JPH1071055A - Cushion and cover for cushion - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable to fix a body holder to be fit on a user's body by only sucking a small amount of air with a pressure reducing means. SOLUTION: When this body holder is to be adjusted to a body and fixed, air in a hollow cover 10 with plural sizes of glass beads. etc., stored inside as particle matters is sucked by a vacuum pump 21. At that time, a vacuum state is obtained by sucking only little amount of air to fix the shape of the body holder since gaps between beads are made small by mixing beads in plural sizes. When beads made of soft materials are used, deformation by vacuum suction is possible and the shape of the body holder can be fixed by sucking only a little amount of air even when beads are filled so that almost all gaps in the hollow cover 10 are eliminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a body holding device such as a chair and a vehicle seat, and more particularly, to a chair for fixing a posture of a physically handicapped person or a sick person who has difficulty moving.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, posture-fixing chairs are individually made by hand, and for example, a mold is formed with plaster or a silicon solid material according to the body, so that it takes a long time to manufacture. In short, if the mold made once is bad, it needs to be rebuilt. In addition, since a high level of manufacturing technology is required, even a small change cannot be performed by a handicapped person and his / her caregiver.

[0003] A rubber-like material such as a high-polymer elastomer, which can be easily adjusted to the characteristics of the body, can be adjusted as many times as possible, and has a desired shape in contact with the body. In the cover made of, make a cushion with shot peening glass beads, soft when air is in the cushion, and if you sit on it, it will fit the body of the person sitting A body holder is used in which the glass beads are restrained by an appropriate frictional force by bleeding air with a vacuum pump, and are fixed in a state of appropriate hardness.

[0004]

However, as a pump used for evacuation of the cushion, a large pump having a large capacity was required to maintain the degree of vacuum.

[0005] Therefore, by providing such a large pump, the body holder itself becomes large and heavy, making it difficult to move.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide a lightweight and easily movable body holder.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a body holding device having a plurality of granular materials housed in a deformable airtight hollow cover, wherein the plurality of granular materials are a plurality of types. As we use granular matter of size,
Since the gaps between the granular materials are clogged and the total gap volume in the hollow cover is small, the body holder can be fixed to the body of the user only by pulling a relatively small amount of air by the decompression means.

According to the second invention of the present application, in order to reduce the total clearance volume in the hollow cover, even if many granular materials are stored,
Since it is made of a soft material, it can be deformed according to the user's body, and the granular material shrinks by pulling a relatively small amount of air, holding the body according to the user's body The tool can be fixed.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The chair (body holding device) shown in FIGS.
For example, the pedestal 1 is used to hold the body of a physically handicapped person or the like, and is constituted by a wheelchair having a seating portion 2 and a backrest portion 3. The backrest portion 3 is attached to the seating portion 2 so as to be swingable around the width direction, and can be adjusted so that the angle of the backrest portion 3 with respect to the seating portion 2 is optimal depending on the posture of the person sitting, the type of work, and the like. ing.

A seating cushion 5 for holding the buttocks and legs of the body is attached to the seating section 2, and a backrest cushion 6 for holding the back of the body is attached to the backrest 3. Each of the cushions 5 and 6 includes a deformable airtight hollow cover 10 and a plurality of granular members 11 housed in the hollow cover 10. The hollow cover 10 has elasticity by being formed from a material such as a polymer elastomer or rubber.

Each of the granular members 11 may be made of, for example, glass beads for shot peening, beaded plastics, or the like. The size and shape of each granular member 11 need not be uniform. The shape of each granular member is preferably a sphere or a spheroid whose outer peripheral surface is a curved surface, from the viewpoint of feel. Furthermore, the size of each granular member 11 is larger than a mesh of a filter provided in an air flow opening 10a to be described later in the hollow cover 10 and is within an upper limit dimension that can exert a friction enough to press against each other when depressurizing. It may be determined appropriately so that the time required for the decompression does not become excessively small and time is not required.

Each hollow cover 10 has an air flow opening 10a, and the inside of each hollow cover 10 is connected to a vacuum pump 21 as a pressure reducing means via a pipe connected to the air flow opening 10a.
Connected to. The connection port 10a is provided with the granular member 1
A filter (not shown) for preventing discharge from the hollow cover 10 is provided. Opening / closing valves 22 and 23 are provided in a pipe connecting each hollow cover 10 and the vacuum pump 21. Further, an open / close valve 24 for opening the atmosphere to connect the inside of each hollow cover 10 to the atmosphere is provided. By opening the open / close valves 22 and 23 and driving the vacuum pump 21 to evacuate each hollow cover 10, the inside of each hollow cover 10 is evacuated by closing the open / close valves 22 and 23. Can be held,
Opening / closing valves 22 and 23 and an opening / closing valve 24 for opening to atmosphere.
By opening the inside, the inside of each hollow cover 10 can be returned to the atmospheric pressure.

