Patent Application
20210298975
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The disclosure relates to lifting devices and more particularly pertains to a new lifting device for lifting or repositioning a non-ambulatory person.
The prior art relates to lifting devices and the prior art discloses a basket that is positionable beneath a person to facilitate a caregiver to lift the person in a seated position. The prior art discloses a lifting belt that includes a plurality of loops for securing a person to the lifting belt thereby facilitating a caregiver to assist the person with standing and moving. The prior art discloses a lifting strap that includes a pair of handles each being coupled to the lifting strap for assisting a user to lift an object from the ground. The prior art discloses a lifting panel that includes a mesh portion and a pair of handle straps being coupled thereto. The prior art also discloses a lifting strap that includes a widened portion for having a person sit thereon and a pair of handles at each end to facilitate a pair of caregivers to lift the person.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a belt that is slidable behind or beneath a non-ambulatory person that needs to be moved or repositioned. The belt is comprised of a friction inhibiting material to enhance sliding the belt behind or beneath the non-ambulatory person. The belt has a pair of gripping holes each extending therethrough to facilitate a caregiver to grip the belt for lifting or repositioning the non-ambulatory person. A set of first pads is each coupled to the belt and each of the first pads is aligned with a respective one of the gripping holes. A set of second pads is each coupled to the belt and each of the second pads is aligned with a respective one of the gripping holes.
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
The belt 12 has a pair of gripping holes 16 each extending therethrough to facilitate a caregiver 18 to grip the belt 12 for lifting or repositioning the non-ambulatory person 14. In this way the caregiver 18 can gain a mechanical advantage over the weight of the non-ambulatory person 14 as well as to facilitate the caregiver 18 to employ beneficial posturing during the lifting. The belt 12 may have a length of at least 48.0 inches thereby facilitating the belt 12 to be fully wrapped around the non-ambulatory person 14. The non-ambulatory person 14 may be a physically disabled, elderly patient and the caregiver 18 may be a medical professional that is caring the for physically disabled, elderly patient.
The belt 12 has a first end 20, a second end 22, a front surface 24 and a back surface 26. The belt 12 is elongated between the first end 20 and the second end 22, and each of the first end 20 and the second end 22 is rounded. Each of the gripping holes 16 extending through the front surface 24 and the back surface 26, and each of the gripping holes 16 is positioned adjacent to a respective one of the first end 20 or the second end 22. Moreover, each of the gripping holes 16 has a bounding edge 28 and the bounding edge 28 of each of the gripping holes 16 has a first side 30 and a second side 32 is convexly arcuate with respect to the first side 30. The second side 32 of the bounding edge 28 of each of the gripping holes 16 is oriented to be co-arcuate with the respective first end 20 or second end 22 of the belt 12.
A set of first pads 34 is provided and each of the first pads 34 is coupled to the belt 12. Each of the first pads 34 is aligned with a respective one of the gripping holes 16 for gripping by the caregiver 18. Each of the first pads 34 is comprised of a resiliently compressible material to enhance comfort for the caregiver 18 and each of the first pads 34 is positioned on a respective one of the front surface 24 and the back surface 26 of the belt 12. Each of the first pads 34 has an opening 36 extending therethrough and the opening 36 in each of the first pads 34 is aligned with the respective gripping hole 16.
A set of second pads 38 is provided and each of the second pads 38 is coupled to the belt 12. Each of the second pads 38 is aligned with a respective one of the gripping holes 16 for gripping by the caregiver 18. Each of the second pads 38 is comprised of a resiliently compressible material to enhance comfort for the caregiver 18 and each of the second pads 38 is positioned on a respective one of the front surface 24 and the back surface 26 of the belt 12. Additionally, each of the second pads 38 has an opening 40 extending therethrough and the opening 40 in each of the second pads 38 is aligned with the respective gripping hole 16.
In use, the belt 12 is slid behind or beneath the non-ambulatory person 14 when the caregiver 18 needs to lift or reposition the non-ambulatory person 14. The belt 12 is wrapped around the non-ambulatory person 14 such that each of the first end 20 and the second end 22 of the belt 12 are directed toward the caregiver 18. The caregiver 18 grips each of the gripping holes 16 in the belt 12 to lift or reposition the non-ambulatory person 14. In this way the caregiver 18 can move the non-ambulatory person 14 without risk of suffering a lower back injury, or other injury common to lifting heavy objects.
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.
