1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to portable seats and body support devices, and more particularly to an inflatable orthopedic support device having loosely spaced apart individual inflatable body support members for selectively supporting those body and torso areas when seated upon a chair or seat having an upright back.
2. Description of Related Art
A number of prior patented devices are known to disclose inventions intended to provide additional body and torso support for a person seated or lying atop on what might otherwise be an uncomfortable support. Included in these prior art disclosures are various devices for distributing pressurized air to inflatable chambers or bladders which afford additional comfort and body support to a user positioned thereatop. The following U.S. Pat. Nos. provide such a body of teaching:
Specific attention is drawn to U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,975 invented by Hiraoka disclosing an inflatable portable seat cushion with slip cover and pouch that may be carried about the users waist when not in use. This device is uniquely adapted for comfort while sitting atop a stadium seat at a public sports event and the like.
An inflatable full length body support seat is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,842 to Zur which also teaches an inflatable kit for adapting a conventional vehicle seat into a full length fully adjustable body support. This kit includes inflatable bags attached together in mattress-like form and a slipcover fitted over the air bags and the conventional car seat when in use.
Bentley, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,286 also discloses an inflatable seat cushion and body support assembly attachable atop a conventional seat cushion and back and providing individual air inflatable chambers extending transversely across the seat back which are individually inflatable to suit the user.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,631, O'Neill discloses a dynamic backrest support system having an H-shaped inflatable cell within a seat cushion and a back cushion having two sets of alternately inflatable laterally extending cells forming a spinal recess contourable to conform to the shape of a person's back.
A seat pad with an adjustable lumbar support invented by Armstrong in U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,200 discloses a portable seat pad having an inflatable back element. A lumbar support is positioned within the body support portion for added spinal support and comfort.
The present invention discloses a portable, inflatable orthopedic support device and air pump particularly useful in achieving comfort such as while seated in a typical commercial airline seat during flight. The device is easily deployable from a compact waist pack wherein the individual inflatable body supports are positioned against the leg areas; the lumbar area, the shoulder blade area and the neck of the user and individually inflatable by the air pump to achieve a high level of selected comfort, shape and size accommodation of each user.
This invention is directed to a portable pneumatic orthopedic body support device for selectively supporting body and torso areas of a user being seated atop a chair or seat. The device includes individual inflatable independent body and torso supports or chambers for legs, lumbar, shoulder blade and neck areas. These supports are independently inflatable and loosely connected together in spaced relationship preferably held thusly by a flexible air conduit assembly or harness. The device, when fully deflated includes a waist strap and flexible panels to enclose the supports and air pump/selector valve carryable around the waist as a fanny pack. A combination air pump and selector valve is also provided for selective delivery of compressed air through the conduit assembly to each of the inflatable supports separately and independently for maximum comfort, shape and size.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a portable, inflatable orthopedic support device for use in achieving an increased level of customized comfort while seated atop a seat or chair with back.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an inflatable orthopedic device deployable from a waist carried fanny pack into individually and selectively inflated body and torso supports atop a commercial airline seat during flight for added comfort.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a combination inflatable orthopedic support device and air pump, either manual or battery powered, with selector valve, for the selective pressurization of each of the body and torso supports to accommodate a broad array of user sizes, weights and shapes.
In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in
The device 10 is shown schematically in use in
The inflated leg support 14 is positionable atop the cushion B beneath the thighs and knees of the user and, as best seen in
The lower back or lumbar support 16 has a relatively thinner central section 44 and enlarged in length and thickness side or bolster portions 46. As best seen in
The shoulder blade support 18 is substantially reduced in overall width to fit between the shoulder blades of the user along the upper spine area. Thus, the central support surface 48 is only slightly arcuate in convex form to add support to this region between the shoulder blades of the torso.
The neck support 20 is also thinner in both thickness and length in the central portion 50 while the outer bolster portions 52 are enlarged in both thickness and length so that, as best seen in
Referring to
A selector valve 54 may be rotated in the direction of arrow F to align one of the indexed icons or indicia 56 displaying the particular inflatable support which will receive compressed air under pressure generated by the pump 22. Thus, compressed air may be selectively transferred via each of a plurality of ports (not shown) within selector valve 54 through each of the four air conduits of the air conduit assembly 24 through a manifold 26 to either the conduit 28 for inflating the leg support 14, conduit 30 for inflating the lumbar support 16, conduit 32 for inflating the shoulder blade support 18 or the conduit 34 for inflating the neck support 20, all of which are best seen in FIG. 1.
The conduit assembly 24 is preferably extruded elastomer hose formed of heat or chemically welded together flexible vinyl conduit to form a flexible harness which extends generally centrally along the buttocks and spine area of the user which also typically provides a natural channel upwardly extending to the neck support 20 without being noticeably felt by the user.
This conduit assembly 24 serves an additional purpose, that being the connecting together, in loosely positionable fashion, each of the inflatable supports 14, 16, 18 and 20 in the array shown in the Figures connected to the back surfaces of these supports 14, 16, 18 and 20. The user simply spaces each of these deflated or partially inflated supports against the seat cushion B and seat back C as desired, seats himself or herself thereupon and then begins to actuate the manual pump 22 as previously described. Selective inflation is, again, achieved using the selector valve 54. Note that inflation of each of these supports 14, 16, 18 and 20 allows the user to achieve a maximum level of comfort as the supports are independently inflated to accommodate the individual's body shape, size and weight at a desired level of comfort and support.
Each of the supports 14, 16, 18 and 20 are formed of modified vinyl sheets having a NYLON fabric outer surface which adds an increased level of friction to resist movement when positioned and inflated atop the seat cushion B and upright back C and also serves to prevent excess stretching of each of these supports to maintain the level of comfort initially achieved during selective pressurization of each inflatable support 14, 16, 18 and 20 as desired.
An electric pump arrangement is shown in
Reverse deployment of the device is shown sequentially in
In
While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what are conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed herein, but is to be afforded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent apparatus and articles.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4078842 | Zur | Mar 1978 | A |
4190286 | Bentley | Feb 1980 | A |
4518200 | Armstrong | May 1985 | A |
4583255 | Mogaki et al. | Apr 1986 | A |
4781413 | Shumack, Jr. | Nov 1988 | A |
4893367 | Heimreid et al. | Jan 1990 | A |
5314235 | Johnson | May 1994 | A |
5320409 | Katoh et al. | Jun 1994 | A |
5501508 | Llewellyn | Mar 1996 | A |
5570716 | Kamen et al. | Nov 1996 | A |
5641199 | Bond-Madsen | Jun 1997 | A |
5662384 | O'Neill et al. | Sep 1997 | A |
5713631 | O'Neill et al. | Feb 1998 | A |
5713841 | Graham | Feb 1998 | A |
5785669 | Proctor et al. | Jul 1998 | A |
5836900 | Leventhal | Nov 1998 | A |
5868463 | MacKenzie et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
5979975 | Hiraoka | Nov 1999 | A |
6095894 | Stevens | Aug 2000 | A |
6203105 | Rhodes, Jr. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6357066 | Pierce | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6626491 | Blome et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |