Stryker Corporation

Randy Newsome

Michael Joseph Hayes

Christopher John Hopper

Christopher C Gentile

Richard L McDaniel

Richard J Bartow

Patrick Beyer

A wheeled carriage for supporting a patient in a substantially horizontal position includes a patient support having head and foot ends and a wheeled base supported by castered wheels. Auxiliary wheels are suspendably mounted on a wheel support structure with the axis of the auxiliary wheels spaced from a midpoint of the wheeled base. A control apparatus controls the wheel support structure to move the auxiliary wheels between a first deployed position whereat castered wheels at one end of the carriage are elevated from a floor surface, and a second stored position with the auxiliary wheels out of engagement with the floor surface. The wheeled carriage includes a drive motor for powering the auxiliary wheels. A drive member applies force to a load cell on the wheeled carriage. The load cell outputs a drive signal to drive the auxiliary wheels. An auxiliary wheel drive and control system accelerates or decelerates the carriage by comparing the drive signal with a threshold value that changes dependent on the velocity of the carriage.

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Portage, MI, United States of America

Randy Newsome