GB2097250A - Apparatus for supporting disabled persons - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for lifting and supporting a disabled person whilst the person is being moved into or out of a bath, the apparatus including a seat and backrest assembly 12 vertically movable relative to a frame 10 by means of a bellows 11. The seat 16 is provided with hinged flank panels 17 which can be lowered to rest on the brim of the bath and thereby extend the seat laterally. A leg support 18 is provided to support the persons lower legs, and optionally the support may be adapted to enable the user's lower legs to continue to be supported at or about the level of the seat as the height of the seat is adjusted. The apparatus may be disposed in the bath or may be used as or as part of a wheelchair 30, and may have armrests 27 which serve as flank panel retainers and which are movable to serve as lateral extensions of the backrest 15. Stay means 74 may be provided to secure the frame 10 of one apparatus in a bath to the frame 10 of another apparatus alongside the bath. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for supporting disabled persons This invention concerns apparatus for moving disabled persons.

There are known a multiplicity of forms of wheelchair for moving disabled persons.

However, disabled persons have to lift themselves or be lifted from known wheelchairs when, for example, they wish to get into bed. For a person lifting a disabled person, the wheelchair is often an impediment, and when a disabled person had to be lifted into a bath the presence of the wheelchair alongside the bath usually presents a considerable obstacle, so that it is often easier to halt the wheelchair some distance from the bath and to carry the disabled person to the bath.

In my co-pending British Patent Application No: 201 4446A there is described support apparatus for supporting a disabled person in a bath, which apparatus comprises a support assembly adapted to be secured in a bath, a pneumatic bellows mounted on a base portion of the support assembly, and a seat and backrest assembly which is supported on the bellows and guided by a backrest support portion of the support assembly so that the latter controls the attitude of the seat and backrest assembly as the latter is raised of lowered by inflation or deflation of the bellows.

This support apparatus supports the disabled person in the bath and obviates the need to lift the disabled person into and out of the bath. Furthermore, the support apparatus can be provided with means in the form of flank panels hingedly secured to the sides of the seat to enable a disabled person to be supported whilst being moved to one side of the bath ready to be lifted into a wheelchair.

Whilst such support apparatus provides effective support for most users, some persons, who suffer from certain disabilities, need considerable assistance when using the apparatus, and an object of the invention is to reduce the amount of assistance needed. A further object is to provide a form of apparatus which can be utilised to facilitate a person being moved from a wheelchair onto another supporting surface.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus, for supporting and lifting a person, comprising a frame, an inflatable bag or bellows device disposed upon the bag or bellows device; the frame including a backrest support portion upstanding from the base and connected to a backrest of said assembly so as to guide and control the attitude of the latter as the latter is raised or lowered by inflation or deflation of said device; wherein an upper end portion of a leg support is attached to a front part of the seat of said assembly by a hinge; and wherein a lower end portion of the leg support is adapted to be able to move towards and away from the base as the assembly is raised and lowered.

The apparatus may form part of or be attached to a wheelchair to serve as lifting apparatus which has released retaining means to retain the flank panels in a raised condition in which the latter extend upwards from the seat; has stay means adapted to be extended to either side of the backrest support portion, the stay means having a free end portion provided with a clamp or connector device; and has backrest extension means adapted to be disposed so as to provide a supplementary backrest alongside the backrest. The supplementary backrest is preferably supported upon the backrest to move therewith.

The base may be provided with fastener means such as strap or clamps either to engage the seat portion of a wheelchair or to engage a wheeled shallow trolley so that the combination of the trolley and lifting apparatus serves as and effectively constitutes a lifting wheelchair.

The backrest extension means may be adapted to be relocated to serve as a headrest for the lifting apparatus. Alternatively the backrest extension means may be movable to serve as an armrest for the lifting apparatus, and in the latter instance the armrest may be adapted to engage a respective one of the flank panels to serve as the or part of the releasable retaining means, and two said backrest extension means are preferably provided.

