AU2002238305B2 - Field ambulance for injured person retrieval - Google Patents

Description

00 1 FIELD AMBULANCE FOR INJURED PERSON RETRIEVAL TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a field ambulance specifically for retrieval of injured persons Oin situations where rapid access and attention may be critical.

00 Such applications occur in sporting arenas where, for instance, a footballer might injure a limb.

As is well known, urgent attention to the limb including cold compressing is very useful indeed.

In another case, if the player has been concussed, then appropriate monitoring is extremely helpful at an earliest stage.

BACKGROUND ART The configuration of retrieval vehicles for this purpose is a problem so as to provide appropriate holding, in a prone position, of an injured player, so as to be able to support in a minimum of space those who need to attend the player while being retrieved from the sporting field.

Further, the positioning of a stretcher and locating urgently the stretcher in connection with such a retrieval vehicle is of importance and is a further problem addressed at least in some of the preferred instances in this invention.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In one form of this invention it can be said to reside in a field ambulance including a transport vehicle having an arrangement supported thereby which includes a stretcher support frame positioned so as to provide a support for a stretcher so 00 z that this will be aligned to extend in an elongate direction along one side of the vehicle from a forward portion of the vehicle to a rearward portion of the vehicle, and a first seat secured to the vehicle so as to be facing the front of the vehicle and IN positioned behind a rear end of the support frame so as to provide support for a seated medical attendant at this end of the stretcher support, and a foot well for the first seat which is lower than the stretcher support frame and which includes an area O forward of the seat adapted to receive the feet of the attendant when in an oO attending position in the first seat. In preference, there is a second seat supported by the vehicle and positioned at an inner side of the stretcher support.

In preference, the second seat is facing the stretcher and is located so that there is also a foot well appropriately positioned for a person sitting in the seat.

In preference, the stretcher support includes two parallel rails with an entry end for a stretcher to be supported by the rails at or toward a front of the vehicle, and a stretcher stop at a rear end of the support.

In practice then, a stretcher carrying an injured player can be loaded on to the vehicle by locating an end of the stretcher appropriately with respect to the two support rails and there is then provided that the stretcher can be caused to slide along the length of the stretcher support until the stop is reached.

This positions the stretcher most accurately for access to the person who is to be seated at the end seat.

One of the complexities of this arrangement is that the stretcher should not accidentally release from its location when the vehicle is not in motion and accordingly there is provided at the front end, at least one locating member which is adjustable in position so that in an engaging position, it engages and interlocks with a portion of the stretcher and holds this with respect to the stretcher support.

In preference, this arrangement includes two fingers, which are supported by a common pivot, which are pivotable about an axis so that they can be shifted from an inter-engaging position with the stretcher to an open position.

In practice a vehicle of the type being discussed provides an open top onto which the stretcher support is located and a driver is located to a side of the stretcher support and at a forward position as far as the vehicle is concerned. The vehicle 003 itself is configured to have small wheels and a small driving motor and may be powered by either an internal combustion engine or an electrical drive so that it n includes batteries to provide power.

IND

The vehicle, in preference, includes at least one steerable wheel and, in preference, includes two steerable wheels which are forwardmost and two rear Owheels, which provide traction drive.

00 In preference, the configuration of the seats and the open well for positioning of ifeet of attendants allows for essential services to be conveniently effected on a patient in the stretcher.

It is possible to include a roof structure supported by rods with respect to a vehicle chassis but such a roof structure would be incidental to the functional arrangements described.

In preference, there are further seat configurations that will be of value including locating the second seat so it is forwardly facing with, however, an appropriate foot well area.

In an alternative preferred arrangement there is a field ambulance including a motor drive with steerable wheels at the front and rear wheels at the rear with a drive which is electrical and located within a compartment which provides also, at an uppermost surface, a seat for a driver, and an arrangement supported by the vehicle which is including a stretcher support frame positioned so as support the stretcher so that this will be aligned to extend in an elongate direction along one side of the vehicle from a forward portion of the vehicle to a rearward portion of the vehicle, and a first seat secured to the vehicle so as to be facing the front of the vehicle and positioned to provide support for a seated medical attendant at the rear end of the stretcher support with a foot well lower than the stretcher support frame and including an area forward of the seat being adapted to receive the feet of a said attendant when in an attending position in the first seat.

One of the advantages of such a field ambulance is the fact that it is indeed considered by many to be a part of the spectacle.

There is considered to be also, useful advertising space, on portions of the vehicle given that the vehicle is for a time the centre of attention of possibly very large 00 4

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crowds and even perhaps television showing the scene to a very large number of people.

Accordingly, there is some attraction to people providing sponsorship to provide

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such a vehicle, especially if there are panels on the vehicle, which can be used to provide advertisements.

oo In preference then, portions of the vehicle provide body shapes appropriate to support signage and advertising material.

O As will be understood then, if people who are attending the injured person or the driver are kept within the vehicle, these individuals will not then impede the view of any advertising and there is advantage in this providing additional encouragement for endorsement of such vehicles for the such good purpose.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawing. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate certain embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilised as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, to recognize that the claims should be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding of this disclosure it will now be described with respect to 00 one or more exemplary embodiments which shall be described herein with the assistance of drawings wherein: 1FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a field ambulance according to the invention illustrating a separated stretcher, a front perspective view of the vehicle including support rails for the stretcher and a forwardly spacing rearward most seat for a Smedical attendant; 00 MFIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a detail in the first embodiment, Sshown in FIG. 1, showing the interconnection between the support structure and a Sstretcher; FIG. 3 is a further perspective view of the connection detail; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a rear of the support arrangement showing specifically a stop, which also captures the stretcher in connection with the stretcher support of the vehicle; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment; FIG. 6 is a perspective view from the rear of the said second embodiment as in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a third embodiment; FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment; FIG 9 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment in which there is a seat at a front of the vehicle and in front of the stretcher support frame providing for support for an attendant together with a well; and FIG 10 is a perspective view of a fifth embodiment providing for seats both front and back and therefore provides for side loading of a stretcher.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings in detail and in particular to the first embodiment as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, there is shown a vehicle 1 which has an appropriate 00 motor drive, which is not shown, steerable wheels at the front at 2 and 3 and rear wheels which are driven by the motor, although this is not specifically shown.

1In this embodiment, the drive motor is electrical and located within compartment 4, which provides also, at an uppermost surface 5, a seat for a driver.

In this embodiment there is a stretcher support at 6, which includes a support frame o00 at a front end of the vehicle 1 at 7 and toward a rear end of the vehicle at 8 on which there are two longitudinally extending rails at 9 and 10. These rails each are of Lishape in cross-section and provide thereby an inner vertical leg such as at 11 and 0 12 and an approximately horizontal part shown at 13 and 14.

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This then provides a rail system on which a stretcher at 15 can be slid from the front, at 20, of the vehicle 1 onto the rails using, in the first instance, lowermost wheels on the stretcher shown at 16, in the one case, and not shown but on the other side of the stretcher, in the other.

There are support members shown on one side at 17 and 18 of the stretcher and these are repeated on the other side of the stretcher.

The stretcher support frame supports the stretcher 15 so that this extends along one side of the vehicle 1, such that access to the stretcher and its occupant is neither interrupted nor restricted by vehicle wheels and mudguards etc. An advantage of this configuration is that standing attendants have unrestricted access to the person on the stretcher as this is loaded onto or unloaded from the vehicle 1, and whilst the stretcher 15 is on the vehicle. Such unrestricted and uninterrupted access may be essential where the condition of the person on the stretcher is critical.

The stretcher 15, when in position on the stretcher support 6, is held in position by firstly an interlocking engagement with rearward most stop 19 and by an adjustable interlocking arrangement at the front end at This interlocking arrangement at the front end at 20 includes two adjustably positioned pins 21 and 22 which are arranged to engage within aperture 23 in the one case and 24 in the other.

