Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G1/00—Stretchers
  • A61G1/06—Supports for stretchers, e.g. to be placed in or on vehicles
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G3/00—Ambulance aspects of vehicles; Vehicles with special provisions for transporting patients or disabled persons, or their personal conveyances, e.g. for facilitating access of, or for loading, wheelchairs
  • A61G3/08—Accommodating or securing wheelchairs or stretchers
  • A61G3/0816—Accommodating or securing stretchers
  • A61G3/0825—Accommodating or securing stretchers using support rack, frame
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G3/00—Ambulance aspects of vehicles; Vehicles with special provisions for transporting patients or disabled persons, or their personal conveyances, e.g. for facilitating access of, or for loading, wheelchairs
  • A61G3/08—Accommodating or securing wheelchairs or stretchers
  • A61G3/0816—Accommodating or securing stretchers
  • A61G3/0858—Accommodating or securing stretchers on support for multiple stretchers
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G2220/00—Adaptations of particular transporting means
  • A61G2220/10—Aircrafts

Definitions

• the present invention refers to a frame structure for carrying stretchers, which structure is intended for equipping the passenger space in coaches, airplanes, ships and railroad cars so that the said space and thereby also the veh ic le s in ques tion w i l l be adapted f or the transportation of injured who are lying on stretchers.
• Spaces of the abovementioned kind are characterized by at least a narrow aisle with an overhead height which permits a person to walk upright and chairs are placed at either side of the ais le or ais les and above which the overhead height may be reduced, for example owing to existing service channels for ventilation, illumination etc., baggage racks and so on.
• the Swedish patent no 156 756 describes a frame structure of the kind referred to above.
• This prior art structure is formed of arches which at the top are joined to each other by a threaded screw and at the bottom are fastened with screws to supporting parts of the floor of the passenger space.
• the stretchers are placed on telescope arms which are rotatably fastened to the arches.
• a longitudinal supporting beam is disposed on the arches and is intended to support the roof of the body of the vehicle at the places of the removed supporting uprights.
• this prior structure is complicated and timeconsuming to erect and install, it has in practice been found useless for its purpose.
• the fastening of the structure of the vehicle body is inadequate when it is loaded by stretchers with injured.
• the arches carrying the telescope arms are deformed when loaded with the stretchers with injured.
• the loaded structure is so unstable that the maximum speed of the vehicle at the transportation of injured amounts to not over about 25 to 30 km/h.
• the Swedish Design Application No. 82-0801 shows a structure for equipping trucks so that these will be adapted for the transportation of injured.
• the structure described is suitable only to be mounted in spaces which are in the form of a square box where at least the corners of the load space consist of surface elements of sheet metal or wood which may be loaded to an appreciable extent without being damaged. Expansible elements which are attached at the corners of the structure are expanded so that they will come into contact with the said corners and supporting parts of the vehicle, respectively, to stabilize the structure which in other respects is selfsupporting.
• a disadvantage of this prior structure is that it can only be erected in spaces which are in the form of a box.
• Another disadvantage of this prior structure is that for its stabilization it requires that the corners of the passenger space in the vehicle can withstand a considerable load. In modern coach constructions this is not always the case, for which reason the prior structure cannot be used in such coaches.
• the present invention aims at providing a frame structure which avoids the above disadvantages and which may easily be erected and installed, which is firmly fastenen to supporting structural elements of the body of the vehicle, also when the frame structure is loaded by injured on stretchers.
• the points of fastening the structure to the supporting structural elements will be situated at the walls, roof and floor of the passenger space.
• the vehicle has to allow driving at a high speed without inconvenience to the injured and, not least, the vehicle has to allow braking without the frame structure yielding, which however occurs in the case of the prior structure.
• Fig. 1 shows the frame structure according to the invention in a perspecitive view
• Fig. 2 shows a cross-connection in a plan view
• Fig. 3a and 3b show an upright in a plan view and a lateral view, respectively
• Fig. 4 shows a holder for an expansible element in a lateral view
• Fig. 5 shows a modified plate of the expansible element shown in Fig. 4, and
• fig. 6 shows an extra leg for the frame structure in a plan view from the side.
