The present invention relates to track systems for use in a medical facility and the like for transferring patients, and more particularly to a such track systems having a junction and a plurality of tracks, wherein a patient can be transferred in any one of a number of directions on the tracks, and to turntables used in such track systems.
It is necessary in medical care facilities, such as hospitals, to transfer injured or other limited mobility patients between a bed, a wheelchair, a washroom, or other locations. Such transferring is often very difficult to do, and it may be injurious to the patient, if done manually by hand by one or more nurses or orderlies. Accordingly, various types apparatus and systems are employed that permit ready lifting, carrying, maneuvering, and so on, of injured or otherwise low mobility patients.
One type of apparatus used to hoist and transfer invalid patience is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,612, issued Dec. 11, 2001 to von Schroeder and entitled Invalid Hoists. This hoist comprises a wheeled base, a mast extending upwardly from the base, and a lifting arm that can be raised and lowered extending outwardly from the mast. This type of apparatus has many disadvantages associated with it. The main disadvantage is that it is very difficult to move on all but the hardest floors, especially when supporting a heavy patient. It also has a limited lift range and is not overly manoeuvrable. Further, type of apparatus typically takes up a lot of floor space.
More recently, it has become more common to install fixed tracks in the ceiling of a medical facility. These tracks are positioned to extend between each of the locations that a person wold need to be transferred to. For instance, in a hospital room, the tracks would extend from the side of a patient's bed to the doorway and to the washroom, thus enabling at nurse or orderly to transfer a patient from a wheelchair at the doorway of the room to the bed, and also vice versa, and also from the bed to the washroom and back again.
A significant problem arises when there are several beds in one hospital room. It is therefore necessary to have several tracks on the ceiling, one track from each bed to the entrance doorway, and one track from each bed to the bathroom, and so on.
Various types of track based patient movement systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,195 issued Feb. 25, 2003 to Brodeur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,003 issued May 27, 2003 to Vest, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,412 issued Jan. 13, 2004 to Faucher et al.
Such track-based systems, in essence, become the universal carrier for various types of lifting devices. The specific type of lifting device is chosen depending on a person's size, weight, and their particular medical situation (whether they are slightly injured, severely injured, disabled, elderly, and so on).
In order to access several places via a ceiling track system, it is known to use a turntable at a common junction point in a room. Such prior art turntables are typically quite heavy and are suspended from a load bearing point in the ceiling. Such installation is labour intensive, expensive, and can be difficult to do in many cases, depending on the type of ceiling.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system, which track supported ceiling lift turntable is not overly heavy.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system, which track supported ceiling lift turntable is not suspended from a load bearing point in the ceiling.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system, which track supported ceiling lift turntable is not intensive to install.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system, which track supported ceiling lift turntable is inexpensive.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system, which track supported ceiling lift turntable is readily installed.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a novel track supported ceiling lift turntable for use in a patient transfer track system having a carriage means having a patient lift mechanism suspended therefrom. The track supported ceiling lift turntable comprises a perimeter frame member, and a rotatable turntable track member operatively mounted on the perimeter frame member for rotation about a substantially vertical central pivot axis, for supporting a carriage means having a patient lift mechanism suspended therefrom, in movable relation the rotatable turntable track member. A plurality of access passageways are disposed around the circumference of the perimeter frame members. The plurality of access passageways are for permitting access of a carriage means to the rotatable turntable track member from ceiling tracks and from the rotatable turntable track member to ceiling tracks. There is means to rotate the rotatable turntable track member about the vertical central pivot axis to alignment with a selected one of the plurality of access passageways, to thereby permit access by a carriage means having a patient lift mechanism suspended therefrom.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a novel patient transfer track system comprising a plurality of ceiling tracks each secured to a ceiling in a building. A carriage means has a patient lift mechanism suspended therefrom and is movable along the plurality of ceiling tracks. A track supported ceiling lift turntable has a rotatable turntable track member and a plurality of access passageways disposed around the circumference thereof, and is for permitting the access of the carriage means to the rotatable turntable track member from the ceiling tracks and from the rotatable turntable track member to the ceiling tracks. There is means to rotate the rotatable turntable track member into alignment with a selected one of the plurality of access passageways, to thereby permit access by a carriage means having a patient lift mechanism suspended therefrom.
Other advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter of which is briefly described herein below.
The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the track supported ceiling lift turntable and patient transfer track system according to the present invention, as to its structure, organization, use and method of operation, together with further objectives and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following drawings in which a presently preferred embodiment of the invention will now be illustrated by way of example. It is expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. In the accompanying drawings:
Reference will now be made to
A carriage mechanism 40 having a patient lift mechanism 42 suspended therefrom, as shown in
The patient transfer track system 20 also comprises a track supported ceiling lift turntable 30, as discussed above, having a rotatable turntable track member 32 and a plurality of access passageways 34 disposed around the circumference thereof. The access passageways 34 are for permitting the access of the carriage mechanism 40 to the rotatable turntable track member 32 from the ceiling tracks 21a, 21b, 21c, and 21d, and from the rotatable turntable track member 32 to the ceiling tracks 21a, 21b, 21c, and 21d, when the rotatable turntable track member 32 is aligned with the particular access passageway 34.