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Handle 25 controls the position of the pins 21 and 22 from an open position as shown in FIG. 1 to a closed position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

One of the difficulties with such an arrangement, which has, for its purpose, provision of recovery or retrieval of sports players who have been injured on the field is that they may need immediate attention and on-going attention while they are being taken from the field.

00 N At the same time, the vehicle allows for removal where it is displaying the use of Nthe vehicle itself so that there can be signage on the side, front and back of the vehicle but this, of itself, should not impede the ability of a doctor typically to be ableto provide continuous attendance to the injured player.

If this results, for instance, in continuing aeration and even heart compression to be maintained and there is a difficulty here which is to find an answer to the competing needs, which is to say, a relatively small and low cost vehicle, a vehicle which will provide a stretcher support with an uppermost open area, and provision of support for those who are going to administer medical support to a patient where they are going to be carried in safety and yet be able to provide maximum support to the patient at the same time.

The answer has been to provide a rearward most, forward facing seat 26 which is axially aligned with the parallel rails 9 and 10 providing the stretcher support but which is sufficiently behind this so that the knees and feet of an attendee can be safely positioned in a foot well shown at 27.

This seat is supported by a stem which then quite conveniently and efficiently locates the seat so that it is kept generally within the plan of the vehicle or at least substantially within the supported area as defined by the four wheels but, at the same time, the attendant which would normally be a medical practitioner is in a most efficient position to be at the top of the head of the player if this is appropriate maintaining any appropriate procedure such as maintaining of air supply, heart compression or the like.

By having a foot well, as shown at 27, this allows for the feet of the attendant to be safely positioned inside the vehicle and to provide some stability also while being transported from a field to a further location for perhaps transfer to alternate transport for more extended travel.

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006 One significant advantage of this arrangement is that both the attendant seated in seat 26, and the person supported on the stretcher 15, will be forward facing with n respect to the intended direction of travel of the vehicle 1. This can assist to make Iboth feel more comfortable (many feel ill when facing backwards in a vehicle), plus it avoids the likelihood that the attendant in particular will be startled by any evasive action taken by the driver, such as a sudden need to turn or stop the vehicle 1.

OConversely, a person in a forward positioned, rearward facing seat may be badly 00 hurt and even thrown from their seat if such evasive action were taken.

In addition to the described rearward-aligned seat 26, there can be additional seats, which will now be described in connection with further embodiments.

In one case, which is shown in the second embodiment, where there is generally a vehicle 30 which is substantially the same in basic construction as the vehicle in the first embodiment 1, there is a relatively simplified support construction of a stretcher 31 with a support structure at 32 where, however in this case, there is an additional seat other than the seat 33 immediately behind the stretcher, this further seat at 34 being located to a side of the stretcher 31.

Further, however, this is located sufficiently rearwardly so that a person sitting in this can locate their feet in the foot well at 35 so again they are able to keep their limbs within the general area of the vehicle 30 without having limbs exposed and, at the same time, can provide assistance to the doctor in the seat 33.

This rearward seat 33 is supported by stem 36, which is attached to floor 37, which is attached through the body to a chassis not shown in this case.

A driver's seat 38 is also secured here together with battery chamber 39 and medical supply kit at While the configurations described in these first two embodiments illustrate the preferred arrangement, other arrangements are possible and in the third embodiment, in FIG. 7, there is shown the vehicle 50 with a stretcher now set back at 51 with again, however, a seat 52 located immediately behind the stretcher area 51 and generally aligned with this, supported by a rearwardly extending stem 53 and such that there is a foot well at 54 for the feet of the attendant on seat 52.

00 The differences here are that the chassis is extended and there is a side seat forwardly facing at 55, in the one case, and a further forwardly facing seat at 56 with, n in each case, a well at 57 and 58.

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The alternative is the arrangement of the seats so that in FIG. 8, this is the same as in FIG. 7 except that the two seats now shown at 60 and 61 are facing toward the Ostretcher 62.

00 MThere is again the rearward most seat for the doctor at 63 supported by stem 64 with adjacent foot well A driver's seat at 66 is also positioned and, of course, with a bench seat in this case there can be two also located in a front forwardly facing position.