• Fig. 1 shows a frame structure according to the present invention.
• the structure is mounted inside a coach in which the passenger chairs have been removed.
• the windows of the coach are indicated with the dashed lines 1.
• Between the vertical side edges of the windows the coach has vertical uprights 2 which can be loaded to an appreciable extent and which are indicated only by the dashed lines in Fig. 1.
• the roof of the coach there are a number of supporting beams which are indicated by the reference numeral 3 and which are shown in dashed lines.
• the reference numeral 4 designates a service duct which extends along the roof of the coach above the windows 1.
• the service duct contains ventilation conduits, electric lighting etc. Possibly, the service duct may also include baggage spaces. For reasons of clearness only one service duct is shown in Fig.
• the uprights 2 and the beams 3 are normally covered with surface elements of plastic, or plastic cloth, but are easy to find by knocking at or squeezing the said surface elements.
• the mechanic who is going to fit up the structure according to the invention accordingly need not have the construction drawings of the vehicle at hand to find the uprights 2 and the beams 3, respectively.
• the possibility of utilizing these uprights 2 and beams 3 for fastening frame structures has been mentioned in the introduction to the specification.
• the frame structure according to the invention includes pairs of uprights 5, 6, 7, 8 of which the uprights 5, 6 form one pair and the uprights 7, 8 form another pair.
• the uprights of one pair are connected with each other at the top by means of a cross-connection 9 and 10, respectively.
• the uprights 5, 6 and the cross-connection 9 form an arch, while the urights 7, 8 and the cross-connection 10 form another arch.
• two arches are shown but it is understood that more arches may be provided depending on the length of the passenger space.
• Two adjacent arches are positioned with a mutual spacing which corresponds to the spacing between the front handles 11 and the rear handles 12 of a stretcher 13.
• the stretcher 13 and its handles are shown in dot and dash lines.
• the handles 11, 12 at one longitudinal side of the stretcher are each fastened in a clamp 14, 15 which is movable along the respective upright 6, 8.
• the clamp is described in greater detail in the Swedish patent specification no. 8201569-3 and, therefore, is not described in greater detail.
• movable as used in the present patent specification is meant that an object, in this case the clamp, is capable of being fastened detachably, i.e. the object can be unfastened, its position can be altered, and thereupon the object can be fixed in its new position.
• the stretcher handles 11, 12 at the opposite longitudinal side of the stretcher are hung up in loops 16 and 17, respectively, which are each sewn on to a band 18, 19. Each band is made from a strong textile material about 5 cm broad.
• the appearance of the band is seen from the Swedish design registration document No. 82-0801.
• Each band is anchored at the top to the cross-connection 9 and 10, respectively.
• the bands 18, 19 have a plurality of loops arranged at regular intervals above each other and each upright 6 , 8 has a number of clamps 14 and 15, respectively, corresponding to the number of stretchers, provided thereon.
• Fig. 1 Likewise for reasons of clearness only one stretcher 13 is shown in Fig. 1 s ituated in the right-hand part of the fram e structure, but i t i s understood that as many stretchers may be anchored in the right-hand part of the frame structure (as seen in the direction of travel of the vehicle if the vehicle is considered to move to the right in Fig. 1 ) as many strecthers can be hung up in the lefthand part of the frame structure.
• the characteristic feature of the present invention consists in movable first connectors 20 , 21 , 22 and 23 , respectively, provided on the uprights 5 to 8 and second connectors 24, 25 , 26 and 27 , respectively, provided on the cross-connections .
• the second connectors 24 to 27 are preferably movable but, in an alternative embodiment of the invention, they can be firmly anchored to the cros s-connections without too highly restricting the possibility of adapting the frame s tru ctur e to any occur ing geom etr i ca l shape o f the prevailing passenger space.
