This disclosure relates to a bathing assistance apparatus and more particularly pertains to a bathing apparatus for assisting infants, older children and even adults with disabilities.
To stay clean and healthy, babies, older children and adults with disabilities need to be bathed regularly. There are different ways to wash infants, according to their age, motor abilities, and preferences. Some caregivers may want to bathe their babies daily. Bath time can be a fun and special time between infant and caregiver that can add to their physical, mental, and emotional growth. As babies grow older, they can begin to explore and play games in the tub or shower but safety of the infant, child or even adult that is being bathed is of paramount concern.
A baby bath seat is a type of chair, usually made of an engineered plastic, that sits partially submerged in the bathtub water or can be placed on the floor of a shower. Designed to support the head and back, these seats also help baby stay put, leaving their hands free so that they can be properly cleaned. It can be very difficult to bathe a baby, especially a newborn, in a regular tub by oneself. A baby bath seat also allows a caregiver to wash the child without having to buy a smaller tub, which an infant will quickly outgrow.
There are several varieties of bath seats. For newborns, there are plastic models contoured to an infant's body, as well as sling chairs with suspended cloth seats that let in water through the fabric. Both are tilted back like a lounge chair and designed for babies who cannot sit up on their own. Older infants can be placed in a more traditional-style baby bath chair, which is like a high chair seat. It has a bar across the front instead of a tray, openings for baby's legs and suction cups on the bottom to secure it to the tub. Another option is a baby bath ring, a soft, inflatable pillow that allows the infant to lay back and float in the water. When baby can sit up, the seat ring can be secured around the waist to help keep her upright.
Currently there exists many devices for assisting individuals with bathing of infants, children and disabled persons. Examples of such devices include chairs that slide on rails to help move non-ambulatory persons into a standard residential bathtub, transfer benches that allow a person to sit in a bathtub and bathing chairs having conduits disposed within the seat and back member for channeling water through. However, many prior art devices have limited utility beyond providing a seating function making such devices relatively less versatile. On the other hand, some devices are unusually complex in design and are relatively expensive to build and maintain. Other seats are extremely difficult to operate and are intimidating to parents or ambulatory impaired persons. These chairs often require the help of a skilled worker, which is generally not feasible or desired in a home setting as opposed to institutional settings.
Another drawback of prior art chair bathing devices is that they are not conducive for reaching the hard to reach areas such as the sides and back of the body, especially for a person who is handicapped and/or physically disabled.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat used for bathing that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art. Such a chair must have a range of functionality, must be relatively simple in design and operation and must be usable by most individuals without extensive assistance.
Disclosed herein is a bathing assistance apparatus for use within either of a shower or a bathtub. The bathing assistance apparatus as disclosed herein includes a perforated seat with a base portion, a back-rest portion, an upper surface and a lower surface, the seat configured to support a user atop the upper surface. The apparatus also includes a seat support assembly that includes a base member and a saddle support member. The seat support assembly, as disclosed herein, is mounted to the lower surface of the seat.
The bathing assistance apparatus further includes a cover plate with first and second laterally opposed indented edges, the cover plate is secured against the lower surface of the seat support assembly. The bathing assistance apparatus further includes a pair of biased locking members received into the indented edges of the cover plate. The bathing assistance apparatus also includes a ratcheting mechanism for selectively altering the inclination of the seat relative to the support assembly. The ratcheting mechanism is positioned substantially internal to the seat support assembly. Lastly, the apparatus includes a support platform, the support platform is positioned beneath the cover plate and is configured for detachable engagement from the seat support assembly with the biased locking members.
The apparatus as disclosed herein may be used in a seat and seat support assembly stand-alone configuration without the use of the support platform that includes the elevating legs and support plate. An exemplary use in this configuration would be in a bathtub setting where the individual assisting the infant, or disabled adult, may sit on the elevated support platform as if it were a stool. The support platform may be positioned within the bathtub allowing, for example a parent, to be within the tub area with the infant. Alternatively, the parent or caregiver may be seated on the support platform outside of the bathtub should they prefer to limit their exposure to the bathwater.
It is an object of the bathing assistance apparatus disclosed herein to provide a lightweight, easy to operate apparatus to assist in the bathing of infants, older children and individuals with impairments.
It is a further object of the apparatus as disclosed herein to be fully functional in both a shower and a bathtub setting.
It is a further object of the apparatus as disclosed herein to easily change the elevation and inclination of the user's seat.
It is a further object of the apparatus as disclosed herein to minimize the weight of the apparatus.
It is a further object of the apparatus as disclosed herein to facilitate drainage of water from the apparatus.
It is a further object of the apparatus as disclosed herein to easily separate the seat and seat support assembly from the support platform.
Illustrative embodiments of the apparatus disclosed herein are described in detail below with reference to the attached figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein:
As shown in
As shown in
As also shown in
Again, with reference to
Referring to
As shown in
The short travel distance of the locking members 100, 102 permitted by the oblong openings 130, 132 is sufficient to allow movement of the locking flanges 108, 109 to avoid interference with the locking features 110, 112 of the support platform 116. To release the base plate 72 from the support platform 116, the operator applies outward pressure to the locking flanges 108, 109 of each of the locking members 100, 102. The outward movement provides the necessary clearance as just detailed.