Also, as beads to be put into a cushion,
By using beads of different sizes, the spacing between the beads is reduced, the total clearance volume in the hollow cover 10 is reduced, and the capacity required for evacuation is reduced. For example,
As the size of the glass beads, those having a diameter of 3 mm, those having a diameter of 2 mm, and those having a diameter of 1 mm are mixed at the same ratio.

According to the above configuration, each of the cushions 5, 6 is constituted by the plurality of granular members 11 housed in the deformable hollow cover 10. Therefore, when a person sits on a chair before decompression inside the hollow cover 10 and holds the person's body with the cushions 5 and 6, the shape of each cushion 5 and 6 conforms to the body held by the movement of the granular member 11. Change. Therefore, the posture of the body holding the shape of each of the cushions 5 and 6 can be adjusted without requiring advanced technology, and this can be repeated any number of times. While holding the body, each cushion 5, 6
When the inside of the hollow cover 10 is depressurized by the vacuum pump 21, the internal granular members 11 are pressed against each other and do not move due to friction between each other, so that the shapes of the cushions 5 and 6 are fixed.

Further, since the hollow cover 10 has elasticity, the hollow cover 10 can maintain the shape of the cushions 5 and 6 without being broken even if the cushions 5 and 6 are extremely deformed. When the degree of vacuum inside each hollow cover 10 decreases, the vacuum pump 2
The degree of vacuum can be increased by re-driving 1 and opening the opening / closing valves 22, 23.

Further, as beads to be put in the cushion, those having a diameter of 3 mm, those having a diameter of 2 mm, and those having a diameter of 1 mm
mm, the spacing between the beads is small, the total gap volume in the hollow cover 10 is small, and the volume required for evacuation is small. By simply reducing the pressure with the vacuum cleaner, the degree of vacuum for maintaining the hardness for use of the body holder could be maintained for one week or more.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the intended purpose can be achieved even if a soft material such as silicone rubber is used as beads to be put in the cushion. In this case, even if a lot of silicone rubber is stored in the hollow cover in order to reduce the gap between the granular materials in the hollow cover, the material of the granular material is soft. It is possible to deform together, and at the time of decompression, there is little gap between the granular materials and the total clearance volume in the hollow cover 10 is small. The body holder can be fixed according to the body of the user. For example, by storing a large number of 3 mm-diameter hollow covers in a hollow cover and depressurizing a 1 mm-thick hollow cover with a household vacuum cleaner to maintain the degree of vacuum enough to use a body holder. For more than a week.

[0019]

In both the first and second aspects of the present invention, a small amount of air is drawn to create a vacuum state, so that the capacity of the vacuum pump can be small, and a household vacuum cleaner can be used as the vacuum pump. Household vacuum cleaners are generally light in weight, making it easy to move the chair itself, even if it is fixed to a chair. Further, in the case of a home vacuum cleaner, since it is located in most homes, it can be used in the home without being attached to a chair. Therefore, when using this chair at home, it is not necessary to equip a vacuum pump, and the chair is further reduced in weight and easy to handle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a body holder of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the body holding device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5, 6 Cushion (body holding device) 10 Hollow cover 11 Granular member 21 Vacuum pump

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A body holding part having a plurality of granular materials housed in a deformable airtight hollow cover, the inside of the hollow cover is connected to a decompression means, and the shape of the body holding part is Before decompression inside the hollow cover, it can be changed along the body to be held, and after decompression inside the hollow cover, it can be fixed in a shape changed along the body before decompression, and As multiple granules,
A body support using a plurality of types of granular materials. 2. A body holding part having a plurality of granular materials housed in a deformable airtight hollow cover, wherein the inside of the hollow cover is connected to a pressure reducing means, and the shape of the body holding part is Before decompression inside the hollow cover, it can be changed along the body to be held, and after decompression inside the hollow cover, it can be fixed in a shape changed along the body before decompression, and As multiple granules,
A body holding device characterized by using a granular material of a soft material.