Patent Application
20230056975
The present disclosure claims the benefit of and priority to Australian Patent Application No. 2021107569, filed on Sep. 27, 2021, which is a divisional of Australian Patent Application No. 2021221404, filed on Aug. 23, 2021, the entire content of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present disclosure is broadly directed to a bed sheet and securement assembly. The disclosure is also generally directed to a bed sheet and dispenser assembly.
In medical environments it is known to cover a patient's bed with a disposable bed sheet. The bed sheet is typically dispensed from a roll and, in a similar manner to hand towels, is torn off the roll at the required length. The disposable bed sheet is draped across exposed surfaces of the bed. Although relatively inexpensive, this style of disposable bed sheet is ineffective in (a) providing adequate coverage of the exposed bed surfaces, and (b) fitting to the bed without sliding relative to the bed and exposing previously covered surfaces. Another style of existing bed sheet intended to address these shortcomings of the low-cost disposable sheets are fitted bed sheets. Fitted bed sheets may be disposable or re-usable and incorporate elastic or other means around their perimeter to fit about the edge of the bed, akin to fitted bed sheets used on a mattress. The fitted bed sheets are non-recyclable and relatively expensive and as such it is generally not commercially viable to use disposable fitted sheets in a hospital, clinical or other high volume environment. For this reason the re-usable version of the fitted sheet may be preferred although laundering and associated costs are a disincentive for deploying re-usable fitted bed sheets.
Accordingly to a first aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a bed sheet and securement assembly comprising:
an elongate sheet being one of a plurality of sheets provided in a dispensable roll of separable sheets, said elongate sheet (i) being adapted to cover exposed or shared surfaces of a bed, and (ii) including securement openings formed adjacent to each of opposing ends of said sheet;
securement means adapted to mount to the bed at or proximal its opposing ends and arranged for releasable engagement with the elongate sheet via the securement openings for securement of the elongate sheet to the bed.
In embodiments, the securement means each include a hook fixture configured to cooperate with respective of the securement openings formed in the elongate sheet for releasable engagement of said openings with said hook fixtures for securement of said sheet to the bed. It is contemplated that each of the hook fixtures includes an elongate member connected to a base mounting of the securement for mounting to the bed, the securement openings being shaped at least in part complementary to the elongate member. In aspects, the elongate member includes a pair of prongs extending laterally either side of the base mounting and configured for releasable engagement of the elongate sheet about its securement openings.
The securement openings of the elongate sheet are each formed as an aperture in said sheet. In embodiments, the apertures are aligned with the elongate member of the hook members mounted at or proximal each end of the bed. It is contemplated that the apertures are longitudinally separated a predetermined distance for fitting of the elongate sheet to the exposed or shared surface of the bed via the hook fixtures mounted at opposing ends of said bed.
The elongate sheet is formed in one piece from a recyclable and non-woven material. In aspects, the recyclable material is formed in multiple layers being effective in bacterial filtration. In embodiments, the one-piece elongate sheet completely covers the exposed or shared surface of the bed.
According to a second aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a bed sheet and dispenser assembly comprising:
a dispensable roll of a plurality of separable elongate sheets each being adapted to cover an exposed or shared surface of a bed, said sheets each including (i) securement openings formed adjacent to each of opposing ends of said sheet and adapted for releasable engagement with securement means mounted to the bed for securement of said sheet to said bed, and (ii) a tear line defined by a plurality of adjoining tear junctions for adjacent of the separable sheets from the roll;
a sheet dispenser configured for housing and tearing of the dispensable roll, said dispenser including severing means arranged for alignment with the adjoining tear junctions of adjacent of the sheets for tearing of each of said sheets from the roll.
In aspects, the severing means includes a series of teeth arranged for engagement with the dispensable roll across one of the tear lines wherein the teeth locate between neighbouring of the adjoining tear junctions to facilitate tearing of each of said sheets from the roll. In embodiments, each of the adjoining tear junctions includes a plurality of frangible tear points located in close proximity to one another.
In other aspects, the sheet dispenser includes capture means located adjacent the severing means and configured for releasable engagement of one of the securement openings to restrict retraction of the associated sheet within the dispenser during dispensing of one of the sheets from the roll. In embodiments, the capture means includes a fixed latching member configured to cooperate with the securement opening to latch with said opening in the event the associated sheet retracts within the dispenser.
