EP0152349B1 - Canvas stretcher to lift and to carry a human body - Google Patents

Abstract

Cloth carrier intended to lift and transfer an inert human body, injured or ill, comprising a carrying plane and a plurality of handles. The carrying plane is comprised of two rectangular and similar cloth portions (1 and 2) arranged one on the other and made integral by a stitching (3) forming a grid, the handles (4) are comprised of cloth bands and are fixed to the edge of the carrying plane independently from each other, symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the carrier so that, on each side, a handle is immediately at the vicinity of each hand and two other handles at 1/3 and 7-12 approximately, respectively, of the length. The carrier avoids any handling of the body between the moment when the body is taken in charge and the medical attendance place.

Description

The present invention relates to a device intended to move the body of a person, and more particularly a rack making it possible to lift: transfer or even transport over a short distance an inert human body, injured or sick, tending to facilitate handling in hospital formations and in non-hospital spaces.

Caring for an inert, injured or sick human body is an ongoing problem.

In this area, we know that the most commonly accepted and widely developed equipment is based on the principle of stretcher or stretcher. At the same time, hospital technicians and first aid technicians have developed relatively more efficient and sophisticated devices and equipment, but they are costly and even demanding in terms of maintenance.

For a long time, we have been looking for a simple and above all interchangeable, "trivial" means, going so far as to recommend the creation of real "banks of equipment, essentially focused on hospital training. Indeed these are the logical outcome of the journey from the places of care and on the other hand the natural space in which the injured or the sick are called to be lifted, transferred, transported from a location to a other, from one material to another, or even from one establishment to another more specialized.

The AFNOR NF S 90 311 standard aimed to ensure that the stretcher, considered to be closely linked to the transported human body, is interchangeable, thus allowing easy exchange, at all levels and at all stages of the extra, then intra-hospital journey, between an “empty” stretcher and the “loaded” stretcher.

However, the multiplicity of rescue and care services has the consequence of complicating and sophisticated means in terms of materials and men, and this, for the best treatment of the great emergency, fortunately infrequent, ignoring in this simple transport and daily manipulations. So today, no logistical "trivialization" of the material is carried out, each system wanting to recover its own equipment at each stage, most of the time very expensive, and thereby breaking each time the unity between the human body transported and the means used for its transport. The patient or injured person therefore undergoes from six to ten transfers, between various materials since his care, throughout his extra-hospital transport, upon admission to hospital training and during his intra-hospital journey. These transfers are carried out by one, two, exceptionally three or four manipulators, by force of their hands and arms, in the absence of interchangeability between the materials. It follows a whole series of manipulations, uncomfortable for the manipulators and often harmful to the injured or sick manipulated.

Solutions intended to allow simplified handling have been proposed, and described for example in French patent 2,465,475. The device described in this patent comprises a canvas in which handles are formed by cutting the canvas and strengthening the edges; it is intended to replace a stretcher, but is not very advantageous by its structure, and it fishes by the regularity of the arrangement of the handles along the carrying plane, which does not respect the non-homogeneous distribution of the weight of the different structures human anatomical. Thus handling with this device or those derived from it leads to imbalance and unequal efforts on the part of those who handle, making the maneuver random or even uncomfortable, as much for the one who is worn as for those who perform it. US Patent 2,788,530 describes a relatively complex rescue device comprising a reinforced canvas on its edges, supplemented by regularly distributed handles. Besides its complexity, this device has the same drawbacks as above. The fact also that the straps forming handles pass under the carrying plane for the sake of better support, in reality imposes constraints on the body placed on them which do not necessarily correspond to the natural support points, which are variable from one body to the other. The industrial manufacture of such devices in materials based on various materials including plastic, generates rapid degradation of this type of vulnerable material in its material and at the seams or welds, and, in any case, prohibits maintenance by machine wash at 100 degrees, or even sterilization, condi-. tion essential for hospital use.

All the other known devices are either unsuitable for the plurality of situations, or only suitable for a specific type of situation.

The present invention relates to a rack avoiding the aforementioned drawbacks and making it possible for the inert human body, injured or sick, to be placed once and for all thereon, reducing handling to a minimum (two) between the taking in charge and placing either on the hospital reception bed, or on the reception equipment at the level of the technical platform made necessary by its condition (radiology, dressing, explorations, operating room).

