US428602A - Apparatus for lifting and moving invalids - Google Patents

Description

( Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. HARLEY.

APPARATUS FOR LIPTING AND MOVING INVALIDS. N0.*428,602. Patented May 27, 1890.

.gAQy mm): [76.5. ALFHEDHAHLEY,

marney.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. HARLEY. APPARATUS FOR LIPTING AND MOVING INVALIDS. No. 428,602.

Patented May 27, 1890;

Mentor:

flLFRED HA BL EY,

101mm, wAwmn-wu, v. c.

UNIT STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED HARLEY, or ALBANY, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR LIFTING AND MOVING INVALIDS.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 428,602, dated May 27, 1890.

Application filed fieptember 26, 1887. Serial No. 250,677. (No model.)

To all 1072,0777, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED HARLEY, of the city and county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Apparatus for Lifting and Moving Helpless Invalids, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus by which an invalid while in a recumbent position can be lifted bodily and when occasion requires moved from one bed to another without infliction of painfand the object of my invention is to provide suitable facilities for painlessly lifting invalids for the purpose of changing their bedding, for washing the under side of them, and for any other sanitary purposes. This object I attain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are herein referred to and form part of this specification, and in which Figure l is a side elevation of my lifting apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan View thereof. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section thereof. Fig. i is an enlarged cross-section of the central lifting-drum, showing a sleeve-Windlass attachment that is used for slightly raising the middle portion of the body alone, when occasion requires. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of my lifting apparatus mounted on movable trestles provided with casters for the purpose of moving an invalid from one bed to another. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the same at the line X X, showing a modified form of mechanism for raising the middle portion of the body; and Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a suspensory harness for carrying one end of my apparatus on a bedstead provided with a high head-board.

As represented in the drawings, A is the frame-work of my apparatus. It is preferably made of wood in the'form of a rightangled oblong frame composed of string-pieces 1 and cross-girts 2. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, said string-pieces project beyond the points where the cross-girts are framed into them,

and at one end said string-pieces are provided with a hinged portion 3, which is arranged to fold downwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, for the purpose of adapting the apparatus for use on bedsteads with either high or low head-boards. India-rubber bearings or plugs 4 are inserted in the ends of said string-pieces to prevent injury to the high head-board when the apparatus is used on that class of bedsteads. The framework A is provided with three lifting-drums, which are journaled thereon, and which consist of the head-lifting drum B, the middlelifting drum 0, and the feet-lifting drum D, the said drums being located where they will respectively be nearly over the head, the middle, and the feet of an invalid. Each of said drums is provided with two pendent lifting-cords 5, which are attached near theends of said drums, and each of said lifting-cords has at its lower end branch cords (5, whose terminals are provided with hooks 7, for a purpose hereinafter explained. Each of said lifting-drums is provided with a bevel gear-wheel 8, fitted to gear into a corresponding gear-wheel 9, that is secured to a longitudinal shaft E, so'that all of said drums will be synchronously rotated.

One of said drumspreferably the middle oneis provided with a worm-wheel 10, in which an endless screw 11 engages toimparta rotatory motion to theseries of drums, said endless screw being provided with a crank-handle 12, by which motion is imparted thereto. The middle-lifting drum C is preferably provided with a sleeve-Windlass F for the purpose of slightly raising the middle portion of an invalids bod when it is re uired to insert a lifting-plate thereunder. Said windlass consists of a sleeve that is fitted to rotate on said drum C, which forms its axis, and is provided with a hook 13 near its middle, a perforated capstan-head 1% at one end for the purpose of receiving a handle for imparting motion to the windlass, and at the opposite end with ratchet-teeth 15, in which a spring-pawl 16 engages to hold the windlass motionless when occasion requires.

Gis a breeching that is designed to pass under the middle portion of an invalids body, and is provided at one end with a strap 17, which is adapted to engage with the hook 13, and at the opposite end with a strap 18, that adjustably engages with the strap 17 to form a proper-sized loop in which an invalids body may be suspended from the windlass.