In order to achieve a better understanding of the nature of the present disclosure an embodiment of a bed sheet and securement assembly together with a bed sheet and dispenser assembly of alternative aspects of the disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
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The securement means such as 22a each include a hook fixture in the form of an elongate member such as 24a shaped at least in part complementary to the corresponding securement opening in the form of aperture 20aa. The aperture 20aa adjacent one end of the elongate sheet 12a is thus configured for releasable engagement with the corresponding elongate member 24a for securement of said sheet 12a to the therapy bed 18. Likewise, the elongate sheet 12a at an opposite end includes a securement opening in the form of slotted opening 20ab for releasable engagement with the corresponding elongate member 24b of the hook fixture 22b for securement of the sheet 12a to the bed 18.
In this embodiment the hook fixtures such as 24a and 24b include a base mounting 26a and 26b to which the corresponding elongate member 24a and 24b is connected. The base mounting such as 26a facilitates mounting of the hook fixture 22a to the therapy bed 18 where in this example it is screw fastened to the therapy bed 18. The elongate member such as 24a includes a pair of prongs 28aa and 28ab which extend laterally either side of the base mounting 26a. The prongs 28aa/ab are designed for releasable engagement of the elongate sheet 12a about its aperture 20aa for effective securement of the sheet 12a to the therapy bed 18. It is to be understood that the securement means in an alternative embodiment may be integrated with the bed 18 in the course of its manufacture rather than requiring fixing of the securement means 22a/b to the bed 18 as described in this embodiment. In either case the securement openings such as 20aa/ab are longitudinally separated a predetermined distance for fitting of the sheet 12a to the therapy bed 18 to prevent or limit the likelihood of the sheet 12a slipping on the bed 18. The securement openings 20aa/ab align with corresponding of the hook fixtures 22a/b wherein the elongate sheet completely covers the exposed or shared surface 16 of the therapy bed 18.
In this embodiment of both aspects of the disclosure the elongate sheet such as 12a is formed in one piece from a recyclable and non-woven material which is typically disposable. The recyclable material is in this example formed in multiple layers and is of a combined material density which is effective in bacterial filtration, for example the combined layers of the material has a density of around 28GSM. The material from which the sheet 12a of this embodiment is constructed is an SMMS non-woven material such as that published at www.sf-nonwoven.com/smms-nonwovenfabric/. It is to be understood that the sheet may be constructed of different combinations of non-woven layers.
The elongate sheet 12a of this embodiment includes a face hole opening 30 which aligns with a corresponding face hole opening 32 in the therapy bed 18. In this scenario the sheet 12a may cooperate with a face sheet (not shown) which fits about the face opening 30 and drapes within the face opening 32. This optional face sheet provides additional coverage for exposed surfaces surrounding the face opening 32 of the therapy bed 18 while a patient or client is lying prone or face down. The optional face sheet is constructed in accordance with the applicant's related technology disclosed in their Australian standard patent application no. 2017202118 and related applications. The disclosures and teachings of this Australian patent application are to be included herein by way of this reference. It is to be understood that, depending on the application to which it is applied, the elongate sheet may be formed with or without a face hole opening.
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Now that an embodiment of the alternative aspects of the disclosure have been described it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that they have at least the following advantages:
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments described herein are susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. For example, the securement openings and associated securement means may vary in their shape and construction provided they permit releasable inter-engagement which is effective in securement of the sheet to the bed. The securement openings and securement means may vary in number where for example the securement means take the form of rigid buttons located at or proximal opposing ends of the bed and arranged to cooperate with securement openings such as slits in each of the corners of the elongate sheet. Depending on the type and size of bed, the securement means may be mounted to the bed underneath its opposing ends. The form of the severing means of the sheet dispenser may vary depending of the construction of the tear line in adjoining sheets of the roll. The dispenser assembly may be rigidly mounted to a floor or wall adjacent the bed or, depending on the weight of the assembly, merely placed on the floor without any anchorage. Alternatively the dispenser assembly may be associated with or mounted to the bed itself.
All such variations and modifications are to be considered within the scope of the present disclosure the nature of which is to be determined from the foregoing description.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021221404 | Aug 2021 | AU | national |
| 2021107569 | Sep 2021 | AU | national |
