AU2009100069A4 - Bed frame with ergonomic retraction, reactive mattress retainers and shock isolated caster mounts - Google Patents

Description

23/01/2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 03/24 0 BED FRAME WITH ERGONOMIC RETRACTION, REACTIVE MATTRESS 0 Cl RETAINERS AND SHOCK ISOLATED CASTER MOUNTS t BACKGROUND 00 Field of Invention The present invention relates to a bed intended for persons either ill or on V.0 rehabilitation.

0 0 SDescription of Related Art 0 So far there have been a large number of beds intended for persons either ill or on rehabilitation. However, none of the beds produced till now is universal, i.e. does not possess as many as functionalities requested in some cases.

The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art in Australia.

SUMMARY

It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a bed equipped with adjustable positions, mattress retainer and shock isolated caster mounts.

Tn accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of the present invention, a bed includes an upper support frame and a lower support frame. The upper support frame has a first driving device and a second driving device. A front, middle and rear support boards are disposed over the upper support frame and assembled to support a human body. The middle support board is immovably secured to the upper support frame and located where readily support a hip portion of the human body. The front support board is pivotally connected to the upper support frame and has two opposite edges. One edge of the front support board is driven by the first driving device to be slid COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 2B/01/2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 04/24 2 og along a longitudinal direction of the upper support frame to be away from the middle support board so as to raise the opposite edge of the front support board. The rear C= support board includes a first rear support board for supporting an upper leg and a second 00 rear support board for supporting a lower leg. A lower support frame has two lifting mechanisms to be pivotally connected with the upper support frame. A plurality of caster o assemblies are fixed to the lower support frame. Each caster assembly includes an outer Scylinder housing fixed to the lower support frame. An outer sleeve is fitted within the O outer cylinder housing. An inner sleeve is disposed within the outer sleeve. An elastomeric cylinder is secured between the inner sleeve and the outer sleeve. A caster has a stem fixed within the inner sleeve. A mattress retaining assembly is secured to the middle support board. A bracket has two opposite ends pivotally connected to a bottom surface of the middle support board. Two torsion springs are disposed around the two opposite ends and operable to maintain the bracket upright and recover the bracket upwardly beyond an edge of the middle support board while the bracket is released from pressing.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing .general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description., serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings, COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 23/01/ 2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 05/24 O Fig. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a bed according to one preferred 0 C embodiment of this invention; Ct Fig. 2 illustrates a side view of the bed in Fig. 1; 00 C Fig. 3 illustrates a side view of the bed with its front side lifted; Fig. 4 illustrates a side view of the bed with its rear side lifted; NO Fig. 5 illustrates a side view of the bed with its front and rear side all lifted; SFig. 6 illustrates a side view of the bed adjusted to a position for a person's upper Sbody being held upright and knee being bent; 0 Fig. 7 illustrates a perspective view of the bed in Fig. 6; 1 0 Fig. 8 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a caster assembly according to one preferred embodiment of this invention; Fig. 9 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of the caster assembly taken along A-A' in Fig.8; Fig. 10 illustrates a perspective view of a reactive mattress retaining device according to one preferred embodiment of this invention; and Fig. 11 illustrates another perspective view of the reactive mattress retaining device in Fig. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

Fig. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a bed according to one preferred embodiment of this invcntion. Fig. 2 illustrates a side view of the bed in Fig. 1. The bed COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 28/01/209 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 86/24 4 100 includes a lower support frame 102 and an upper support frame 104 as its structural Cl backbone. The lower support frame 102 is supported by a plurality of caster assemblies c 120. A caster brake 122 is pushed, e.g. by a foot, to stop the caster from rolling. The 00 lower support frame 102 has two lifting mechanisms (114, 116) to be pivotally connected with the upper support frame 104. Two protective barriers (108a, 108b) are secured to NO two opposite relatively short edges of the rectangular upper support frame. A support Sboard 106 is arranged on the upper support frame 104 to support a mattress and a person's body. In this embodiment, the support board 106 is mainly divided into three o sections: a front support board 106a, a middle support board 106b and a rear support board 106c. The front support board 106a is used to support an upper body, i.e. head portion, neck portion and back portion, of a human body. The front support board 106a also has a mattress retainer 1 10a around its edge and near the protective barrier 108a for retaining a mattress on the support board 106. The middle support board 106b is used to support a hip portion of the human body. The rear support board 106c is used to support a leg portion of the human body. The rear support board 106c is further divided into a first rear support board 107a, which supports an upper leg portion, and a second rear support board 107b, which supports a lower leg portion. The second rear support board 107b also has a mattress retainer 11 Ob around its edge and near the protective barrier 108b for retaining a mattress on the support board 1.06.

