Patent Application
20220354720
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of safety equipment for mobility assistance devices. More particularly, some embodiments relate to safety guards for bed rails.
The written disclosure herein describes illustrative embodiments that are non-limiting and non-exhaustive. Reference is made to certain of such illustrative embodiments that are depicted in the figures, in which:
The components of the embodiments as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein can be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of various embodiments, as represented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, but is merely representative of various embodiments. While various aspects of the embodiments are presented in drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless specifically indicated.
The phrase “coupled to” is broad enough to refer to any suitable coupling or other form of interaction between two or more entities, including mechanical interaction. Thus, two components may be coupled to each other even though they are not in direct contact with each other. The phrases “attached to” or “attached directly to” refer to interaction between two or more entities which are in direct contact with each other and/or are separated from each other only by a fastener of any suitable variety (e.g., mounting hardware or an adhesive).
References to approximations are made throughout this specification, such as by use of the term “substantially.” For each such reference, it is to be understood that, in some embodiments, the value, feature, or characteristic may be specified without approximation. For example, where qualifiers such as “about” and “substantially” are used, these terms include within their scope the qualified words in the absence of their qualifiers. For example, where the term “substantially perpendicular” is recited with respect to a feature, it is understood that in some embodiments the feature may have a precisely perpendicular configuration.
The term “lateral” refers to a direction spanning across the width of a bed, from side to side. The term “longitudinal” refers to a direction spanning across the length of a bed, from head to foot. A longitudinal direction and a lateral direction are substantially perpendicular to each other, and each is substantially perpendicular to a vertical direction.
The embodiments disclosed herein may be used as safety guards to reduce a risk of entrapment between a mattress and a bed rail by distributing weight on the mattress across a wide surface area. Entrapment includes a condition in which a part of a person's body—such as a person's head, neck, or limb—gets stuck between a bed rail and a part of a bed, such as the mattress. Entrapment presents a serious problem to care givers and their patients because it can lead to serious injury or death.
The upper portion 112 and the side portion 114 may be thin members configured to have low profiles when installed on a mattress. For example, the thickness of the upper portion 112 and of the side portion 114 may be less than one centimeter, including approximately four millimeters. Such a small thickness relative to a mattress allows the safety guard 110 to conform closely to the mattress's profile, thus not extending substantially above an upper surface of the mattress, or substantially beyond a side surface of the mattress. In this way, the safety guard 110 permits placement of sheets on the mattress and over the safety guard.
The safety guard 110 may be configured to extend along an edge of the mattress. Safety guards of various lengths are contemplated by this disclosure. A safety guard may be configured for small bed rails, bed handles, or bed canes, and may have a length between eighteen and thirty-six inches, including approximately twenty-four inches or approximately thirty inches. Or, the safety guard may be configured for large bed rails, and may have a length between thirty inches and sixty inches, including approximately thirty-eight inches or approximately forty-six inches. The safety guard 110 may be elongate in shape, with a width or widths significantly less than its length. For example, the upper portion 112 may have a width between two and six inches, including approximately four inches. The side portion 114 may have a width (or height, as viewed when the safety guard 110 is installed on a mattress) between one and six inches, including approximately one and a half inches or approximately two inches. The safety guard 110 may have rounded corners.
The safety guard 110 may be substantially rigid or stiff, so as to withstand a vertical force from a weight placed above the safety guard 110 on the mattress. The safety guard 110 may thereby distribute the force of the weight across part or all of the length and width of the safety guard 110. This consequently increases the mattress surface area that supports the weight, thus reducing stresses in the mattress and reducing the extent of deformation or depression of an upper surface of the mattress under the weight. By reducing the extent of upper surface depression of the mattress, a risk of potential entrapment between the mattress and a bed rail may be reduced. For example, in situations without the safety guard 110, weight on an upper edge of the mattress may deform the mattress enough to form a significant vertical gap between the mattress and a bed rail that is adjacent to the edge of the mattress. The vertical gap formed when the mattress is compressed may be large enough to entrap a part of a person's body—such as the person's head, neck, or limb—between the bed rail and the mattress.