The track supported ceiling lift turntable 30 also comprises a substantially circular perimeter frame member 50 that has a peripheral top flange 52 and a main cylindrical portion 54 with an interior beveled bearing-receiving surface 56. The rotatable turntable track member 32 is operatively mounted on the perimeter frame member 50 for rotation about a substantially vertical central pivot axis “P”. The rotatable turntable track member 32 comprises an elongate top portion 35 and left and right elongate “L”-shaped rail portions 36l,36r each having a vertical portion 37l,37r and a lower horizontal portion 38l,38r. The left and right elongate “L”-shaped rail portions 36l,36r depend from the elongate top portion 35 in opposed relation one to the other to form a lower slot 39 between the lower horizontal portions 38l,38r. The attachment mechanism 41 of a carriage mechanism 40 is received in the lower slot 39. A spar member 60, commonly called a spyder, is secured in overlying relation to the rotatable turntable track member 32 by a plurality of threaded fasteners 62.
The rotatable turntable track member 32 is operatively mounted on the perimeter frame member 50, for supporting the carriage mechanism 40 and therefore the patient lift mechanism 42 suspended therefrom, in movable relation the rotatable turntable track member 32. As can be best seen in
A plurality of tongue members 70 are attached to the peripheral top flange 52 of the substantially circular perimeter frame member 50, and project radially outwardly from around the circumference of the perimeter frame member 50. One tongue member 70 is disposed at each of the plurality of access passageways 34. As can be best seen in
There is also plurality of stop members 80 mounted in removable and replaceable relation around the circumference of the perimeter frame member 50, specifically on the peripheral top flange 52 of the substantially circular perimeter frame member 50. Each of the stop members 80 blocks one of the plurality of access passageways 34 so as to preclude passage of the carriage mechanism 40 from the rotatable turntable track member 32. In this manner, when the rotatable turntable track member 32 is not aligned with one of the access passageways 34, the carriage mechanism 40 cannot inadvertently roll out of the rotatable turntable track member 32, for safety reasons.
As can be readily seen, the tongue members 70 and the stop members 80 are mounted by means of threaded fasteners 72,82, respectively, engaging co-operating threaded holes 84 in the peripheral top flange 52, at on of a plurality of sixteen places disposed peripherally around the perimeter frame member 50. In essence, the tongue members 70 and the stop members 80 are interchangeable with one another. In this manner, the particular access passageways 34 can be selected to meet with a ceiling track terminating at any one of sixteen angular positions around the perimeter of the track supported ceiling lift turntable 30.
A blocking ring 90 is secured to the rotatable turntable track member 32 for rotation therewith, so as to be adjacent the perimeter frame member 50. The blocking ring 90 comprises first and second openings 91,92 disposed in diametrically opposed relation one to the other. The rotatable turntable track member 32 is received in the first and second openings 91,92. The blocking ring 90 precludes the passage of a carriage mechanism 40 from a ceiling track, when the rotatable turntable track member 32 is not aligned with that particular ceiling track, for safety reasons.
There is also means to rotate the rotatable turntable track member 32 about the vertical central pivot axis to alignment with a selected one of the plurality of access passageways 34, to thereby permit access by a carriage mechanism 40 having a patient lift mechanism 42 suspended therefrom. In the preferred embodiment, as illustrated, the rotatable turntable track member 32 is rotatable about the substantially vertical central pivot axis “P” by means of a rope member 100 secured thereto. More particularly, as can best be seen in
The rope member 100 extends outwardly from the rotatable turntable track member 32 to a remote location 110, as best seen in
Reference will now be made generally to
Accordingly, a patient could be moved from the first bed to the washroom and vice versa without rotating the rotatable turntable track member 32. Alternatively, a patient in the first bed could be moved to the ceiling lift turntable 30, and the rotatable turntable track member 32 of the ceiling lift turntable 30 could be rotated by pulling on the rope member 100. The rotatable turntable track member 32 would move past a rotational position as shown in
As can be understood from the above description and from the accompanying drawings, the present invention provides a track supported ceiling lift turntable and patient transfer track system, wherein the track supported ceiling lift turntable is not overly heavy, is not suspended from a load bearing point in the ceiling, is not intensive to install, is inexpensive, and is readily installed, all of which features are unknown in the prior art.
Other variations of the above principles will be apparent to those who are knowledgeable in the field of the invention, and such variations are considered to be within the scope of the present invention. For instance, the rope member used to rotate the rotatable turntable track member could be replaced and the rotatable turntable track member could be driven by an electric motor. Further, other modifications and alterations may be used in the design and manufacture of the track supported ceiling lift turntable and patient transfer track system of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the accompanying claims.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60521868 | Jul 2004 | US |