Patient mover

A device to transport and move bed ridden patients easily and securely without potential injury to either the patient or the attendant. The device comprises a generally square sheet of flexible fabric material with an integral perimeter handle movable positioned within the fabric.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Technical Field 
This invention relates to patient moving devices that are used in care 
facilities to move and transport bed ridden or disabled patients. 
2. Description of Prior Art 
Prior Art devices of this type have relies on a variety of different 
designs that utilize flexible fabric sheets of material that have handles 
secured thereto or wherein portions of the fabric sheet itself are used as 
handles, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 1,334,901, U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,225 
and U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,903. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,334,901 a turning sheet and pad is discloses wherein a 
pad is formed on the mid-portion of the sheet on which the patient is 
positioned for moving by gripping the edges of the sheet. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,224 discloses a bed patient turn and hold device having 
a fabric sheet with a portion covered by a fleece cushion with straps 
extending outwardly from opposite ends. The straps have snaps to form 
loops that can be fastened around portions of the bed to restrict patient 
movement within. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,903 discloses a device having a sheet of material with 
a central tab. Straps extend outwardly from opposite ends of said material 
for moving the patient and also to be fastened on the bed rails once 
wrapped around the patient. The straps in one form of the invention have 
inturned support loops from which the straps extend. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A device to transport and manuever a disabled or bed ridden patient by 
providing a secure, stable and flexible fabric sheet on which the patient 
is rolled. An integral one piece continous handle strap extends around the 
perimeter of the sheet and is only accessible at oppositely disposed 
strategic locations providing self-adjusting handle length dependent on 
patient's position and attendants requirements for ease of support and 
transport.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A patient moving device can be seen in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings 
comprising a large fabric sheet 10 having a generally rectangular 
configuration with four corners 11, 12, 13, and 14. The fabric sheet 10 
can be of any durable fabric or textured plastic resin material having the 
required properties of strength, durability, and tactual grip. The fabric 
sheet 10 chosen for illustration is of a canvas type material well known 
to those skilled in the art. A handle strap 15 is comprised of a nylon or 
reinforced fabric mesh material in a continous loop configuration obtained 
by securing the free ends of the handle strap together by sewing or other 
appropriate means. The handle strap 15 is positioned around the perimeter 
edge of the fabric sheet 10 within a channel 16 formed by folding over the 
edge portion 17 upon itself a sufficient distance and securing same to the 
fabric sheet 10 by sewing. The four corners 11, 12, 13 and 14 are cut 
diagonally at 18 so that once the corners 11 through 14 are formed the 
respective channel ends 19, 20, 21, and 22 are exposed from which the 
handle strap 15 extends forming a loop L between the channel ends at the 
respective corners. 
It will be evident from the above description that given the relative size 
of the channels 16 and the width of the handle strap 15 that the same will 
slide freely within said channel 16 allowing the relative loop size at 
each corner to vary in relation to the relative position of the other 
loops in accordance to the overall positioning of the fabric sheet 10. 
In use a certain amount of resistance is present between the handle strap 
15 and the channel 16 due to the texture of the fabric sheet 10 and the 
handle strap 15. This resistance is important to fix the relative loop 
size during use when a patient is being moved. The restriction is enough 
to position the loop size but yet loose enough to provide for ease of 
adjustment by the attendants as the patient is lifted and moved within. 
Additionally once the patient is positioned on the patient mover device 
and moved it can be left in place for future short term moves thus not 
requiring the patient to be subjected to multiple lifts with the increased 
possibility of injury. 
Thus it will be seen that a new and useful patient moving device has been 
illustrated and described and it will be apparent to those skilled in the 
art the various changes and modifications may be made therein without 
departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore