Patent Application
20140265403
The transportation of supplies, patients and trained personnel is an important aspect of the medical field. In recent years, the need for transportation of patients between two locations has increased, especially in specific disciplines. For example, the federal government is a large user of medical transportation in military and veteran affairs. Exemplary transportation methods include by airplane, helicopter, truck and ambulance.
A transport vehicle has many military and veteran applications. For example, wounded military servicemen and servicewomen are often transported from an initial treatment location to a secondary area offering greater service, and generally evacuated from one location to another location. These exemplary uses and other uses of a medical transport vehicle in the military requires efficient loading, storing and unloading of patients. Patients may be loaded by litter, wheelchairs, upright seats, or by manual-assist walking. Efficiency, speed and safety concerns during loading, storage and movement may limit the number of patients which may be transported at one time.
The present application describes a ramp assembly for installation on the rear of a transport vehicle.
In an exemplary embodiment, the ramp assembly includes a base portion and a connecting portion. The base portion includes a first elongated side and a second elongated side. The connecting portion has a first elongated side and a second elongated side. The second elongated side of the connecting portion is cooperatively shaped to engage at least one connector of the second elongated side of the connecting portion.
Features and advantages of the general inventive concepts will become apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
This Detailed Description merely describes exemplary embodiments in accordance with the general inventive concepts and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention or the claims in any way. Indeed, the invention as described by the claims is broader than and unlimited by the exemplary embodiments set forth herein, and the terms used in the claims have their full ordinary meaning.
The general inventive concepts will now be described with occasional reference to the exemplary embodiments of the invention. This general inventive concept may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the general inventive concepts to those skilled in the art.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art encompassing the general inventive concepts. The terminology set forth in this detailed description is for describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the general inventive concepts. As used in this detailed description and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, properties such as molecular pressure source, reaction conditions, and so forth as used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated, the numerical properties set forth in the specification and claims are approximations that may vary depending on the suitable properties sought to be obtained in embodiments of the present invention. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the general inventive concepts are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical values, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarily resulting from error found in their respective measurements.
The term litter as used in this specification refers to any hand-carried transport vehicle for one or more humans. Exemplary litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more men, some being enclosed for protection from the elements. An exemplary medical litter may be two poles between which fabric bedding is stretched. Four men may carry a patient on such a litter by each man holding a single end of one of the two poles.
The present invention relates to a ramp assembly for installation on the rear of a transport vehicle. The ramp assembly is expendable from a stored position to an assembled position. In an exemplary embodiment, the ramp assembly includes a base portion having a top surface, a bottom surface, a first elongated side, a second elongated side, a first end and a second end. The first elongated side has a raised rail extending upward and beyond the top surface of the base portion. The second elongated side has at least one connector. The connecting portion has a top surface, a bottom surface, a first elongated side, a second elongated side, a first end and a second end. The first elongated side has a raised rail extending upward and beyond the top surface of the connector portion. The second elongated side has a raised rail extending downward and beyond the bottom surface of the connector portion. The raised rail of the second elongated side of the connecting portion is cooperatively shaped to engage the at least one connector of the second elongated side of the base portion.
In another exemplary embodiment, a transport vehicle for carrying one or more medical patients is disclosed. The transport vehicle includes a cargo area, a set of rear doors, a storage area and a ramp assembly. The cargo area has an interior space at least large enough to contain at least one medical patient carried on a litter. The storage area is disposed underneath and remote from the cargo area and has a first width. The ramp assembly has a base portion and a connecting portion. The connecting portion is attachable to the base portion when the ramp assembly is in an assembled position and has a second width, and stackable on the base portion when the ramp assembly is in a stored position and has a third width. The second width is greater than the first width, and the third width is less than the first width.
Referring now to the drawings,
As shown in
The exemplary base portion includes other advantageous features. Two mounting connectors extending outward and longitudinally from the first end 18 of the base portion 10. The exemplary connectors are hooks 40, 42 which connect to mounting brackets on the rear of a transport vehicle, as discussed herein. The connectors may be of any suitable shape, number or location in the practice of the present invention.
The base portion 10 in application may be temporarily stored in an area with access from only one end. Two wheels 50, 52 are rotatably mounted on the bottom surface and in proximity of the first end 16 on the base portion. Near the opposing second end 18 of the base portion, an aperture 44 is defines through the top surface 22 of the base portion for hand gripping by a user. As illustrated, the aperture 44 is at position closer to the second end of the base portion than the first end of the base portion. As such, a user can grip and slightly lift the base portion at the second end 18, balance the base portion on the wheels 50, 52, and pull or push the base portion 10 in a either longitudinal direction.
The base portion is shaped to promote entry and exit on foot from the second end 18. As shown in
The base portion 10 is constructed to withstand the weight of at least four men carrying a litter upon which a patient is riding. The base portion may be constructed of any material of suitable strength, such as for example, stainless steel. The exemplary base portion 10 shown in
The base portion 10 is arranged to mate with a connecting portion to form a ramp assembly. When assembled with a connection portion and in an installed position relative a transport vehicle, the ramp assembly helps to provide and entrance and exit path to and from the transport vehicle.
Referring now to
The exemplary connecting portion 100 shown is an elongated section which forms about half of a ramp assembly (see
The connecting portion is structured to quickly and easily attach to the base portion. One or more personnel associated with a transport vehicle can assemble and install the ramp assembly to the rear of the vehicle. The ramp assembly can be assembled, and then installed to the rear of the vehicle, such as is two or more personnel are available. Alternatively, a single person can install the base portion to the rear of the vehicle, then install the connecting portion to the rear of the vehicle, and at the same time, complete the assembly of the ramp assembly.
The connecting portion is structured to quickly engage to, and quickly engage from, the ramp portion. As shown in
As shown in
The connecting portion 100 in application may be temporarily stored in an area with access from only one end. Near the second end 118 of the connecting portion, an aperture 144 is defines through the top surface 122 of the connecting portion for hand gripping by a user. As illustrated, the aperture 144 is at position closer to the second end of the connecting portion than the first end of the connecting portion. As such, a user can grip the connecting portion 100 by the aperture 144 to manipulate the position of the connecting portion 100, such as for example, to lift the connecting portion 100 out of an assembled position with the base portion 10.
The connecting portion is shaped to promote entry and exit on foot from the second end 118. As shown in
The connecting portion 110 is constructed to withstand the weight of at least four men carrying a litter upon which a patient is riding. The connecting portion may be constructed of any material of suitable strength, such as for example, stainless steel. The exemplary connecting portion 100 shown in
Referring now to
Another exemplary ramp assembly is shown in
In reference to another embodiment of the present invention, a transport vehicle includes a ramp assembly for loading and unloading patients. The patients can be moved on and off the transport vehicle by wheelchair, by litter or by manual assist. Referring to the Figures, a perspective rear view of a transport vehicle 400 is shown in
The transport vehicle includes a ramp assembly 300, best shown in
Referring again to
While various inventive aspects, concepts and features of the general inventive concepts are described and illustrated herein in the context of various exemplary embodiments, these various aspects, concepts and features may be used in many alternative embodiments, either individually or in various combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all such combinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope of the general inventive concepts. Still further, while various alternative embodiments as to the various aspects, concepts and features of the inventions (such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, methods, circuits, devices and components, software, hardware, control logic, alternatives as to form, fit and function, and so on) may be described herein, such descriptions are not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presently known or later developed. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or more of the inventive aspects, concepts or features into additional embodiments and uses within the scope of the general inventive concepts even if such embodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, even though some features, concepts or aspects of the inventions may be described herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, such description is not intended to suggest that such feature is required or necessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary or representative values and ranges may be included to assist in understanding the present disclosure; however, such values and ranges are not to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be critical values or ranges only if so expressly stated. Moreover, while various aspects, features and concepts may be expressly identified herein as being inventive or forming part of an invention, such identification is not intended to be exclusive, but rather there may be inventive aspects, concepts and features that are fully described herein without being expressly identified as such or as part of a specific invention. Descriptions of exemplary methods or processes are not limited to inclusion of all steps as being required in all cases, nor is the order that the steps are presented to be construed as required or necessary unless expressly so stated.