The safety guard 110 may be constructed of any suitable material that can distribute weight over a larger area than the contact area of the source of the weight on the mattress. For example, the safety guard 110 may be made of a polymer, including polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, or any other suitable polymer. Alternatively, the safety guard 110 may be made of a metal such as aluminum sheet or some other suitable metal.
The safety guard assembly 100 may additionally include one or more stiffening members 130. The stiffening members 130 may provide rigidity to the flexible securing member 120, and particularly the fabric 124, so as to prevent bunching of the fabric 124 when installed around a mattress. The stiffening members 130 may be attached to or fully contained within the flexible securing member 120. Or, the stiffening members 130 may be removably insertable into the flexible securing member 120, such as into folds or pockets 125 of the fabric 124. The flexible securing member 120 may be configured such that the stiffening members 130, when inserted into the flexible securing member 120, are aligned in the longitudinal direction (that is, the long dimension of each stiffening member 130 is substantially parallel to the long dimension of the safety guard 110). The stiffening members 130 may be located on the flexible securing member 120 such that, when the safety guard assembly 100 is installed around a mattress, at least one stiffening member 130 is on a lateral side of the mattress opposite from the location of the safety guard 110. Additionally, the stiffening members 130 may be located such that none of the stiffening members 130 rest above an upper surface of the mattress. In this way, the stiffening members 130 may remain apart from the top of the bed so that a user does not encounter them, and so that they do not bother the user.
As seen in
The flexible securing member 120 may be coupled to the safety guard 110. The flexible securing member 120 may have a first end 126 that can be connected to the upper portion 112 of the safety guard 110. In the illustrated embodiment, the first end 126 is attached to the upper portion 112 with rivets. The first end 126 may be coupled to the upper portion 112 in a variety of different ways, such as with mechanical fasteners such as nuts and bolts, screws, and the like or by adhesives. Alternatively, the first end 126 may be looped through a slot in the upper portion 112 and secured to itself, for example with stitching. The first end 126 may include an additional member, such as a stiffening member (similar to the stiffening members 130), to provide additional strength to the fabric 124 at the first end 126. For example, the fabric 124 at the first end 126 may wrap around a stiffening member, and the rivets may pass through the upper portion 112, a first segment of the fabric 124, the stiffening member, and a second segment of the fabric 124. This may help to prevent tearing or ripping of the fabric 124 at the first end 126.
The flexible securing member 120 may have a second end 128 that is coupleable to the side portion 114 of the safety guard 110. The second end 128 may include the one or more straps 122. The straps 122 may be attached to the fabric 124 with stitching or another suitable attachment means. The fabric 124 may be configured to accommodate a stiffening member 130 at the second end 128, at or near the location where the straps 122 are attached to the fabric 124.
The straps 122 may be coupled to buckles or clasps for securing the second end 128 to the safety guard 110. In the depicted embodiment, the three straps 122 are each looped through a first member of a side release buckle, while corresponding straps 123 coupled to the side portion 114 of the safety guard 110 are each looped through a second, mating member of the side release buckle. These buckles enable the safety guard assembly 100 to be installed around a mattress efficiently. In some other embodiments, the mechanism for coupling the second end 128 to the safety guard 110 may be a frame-and-prong buckle, a magnetic buckle, a hook-and-loop strap fed through a ring, a strap with snap fasteners, or any other suitable coupling mechanism.
The buckles or fasteners on the straps 122 may be slidably adjustable to configure the flexible securing member 120 with varying lengths suitable for differently sized mattresses. For example, the straps 122 may have a large length, such as approximately two and a half meters, to accommodate a variety of mattress sizes. Thus, the second end 128 may be increased or decreased in length as needed in a particular circumstance. When additional length is needed, the first buckle members may be slid along the straps 122 to an appropriate location. Any excess strap length may be stowed underneath the mattress.
Various embodiments of a bed rail safety guard assembly are disclosed herein. In certain respects, the various embodiments may resemble each other. Accordingly, like features are designated with like reference numerals, with the hundreds place digits incremented.
