Affiliated Hospital Products, Inc.

B-w Health Products, Inc.

Amedco Health Care, Inc.

Larry D Mitchell

Edward M Mason

Murray Q Tanner, Iii

Robert G Stern

Charles W Keith, Jr

A side guard for a hospital bed moves between elevated and depressed positions on parallel swing arms that are quite short and extend from a base mounted on the back section of the bed. It further has an upper section which pivots outwardly and downwardly to a retracted position to substantially reduce the height of the side guard. When the side guard is in its depressed position with its upper section folded to the retracted position, the side guard lies entirely below the mattress supporting surface of the bed back section and therefore does not interfere with bed making. Also the upper section may carry a bed control unit, or a telephone, or controls for other electrically operated devices, and when in its extended position, these devices are presented inwardly toward the occupant of the bed, but when the upper section is in its retracted position, they are presented outwardly where they are conveniently accessible to one sitting or standing beside the bed. The parallel swing arms have spindles which project into the base where they rotate as the side guard moves between its elevated and depressed positions, and those spindles carry crank arms that are connected by a tie bar. A latch bolt lies in the path of the tie bar to hold the side guard in its elevated position. Moreover, the tie bar, by coming against one or the other of the spindles, prevents the side guard from going past its elevated or depressed positions.

Bed side guard assembly

Independently operable lifting mechanisms are provided at the head and foot ends of the fixed lower base frame of an adjustable hospital bed in order to facilitate independent height adjustment of the head and foot ends of the bed's movable upper frame. The lifting mechanisms are actuated by respective drive screws which may be rotated individually or simultaneously and in either direction to position the upper frame at any desired height and at any selected tilt angle. By turning only one drive screw, one end of the upper frame is elevated or lowered and the tilt angle will be changed. By rotating both drive screws simultaneously, the upper frame will be raised or lowered at a constant tilt angle. A manual control system provides for selective manual engagement of the lifting mechanisms and automatic disengagement thereof. When engaged, the lifting mechanisms may be manually actuated.

Manual control system for adjustable hospital bed

An adjustable wall-spacer is employed to position an adjustable hospital bed normally from a wall and prevent contact of the headboard with the wall when the bed is moved into raised or tilted positions.

Multi-position wall spacer

A bed having a torque-compensated parallelogram lifting arm arrangement. The bed has a subframe vertically adjustable by the parallelogram lifting arm arrangement and thereby retains a level relationship at all height adjustment levels. An articulated mattress support surface is provided, which is formed by articulated pivotally interconnected head or back, seat, thigh and leg sections mounted on the level vertically adjustable subframe. The seat section is double-pivoted, and enables simple and effective Trendelenburg and Reverse Trendelenburg positioning independent of any position of the height-adjustable supporting subframe. The seat, thigh, and head sections are articulated by cam and cam follower drive arrangements. Selective pivot defeat means are provided to enable selective pivotal lowering of the thigh and head or back sections without pivoting the seat section, and independent of the supporting subframe position, enabling simple and effective hyperextension positioning. The back and thigh sections may be pivoted up and down to at and above horizontal by patient control; other movements and positioning are nurse-controlled by a foot end mounted nurse control panel. A cantilever bumper, having wall engaging rollers, is pivotally mounted at the head end of the bed on the base, and is automatically lowered when the bed height is lowered to assure spaced positioning of the bed from a wall. The bumper self-retains its set angular position by frictional action at its pivot mounting connection with the base. Sockets are provided on the vertically adjustable always level subframe at the corners and midsection for mounting IV rods, fracture frames, patient control pendant holders, etc. Vertical height adjustment and all mattress support surface articulation action can be selectively effected by electric motor control or hand crank.