The invention also relates to a canvas rack simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use for lifting and transferring a body, and if necessary for transporting it over a short distance.

The invention also relates to a rack made entirely of easy-care fabric by washing at high temperature or autoclave, allowing its use in a hospital environment.

The canvas rack according to the invention is of the type comprising a carrying plane associated with a plurality of handles, and is distinguished in particular in that the carrying plane consists of two identical rectangular fabrics placed one on the other. and joined together by an overstitching along a grid, the handles are made of strips of canvas and are fixed to the edge of the carrying plane independently of each other, symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the rack, so that, on each longitudinal side, one handle is immediately near each end and two other handles about 1/3 and 7/12 respectively, of the length.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the handles, eight in number, are fixed on the edges of the carrying plane, between the two fabrics, by topstitching, four handles on each length. If necessary, one or two additional handles are fixed in the same way at each end, on the short sides of the carrying plane.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the rack has a dimension of 1.80 mx 0.55 m and in this case the extreme handles are placed about 5 cm from the end of the length and an interval of 30 cm separates the second handle of the first, and the third of the second, while each handle, in the form of a half-loop occupies a width of approximately 15 cm, these values being able to vary from 2 to 3 cm.

It is important, in accordance with the invention, that the rack consists of two identical fabrics, for example of linen and cotton, fixed one on the other by a stitching in grid. This arrangement in fact provides excellent results with regard to strength and dimensional stability. In addition, the edges of each fabric can be folded inwards, so that the fold of one of the fabrics is against the fold of the other, and the handles are fixed between these folds. This arrangement provides sufficient resistance.

It may be advantageous according to the invention to fold the edges of each fabric along the four sides so as to form a reinforcement at the edge of the carrying plane, which improves the resistance of the rack and its retention when it is lifted by the handles. . According to a variant, this reinforcement can be obtained by fixing one or more strips of fabrics on the edge of the carrying plane, on one of the fabrics or on both. The fixing is done by stitching.

In this variant in particular, it is advantageous to fix this reinforcement so that it forms a sheath, on each edge of the carrying plane, allowing the installation of an accessory means of stiffening such as bar or spar. This sheath can have an opening in its central part, along the length of the rack, and in this case the side members are formed by two bars which are assembled by interlocking or clipping in the middle. The opening allows the two bars to be unlocked.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the drawbacks of the known devices are avoided, the rack comprising a carrying plane produced with two identical pieces of canvas, sewn together face to face according to a grid, offering a space at the edge, where at least eight independent handles are introduced from each other (four along each long side of the carrying plane), made of the same type of canvas, which are caught in the topstitching and the reinforcing folds of the selvedges, giving the original homogeneity of the device.

No other material, with the exception of natural thread used for topstitching, is used to make the device, giving it solidity and the possibility of being machine washed at 100 ° C with the addition of a sanitizing liquid (water bleach for example), or even to be sterilized in an autoclave in the same way as surgical linen.

By folding the part of the rack located between the most widely spaced consecutive handles and making the handles coincide very exactly between them, we obtain a reduction in the length of the carrying plane, allowing lifting, transfer and possible transport over a short distance from a child's body. The fact that it can be folded in its entirety therefore easily stored. is an added advantage.

• La figure 1 représente le dispositif dans son ensemble, montrant en particulier la position exacte, non régulièrement espacées, des poignées, le long du plan de portage.
• La figure 2 représente une première variante du dispositif en ce qu'elle comporte des poignées supplémentaires le long des deux petits côtés du plan de portage, permettant la translation d'un matériel à un autre placé dans son prolongement, sans levage.
• La figure 3 représente la mise en place d'une poignée entre les deux pièces de toile formant le plan de portage et le système de fixation de celle-ci.
• La figure 4 représente une seconde variante du dispositif selon la figure 1 en ce qu'elle permet l'adjonction de moyens de rigidification de l'ensemble.
• La figure 5 représente la seconde variante avec les moyens de rigidification en place.
• La figure 6 et la figure 7 représentent le détail du montage des moyens de rigidification entre eux.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows, given solely by way of nonlimiting example with reference to the appended drawing in which:

• Figure 1 shows the device as a whole, showing in particular the exact position, not evenly spaced, of the handles, along the carrying plane.
• FIG. 2 represents a first variant of the device in that it comprises additional handles along the two short sides of the carrying plane, allowing the translation of one material to another placed in its extension, without lifting.
• Figure 3 shows the implementation of a handle between the two pieces of canvas forming the carrying plane and the fixing system thereof.
• 4 shows a second variant of the device according to Figure 1 in that it allows the addition of stiffening means of the assembly.
• Figure 5 shows the second variant with the stiffening means in place.
• Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the detail of the mounting of the stiffening means between them.

