US620694A - Cornelia j - Google Patents

Description

No. 620,694. Patented Mar. 7, I899. G. J. CHADWICK.

CARRIER.

(Application filed. June 20, 1898.\

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GORNELIA J OHADWIOK, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,694, dated March '7, 1899.

Application filed June 20, 1898.

T0 to whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CORNELIA J. CHAD- WIOK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in (Jarriers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective front view of one form of my carrier combined with harness, and Fig. 2 shows a similar rear view of same in actual use.

The object of my invention is to provide a carrier or device by means of which wounded or otherwise-injured persons or those from any cause incapacited from moving their bodies in the usual way may be safely and readily moved and transported from place to place by the assistance of bearers or other persons and likewiseto provide such a device which shall be not only economical in construction, but also light in weight, and so flexible or easily folded as to be readily stored for use in such form or folded condition as to occupy but little space, and also to provide a carrier of such a character that the hands and arms of the bearers may be free to carry weapons or to grasp the patient or other objects for the purpose of steadying, and also to provide such a carrier which will occupy when expanded for use the least possible space and will when loaded likewise bear its burden in such a position as to facilitate its carriage through narrow or tortuous passages, ascents, or descentssuch as narrow stairways, companion-ways, or through paths filled with obstacles which must be avoided by the bearers and their load. Broadly, I attain these objects by departing from the former method and position in which patients have heretofore been carried in litters-viz., a position in which the patient is horizontally or substantially horizontally extended, and the bearers are located at either end of the body thus horizontally supported, and the power of the bearers is in part or in whole applied directly through their arms by catching hold of the rigid or at least partly-rigid frame of the carrier, and by substituting in lieu of such former devices one adapted to support at Serial No. 684,017. (No moclel.)

least the trunk of the patient in a substantially vertical or upright position and in such I relation to the bearers that one of them shall be at each side instead of at each end of the patient, and of thus connecting the patient so supported by a suitable carrier with the bodies of the bearers in such a way that his weight will hang from and be supported by suitable harness bearing upon the shoulders or bodies of the bearers and so located that while carrying forward thepatient the hands of the bearers may be, when desired, entirely free.

'In its most general aspect my invention consists in providing for the base of the body of the patient a supporting-seat upon which the trunk may be carried in its normal upright position, as when standing or sitting, and by providing flexible supports and connections, whereby the said seat thus supporting the body may be connected with and the patient, without materially interfering with the free use of their hands or limbs.

The matter of form enters but little into my invention. The seat in question may be made of any convenient form. I prefer, however,'to make it of flexible materialsuch as a good stout textile fabric, like canvas, for instance-and to give it the shape in which the seat A is illustrated in the drawings. The seat A is provided with at least two vertical or substantially vertical supporters B B, which may be made of leather straps, for instance, or out of suitable widths of canvas or other preferably flexible material, and these supporters may, if desired, be multiplied, though I find two sufficient and preferable, having due regard to economy of construction and weight, or, again, in lieu of the supporters the seat A might be carried by a continuous sheet of fabric covering the back of the patient.

To return, however, to the particular form of my invention illustrated by the drawings, my two supporting-straps B B are attached in any convenient manner to the seat A and are also united at their opposite extremities by a connection 11, which, like the seat, is preferably constructed out of flexible material and by which the neck or upper portions carried by thebearers, one on either side of of the trunk of the patient are supported against falling backward while being carried. The said supporters B B are also preferably again connected about midway between H and A by another fiexible connecting-band O, which should not only form a rearward connection between the two supporters, but should also be sufliciently extended in front to form a detachable front connection orsupport, resisting tendency of the trunk of the patient to fall forward. As shown in the particular form of the invention illustrated in the drawings, this supporting-band C is substantially a belt provided with a snap-clasp o, engaging in a suitable ring 0', as will be well understood, both adapted to be fastened together, so as to surround or support the trunk of the patient about midway between his seat and neck. It is of course obvious, as stated, that the partsll, C, B, B, and A might consist of a single sheet of flexible material, at least at the back of the patient,without departing from my invention.

The next stepis to provide the bearers with any suitable harness, to which may be attachably and detachably connected my said perpendicularly supporting carrier. Any form of harness may be employed which will bringthe weight of the patient upon the shoulders of the bearers. The form illustrated in the drawingsis an advantageous one, in which D D are diagonal shoulderstraps permanently united where they cross each other at the back and in the front adapted to be opened for the purpose of facilitating the insertion of the body of the bearer and thereafter closed and fastened into position-as, for instance, by buttoning over the button d. As the strain is a severe one upon the shoulders of the bearers not only in a downward, but also to some extent in a sidewise direction, it will prove of advantage to further addto the said straps a breast-belt E E and also a waist-belt F F, each said breast-belt being likewise preferably permanently secured to the shoulder-straps at their place of crossing in the rear of the bearer and detachably fastened at the front in the same way 'as the shoulder-straps themselves-that is,

buttoned down over the button d, for instance-and the belts F F also secured to the transverse shoulder-straps and adapted to open and be closed with ordinary buckles, snap-hooks m m, or the like in front.

