions of uncertain support and
unstable equilibrium owing to the belt holding means which excessively compressed
his body when set in place. Moreover, the use of a winch elevator to be located on
the floor, on the bed side, had high production and operative costs as well as too
large overall dimensions if placed into a room. A further Italian Patent Application
no. B096A 000181 from the same Inventor of the present application and with the same
object, featured a support system equipped with rails which could be singularly assembled
on the bed sides so to hold the patient in a lying position on a stretcher, the said
rails could be duly fittedwith one or more pre-adjustable openings where the patient's
skin zones to be treated could be easily positioned for treatment. The above stated
apparatus could be moved up and down by hand, either to a lower position to reduce
the bed surface pressure against the patient's sore parts and prevent bedsores, or
to a higher position which allowed treatments to be carried out on the patient's back.
The said up and down machining movements could be operated in a sequence on four constraint
positions: at first, the relative rail position hook was to be connected by means
of a cable with an outstanding eyelet set as a counterpart on the support means, than
the said cable was to be knotted onto the end parts to obtain a linking annular connection;
subsequently, the support means was to be risen with one hand from the relative end
terminal so to bring the eyelet near the hook, while the outward cable end was to
be drawn with the other hand so to tie it in a firm knot and block it. In principle,
from a structural point of view the above stated system has some limits and namely:
a) the assembly of the rail apparatus was rather complicated as it needed a separate
assembly integral with the said rails on the bed sides; b) the said apparatus was
unstable and, as its four components could undergo a torsional effect, it needed setting
structures which could hold it firmly in place; c) the said support system could be
unsafe as, if one of the said setting structures or the frame structure which holded
them gave way, the patient would crash to the ground; d) the patient was hindered
from getting out of the bed. The invented device solves all the above stated problems
as it features an operative system which can be used everywhere and everytime; such
a system can be positioned by hand through a rapid assembly that can be carried out
by a mnemonic checking starting from a plane modular structure with three components
which form a U-shaped carriage apparatus to be fixed up to the bed structure in a
possible longitudinal translation with the carrying structure of the conventional
hospital bed itself in such a way that the two structures interact on each other,
even if independently, so to rise a plane support to lay with the holding basis that
can be assembled in several ways but such to leave, according to the position requested,
one or more open spaces where the patient's body parts to be treated can be placed,
while his whole body rests on a soft cover. A first structure is located onto the
floor as a stabilizing connecting plane, while a pair of counterposed modular upright
structures, mounted on wheels, comes out at a suitable distance from the bed sides
and holds the lifting apparatus in place. Each of the said modular upright structures
features - in parallel and in elevation - a couple of worm screw devices with a synchronous
hand movement or with an automatic motion, the said worm screw devices can be activated
disjointly or in combination one with the other to translate counterposed coupling
means that protrude from the inside walls of the modular structures themselves, where
counterposed couples of eyelets coming out from the support plane on which the patient
should lie are set. The whole structure can be fitted up in different ways to get
the movement of the couples of lifting devices; it can be separately operated either
by hand or automatically through the joint movement of the couples of devices operated
by motor groups synchronically timed by an electronic card. In particular, by regulating
the height of the couples of hooking means according to adjustable positions, it is
possible to vary also the patient's position according to need, so to facilitate his
positioning on one side for bedside treatment. The present equipment features a lifting
apparatus set on tracks of a plane support where the patient can be positioned, such
a support can be rapidly actuated by assembling three plane modular systems where
the modular structure 1 operates as a modular stabilizing structure of a counterposed
couple of modular structures 2 which act as upright parts. To assemble the equipment
the modular stabilizing structure 1 mast be placed transversally on the floor under
the bed and its corresponding clutching means 3 must be inserted into the locking
receptacles 4 of the upright modular structures 2 thus obtaining a U-shaped frame
integrated structure fitted onto two couples of pivoting wheels 5 featured on the
upright modular structures. Thus the lifting apparatus is placed in a condition interacting
with the bed that, acting as a guideline between the end limits formed by the bedhead
