Gte Sylvania Incorporated

James L Pettee

Richard W Anderson

A washable, stretchable, flexible, vinyl fabric cover for enclosing an adjustable arm assembly as used in a hospital or nursing home for supporting a television receiver for viewing by a patient. The adjustable arm assembly with which the fabric cover may be used includes forward and rearward pairs of elongated arms pivotally connected at adjacent ends thereof to a central pivot plate arrangement and at opposite ends thereof to front and rear pivot plate arrangements, respectively. The fabric cover of the invention includes first and second generally-flat, generally-rectangular, elongated flexible cover sections and a flat connecting sheet joining corresponding first ends of the first and second cover sections, the opposite ends of the cover sections being cup-like in configuration. The flat connecting sheet joining the first ends of the first and second cover sections has a central section of the same material as the cover sections and first and second end sections of a stretchable material attached to the central section and to the first ends of the first and second cover sections, respectively. The first and second cover sections further include slide fasteners, in the form of zippers, along the edges of the sections. The first and second cover sections are made initially to generally respectively overlie the forward and rearward pairs of arms, which are preferably in horizontal positions at this time, and the cup-like end portion of the second section is arranged to cup around the rear pivot plate arrangement. The first cover section is then pulled in a direction away from the second cover section until the cup-like end portion of the first cover section is able to tightly grip around the front pivot plate arrangement. The flat connecting sheet joining the first and second cover sections generally overlies the central pivot plate arrangement at this time. The edges of the first and second cover sections of the fabric cover are joined together to enclose the arm assembly by use of the zippers provided at these edges.

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Winchester, MA, United States of America

James L Pettee