The leg support is designed to support a user's legs from the knees downwards, and said frame or said base may be provided with a forwardly projecting extension which is slidably engaged by the lower end portion, or, where the apparatus is adapted to be located in a bath, the lower end portion may be adapted to slidably engage the bottom of the bath.

Said extension may form part of a frame of a wheelchair having an extended wheelbase, and the front wheel or wheels of the wheelchair may be steerable and mounted on the extension.

The leg support may comprise a first member having said outer and lower end portions, a second member providing a leg supporting surface, the second member being hingedly joined to said upper end portion or to said seat, a secondary bag or bellows being disposed between said first and second members so as to be able to raise the second member angularly relative to the first member when inflated.

Alternatively, the leg support may comprise a first member having said upper end portion, and a second member having said lower end portion, the first and second members being joined by a second hinge so that the axes of the hinges are parallel, there being a cable or linkage connecting the lower end portion with the seat and backrest assembly so that as the latter is raised the cable or linkage draws the lower end portion towards the base whereby to lift the second hinge.

The invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, wherein: Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of apparatus of the invention forming part of a wheelchair in side elevation, in a lowered position; Figure 2 shows the first embodiment of lifting apparatus in side elevation, in a raised position; Figures 3 and 4 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 2 showing a second embodiment of the apparatus in position in a bath; Figures 5 and 6 show a third embodiment in position in a bath; and Figure 7 shows the embodiments of Figs. 2 and 3 in front elevation.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6, the three embodiments of the apparatus each comprise a frame 10, a bellows device 11, and a seat and backrest assembly 1 2. The frame comprises an upstanding tubular backrest support portion of inverted U-shape and a base 1 4.

The seat and backrest assembly 1 2 comprises a seat 1 6 and a backrest 1 5 which are constituted primarily by a moulding. The backrest is provided with a back closure panel which is fastened at the rear of the backrest to retain parallel portions of the tube of the portion 1 3 in slideways provided in the backrest 15.

The bellows device 11 is disposed between the base 14 and the seat 16, and is provided with adjustable valve means (not shown) which can be preset to limit the height by which the seat is lifted when the bellows is inflated, and with manually operable valve means which controls the supply of compressed air to the bellows and allows the bellows to be deflated.

The seat 1 6 is provided with flank panels 1 7 (not shown in Figs. 3 to 6) which are hingedly connnected to the sides of the seat.

The apparatus is provided with a leg support 18.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the apparatus is lifting apparatus and forms part of a wheelchair 30 having a frame 31 to which the frame 10 is rigidly connected.

The apparatus has backrest extension means which comprise elongate members 27.

Adjustable mountings, at the lateral margins of the backrest comprise sockets 25 secured to or provided on the back panel to receive supports 26. The elongate members 21 are adjustably located upon the supports 26 which are adjustably mounted in the sockets 25 and the latter are provided with adjustable holding means or releasable locking means 71 to hold or lock the shafts in selected positions, so that each of the elongate members can be individually moved about a vertical axis 70 of the socket from a forwardly directed condition in which it lies above and generally parallel to the sides of the seat to constitute an armrest (Fig. 1), to a laterally directed condition in which the elogate member extends outwardly from the sides of the backrest as shown in Fig. 7 to constitute a supplementary backrest 27A.A reverse side of each elongate member is shaped so that, in the forwardly directed position of the elongate member, the armrest engages the free margin of the adjacent flank panel 1 7 (when the latter is raised) to serve as releasable means for retaining the latter in the raised position. The obverse side of the elongate member is padded.

In the laterally directed condition the elongate member consitutes backrest extension means to provide the supplementary backrest which serves as a laterally elongate extension of the backrest 1 5. Further releasable locking or holding means 72 is provided for the supports 26 to enable the elongate members to be moved longitudinally relative to the supports 26 along a horizontal axis 73 and to permit rotation about the axis 73 to enable the padded obverse side to be turned from horizontal to vertical.

In this embodiment the leg support 1 8 comprises a panel 23 which has an upper end portion attached by a hinge 24 to the front of the seat 16; and comprises a lower end portion 20 which is provided with rollers or pegs which project sideways from the portion 20 to engage slidably in channels provided in parallel longitudinal members 32 of the frame 31.