In the form of my carrier illustrated in the drawings I prefer to make the supporter H of the upper part of the trunk or neck of the patient of one continuously-extending piece of flexible material, to which is detachably secured in any convenient manner at the appropriate points, as by snap-hooksb b engaging into rings 0 c, the extremities of the supporting-straps B B and in turn to detachably connect two continuations or extensions of the supporter H-say H H -with the harness of the bearers at or about the point where the diagonal straps and breast-belt are secured together and across each other at the backs of the bearers, as shown in Fig. 2; but of course these extensions might be dispensed with or varied in form, so that the upper rear supporter II will become an integral part of the carrier itself, which latter might by any suitable or convenient attachments or extensions be in turn itself secured detachably to the harnesses.

The operation of myinvention is as follows: The wounded or otherwise-incapacitated person may be placed upon the carrier, the latter being at the time detached from the harnesses of the bearers. sume a sitting posture upon the seat A and the midway supporting-belt G is carried around his body and there locked, so as to afford to the upright trunk a support against both backward and forward falling. The arms of the patient are then placed, as shown in Fig. 2, behind the supports B B,those parts of the latter intercepted by the arms of the patient being represented by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The bearers having adjusted and. fastened upon themselves the harnesses, next bring their bodies in any convenient way in to the required position in order to enable the connections between the carrier and the harness to be made and the former hooked or snapped into place relative to the said harnesses. The bearers then assume their natural position, as shown in Fig. 2, and thereby lift from the ground the trunk or torso of the patient, when, owing to his sitting posture, his feet likewise swing clear and he may be carried indefinitely in a normal and healthful position and without impeding or interfering substantially with the bearers, particularly as regards freedom of forward or other motion of their feet and of handling weapons or seizing hold of proper supports.

It will be observed that the seat of my carrier A, in combination with its other parts, supports the trunk or torso of the patient in a substantially upright or vertical position. The midwaysupporter G prevents either backward or forward disturbance during the progress of carrying. The upper support H not only assists in preventing the upper portions of the body from falling backward, but also acts as a support to the neck and head. The arms of the patient being passed behind the upright supporters B B, likewise offset the tendency of the body to fall forward, while The patient is caused to ascorrespondingly the upper supporter H further tends to prevent the body from falling in an opposite direction.

When not in use, my carrier, with its harness connections, may be readily packed away As previously stated, the parts A B B and those parts of O H which pass behind the patient might be equivalently produced and used in the shape of a single sheet of material so shaped and cut as to include within the external boundaries of the sheet material upon substantially the lines and in the positions of these parts. In such a case in order to prevent the patient from falling forward either front midway supporting-straps like 0 C may be used, or, if preferred, the length of the oblong sheet of continuous and rearwardly supporting material may be increased, so as to bring it under the entire seat of the patient, so as to underly the under part of his thighs, in which case, the lower ends of the continuous sheet being pulled upward higher than the bottom of the seat and secured in that position by detachably connecting them with the harness or with some connection between themselves and the harness, the thighs of the patient will be doubled or drawn upward toward his chest, their under portions bearing against and supported by the thus upwardly-turned portion of the sheet and his trunk or body thus prevented from falling forward. It is obvious that such or other methods of shaping or arranging the flexible material constituting my'carrier constitute no departure from my invention.

I am aware that litters for wounded or in capacitated persons have been constructed of flexible material; but such litters have been provided with one or more parts of rigid material, such as wood, intended to be carried by the hands of bearers, with one of the latter at each end of the body of the patient.

' One of the advantages incident to the use of my carrier, as described, is its capacity for carrying the patient either facing forward or facing backward, as may be most advantageous. For instance, in going upstairs it will prove advisable to carry the patient backward, in which case the carrier is locked or snapped to the harnesses in such a way as to insure this result, and the legs of the patient thus overhang instead of encounter the stairway or ladder. Other obvious advantages resulting from this capacity for reversing the litter easily and quickly will be apparent.

WVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following, viz:

1. A flexible carrier or litter consisting of a bottom, or seat-support, attached to, and depending from, substantially vertical flexible supporters and, connected with the latter, flexible supporters extending horizontally to support the trunk or torso of the patient in a substantially vertical or upright position, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. A flexible carrier or litter consisting of a bottom, or seat-support, attached to, and depending from, substantially vertical flexible supporters and, connected with the latter, flexible supporters extending horizontally to support the trunk or torso of the patient in a substantially vertical or upright position, and in combination with such litter and its aforesaid connections, and attached thereto, a pair of harnesses, one member of which is on one side of said bottom and the patient thereby supported, and the other on the other side, as distinguished from fore and aft, and whereby the patient may be carried by, and without guidance or support from, the hands of, two laterally-positioned bearers and without contact or connection between the said bearers and patient except through the said carrier and harnesses, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The vertically-carrying litter consisting of the combination of the seat A, upper or neck supporter H, midway or back supporter 0, connecting vertical supporters B B all attached together and the whole in turn at tached to sets of harness to be worn by and secured to bearers at each side of the patient substantially as and for the purposes de scribed.

Dated New York, June 9, 1898.

CORNELIA J. OHADl/VICK.

Witnesses:

T. O. BYRNES, GEORGE G. MEASURES.

Images