As with
The flexible securing member 220 may be adjustable to accommodate a variety of mattress sizes, similar to the flexible securing member 120. The flexible securing member 220 may be configured to wrap substantially around a mattress and secure the safety guard 210 to an upper edge of the mattress. When fully installed, the safety guard assembly 200 may completely wrap around a longitudinal axis of a mattress, thus encompassing the mattress.
As can be seen in
As described above in connection with
Typically, bed rails are constructed so as to prevent entrapment in their internal spaces (such as between rungs or other members of the bed rail). Yet, without a safety guard, a potential entrapment risk may persist between the bed rail 40 and the mattress 20 of the bed 10. For example, a significant vertical gap G between an upper surface 24 of the mattress 20 and the bottom rung 42 of the bed rail 40 may develop. With some mattresses, the entrapment risk may be low because the upper surface 24 may be relatively high, and the mattress 20 may be relatively firm. In this way, there may be only a small vertical gap G, or no vertical gap, and weight on the mattress 20 may only minimally compress the upper surface 24. With some other mattresses, however, the entrapment risk may be more pronounced because the upper surface 24 may be relatively low (in relation to the bottom rung 42 of the bed rail 40, resulting in a large vertical gap G), and/or the mattress 20 may be relatively soft (e.g., pillow top mattresses) and thus susceptible to large depressions or deformations when weight is placed on the upper surface 24. For example, on a soft mattress, a user's body or limb may compress the upper surface 24 a great degree, thus forming a larger vertical gap G than initially present. In this way, the user's limb, head, or neck may be vulnerable to getting stuck between the mattress 20 and the bottom rung 42 of the bed rail 40.
The safety guard 110 may help to reduce this risk of entrapment. When coupled to the mattress 20, the safety guard 110 may be able to spread the force of a weight on the safety guard 110 across a wider area of the upper surface 24 of the mattress 20 than the surface area that would otherwise absorb the force of the weight without the safety guard 110. By distributing the force of the weight across a wider area, the safety guard 110 may reduce the pressure on the upper surface 24 of the mattress 20 resulting from the weight, and may effectively decrease the extent to which the upper surface 24 deforms and depresses. Consequently, the likelihood of a large vertical gap G forming between the mattress 20 and the bed rail 40 will be reduced, and the risk of entrapment will be lowered.
In the view of
The safety guard assembly 100 is illustrated in
The safety guard assembly 100 does not impede changing of the sheet 30. The sheet 30 may be removed and replaced without the need to remove, move, or adjust the safety guard assembly 100.
The flexible securing member 320 may be adjustable to accommodate a variety of mattress sizes, similar to the flexible securing member 120. For example, the length of the straps 322 may be adjusted by lengthening or shortening the straps 322 to accommodate differently sized mattresses. The flexible securing member 320 may be configured to wrap substantially around a mattress and secure the safety guard 310 to an upper edge of the mattress. When fully installed, the safety guard assembly 300 may completely wrap around a longitudinal axis of a mattress, thus encompassing the mattress.
The flexible securing member 420 may be adjustable to accommodate a variety of mattress sizes, similar to the flexible securing member 120. The flexible securing member 420 may be configured to wrap substantially around the mattress 20 and secure the safety guard 410 to an upper edge of the mattress 20. When fully installed, the safety guard assembly 400 may completely wrap around a longitudinal axis of the mattress 20, thus encompassing the mattress 20.
Any methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for performing the described method. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is required for proper operation of the embodiment, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified. Moreover, sub-routines or only a portion of a method described herein may be a separate method within the scope of this disclosure. Stated otherwise, some methods may include only a portion of the steps described in a more detailed method.
Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment” or “the embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the quoted phrases, or variations thereof, as recited throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
Similarly, it should be appreciated by one of skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure that in the above description of embodiments, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that any claim requires more features than those expressly recited in that claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in a combination of fewer than all features of any single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following this Detailed Description are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. This disclosure includes all permutations of the independent claims with their dependent claims.
Recitation in the claims of the term “first” with respect to a feature or element does not necessarily imply the existence of a second or additional such feature or element. It will be apparent to those having skill in the art that changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the present disclosure.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/183,769 filed on May 4, 2021 and titled BED RAIL SAFETY GUARD, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63183769 | May 2021 | US |