The members 32 are connected at the rear of the frame by transverse members on which is supported a housing 35 for a motor, a battery, a pump and a drive mechanism, the latter being connected to rear wheels 34 supporting the rear of the frame 31. The members 32 are connected at the front to a steering head 36 in which a front fork 37 is pivotally located in known manner. The front fork is supported by a front wheel 38 and is connected to a telescopically adjustable steering member 39 by a pivot allowing the steering member to be arcuately raised and lowered.

The manually operable valve means is adapted to be attached to the steering member, but may be detached therefrom or provided with remote controls to enable the valve means to be operated by a person standing or sitting alongside the apparatus. Motor controls are mounted on the steering member to enable a user to cause the motor to drive the pump and/or the transmission.

Stay means 74 (Fig. 7), in the form of a tubular stay 75 having an adjustable pivotal clamp 76 at or adjacent each end is provided on the lifting apparatus. One of the clamps 76 is movable longitudinally of the end portion 77 of the stay, but the stay may be of telescopic form, so that the spacing between the clamps may be adjusted and so that both clamps may be secured to the frame when distance therebetween or the length of the stay is minimised for storage.

In use, a disabled person can be seated on the apparatus, i.e. upon the wheelchair, and can be conveyed by being pushed along or propelled by the motor, preferably whilst the bellows are deflated so that the seat 1 6 is close to the frame 31 as shown in Fig. 1.

In the lowered position of the seat 16, the leg support panel 23 is nearly parallel with the frame 31, and extends forwards from the seat so that the user's lower legs are level with, or only slightly below the level of, the user's thighs.

The user or a helper, can operate the control means to cause the pump to be driven by the motor, and can operate the valve means to admit low pressure compressed air from the pump into the bellows to raise the seat 1 6 to a maximum in which the support panel is nearly vertical (as shown in Fig. 2) or to a selected intermediate position which is set by the adjustable valve means. It will be appreciated that as the seat is raised the panel 23 swings downwards about the hinge and the portion 20 moves towards the base 14, varying the inclination of the leg support and allowing the user's knees to bend.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the second embodiment of the apparatus is support apparatus for use in a bath having a bottom 40, and the base 1 4 is provided with manually actuable suction clamps or suckers 41 to secure the base and frame 10 to the bath. A pump and motor assembly, not shown, is connected to the bellows device 11 via the manually operable valve means.

The seat and backrest assembly 1 2 is provided with the flank panels 1 7 (omitted from Figs. 3 and 4), but is not provided with arm rests or backrest extension means.

The leg support 1 8 in this embodiment comprises a first member 42, a second member 43 and a secondary bellows 44.

The upper end portions of the members 42 and 43 are attached by hinge means 45 to the front of the seat 16, which hinge means may comprise a first hinge connecting one of said members to the other, and a second hinge connecting one of said members to the seat. The second hinge may be releasable to permit removal of the leg support from the seat. The first member 42 has a lower end portion 46 which has rounded edges of a plastics material for sliding along the bottom 40 of the bath; and the bellows 44 is supported on the first member 42 and is connected by a tube 47, and optionally a manually operable valve and connector, to the bellows device 11 or to the pump. The second member 43 provides a leg support panel for supporting a user's lower legs.However, the bellows 44 and second member 43 may be detachable so that the first member 42 serves as a leg support panel similar to the panel 23 in the first embodiment.