Fig. 3 illustrates a side view of the bed with its front side lifted (compared with Fig. The lifting mechanism 116 is used to raise the front side of the upper support frame 104. The lifting mechanism 116 includes a driving device 116a (such as a hydraulic cylinder or other extendable devices) to push out or withdraw a rod 116b, which is pivotally connected with a Iift leg 116c. The lift leg 116c has three ends respectively pivotally connected with the lower support frame 102, the rod 116b and COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 23/01/2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 07/24 0\ o another lift leg 116d. The lift leg 1 16d is further pivotally connected with the upper support frame 104. When the driving device 11 6a pushes out the rod 116b, the front side of the upper support frame 104 is raised. When the driving device 116a withdraws the 00 C1 rod 116b, the front side of the upper support frame 104 is lowered.

Fig. 4 illustrates a side view of the bed with its rear side lifted (compared with o Fig- The lifting mechanism 114 is used to raise the rear side of the upper support o frame 104. The lifting mechanism 114 includes a driving device 114a (such as a hydraulic cylinder or other extendable devices) to push out or withdraw a rod 116b, which is pivotally connected with a lift leg 114c. The lift leg 114c has three ends respectively pivotally connected with the lower support frame 102, the rod 114b and another lift leg 114d. The lift leg 114d is further pivotally connected with the upper support frame 104. When the driving device 114a pushes out the rod 114b, the rear side of the upper support frame 104 is raised. When the driving device 114a withdraws the rod 114b, the rear side of the upper support frame 104 is lowered.

Referring to Fig. 5, the lifting mechanisms (114, 116) may be both actuated to raise the upper support frame 104 with both front and rear sides maintained along a horizontal plane.

Referring to Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, the front and rear support boards (106a, 106c) are also adjustable to a position for a person's upper body being held upright and knee being bent such the person can eat food, read books or the like. In this embodiment, the middle support board 106b is immovably secured to the upper support frame 104 and located where readily support a hip portion of the human body. With this regard, the hip portion of the human body would not be moved when the front and rear support boards (106a, 106c) are adjusted. Thus, the person on the bed would feel more comfortable with a hip portion not moved. The front support board 106a is pivotally connected with the upper COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 2e/01/2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 08/24 6 0\ 0 support frame 104 by connection rods (109b, 109c) and has an edge 106ai driven by a c driving device 109a. When the edge 10 6 al of the front support board 106a is driven S waway from the middle support board 106b along a longitudinal direction 130 of the upper 00 c, support frame, the other edge 106a2 of the front support board 106a is raised. The first rear support board 107a is pivotally connected with the upper support frame 104 by NO connection rods (11 lb, 111 The second rear support board 107b is pivotally connected Swith the upper support frame 104 by a connection rod 11 Id. In addition, the second rear support board 107b has an edge 107b, pivotally connected with an edge 107al of the first C, rear support board 107a. The first rear support board 107a has an edge 107a2 driven by a driving device 11 la. When the edge 107a2 of the first rear support board 107a is driven away from the middle support board 106b along a longitudinal direction 140 of the upper support frame, the other edge 107a 2 of the first rear support board 107a and the edge 107bI of the second rear support board 107b are raised.

Fig. 8 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a caster assembly according to one preferred embodiment of this invention. Fig. 9 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of the caster assembly taken along A-A' in Fig. 8. Several caster assemblies 120 are fixed to the lower support frame 102. Each caster assembly includes an outer cylinder housing 123 fixed to the lower support frame 102. A shock isolating module is fitted within the outer cylinder housing 123 and includes the following components. An outer sleeve 124 is fitted within the outer cylinder housing 123, i.e. in contact with an inner wall of the outer cylinder housing 123. An inner sleeve 126 is disposed within the outer sleeve. An elastomeric cylinder 125 is secured between the inner sleeve 126 and the outer sleeve 124. A caster 121 having a stem 121a fixed within the inner sleeve 126 by screwing a pair of bolts against the stem 121 a. The elastomeric cylinder 125 can be made from a rubber or other elastic materials to absorb impact energy. In this COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 28/01/2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 09/24 7 0 embodiment, the caster assembly 120 should have three gap tolerances (dl, d 2 d 3 with the same dimension such that the vertical shock isolation function can be properly performed. The gap tolerance di allows the caster brake shaft 122a, which is coupled to 0,1 the caster brake 122 as illustrated in Fig. 2, to be inserted to couple with the stem 121a.

