WO1997035501A1

WO1997035501A1 - A support device

Info

Publication number: WO1997035501A1
Application number: PCT/SE1997/000540
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eva JÄDERBERG; Lena Landin Lorentzen
Original assignee: Jaederberg Eva; Lena Landin Lorentzen
Priority date: 1996-03-27
Filing date: 1997-03-26
Publication date: 1997-10-02
Also published as: AU2315397A; SE9601170D0; SE9803168L; SE9803168D0

Abstract

A support device includes a waist belt (1) and an angled carrier element (2) that includes a support leg (22) and a carrier leg (21). The waist belt embraces the waist region of the wearer (5) and engages the carrier element (2) at its angled junction (23) between the legs (21, 22), wherein the support leg (22) extends downwards from the belt (1) and therewith, in coaction with the waist belt (1), supports against the front side of the wearer, for instance against the iliac crest, and holds the carrier leg (2) sloping inwardly toward the wearer's body (5) when the wearer (5) stands upright and carries a load, particularly a child, on the carrier leg (2). The angle between the legs (21, 22) is at least 125°.

Description

A SUPPORT DEVICE

The invention relates to a support device of the kind defined in the preamble of Claim 1.

Many different embodiments of support devices, for instance child support harnesses, are known to the art. The known child support devices normally include a child accommodating pocket whose bottom part is connected to a waist belt and whose upper part is supported by straps that extend around the neck or shoulders of the wearer. Support devices of this kind are mainly intended to support small children and/or sleeping children.

Because the carrier pocket, and therewith the child, is maintained in an upright position with the aid of the strap loops around the neck or shoulders of the wearer, the wearer's neck or shoulders are subjected to a load which becomes uncomfortable with the passage of time. The strap loops, on the one hand, exert an abutment pressure which becomes troublesome with time, particularly when the child supported is no longer a baby . Furthermore, the forces in the strap loops will generate loads and torque that can easily cause the wearer pain and "backache".

This problem becomes more and more accentuated with increasing heaviness of the load carried, and the strap loops present an obstacle when the load is to be placed in or removed from the support device. It is important in the care of handicapped and/or underdeveloped children that in most instances the nurse or child carer will need to support a child that has developed from the baby stage, although it is not possible, in practice, to use conventional child harnesses, because of the aforesaid reasons, among other things.

The known technique is represented by EP-A1-0 355 223, which describes a support device corresponding to the device defined in tWe preamble of the accompanying Claim

1. The support device thus includes a child seat leg and a downwardly extending support leg connected thereto. The device is held in contact with the wearer's body by means of a waist belt, and the device is prevented from sliding downwards by a shoulder strap. The support leg supports against the wearer's hip, for instance. The upper surface of the seat leg then slopes obliquely inwards towards the wearer's body. The angle between the seat surface of the support leg is in the region of 100-120°, so that the slope of the seat tends to move a child on the seat in towards the wearer's body.

However, this device has been found to have, in practice, significant drawbacks to which no solution has been found hitherto. For instance, it is found in practice that the force exerted by the waist belt is troublesomely high. EP-A1-0 355 223 attempts to solve this problem with the aid of a shoulder strap. This shoulder strap creates, in practice, a load that is still harder to withstand. FR-1215795 describes a support device in which the seat leg is extended upwards to form a child backrest. This type of support device cannot be used comfortably or effectively in practice, because a child who feels the presence of a backrest will utilize the same, thereby generating heavy torque around the waist belt such that the support force between the support leg and the user becomes troublesome.

We have now surprisingly found that the troublesome drawbacks of the known support devices can be eliminated when the support device is given the construction defined in Claim 1. Further developments of the support device are set forth in the depending Claims.

Thus, the outer angle between the carrier leg and support leg of the support device shall be at least 125°, and suitably at most about 140°. The carrier leg shall be short enough not to form a backrest. By ensuring that the aforesaid angle is at least 125°, the surprising effect is achieved whereby the child is wedged firmly between the wearer and the carrier leg, so as to reduce the torque generated by the support device around the waist belt, and also to reduce downward sliding tendencies of the support device. As a result of the effective slope of the carrier leg, the hip part of the child obtains a strong tendency to slide in towards closer contact with the wearer's body, particularly when the carrier leg has a smooth surface. The child's weight will hereby act along a line that lies very close to the junction between the legs of the support device, such that the torque to which the support device is subjected will be low. Wedging of the child generates essentially a generally outward/downward force component against the carrier leg, although this component acts in a position and in a direction that provides only a relatively small torque contribution. This means that a relatively low pressure force will act between the support leg and the wearer's body, therewith enabling the wearer to carry the child for a longer period of time than would normally be the case. Because of the wedging effect, the wearer feels more inclined to tighten the waist belt harder. This means, in turn, that the support device will be seated more stably against the wearer's body, wherewith the child is also seated more stably between the support leg and the wearer's body. The increasing forces between the waist belt and the wearer, particularly at the wearer's back and sides, can then be distributed with the aid of load distributing pads as required. The angle α has, in practice, an upper limit of about 140°. The carrier leg has a generally uniform slope inwards/downwards towards the junction with the support leg. Those forces that occur between the waist belt and the wearer's body may conveniently be distributed with the aid of load distribution pads fitted to the waist belt.

Further developments of the support device are set forth in the dependent Claims.

The support element may, for instance, be displaced around the wearer to any desired position, although, in practice, the support element is positioned so that the carrier leg will lie on the front of the wearer. When the support device is used to support a child, the carrier leg forms a sloping seating surface which enables the child to straddle the carrier leg with its back against the upper body of the wearer or with its front facing towards the wearer's body.