• the first connectors 20 to 23 ar e pre f e rab ly subs tantia l ly s i mi lar to the s econd connectors 24 to 27 , and Figs . 3 a and 3b show the more detailed appareance of these connectors . In Figs .
• such a connector 20 is shown to include a first sleeve 28 the cross-section of which corresponds to the crosssection of an upright or a cross-connection, respectively.
• Two threaded eye bolts 29, 30 are threaded into the s leeve 28 and form the means by which the connector may be detachably fastened in a described position along the upright or cross-connection, respectively, considered.
• Two threaded eye screws 32, 33 extend through the wall of the sleeve 29 and permit detachable fastening of tubes required through the sleeve 31. These tubes the cross-sectional shape of which corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of the sleeve 31 will not be described in greater detail.
• a first longitudinal side tube 34 (Fig. 1), the length of which is greater than the distance between the uprights 5, 7, is received in the transverse sleeve 31 of the connectors 20, 22 so that the ends of the tube 34 project beyond these connectors.
• a second side tube 35 is received in connectors 21, 23 on the uprights 6, 8. Also the ends of this side tube project beyond the connectors in the way shown in the figure.
• Each longitudinal tube 34, 35, 36, 37 has a number of holders 38 movably mounted thereon.
• the holders are shown in greater detail in Fig. 4 from which it is seen that they comprise a clamp 39, a sleeve 40 fixed to the clamp and having a nut 41 welded thereto.
• a threaded rod 42 is screwed into the nut 41 and extends through the sleeve 40.
• a plate 43 which is provided with a layer 44 of a friction-increasing material.
• the plate at the free end of the threaded rod 42 may be modified and have the appearance shown in Fig. 5 from which it is seen that the plate 43 has an upturned margin 45 intended to get into engagement with the side of an upright 2.
• the purpose of the expanding members 46 is to fasten the structure formed by the arches and the longitudinal tubes inside the passenger space of the vehicle, is being assumed that the expanding members are moved along the longitudinal tubes 34 to 37 by means of the movable holders 38 and that the plates 43 will be opposite one of the said loadable elements 2, 3. Thereupon the plate 43 is turned, alternatively the nut 41 is turned, until the layer 44 gets into intimate connection with parts of said loadable elements 2, 3 so that the structure is fixed in this position.
• the holders 38 may also be placed on the projecting ends of the longitudinal tubes 34 to 37 and from this point transfer frictional forces to the uprights 5 to 8 of the structure.
• first connectors 20 to 23 movable along the uprights, the second connectors 24 to 27 movable along the cross-connections 9, 10, and the holders 38 movable along the longitudinal tubes 34 to 37 permit clamping of the structure formed by the arches and the longitudinal tubes 34 to 37 against supporting points of the uprights 2 and the beams 3 of the vehicle independently of the position of these lastmentioned elements in relation to the location of the arches.
• Each cros s-connection includes two step-shaped tube elements 50 which are joined to each other by means of a transverse straight piece of tube 51.
• each step-shaped tube e lement 50 includes two offset straight pieces of tube 52, 53 which are joined to each other by means of an intermediate transverse piece of tube 54.
• the said members 55 consist of a transverse bolt which extends through openings in the pieces of tube 51 and 53.
• the piece of tube 51 is provided with a plurality of such openings as will be seen from Fig. 1.
• a loop 56 is fixed by welding.
• the band 18 mentioned earlier is suspended in this loop.
• a corresponding loop 56 is fixed by welding to the lower transverse sleeve of the second stop member 25 which is threaded on to the free end of the piece of tube 52 of the cross-connection.
• This transverse sleeve corresponds, for example, to the transverse sleeve
• the step-shaped tube element 50 finally, has a member 57 which is arranged at the free end of the piece of tube 53.
• the purpose of the member 57 is to fix the step-shaped tube element 50 to an upright, for example the upright 5.