Projecting downwardly from a lower surface 140 of the cover plate 72, as seen in the cutaway view of
As seen in
Referring again to
An additional feature of the bathing apparatus 10 that provides the assisting individual with operational flexibility is the ratcheting mechanism 200 as seen in
As seen in
As seen in
The pin 220 at the second end 216 of the extender arm 214 that engages with the cam member 222 resides within a slot 242. The slot 242 in the cam member 222 facilitates the engagement and disengagement of the hook 202 within the cutout 46 and provides backlash to prevent undesirable locking of the ratcheting mechanism 200 during operation of the mechanism. The cam member 222 includes an activation surface 250 that is external to the interior space 86 of the saddle. When a force is applied to the activation surface 250, such as by a human hand, the cam member 222 passes the force to the second end 216 of the extender arm 214. This force is then transmitted to the first end 212 of the extender arm 214 and via the pin 208 to the second end of the hook arm 210. The force is in turn transmitted to the hook 202 of the hook arm 210.
In operation, a typical, but not exclusive, user of the bathing assistance apparatus 10 is an infant. In a first configuration of the apparatus 10, the seat 12 and associated seat support assembly 42 are positioned atop the support platform 116 at a height that is accommodating to an individual bathing the infant in a shower setting. The infant's buttocks are positioned upon the base portion 14 of the seat 12 and the infant's back is positioned against the back-rest portion 16 of the seat. The infant is then secured upon the seat using a seat belt 36 in order to restrain the infant against slippage out of the seat 12.
The individual bathing the infant has the option of adjusting both the angle of inclination of the seat as well as the height of the seat. To adjust the height of the seat 12, and this may most appropriately be done before the infant user is positioned upon the seat 12, the individual depresses the nubs 180 extending through the concentric leg cylinders 182, 184 to allow the leg cylinders to extend or retract depending upon the elevation needs of the individual. Once all legs 166, in a preferred embodiment a total of four legs, are adjusted, the individual may need to adjust the orientation of the seat 12 upon the seat support assembly 42.
The individual assisting the user may want to adjust the angular inclination of the seat 12 to facilitate the bathing process and to, for example, reduce the potential that shower water may be spraying directly into the mouth, nose or eyes of the infant user. The assisting individual places a hand on one of the edges 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 of the seat 12 and places a second hand on the activation surface 250 of the cam member 222. While applying hand pressure to the activation surface 250 and simultaneously grasping one of the edges, the individual assisting the user disengages the hook 202 from the cutout 46 in the seat bracket 44 and rotates the seat 12 to another one of the cutouts in the bracket 44. The hook 202 extends into the cutout 46 and overlaps one of the edges of the cutout 46. The spring 206 biasing of the hook 202 seeks to drive the hook into the cutout 46 and restrain rotation of the seat 12 and associated bracket 44 upon the spacer 58 that resides atop the saddle 74 of the base member 70.
Once the seat elevation and seat rotational orientation are achieved to the satisfaction of the individual assisting the user infant, and again, this may be done before placing the infant user into the seat or preferably prior to placing the infant in the seat. It is contemplated that prior to attempting to adjust either the elevation, or seat orientation, that all appropriate safety precautions are taken to prevent any seat instability that may present itself.
The same methodology as detailed above for an infant is equally applicable to the washing of an older child, or an adult that may have either physical or mental impairments or possibly both. The assisting individual adjusts both the elevation of the seat 12 and the orientation of the seat to suit the specific environment presented and the particular needs of the user and the assisting individual.
The apparatus as disclosed herein is also capable of placement into a bathtub setting. In a bathtub setting the seat 12 and associated seat support assembly 42 would most likely be removed from the support platform 116. Removing the seat and associated seat support assembly 42 from the support platform 116 would allow the person assisting the user to assist in the bathing process from either within the tub or outside of the tub. If inside of the tub, the user, again for example an infant, would be positioned within the seat 12 after the seat and seat support assembly 42 are already positioned on the tub of the floor. The support platform 116 that is comprised of the support plate 146 and the one or more legs 166 when separated from the seat 12 and associated seat support assembly, may be used as a stool (one of the earliest forms of seat furniture) seat by the individual bathing the infant. When the support platform 116 is functioning as a stool the individual that is bathing the infant may, as previously noted, position themselves within the tub or outside of the tub depending upon their preference. Also, as previously noted, the individual bathing the user may adjust the legs 166 of the support platform by depressing the spring-loaded nubs 180 and repositioning the concentric leg cylinders 182, 184 to a comfortable height.
To separate the seat 12 and the seat support assembly 42 from the support platform 116 the individual bathing the user places their fingers beneath the biased locking members 100, 102 and engages the locking flange 108, 109 on each locking member. The individual then retracts the locking flanges 108, 109 outwardly away from the seat 12. This outward movement, which overcomes the biasing effect of the compression spring 106 disposed in the channel 118 of the housing 120 of each of the locking flanges, clears the locking flanges 108, 109 from interference with the locking features 110, 112 on the underside of the support platform 116. The individual may then lift the seat 12 and the associated seat support assembly 42 away from the support platform 116.
Any different arrangements of the various components depicted, as well as components not shown, are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed technology. Embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described with the intent to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not depart from its scope. A skilled artisan may develop alternative means of implementing the aforementioned improvements without departing from the scope of the disclosed technology.
It will be understood that certain features and sub combinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub combinations and are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Not all steps listed in the various figures need be carried out in the specific order described. cm We claim:
This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 62/843,808 filed on May 6, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62843808 | May 2019 | US |