Hill-rom Company, Inc.

Howard J Boyd

Clement J Koerber, Sr

Michael E Poehner

Michael J Duwell

An IV pole having an interior drag brake which selectively prevents downward movement or allows downward movement of the pole due to gravitational acceleration including a first pole member and at least a second pole member which telescopes into and out of the first pole member. The second pole member includes on its lower end an O-ring encircling the end, and a nylon split collar encircling the O-ring. In another embodiment, a seal is disposed between the first and second pole members and is operable to create an air cushion beneath the second pole member and within the first pole member. The seal can be an O-ring seal, a Quad-Ring.RTM. seal or a lip seal. A valve is disposed in the first pole member for bleeding off air between the first and second pole members, whereby the second pole member has a predetermined or selectively controllable rate of descent with respect to the first pole member.

Interior drag brake for telescoping tubes

An IV pole having an interior drag brake which selectively prevents downward movement or allows downward movement of the pole due to gravitational acceleration including a first pole member and at least a second pole member which telescopes into and out of the first pole member. The second pole member includes on its lower end an O-ring encircling the end, and a nylon split collar encircling the O-ring. In another embodiment, a seal is disposed between the first and second pole members and is operable to create an air cushion beneath the second pole member and within the first pole member. The seal can be an O-ring seal, a Quad- Ring.RTM. seal or a lip seal. A valve is disposed in the first pole member for bleeding off air between the first and second pole members, whereby the second pole member has a predetermined or selectively controllable rate of descent with respect to the first pole member.

IV pole with interior drag brake

A hospital bed has a support frame and a weigh frame mounted on the support frame by load cells. The output of the load cells is summed to provide a reading of the total weight on the weigh frame. The tare weight is subtracted to provide the patient's weight.

Hospital bed for weighing patients

Multiple elements of a blow-molded, integral patient support surface each include a synthetic sheet-like patient support element and an underlying synthetic corrugated reinforcing element spaced from the support element. When loaded, the patient support element engages the corrugated reinforcing element which resists deflection and rigidifies the surface. The corrugation angulation and the combined wall thicknesses of the flat support and corrugated reinforcing elements in a predetermined are are selected to provide an effective combined wall thickness within F.D.A. attenuation standards, yet still provide sufficient rigidity and aberration-free x-rays. An adjustable x-ray plate cassette is disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Oldenburg, IN, United States of America

Howard J Boyd