Bed arrangement

A unitary pilot-operated bi-directional cylinder lock valve and pressure-compensated flow control valve arrangement, having a common housing with internal porting connecting a pair of oppositely acting normally closed check valves operated to open by fluid pressure in one direction thereagainst on the inlet side and by a common free-floating inlet-pressure-responsive pilot piston therebetween. Also in the common housing and ported in line with each of the check valves are two pressure-compensated flow control valves which restrict fluid flow through the check valves as a function of flow pressure. The pressure-compensated flow control valves are also oppositely acting and each senses and acts to reduce fluid flow in response to pressure build-up in an opposite direction from that of the other. The unitary lock valve and pressure-compensated flow control valve is connected in line with one or more hydraulic cylinders of an operating table or other hydraulic cylinder-operated apparatus, with the exit/entrance ports from the pressure-compensated flow control valves connected to the opposite ends of the hydraulic cylinder or cylinders.

Lock valve flow control arrangement

An operating table with geometrically compensated differentially movable load-sharing multiple hydraulic actuating cylinders is provided, which enables the employment of identical diametered tandem fluid connected cylinders through differential geometrical cylinder mounting and mechanical movement interconnection proportional to the cylinders' fluid-connected compression-to-tension end effective area ratio.

Operating table or the like with geometrically compensated

An operating table having a longitudinally adjustably slidable patient supporting table top, the various top sections of which have radio-translucent patient-support panels which, together with the slide arrangement, enable positioning of any top sections for alignment and use with an X-ray photographic or image intensifier apparatus. The table top slide arrangement incorporates four spaced linear ball bushings in which a slide shaft is slidable to enable the desired ease of top positioning to a desired longitudinal position while tilted, flat, and evenly or unevenly loaded or unloaded.

Operating table or the like, with improved slidable top arrangement

A hydraulic control valve arrangement for operating tables or the like, in which the table has both table top function control valves and associated hydraulic movement actuation cylinders and an elevate function valve and associated hydraulic elevation cylinder, and in which the elevate function control valve is operated by a separate control lever and is in overriding control of fluid supply pressure to the separate control lever-actuated table top function control valves, whereby either the elevate cylinder or a table top function actuation cylinder may be individually operated at one time, but not both the elevate cylinder and a table top function control cylinder, and whereby it is not necessary to switch a single control lever back and forth between elevate position and a selected table top function control position in order to selectively alternately effect elevation adjustment and a given selected table top function adjustment of the table top for desired table top positioning. A pilot-operated cylinder lock valve and pressure-compensated valve arrangement is provided in flow control to and from each hydraulic cylinder or cylinders actuating arrangement to prevent external load-induced movement of the cylinders and associate table top section or sections and to smooth out flow and table top movement when abrupt supply and/or external load-induced hydraulic pressure variations occur.

Hydraulic control valve arrangement for operating tables and the like

A bed having a torque compensated parallelogram lifting arm arrangement. The bed has a subframe vertically adjustable by the parallelogram lifting arm arrangement and thereby retains a level relationship at all height adjustment levels. An articulated mattress support surface is provided, which is formed by articulated pivotally interconnected head or back, seat, thigh and leg sections mounted on the level vertically adjustable subframe. The seat section is double-pivoted, and enables simple and effective Trendelenburg and Reverse Trendelenburg positioning independent of any position of the height-adjustable supporting subframe. The seat, thigh, and head sections are articulated by cam and cam follower drive arrangements. Selective pivot defeat means are provided to enable selective pivotal lowering of the thigh and head or back sections without pivoting the seat section, and independent of the supporting subframe position, enabling simple and effective hyperextension positioning. The back and thigh sections may be pivoted up and down to at and above horizontal by patient control; other movements and positioning are nurse-controlled by a foot end mounted nurse control panel. A cantilever bumper, having wall engaging rollers, is pivotally mounted at the head end of the bed on the base, and is automatically lowered when the bed height is lowered to assure spaced positioning of the bed from a wall. The bumper self-retains its set angular position by frictional action at its pivot mounting connection with the base. Sockets are provided on the vertically adjustable always level subframe at the corners and midsection, for mounting IV rods, fracture frames, patient control pendant holders, etc. Vertical height adjustment and all mattress support surface articulation action can be selectively effected by electric motor control or hand crank.

Growing community of inventors

Ballwin, MO, United States of America

Larry D Mitchell