In use, the first member 42 moves angularly relative to the seat from nearly horizontal position to a substantially upright position as the seat 1 6 is raised from its lowermost position to its uppermost position, and the bellows 44 can be progressively inflated as the seat is raised so as to maintain the second member 43 in a substantially constant attitude relative to the seat whereby to support the user's lower legs in a position generally level with the thighs (which rest on the seat) and thereby to obviate the cause of discomfort for those users who suffer e.g. from disorders of the knee joints.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, the third embodiment of the apparatus is similar to the second embodiment, and is provided with suckers 41. The leg supoort 18 in this embodiment comprises a first member 50, a second member 51 and mechanical means to cause the second member 51 to move. The first member 50 has an upper end portion connected by a first hinge 52 to the front of the seat, and serves as a leg support panel to support a user's lower legs. The second member 51 has a lower end portion 53 which is similar to the lower end portion 46 so as to slide along the bottom 40 of the bath, and the first and second members are joined by a second hinge 54.The members 50 and 51 and the second hinge 54 are arranged so that the angular movement between the members is restricted, so that the angle A has a maximum of less then 180 , e.g. 160 and a minimum, in use, of more than 90 , e.g.

110 . Said mechanical means comprises a pair of cables 55, which extend from the lower end portion 53 to the rear of the seat 1 6 via guides provided in the base 14.

In use, when the seat is raised from its lowermost position, the cables 55 are drawn by the seat to pull the lower end portion 53 towards the base so as to raise the second hinge 54 to maintain a substantially constant angular relationship between the first member 50 and the seat. When the set is lowered, the weight of the first member 50 (and the load applied thereto by any user) causes the lower end portion 53 to slide along the bottom 40 away from the base to maintain some tension on the cables 55.

The wheelchair of the first embodiment may be used in conjunction with the support appartus of the second embodiment as shown in Fig. 7, for transferring a person from the wheelchair to the bath and vice versa.

In use the wheelchair is moved to alongside the bath.

The bellows device 11 of the support apparatus in the bath is then inflated until the seat is just below the level of the rim 80 so that one flank panel 1 7 rests on the rim. (The other flank panel may rest against a wall alongside the bath.) The stay 75 and clamps are appropriately positioned and fastened to the upper portions of the frames 10, and the or some of the wheels 34 and 38 are locked, to secure the wheelchair in position closely alongside the bath.

The bellows device 11 of the wheelchair is then inflated to raise the seat some distance above the level of the rim, the elongate member 21 adjacent the bath is moved firstly to allow the flank panel 1 7 therebelow to be swung down to rest on top of the flank panel resting on the brim, and secondly to provide the backrest extension which extends between the backrests substantially to bridge therebetween.

It will be readily appreciated that the overlapping flank panels 1 7 form a bridge across which many of the less severely disabled persons can propel themselves with little or no assistance; that the more severly disabled persons can be eased across the bridge without having to be lifted bodily; that the stay means stabilises the position of the apparatus and the wheelchair if the person or the helper pushes or exerts a thrust on the apparatus of the wheelchair; and that the supplementary backrest provide supports and reassurance for the person.

When the person is seated on the support apparatus, the bellows device can be deflated to lower the person into the bath, the flank panles being lowered with the seat to rest on the side walls of the bath.

Before the person is raised from the bath the apparatus of the wheelchair is adjusted by deflating the bellows device to lower the seat to below the level of the brim. Thereafter the bellows device of the support apparatus in the bath is inflated to raise the seat to above the level of the brim and to cause one of the flank panels to rest on that flank panel of the wheelchair which rests on the brim to form a bridge for returning the person to the wheelchair.

The wheelchair can also be used to transfer the person onto a bed or other article providing a supporting surface on which one of the flank panels can rest, and the apparatus is particularly effective if the bed or article has a frame to which the stay means can be secured. The wheelchair can likewise be used in conjunction with the third embodiment or with the apparatus described in Specification No: 2014446A.

The invention is not confined to the foregoing embodiments and many variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

For example, the wheelchair of the first embodiment may be provided with a form of the leg support 1 8 as generally described herein with reference to Figs. 3 and 4 (or Figs. 5 and 6), the lower end portion 46 or 53 being adapted to cooperate with and be supported by the frame or a frame extension of the wheelchair. Such a wheelchair can be used, by raising the seat and leg support panel, and lowering one of the flank panels, to enable a person with stiff or painful knee joints to be slid or rolled from the wheelchair onto a bed or other elevated substantially level support surface provided, for example, by the seat and leg support panel of the second or third embodiment therein.

The forms of leg support in the first and second embodiments can be used to flex a user's knee joints, which may be beneficial to some users.