The device according to Figures 1 and 2, involves handling by four people, or possibly three. However, the number of people available can be reduced to two. In this case, means are provided for stiffening the device according to the figures from 4 to 7, allowing handling by only two people.

As shown in the figures, the rack according to the invention comprises two identical rectangular fabrics (1 and 2) fixed one on the other by an over-stitching (3) according to a grid in lines parallel to the sides. Four handles (4) are fixed on each side, and if necessary two additional handles are fixed at each end (fig. 2).

Figure 3 shows, in enlarged view, the fixing of the handles. The edges of the fabrics (1) and (2) are folded inwards, and the tabs of the handle (4) are placed between the folds (5) and (6), then the assembly is secured by stitching.

According to the second variant of Figure 4, there are along the four sides of the carrying plane, a short distance from the selvedges, strips of fabric (7) and (8) forming a sheath for the passage of the stiffening means as shown in Figure 5. These strips cut from the same material as the device are overstitched so as to provide the four corners of the surface of the carrying plane a free angle allowing the passage and mounting of the stiffening means. These strips can be replaced by pieces of tubular fabric previously prepared, made from a material identical or compatible with that of the device.

The stiffening means according to Figures 6 and 7 consist of two beams (9) which can be inserted in the pieces of fabric forming sheath arranged along the two long sides of the carrying plane and two transverse pieces (10), which can fit into the pieces of fabric forming a sheath arranged along the two short sides of the carrying plane and cooperating with the two longitudinal members (9) to form the stiffening frame. These transverse parts (10) consist of a central tubular element (11) and two flat parts, bent in a semicircle (12) intended to adapt very exactly to the diameter of the side members (9) without it being necessary to use fixing means. The stiffening means are made of a rigid and light metallic material, for example aluminum or duralumin.

The device according to Figures 1,2 and 4 is compatible with all equipment meeting the AFNOR NF S 90 311 standard, thus opening up the possibility of immediate adaptation and easy interchangeability.

The main use envisaged for the invention is intra-hospital. Use in extra-hospital spaces in the context of collecting the wounded or taking care of the sick and transporting them to hospital units is easily conceivable and highly desirable for the sake of standardization, harmonization and interchangeability of means.

The canvas rack of the present invention may also be used in the handling of mortal remains.

Claims (8)

1. A conveyance made of canvass intended for lifting and transferring a motionless, injured or sick human body, comprising a conveying plane and a plurality of handles made of canvass wherein the conveying plane consists of two canvass sheets (1) placed on one another and secured to one another by means of overstitching (3) and the handles are fastened to the edge of the conveying plane symmetrically relative to the. longitudinal axis of the conveyance, in such a way that, on each longitudinal side, one handle is in the immediate vicinity of each end, characterized in that the canvass sheets are identical and rectangular, the overstitching is in a grid formation, and the handles are fastened independently of one another, in such a way that two other handles are at approximately 1/3 and 7/12 of the length respectively.

2. A conveyance as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the handles are fastened to the edges of the conveying plane between the two canvass sheets by means of overstitching.

3. A conveyance as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that it possesses four handles arranged over each length.

4. A conveyance as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the edges of each canvass sheet are folded so as to form a reinforcement at the edge of the conveying plane.

5. A conveyance as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the edges are folded inwards, the folds (5, 6) of each canvass sheet facing one another, and the handles are fastened between these folds.

6. A conveyance as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that reinforcing strips (7, 8) are fastened by means of overstitching to at least one of the canvass sheets on the edge of the conveying plane.

7. A conveyance as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the reinforcements (7, 8) of the edge of the conveying plane form a sleeve making it possible to introduce a stiffening means.

8. A conveyance as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the stiffening means consist of two longitudinal bars (9), on which bear two transverse bars (11).

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