Patent Application
20210401094
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The disclosure relates to medical controller holding garment devices and more particularly pertains to a new medical controller holding garment devices for holding articles required by a wearer of the garment for running necessary medical treatment devices.
The prior art relates to medical garment assemblies that are used for holding automated medical treatment devices.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a shirt that has a front side, a back side, a first lateral side, a second lateral side, a right sleeve, and a left sleeve. The shirt has a neck opening and a torso opening and is comprised of a fabric material. The shirt bounds an interior space. A front pocket is positioned on an outer surface of the front side of the shirt. The front pocket is positioned nearer to the torso opening than the neck opening and has an upper edge comprising an access opening of the front pocket. The front pocket has an exterior wall. A shield comprising a heat resistant material is positioned between the exterior wall and the interior space. A controller receiving space is defined between the exterior wall and the shield and holds a controller for a ventricular assist device.
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 front pocket 32 is positioned on an outer surface 34 of the front side 14 of the shirt 12. The front pocket 32 is positioned nearer to the torso opening 28 than the neck opening 26 and is generally laterally centered on the front side 14. The front pocket 32 has an upper edge 36 comprising an access opening 38 of the front pocket 32. The front pocket 32 is comprised typically of a fabric material any may be comprised of same material as the shirt 12. The front pocket 32 has an exterior wall 40.
A shield 42 comprising a heat resistant material is positioned between the exterior wall 40 and the interior space 30. The purpose of the shield 40 is to protect the wearer of the garment assembly 10 from heat produced by a ventricular assist device controller 44. The shield 42 may be comprised of any heat resistant material, though flexible materials are preferred to aid in the comfort of the wearer. Therefore, materials used for conventional fabric potholders, for example, may be utilized. However, synthetic materials such as silicone panels may also be utilized. A controller receiving space 46 is defined between the exterior wall 40 and the shield 42 and is configured to receive the controller 44 for a ventricular assist device. In some embodiments, the shield 42 may be attached to the front side 14 of the shirt 12 within the front pocket 32. Alternatively, the shield 42 may be removably positioned within the front pocket 32 such that it may be cleaned separately or removed when the shirt 12 is cleaned. If the shield 42 is comprised of a soft, flexible material, the shield 42 may be attached 48 to an inner surface of the front side.
A cord retaining member 50 is attached to the front side 14 and is positioned between the front pocket 32 and the neck opening 26. The cord retaining member 50 includes a flap 52 that has an attached end 54 and a loose end 56. The loose end 56 is removably secured to the front side 14 with a coupler 58. The cord retaining member 50 receives cords 60 from the ventricular assist device 44 wherein the cords 60 are positionable between the flap 52 and the shirt 12. The coupler 58 may comprise hook and look couplers, a button, and the like, however, it may be preferred that the coupler 58 comprises a snap due to its greater mechanical strength. The flap 52 may be comprised of a fabric or elastomeric material.
A front pocket closure 62 may be provided to releasably close the access opening 38. The front pocket closure 62 includes a tab 64 that has a first end 66 attached to the front side 12 and a second end 68 that is removably attached to the exterior wall 40 with a fastener 70 such that it extends over the access opening 38 to prevent the controller 44 from falling out of the front pocket 32. The fastener 70 may include the same types of items used for the coupler 58 but may again be preferred if the fastener 70 comprises a snap.
At least one battery pocket 72 is mounted on the shirt 12 and is positioned lateral to the front pocket 32. Ventricular assist devices, to be mobile, include batteries 74 for supplying power to the control assembly 44 and to a pump controlled by the control assembly 44. The at least one battery pocket 72 is configured to be receive a battery 74 electrically coupled to the controller 44. The at least one battery pocket 72 will typically include a first battery pocket 72 positioned on the first lateral side 18 and a generally identical second battery pocket 72 positioned on the second lateral side 20. The battery pockets 72 each have an open top end 76 for receiving the batteries 74. Though not shown, the battery pocket(s) 72 may also include closing members having the same structure as the front pocket closure 62.
In use, the shirt 12 is worn by a person who must support the control assembly 44, and possibly batteries 74, in a manner that prevents the control assembly 44 from falling outwardly away from the shirt 12 while also protecting the user from the heat of the control assembly 44. Aside from enhancing comfort for the wearer, the shield 42 reduces the risk of infection at the control cord entrance point into the wearer's body by preventing heat from being applied to or near the entrance point.
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.
