Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47C—CHAIRS; SOFAS; BEDS
  • A47C7/00—Parts, details, or accessories of chairs or stools
  • A47C7/36—Support for the head or the back
  • A47C7/40—Support for the head or the back for the back
  • A47C7/46—Support for the head or the back for the back with special, e.g. adjustable, lumbar region support profile; "Ackerblom" profile chairs
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G5/00—Chairs or personal conveyances specially adapted for patients or disabled persons, e.g. wheelchairs
  • A61G5/10—Parts, details or accessories
  • A61G5/12—Rests specially adapted therefor, e.g. for the head or the feet
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G5/00—Chairs or personal conveyances specially adapted for patients or disabled persons, e.g. wheelchairs
  • A61G5/10—Parts, details or accessories
  • A61G5/12—Rests specially adapted therefor, e.g. for the head or the feet
  • A61G5/122—Rests specially adapted therefor, e.g. for the head or the feet for the back

Definitions

• a wheelchair generally has a seat and a backrest that are supported by a pair of side frames.
• Backrest posts extend upwardly from the rear end of the side frames of the wheelchair and turn rear war dly away from the backrest to form handles.
• Some wheelchairs have collapsible struts positioned between the side frames to maintain the side frames in a parallel, spaced apart orientation when the chair is occupied by a user. When the struts are collapsed, the side frames move together to allow for easy transportation or storage of the wheelchair.
• the seat and the backrest of such collapsible wheelchairs are constructed from flexible material that easily folds when the wheelchair is collapsed.
• the flexible material of the seat and backrest does not provide optimum support or comfort for the occupant. For this reason contoured backrests have been developed to provide improved support for individuals requiring special support, such as those having spinal deformities or muscular atrophy.
• GB 1 512 028 shows an automobile seat with symmetrically movable lateral flaps. These flaps are separate parts hinged to the backrest. This seat is quite complicated and expensive to manufacture. The same holds true to the automobile seat according to US 4,500,136. Also the seat according to US 6,254,186 is described as especially suited as vehicle seat for aircraft, waterborne vehicles and land vehicles.
• the seat comprises an adjustable lumbar support with a flexible band having a plurality of pleats which in response to a motor drive change the longitudinal tension in the flexible band to adjust the lumbar support given to the driver.
• WO 96/07344 discloses a backrest to be employed in conjunction with a wheel chair or the like for people who require postural support.
• the back rest comprises a substantially rigid shell having a back portion and side portions. Attached to the rigid shell is a pair of flexible side support panels. Each side panel is partly divided into an upper, a middle and a lower portion which are individually adjustable by knobs mounted on the outside of the rigid shell and acting on the associated portion of the flexible side support panel.
• This backrest has the disadvantage of requiring different parts of rigid and flexible sheet material and having twelve knobs awkwardly protruding outward from the rigid shell.
• N-TRAK contoured backrest
• This backrest is available in different forms, namely as sports backrest, standard backrest, high backrest and segmented backrest. All these backrests have on the rear side in the middle a rail which permits hight-adjustable connection to a support. From this support extend two lateral arms having at their end a quick connecting and release device for connecting the backrest assembly to the wheelchair. For this purpose the side frames of the wheelchair are provided with adapters for cooperation with these connecting and release devices.
• the backrest or each segment of the backrest comprises a back support consisting of a shell of plastic material having a cylindrical curvature. Straps or belts extend from one side of the back support to the other side and to the rear of the back support.
• These straps can be tensioned from the rear side of the backrest and locked in the desired position. Tensioning the straps elastically deforms the back support. Located over the straps is a cushion. In addition, a cover encloses the assembly both on the front and the back.
• the described backrest with wings has the disadvantage that the wings are separate units and require a relatively complicated attachment means.
• the attachment means permit only a linear adjustment. An angular adjustment is not possible.
• the backrest with the wing and the protruding parts of the L- shaped support posts does not have a nice appearance. This lets the user appear more invalid than he in reality may be. This may have undesirable psychological consequences for the user. There is also the danger that the arm of the user gets entrapped between the wings.
• EP 0 328 137 shows an automobile seat with a backrest comprising a frame having two spaced supporting bars carrying a back support consisting of one piece of elastically deformable plastic sheet material.
• This piece of sheet material comprises a convex central portion and two side walls or lateral flaps extending laterally outward from the central portion. Hinges are provided at the spaced supporting bars. If the back of the driver presses against the central portion both flaps are symmetrically and simultaneously moved inward to give lateral support to the body of the driver.
• This backrest is not suitable for the users of wheel chairs, because it does not give firm support to the body and the lateral flaps can not be positioned individually and permanently according to the requirements of the user.