The gap tolerance d2 allows the bolt 127 to be screwed through the inner sleeve 126. The NO gap tolerance d 3 allows the caster 121 to be vertically movable such that the shock energy Scan be absorbed. A housing end cap 128 is sued to seal the top end of the outer cylinder housing 123.

0 Fig. 10 illustrates a perspective view of a reactive mattress retaining device according to one preferred embodiment of this invention. Fig. 11 illustrates another perspective view of the reactive mattress retaining device in Fig. 10. Unlike the mattress retainers (l IOa, 11 Ob), which are located at front and rear edges of the bed, the reactive mattress retaining device 200 is secured to the remaining edges of the support board 106 (such as the middle support board 106b). The reactive mattress retaining device 200 includes a bracket 202, two torsion springs 208 and an attachment base 204. The attachment base 204 is secured to a bottom surface 106f by screwing two bolts 204a.

The attachment base 204 has two loops 206a allows two opposite ends 202a of the bracket 202 to be inserted through. The two torsion springs 208 are arranged around two opposite ends of the bracket 202. Each torsion spring 208 has one end secured within a slot of the end 2 02a of the bracket 202 and the other end secured to the loop 206. The two torsion springs 208 are operable to maintain the bracket 202 upright and recover the bracket 202 upwardly beyond an edge 106e of the support board 106 (such as the middle support board 106b) while the bracket 202 is released from pressing. The bracket 202 is operable to retain the mattress on the top surface 106d of the support board and is swiveled downwardly while being pressed by a body portion. After the bracket 202 is COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 28/01/2009 14:17 26/1/009 1417 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERt] RAGE 10/24 8 o released -from pressing, the bracket 202 is swiveled upwardly beyond the edge 106e againl.

According to discussed embodiments, the present invention provides a bed 00 Cl equipped with adjustable positions, mattress retainer and shock isolated caster mounts such that a person either ill or on rehabilitation one the bed would be served more NO ergonomically conmfortable than on any other conventional bed could.

o It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and ON variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from 0 the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention- cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

When used in this specification and claims, the terms "comprises" and comprising" and variations thereof mean that the specified features, steps or integers are included. The terms are not to be interpreted to exclude the presence of other featurs, I Steps Or Components.

COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28

Claims (4)

1. A bed, comprising: 00 an upper support frame having a first driving device and a second driving device; a front, middle and rear support boards being disposed over the upper support Sframe and assembled to support a human body, 0 wherein the middle support board is immovably secured to the upper support o frame and located where readily support a hip portion of the human body, C 1 wherein the front support board is pivotally connected to the upper support frame and has two opposite edges, one edge of the front support board is driven by the first driving device to be slid along a longitudinal direction of the upper support frame to be away from the middle support board so as to raise tile opposite edge of the front support board; wherein the rear support board comprises a first rear support board for supporting an upper leg of the human body and a second rear support board for supporting a lower leg of the human body; a lower support frame having two lifting mechanisms to be pivotally connected with the upper support frame; and a plurality of caster assemblies fixed to the lower support frame, wherein each of the caster assemblies comprising: an outer cylinder housing fixed to the lower support frame; an outer sleeve fitted within the outer cylinder housing; an inner sleeve disposed within the outer sleeve; an elastomeric cylinder secured between the inner sleeve and the outer sleeve; and COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28 2B/01/2009 14:17 61-3-98901337 PATENT ATTORNEY SERV PAGE 12/24 0\ O a caster having a stem fixed within the inner sleeve. n

2. The bed of claim 1, wherein the first and second rear support boards both 00 C, comprise two opposite edges and have an edge thereof pivotally connected with each other, the opposite edge of the first rear support board is driven by the second driving o device to be slid along the longitudinal direction of the upper support frame to be away o from the middle support board so as to raise the pivotally-connected edges of the first and Ssecond rear support boards.

3. The bed of claim 2, wherein. the front support board comprises a mattress retainer, and the second rear support board comprises a mattress retainer.

4. The bed of claim 2, further comprising two protective barriers respectively secured to two relatively short edges of the upper support frame. The bed of claim 1, further comprising a mattress retaining device secured to the middle support board, wherein the mattress retaining device comprising: a bracket having two opposite ends pivotally connected to a bottom surface of the middle support board; and two torsion springs disposed around the two opposite ends and operable to maintain the bracket upright and recover the bracket upwardly beyond an edge of the middle support board while the bracket is released from pressing. COMS ID No: ARCS-221422 Received by IP Australia: Time 15:11 Date 2009-01-28