H represents lifting plates or platforms, of which there are tl1reeone for the head, one for the middle portion, and one for the feet of an invaliddetachably connected to the branch cords 6 by means of the hooks 7.

\Yhen my apparatus is used on a bedstead whose head and foot boards are about of the same height, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the hinged portions 3 are extended, so that the frame-work A will rest on the head and foot boards; but when the apparatus is used on a bedstead whose head-board is higher than the foot-hoard the hinged pieces 3 are folded back under thestring-pieces 1, as shown in Fig. I). The footof the apparatus will then reston the foot-board of the bedstead, and the head of the apparatus will be suspended from the head-board by means of the suspensory harness I, whose lower ends are provided with hooks 19, which engage in staples fixed in the head of the frame-work A. The upper straps of said harness, which aremade adjustable in length, are provided with hooks 20, that are adapted to engage over the top of the head-board of the bedstead.

It is well known that when a person is l ving down the preponderance of weight is near the middle portion of his body. Therefore the lifting of that part of his body is attended with greater dillieulty, and in cases of inflammatory disease is only attained by the infliction of considerable pain, the lifting of the extremities being comparatively of easy accomplishment. In order that the insertion of the lifting-plate ll under the middle portion of the body may be accomplished with as little pain as possible, the brceching G is passed endwise under the invalid near the small of his back, and after the straps of said breechin g are secured together the strap 17' is attached to the hook l3, and the windlass F is rotated until the middle portion of the invalids body is raised high enough to permit a lifting-plate H to be freely passed thereunder, after which the motion of the windlass is reversed to lower the invalid to place on the lifting-plate In the modification of my apparatus, as shown in Figs. 5 and i, the windlass F is dispensed with, and a lifting-lever J' is substituted for the same purpose. Said lever is provided at one end with a hook 21, on which the strap 17 of the breeching G engages. The lever Ll, while performing its ollice of lifting, bears upon a fulcrum 22, that is attached to one of the string-pieces of the frame-work A.

The operation of my apparatus is as follows: The lifting-platcs II being adjusted in their several places under the invalid, and the branch cords 6 being connected to said lifting-plates, motion is imparted to the endless screw ll, whereby the lifting-drums l G, and D will be rotated at a uniform rate of speed to wind the several lifting-cords 5 steadily around said lifting-drums, and thereby the invalid will be lifted bodily from the bed without the least jar or strain being imparted to him. \Vhen raised to a required. height, the rotations of the lifting-drums are stopped, said drums beingheld stationary by the endless screw 11 and worm-wheel 10, so as to leave the invalid suspended on the lifting-plates ll,and while so suspended thebedding maybe adjusted or changed, and the body of the invalid may be bathed or otherwise treated. The invalid is lowered to the bed by reversing the operations just described.

For the purpose of removing an invalid from one bed to another I provide a pair of movable trestles Kone for the foot and the other for the head of the bedand support thereon the frame-work A of my apparatus, as shown in Figs. and ti. Said trestles are provided with casters 2]., on which the apparatus can easily be moved from place to place in an apartment, while an invalid is borne on the lifting-plates II, as hcrcinbefore described.

1 claim as my invention In an a 'iparatus for lifting and moving invalids, the combination of a frame provided with three transversely -arrangcd lifting drums, each being provided with a bevel-gear fitted to engage with a corresponding gear secured to a longitudinal shaft, and each of said drums being provided with lifting'cords having hooks on their branch terminals, one of said drums being provided-with a wormwheel fitted to engage with an endless screw journaled to said frame, and the middledrum being provided with a sleeve-windlass which is journaled on said drum and is provided with a hook to which a brecching for lifting the middle of a patients body can be attached, one end of said windlass having a ratchet-wheel which engages with a springpaw] attached to said drum, so as to lock said drum and windiass to move conjunctivcly, and the opposite end of said windlass being fitted to receive a handle for rotating the wiudlass independently of said drum for the purpose of raising the middle portion of an invalids body without affecting the head and feet, and three separate and independent lifting-plates, which are titted to attach to said lifting-cords, as and for the purpose herein specified.

ALFRED HARLEY. \Vi tnesses:

WM. II. Low

1;. BREWER.

Images