• a backrest which in particular is suitable for people who require postural support, as some users of wheelchairs do.
• the adjusting means should not have knobs protruding from rear of the back support.
• each wing is provided with an adjusting screw device located in substantially horizontal position and parallel to the back support.
• Figure 1 shows a schematical drawing of the back support of the backrest as seen from the front side with one of the four belts attached
• Figure 2 shows a view from the top of the back support shown in figure 1
• Figure 3 shows enlarged a cross-section along the line III-III in figure
• Figure 4 shows a backrest having two backrest sections constructed substantially as shown in figures 1 to 3,
• the cushion and the cover of the backrest 10 are not shown, but in figure 2 the cushion 11 is represented by a dotted line. It is an advantage of the backrest construction shown that it may have several wings 14 on each side while allowing foam cushion 11 and fabric cover (not shown) to bridge the divisions between the wings 14 to conceal the divisions and thus blending any difference arising from different orientation of the upper and lower wings 14. This feature also prevents an accidental entrapment of the occupants arms.
• the back support 13 and the backing plates 23 of the wings 14 are one piece formed of a sheet of preferably thermoplastic sheet material. However, they could also be made by moulding plastic material. They could even be formed of a resilient metal sheet.
• the hinged portion is provided by folds 15 in the sheet material.
• the hinge portion 15 is provided by a deformable, for example thinned section, and allows pivoting of each wing 14 about a substantially determined axis. This feature also allows the backrest to be reduced in width to fit exactly into the available space within a wheel chair or similar structure.
• An adjusting screw or tensioning device 17, as shown in figure 3, serves as adjusting means for adjusting the angle of the wing 14 with respect to the back support 13.
• the screw tensioning device 17 substantially comprises a screw 19 and a bracket 21 in form of a U.
• the screw 19 is mounted in substantially horizontal position and parallel to the back support 13.
• the bracket 21 is pivotally mounted by a screw 41 on the backing plate 23 of the wing 14.
• the screw 19 has preferably a female hexagon head 26 to permit turning the screw 19 with the socket wrench.
• the thread 27 of the screw 19 is threaded into a tapped hole 29 of the bracket 21.
• the backrest shown in figure 1 is provided with four wings 14. Two are located at the thoriac level and two are located at the pelvic level. As each wing 14 can be adjusted independently a multitude of symmetrical and assymetrical shapes can be created to suit the users size, shape and postural requirements. As described later this lateral profiling can be combined with vertical profiling achieved by individual tensioning of the belts 51.
• the backrest as shown in the drawing may be provided with one or more belts or straps 51 for supporting the back of the user.
• the backrest shown in figure 1 is provided with four belts, but only one belt 51 is shown.
• the belt 51 is attached with the hook 53 at one lateral portion of the back support 13 and extends on the front side of the back support 13 to a hook 53 of the opposite lateral portion. There the belt is turned around in direction to an adjusting device 55. This provides for lever effect so that only half the force is required to tension the belt 51.
• the belt 51 is either elastically stretchable or comprises at least one elastically stretchable section 57. As shown in figure 2, the elastically stretchable section 57 is connected to a loop 58 of the belt.
• the partial elastication provides for a wide range of responses but also for a limit to the length of extension of the belt 51.
• the adjusting device 55 is preferably a cable binder engaged to an eye 59 attached to the end of the belt 51.
• the cable binder 55 provides additional leverage.
• the back support 13 is dimensioned strong enough so that it does not perceptably flex in response to tensioning the belt 51.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Chair Legs, Seat Parts, And Backrests (AREA)
• Chairs For Special Purposes, Such As Reclining Chairs (AREA)
• Organic Low-Molecular-Weight Compounds And Preparation Thereof (AREA)
• Invalid Beds And Related Equipment (AREA)
• Respiratory Apparatuses And Protective Means (AREA)
• Professional, Industrial, Or Sporting Protective Garments (AREA)
• Orthopedics, Nursing, And Contraception (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=28459589

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (6)

• 2002
  • 2002-04-19 AT AT02252777T patent/ATE326154T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2002-04-19 ES ES02252777T patent/ES2263744T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-04-19 EP EP02252777A patent/EP1354538B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-04-19 PT PT02252777T patent/PT1354538E/pt unknown
  • 2002-04-19 DK DK02252777T patent/DK1354538T3/da active
  • 2002-04-19 DE DE60211477T patent/DE60211477T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2003
  • 2003-04-17 EP EP03727323A patent/EP1496770A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-04-17 WO PCT/EP2003/004064 patent/WO2003088783A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-04-17 AU AU2003233989A patent/AU2003233989A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2004
  • 2004-04-22 HK HK04102828A patent/HK1061958A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (6)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events