• the top part of this upright 5 is seen in Pigs. 3a and 3b.
• the bottom part of each upright is shown in Fig. 1 and is conventional and, therefore, will not be described in greater detail.
• each upright includes a vertical tube 58 which is provided at the top with a transverse piece of tube 59 which is intended to be slid into the free end of the piece of tube 53 and to be fixed by means of the member 57.
• each upright consists of a foot tube 60, with a foot plate 61.
• the foot tube is adjustable within the tube 58 by means of members which, for example, are similar to the members 55. Accordingly, it is clear that the height of the uprights is adjustable.
• each cross-connection 50 at a place in association with the loop 56 of the band carrying inside stretchers. Furthermore, on each crossconnection 50 a second connector 25 of the kind shown in Fig. 2 is arranged at a spacing of one stretcher's width beyond the extra upright 62, on to which a number of clamps 14, 15 are threaded. The additional stretchers are now hung up between the clamps 14, 15 on the extra upright and a band for stretcher handles which is suspended in the loop 56 of the second stop member 25.
• the extra upright 62 is provided at the top with a detachable unit 63 in the form of a holder 64 which is detachably fixed to the extra upright 62 by means, for example, of an eye screw similar to the eye screw 32 and a plate 65 welded to the holder and having at least one fork 66 welded thereto.
• a detachable unit 63 in the form of a holder 64 which is detachably fixed to the extra upright 62 by means, for example, of an eye screw similar to the eye screw 32 and a plate 65 welded to the holder and having at least one fork 66 welded thereto.
• there is an additional fork 67 provided at the side of the first fork 66.
• the fork 66 or the fork 67 is placed under the cross-connection 50 whereupon the extra upright is fastened in the frame structure by a foot plate 67' which is adjustable in height in the upright 62 at the bottom thereof and which is fastened on a threaded rod 68 which is threaded into a nut 69 which is welded in the lower part of the extra upright.
• a handle 70 provided at the bottom of the threaded rod may facilitate the fastening of the extra upright against the floor.
• the frame structure according to the invention is installed, for example, in the following way.
• the uprights 5 and 6 are laid along the vehicle walls whereupon they are connected to each other by means of the crossconnection 50 by screwing the member 57 tight on the transverse piece of tube 59 of the respective upright.
• the width of the cross-connection is brought into a co-operation with the transverse straight piece of tube 51 by means of the members 55.
• Therupon the arch formed is raised into vertical position and fixed in such position, for example by an assistant holding the arch or by a holder 38 being temporarily fixed to the arch and fastened against the roof.
• the next arch is raised and placed at a spacing from the first arch corresponding to the spacing between the front and rear handles of a stretcher.
• This arch is also fixed in a vertical position, and if the vehicle has room for still more stretchers these are mounted and placed at the said spacing from each other.
• the upper tubes and the side tubes are mounted in their second and first connectors, respectively.
• the upper tubes and the side tubes may need to be joined with each other which takes place by conventional joining means, not shown in detail, in the form of a sleeve with eye screws.
• the frame structure is now self-supporting, and the holders possibly used temporarily for fixing the arches are removed. If not already taken place earlier the possibilities of fixing the structure against supporting points of the walls and the roof of the vehicle are now tried out. When these points are found the holders 38 are fixed opposite these points, and the expansible members on these holders are fastened against the said supporting points. Finally, stretcher bands and stretchers are hung up. When the vehicle has been filled with injured it may be required that the expansible members are expanded still more so that the whole frame structure will be firmly fixed inside the vehicle.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Body Structure For Vehicles (AREA)
• Vehicle Cleaning, Maintenance, Repair, Refitting, And Outriggers (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20349964

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (3)

• 1983
  • 1983-02-09 SE SE8300689A patent/SE8300689L/sv unknown
• 1984
  • 1984-01-30 EP EP19840900761 patent/EP0136303A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1984-01-30 WO PCT/SE1984/000029 patent/WO1984003040A1/en unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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