Stryker Corporation

Larry W Gardner

Christopher John Hopper

Louis A Haddock, Jr

John S Messner

A hospital bed has an articulated patient support surface with four air outlet housings mounted thereon at spaced locations. An air supply arrangement supplies temperature-controlled air to an air outlet opening in each of the housings. Associated with each housing is an elongate tubular fabric diffusion member having an O-ring which encircles one end thereof and is removably received in a circumferential groove in the air outlet opening. Each diffusion member can be tucked completely into its housing when not in use. Each housing has a cap movable between open and closed positions with respect to the air outlet opening, and an arrangement yieldably urging the cap toward its closed position. A valve arrangement is provided below two of the housings in order to automatically discharge fluids which happen to enter the air supply system through the air outlet openings. In a variation, two of the elongate diffusion members can be replaced with an inflatable underlay or overlay having two inlet sleeves with O-rings which are each releasably coupled to a respective one of the air outlet devices.

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Kalamazoo, MI, United States of America

Larry W Gardner