Now referring to FIG 9 this shows a perspective view of a less preferred fourth embodiment, in which there is a seat 66 at a front of the vehicle 67 and in front of a stretcher support frame 68 providing for support for an attendant together with a well 69 for the feet of the attendant. The stretcher support frame is of elongate dimensions and extends in that elongate direction from a front of the vehicle to a back of the vehicle. There is also in this case an arrangement to allow for a chair to be removed and to this extent then there is a stem 70 into which a projecting leg 71 is located for the front seat 66. There is also a pin 72 by which the height of the chair 66 can be retained at a selected height. The vehicle 67 includes the front steerable wheels 73, a driver's seat 74 with steering wheel A rearward stem 76 allows for a rearward seat to be located at the rear of the stretcher support frame 68. There is an additional attendant's seat 77 to a side of the stretcher support frame 68.

FIG 10 is a perspective view of a fifth embodiment providing for seats 80 and 81 with appropriate wells allowing for foot room to ensure stability for an attendant during monitoring of a patient at both front and back and to facilitate this therefore there is provided for side loading of a stretcher 82. The vehicle 83 includes the front steerable wheels 84, a driver's seat 85 with steering wheel 86. As with the earlier embodiments the stretcher support frame is of elongate dimensions and extends in that elongate direction from a front of the vehicle to a back of the vehicle.

00 O From these descriptions, however, it will be seen that there is now provided an Sefficient arrangement for the purpose where such a vehicle can carry display n_ signage on the number of flat or presented faces of the body while, at the same IND time, the fundamental needs of a patient being carried can be provided safely by an attendant also being safely ensconced in an appropriate chair during the retrieval process.

Cc, 00 Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures Scan be made within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details described herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the appended claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

Claims (7)

1. 2. The field ambulance as claim 1, wherein there is a second seat supported by the vehicle and positioned at an inner side of the stretcher support frame.
2. 3. The field ambulance as in the immediately preceding claim, wherein the second seat is facing the stretcher support frame and is located so that there is also a foot well appropriately positioned to receive the feet for a person sitting in the seat and in a stretcher support frame facing position.
3. 4. The field ambulance as in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the stretcher support frame includes two parallel rails with an entry end for the stretcher to be supported by the rails at or toward a front of the vehicle, and a stretcher stop at a back end of the stretcher support frame. The field ambulance as in any one of the preceding claims, wherein there is provided at the front end, at least one locating member which is adjustable in position so that in an engaging position, it engages and interlocks with a portion of the stretcher and holds this with respect to the stretcher support frame.
4. 6. The field ambulance as in claim 7, wherein the locating member includes two fingers which are supported by a common pivot which are pivotable about an axis so that they can be shifted from an inter-engaging position with a stretcher to an open position where a stretcher is then not inter-engaging. 00 IZ
5. 7. The field ambulance as in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle includes at least one steerable wheel, which is forward most, and two rear Z wheels, which provide a traction drive.
6. 8. The field ambulance as in any one of the preceding claims, further characterized in that there is a further seat configuration locating the second seat so 0 that it is forwardly facing and with, an appropriate foot well area for each respective 0 seat. (N 9. The field ambulance as in any one of the preceding claims, wherein portions Sof the vehicle provide body shapes appropriate to support signage and advertising material. A field ambulance including a motor drive with steerable wheels at the front and rear wheels, a drive which is electrical and located within a compartment which provides also, at an uppermost surface, a seat for a driver, and an arrangement supported by the vehicle which is including a stretcher support frame positioned so as to support the stretcher so that this will be aligned to extend in an elongate direction along one side of the vehicle from a forward portion of the vehicle to a rearward portion of the vehicle, and a first seat secured to the vehicle so as to be facing the front of the vehicle and positioned to provide support for a seated medical attendant at the rear end of the stretcher support with a foot well lower than the stretcher support frame and including an area forward of the seat being adapted to receive the feet of a said attendant when in an attending position in the first seat.
7. 11. A field ambulance substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying illustrations.