It will be readily appreciated that the forms of leg support provided in the aforementioned embodiments do not require cantilever mountings and thus minimise the additional loads applied via the backrest to the frame 10 which forces, if excessive, may generate enough friction to cause the movement of the seat and backrest assembly to become jerky.

The hinges may be of or covered with flexible strip material.

Any suitable pump means may be employed to provide the necessary supply of compressed air, e.g. a hand or foot pump, or an electrically powered pump, and such pumps may be mounted on or carried by the wheelchair.

The seat and seat and backrest, may be recessed to accept a padded detachable seat or seat and backrest cushion or cushions which are arranged so that the working surface of the or each cushion is substantially level with the working surface of the seat or backrest around the cushion so that a person can slide or move across said working surfaces without encountering any substantial steps in level therebetween. The or each cushion is preferably of a disposable or washable nature.

The outline of a cushion is indicated in broken lines in Figs. 3 to 6.

The leg support means 1 8 in the second and third embodiments is preferably able to be folded or swung to lie on top of the seat, for storage and transportation, as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 6, or may be detachable.

In the first embodiment, the base 14 may be provided with detachable wheels, castors or suckers and the apparatus may be detachable from the frame 30. The backrest extension means may also detachable.

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for supporting and lifting a person, comprising a frame, an inflatable bag of bellows device disposed upon a base, and a seat backrest assembly disposed upon the bag or bellows device; the frame including a backrest support portion upstanding from the base and connected to a backrest of said assembly so as to guide and control the attitude of the latter as the latter is raised or lowered by inflation of deflation of said device; wherein an upper end portion of a leg support is attached to a front part of the seat of said assembly by a hinge; and wherein a lower end portion of the leg support is adapted to be able to move towards and away from the base as the assembly is raised and lowered.

2. Apparatus a claimed in Claim 1, wherein said upper and lower portions are portions of a member which increases in inclination as the seat is raised.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said member is a first member and wherein a second member providing a leg supporting surface is hingedly joined to said upper end portion or to said seat, a secondary bag or bellows being disposed between said first and second members so as to able to raise the second member angularly relative to the first member when inflated.

4. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the leg support comprises a first member having said upper end portion, and a second member having said lower end portion, the first and second members being joined by a second hinge so that the axes of the hinges are parallel, there being a cable or linkage connnecting the lower end portion with the seat and backrest assembly so that as the lower end portion towards the base whereby to lift the second hinge.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein said apparatus is adapted to be located in a bath, and wherein said lower end portion is adapted to slidably engage a bottom of the bath.

6. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 5, wherein flank panels are hingedly secured to the sides of the seat.

7. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein flank panels are hingedly secured to the sides of the seat and armrests are provided on the backrest assembly.

8. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the frame or base is provided with a forwardly projecting extension which is slidably engaged by the lower end portion.

9. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the apparatus forms lart of a wheelchair, and wherein said extension forms part of a frame of the wheelchair.

10. Appartus as claimed in Claim 8 or 9, and further comprisng backrest extension means adapted to be disposed so as provide a supplementary backrest alongside the backrest.

11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the supplementary backrest, provided by the backrest extension means, is supported upon the backrest for movement therewith as the seat and backrest assembly is raised and lowered.

12. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10 or 11, wherein the backrest extension means is adjustably mounted upon the backrest so as to be movable between a first condition wherein the backrest extension means provides the supplementary backrest and a second condition wherein the backrest extension means provides an armrest for the seat and backrest assembly.

1 3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 12, comprising two said backrest extension means, wherein each said backrest extension means is arranged so that the armrest is engageable with a respective one of the flank panels so that said armrests constitute or serve as part of said releasable retaining means.

14. Apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 7 to 1 3 further comprising stay means adapted to be extended to either side of the backrest support portion, the stay means having a free end portion provided with a clamp or connector device.

1 5. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the leg support is detachable.

1 6. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, Figs. 3 and 4, Figs. 5 and 6, or Fig. 7 of the accompanying drawings.