Patent Application
20240342021
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The disclosure relates to stretcher apparatuses and more particularly pertains to a new stretcher apparatus for transporting a patient while keeping the patient warm.
The prior art discloses several stretcher apparatuses which provide covers to guard a patient from the weather or separate the patient from others. However, the prior art fails to disclose a stretcher which uses a flexible shell to substantially enclose the patient and which is insulated to keep the patient warm.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a shell enclosing an interior space configured for containing a body of a patient. The shell includes a base wall, a top wall, and a perimeter wall. The perimeter wall is coupled to and extends between the base wall and the top wall and has an opening extending therethrough configured for receiving a neck of the patient when the body is contained within the interior space. The top wall is movable with respect to the perimeter wall to form an aperture to the interior space. The shell comprises a flexible fabric material. The perimeter wall includes a front end, a rear end, a first lateral side and a second lateral side. The opening is positioned in the front end. The base wall, the perimeter wall, and the top wall each include an interior insulation layer. A plurality of handles is coupled to an outer surface of the shell for carrying the shell and the patient. The plurality of handles is distributed around the perimeter wall of the shell.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A plurality of handles 40 is coupled to an outer surface 42 of the shell 12 for carrying the shell 12 and the patient 22. The plurality of handles 40 is distributed around the perimeter wall 18 of the shell 12. Each handle 40 of the plurality of handles 40 comprises a flexible cloth material. The shell 12 and the handles 40 are flexible so that the shell 12 can be collapsed to allow the body 26 of the patient 22 to be rolled or otherwise moved into and out of the interior space 28 without discomfort arising from the body 26 being forced against rigid elements. The shell 12 and the handles 40 are also flexible so that the stretcher apparatus 10 may be placed within a compact space such as within a washing machine.
A closure 50 is coupled to the shell 12 for maintaining the top wall 16 of the shell 12 in a closed position 52. The closure 50 comprises at least one zipper 54 but may include snap buttons, hook-and-loop fasteners, a tie, or the like.
A hood 56 is coupled to the shell 12 adjacent to the opening 20 and is configured for at least partially enclosing a head 58 of the patient 22 when the body 26 is contained in the interior space 28. The hood 56 may also comprise the flexible fabric material and an interior insulation layer 38. The hood 56 is detachable from the shell 12 via a connector 60 that is coupled to the hood 56 and the shell 12. The connector 60 releasably couples the hood 56 to the shell 12 and comprises a zipper 62 but may include snap buttons, a hook-and-loop fastener, a tie, or the like.
In use, the top wall 16 is moved with respect to the perimeter wall 18 to form the aperture 64, and the patient 22 is inserted into the interior space 28 through the aperture 64. The top wall 16 is then secured to the perimeter wall 18 in the closed position 52 with the closure 50 to enclose the body 26 of the patient 22 and keep the patient 22 warm and dry. The hood 56 may be attached and the head 58 of the patient 22 placed in the hood 56 to keep the head 58 warm and dry.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
