Airco, Inc.

Robert J Koch

Douglas D Carden

Michael H Mackin

James Maluta

John H Wasson

A counterbalance mechanism is disclosed for offsetting the normal gravitational forces exerted on a rotatable cylindrical hood for an incubator. The mechanism includes a specially shaped cam that is fixed with respect to the rotatable hood. A cam follower, mounted on a slide movable with the rotatable hood, is spring biased against the cam. As the rotatable hood is moved to various positions, the spring loading and cam profile coact to produce a counter-rotational force that is opposite and equal to the force of gravity acting upon the hood at any point in its rotation. One or more detents is provided in the cam at predetermined positions such that the cam follower can be positioned within one of the detents at one or more desired positions of hood rotation such that the hood may be held at that selected position.

Counterbalance mechanism for incubator hood

An improved infant incubator is disclosed having a cylindrical shaped transparent hood which provide considerable accessibility to the infant. The cylindrically shaped hood consists of a plurality of sections rotatable about a central axis. The sections may be individually opened to give limited access to the infant or totally rotated to a position beneath the infant support structure such that access may be had from all sides of the incubator without obstructions. Heating of the incubator compartment is achieved by a unique means of circulating heated air through a double wall construction of the hood. The air is heated in a compartment beneath the infant and the warm air enters one of the hood sections and circulates through that section whereupon it is transferred serially to the next section and eventually can be received back into the heater compartment from the hood sections for recirculation. A fan and heater are located in the heater compartment for heating and circulating the air. The double wall hood is readily disassembled and one of the walls removable to facilitate cleaning of all wall surfaces.

Growing community of inventors

McFarland, WI, United States of America

Robert J Koch