and the foot of the bed, limits the apparatus movement to the only longitudinal translation
so to place it either in a central position to suit bedside procedures when needed,
or in a different position against the foot of the bed when no special treatment are
needed. Inside the upper walls of the assembled upright modular structures 2 that
stand out of the the bed frames, two couples of worm screw devices are provided for
bearing and moving up and down two couples of holding hooks 6, going out from two
counterposed vertical clefts 7, on which a plane lying support is to be set up by
means of the application of its protruding eyelets 8. To carry out manually the up
and down movement system of the plane support on one bedside the shaft 9 is set in
rotation, by means of the relative knob, thus determining through the kinematic chain
with gear trains 10 and 11 with transmission 12, the simultaneous movement of the
screw devices 13 on bearings 14 that inside guidelines 15, according to the prefixed
direction of rotation, cause the vertical translation of the coaxial bodies 16 with
inside threading engaged onto the said guidelines for the folding effect caused by
clefts 7 in which their hooking means 6 are caused to pass through. For the automatic
starting of the up and down movement system, the shaft 9 is set in action by an electric
motor group 17 by depressing push-buttons 18 and 19 operating the sense of translation
requested by the lifting hooks 6. An electronic equipment with a joint activating
control is featured for the automatic and symultaneous set in motion of the two up
and down movement systems of the couple of upright modular structures 2. The lying
plane support features a square setting structure in structural steel consisting -
on the bedsides - of a couple of elements 20 that have longitudinally located on their
outside parts fixing receptacles 21 with openings 22 in the inlets 23 of which clutching
means 24 of the end transverse sections 25 mast be set up. The support basis is to
be made by using two means with transverse assembly to act as bands with a soft contact
cover 26, made out in cloth or other materials, fitted on terminals with stop means
27 and with bands of superimposed flags in cloth 28 fitted in the same way as the
previous ones and operated by seam systems which allow a differentiated pliability
thus producing a variable pressure effect of the support surface on the patient's
anatomic part under pressure; empty spaces can be left to allow the patient's parts
to be treated. Flags 26 and/or 28 are to be transversally assembled in a continuous
sequence or by leaving intermediate spaces by introducing previously one of their
end parts slantwise through the opening 22, so to allow their passing through, as
well as their subsequent block with a ledge effect inside the constraining seat 21
through the stop means 27; the same operation must be made by carrying out a traction
of the band on the other end part. The described apparatus consists in practice of
three plane modular structures: one union structure 1 and two upright structures 2;
of four linear elements: two bedsides 20 and two transversal components 25; and of
a series of cloth bands 26 and 28; therefore, the said apparatus is available for
used packed in a wrapper so to facilitate the storage and transport. By means of grip
handles 29 the bed position can be adjusted with the modular apparatus on tracks to
set it ready for use or for a non-use position, or otherwise to allow its displacement
according to the lying patient's treatment needs. A preferred embodiment of the present
invention is illustrated by way of example in drawings of sheets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
In sheet 1 fig. 1 is a local view of the longitudinal section of the up and down worm
screw device. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the longitudinal section, but staggered
by 90° with respect to fig. 1, showing the simultaneous movement system. In sheet
2 the modular components of the lifting apparatus on tracks are illustrated. In particular,
fig. 4 is an inside front view of an upright modular structure 2. Fig. 5 is a front
view of the connecting modular structure 1. Fig. 6 is an exploded view of the three
modular components of the apparatus on tracks. In sheet 3, fig. 7 is a view of the
transversal section A-A' of the bed seen from the foot and to have a complete full
view of the lifting apparatus on tracks. Fig. 8 is a view of the longitudinal section
B-B' of the bed showing both the bed operative system and the patient. Sheet 4 shows
the composition and assembling system of the lying plane support. In particular, fig.
9 is an exploded top view of the setting structure components. Fig. 10 is a top view
of a suggested version of the said support. Fig. 11 is a local sectional view which
shows in particular the assembling system of bands 26 and 28. Fig. 12 is a perspective
view of the lying plane. In sheet 5, fig. 13 is a local perspective view of an end
part of a cloth band 26. Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the end part of a soft contact
cloth band 28. Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the whole operative system.