The support leg may comprise a plate whose length and width will reduce the surface pressure against the wearer under the influence of normally occurring loads. The waist belt conveniently surrounds the support element at the junction between its carrier leg and support leg. This enables one end of a tongue to be attached to the underside of the carrier leg, wherein the other end of the tongue extends obliquely down towards the support leg. The connection of the tongue with the carrier leg then forms a guide that delimits upward movement of the waist belt along the carrier element. The connection between the tongue and the carrier leg will therefore preferably lie relatively close to the junction between the two legs. The tongue may be arranged so as to leave a narrow gap between the free end of the tongue and the support leg when no load acts on the support device. This gap serves to enable the carrier element to be readily fitted to and removed from the waist belt, even when the waist belt is worn by the wearer. The tongue may conveniently be formed and attached to the carrier leg in a manner such that the tongue forms a strut as a result of its free end supporting against the support leg when load is exerted on the support device and the legs move resiliently towards one another. This stiffens and stabilises the carrier leg in the event of a heavy load. This also reduces the risk of the support device being loosened from the waist belt. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to an exemplifying embodiment and also with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a side view of the inventive support device fitted to a wearer.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the carrier element of the support device.

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the carrier element of the support device.

The support device includes a waist belt 1 and a carrier element 2. The illustrated carrier element 2 includes a carrier plate 21 and a support plate 22 which are mutually connected by a transition or junction 23. The essentially flat plates 21 and 22 define therebetween an outer angle α that is greater than 125°. The carrier element 2 has the form of a single-curve plate whose curvature is limited to the relatively short junction region 23 between the generally flat plates 21, 22. One end-part 31 of a tongue 3 is attached to the underside of the plate 21. The tongue 3 extends generally downwards towards the plate 22. The free end-part 32 of the tongue defines a gap 34 together with the plate 22 of the carrier element. The waist belt 1 includes a strap 11 having an adjustable buckle-like fitting 12 and optionally a load distributing pad 13. The strap 11 extends around the outside of the carrier element 2 in the junction region 23 inwardly of the tongue 3. The connection between the upper end-part 31 of the tongue and the plate 21 of the carrier element forms an abutment which prevents the strap 11 from moving away from the junction region 23 towards the free end of the carrier plate 21.

The support plate 22 of the carrier element 2 extends generally downwards from the belt 11 and is intended to rest against the wearer's stomach or hip when the waist belt 11 is correctly positioned in the region of the wearer's waist. It is particularly preferred that the support part 22 rests against the front side of the wearer, preferably against the iliac crest. The carrier plate 22 shall form a child support surface. The seating plate 21 is adapted to slope slightly inwards towards the wearer's body when the wearer 5 stands upright. The angle α is at least 125°. The angle α will preferably be at least 130°, and more preferably at least 135°. When the angle α is about 140°, the rear edge of the carrier plate 21 begins to reach a level of such height as to make it difficult to lift the child into and out of the space between the carrier plate and the wearer's body. An angle of 140° is therefore a practical upper limit of the angle α when the plate 21 has sufficient length.

The carrier element 2 may be constructed from any suitable material, preferably a sheet-like material. In this regard, the carrier element 2 may be comprised of glued cross-veneer, plywood, injection-moulded plastic, fibre-glass reinforced plastic or such materials. If the legs swing resiliently towards one another under heavy loads, the free end of the tongue will support against the support leg and therewith form a stiffening strut that engages at a distance from the junction between the two legs.

As evident from Fig. 2, the carrier plate 21 may have a uniform effective width along its length. The carrier plate 21 has downwardly bent or curved edge parts which enable the child to comfortably straddle the carrier plate 21 of uniform width with the back or stomach of the child facing towards the wearer 5.

In the preferred embodiment, the carrier element is comprised of a generally single-curved sheet material, although the skilled person will understand that the two legs or plates 21, 22 may consist of a lattice/net structure, since their primary function is to afford a surface-propagated force transmission towards the child and towards the wearer 5 respectively.

Because the carrier element 2 now supports the full weight of the child, this weight being transmitted to the wearer's hip via the waist belt 1 and by virtue of friction against the upper body of the wearer, the seated child can be stabilised with the aid of strap loops that extend around the upper body of the wearer and, for instance, around the wearer's shoulder/shoulders. These strap loops are needed essentially only to stabilise the child against tipping around the carrier element, and the straps will not therefore transmit any troublesome load to the wearer's neck/shoulders. The length of the carrier leg 21 is restricted, so as not to form a backrest for the child.

Claims

1. A support device comprising a waist belt (1) and an angled carrier element (2) which includes a support leg (22) and a carrier leg (21), wherein the waist belt surrounds the waist region of the carrier (5) and engages the carrier element (2) at its angled junction (23) between the legs (21, 22), wherein the support leg (22) extends down from the belt (1) for maintaining the carrier leg (2) in a downward/inward sloping position towards the carrier in coaction with the waist belt (1) when the wearer (5) is upright and supports a load on the carrier leg (2), characterized in that the angle (α) between the carrier surface of the carrier leg and the support surface of the support leg is at least 125°.

2. A support device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the waist belt (1) surrounds the carrier element (2) in its junction region (23).

3. A support device according to Claim 2, characterized in that the upper end-part (31) of a tongue (3) is attached to the underside of the carrier leg (21) in the proximity of said junction region (23); and in that the downwardly extending bottom end-part of the tongue (3) extends towards the support leg (22) such as to form a support device stiffening strut when the tongue supports against the support leg as a result of resilient movement of the carrier leg towards said support leg.

4. A support device according to any one of Claims 1-3, characterized in that the carrier leg (21) is detachably connected (24) to the carrier element (2).

5. A support device according to any one of Claims 1-4, characterized in that the angle (α) is at least 130°.

6. A support device according to any one of Claims 1-4, characterized in that the angle (α) is at least 135°.