APPLIANCE FOR DISABLED PERSONS

Abstract: The invention relates to an appliance for disabled persons which is adapted to be used together with a chair having a back-rest. The appliance comprises a seating element separate from the chair, such as a seating sheet or cushion (8), one side of which is adapted, upon use of the appliance, to face and be supported by the actual seat of the chair, the other side of said seating element being adapted to support a disabled person. Operating means associated with said seating element (8) comprise at least one front and one rear operating means (2a, 2b) at the front and rear ends, respectively, of said seating element. An attendant can actuate, with one of his feet, the operating means (2a, 2b) to move the disabled person away from or against the back-rest.

Description: APPLIANCE FOR DISABLED PERSONS The present invention relates to an appliance for disabled persons, more particularly an appliance adapted to be used together with a chair having a back-rest. Many disabled persons find it difficult or even impossible to move by their own efforts so far back on a chair that the person's back will come into con¬ tact with the chair back-rest. Similarly, it is fre¬ quently difficult for a disabled person sitting with his back resting against the back-rest to move by his own efforts towards the seat front edge in order to rise from the chair. To another person, an attendant, such movements of a disabled person who is to be seated on or lifted up from a chair, means both strenuous work in an un¬ comfortable and ergono ically disadvantageous working posture. The appliance according to the invention faci¬ litates such movement of a disabled person. The novel and characteristic matter of the invention resides in that the appliance comprises a seating element separate from the chair, such as a seating sheet or cushion, one side of which is adapted, upon use of the appliance, to face and be supported by the actual seat of the chair, the other side of said seating element being adapted to support a disabled person, and operating means associated with said seating ele¬ ment and comprising at least one front and one rear operating means at the front and the rear end, respec- tively, of said seating element, said operating means being adapted to be actuated by an attendant for mov¬ ing the disabled person away from or against the back¬ rest. In the event that the seating element is a rela¬ tively thick cushion, it is preferred that the cushion has, at least at its portion facing away from the back¬ rest, such flexibility that, in a position removed from the back-rest, it can be folded down over the front edge of the actual chair seat. In a preferred variant of the invention, the front and rear operating means are each in the form of a stirrup-like member associated with the corre- sponding end of the seating element and adapted to receive one of the attendant's feet in order to accom¬ plish the said movement. To facilitate movement of the disabled person, the appliance preferably comprises, between the seat- ing element and the actual seat of the chair, a means for reducing the friction between said seating element and the actual seat. Such a friction-reducing means may be in the form of an anti-friction layer fixedly connected with the underside of the seating element. To lock the seating element in the desired posi¬ tion relative to the seat and back-rest of the chair, the appliance according to the invention preferably comprises locking means which may comprise for exam¬ ple two tie straps associated each with one side edge of the seating element and adapted to be placed around and detachably interconnected behind the back-rest of the chair. Other features of the invention and preferred embodiments thereof will appear from the appended claims and the following description and the asso¬ ciated drawings in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of the appliance according to the invention, the seat¬ ing element being in the form of a relatively thin seating sheet; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the seating sheet shown in Fig. 1 mounted on a chair and strapped to the back-rest of the chair, parts of the back-rest and arm-rests of the chair being cut away; Fig. 3 is a lateral section of the seating sheet and the chair shown in Fig. 2, the seating sheet being in a forward detached position; Fig. 4 is a front view of the seating sheet and the chair shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a perspective view obliquely from behind of a second embodiment of the appliance according to the invention, the seating element of which is a thicker flexible cushion mounted in a forward position on a chair; and Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views from respec¬ tively in front and behind of the cushion shown in Fig. 5 strapped in a. rear position. The appliance shown in Fig. 1 comprises a seating sheet 1 , the upper side of which constitutes a seating surface for a disabled person, and the underside of which is intended, upon use of the appliance, to face the seat of a chair having a back-rest. The underside of the sheet is preferably coated with a low friction material , and the upper side may be coated with a material which is liquid-repellent or has other spe¬ cial properties. As an alternative, a piece of anti- friction material, separate from the sheet can be disposed between the sheet and the chair seat. Fur¬ thermore, the appliance according to Fig. 1 comprises two operating means in the form of a front stirrup-like loop 2a at the front end la of the sheet 1, and a rear stirrup-like loop 2b at the rear end lb of the sheet 1. The loops 2a, 2b are formed of a strap 3 attached to the sheet 1. Also attached to the sheet 1 is a transverse strap 4 which is provided at one end with a buckle 6 into which the other, free end 7 of the strap 4 can be inserted and locked. The use of the appliance as shown in Fig. 1 will now be described with reference to Figs. 2-4. The sheet 1 with its straps 3, 4 attached thereto is placed on the seat of a chair in the position shown in Fig. 3, whereupon a disabled person seats himself, or is seated by another person, an attendant, on the upper side of the sheet 1 at the front portion of the chair seat. The attendant then puts his foot into the rear stirrup¬ like loop 2b and pushes it down, as shown by the arrow Pi in Fig. 3, whereby the sheet 1 is moved backwards on the seat, such that the disabled person's back is moved into contact with the back-rest of the chair. The sheet 1 can then be locked in this rearward posi¬ tion in that the strap 4 is laid around the lowermost part " of the back-seat and locked by means of the buckle 6, as shown from above in Fig. 2 and from in front in Fig. 4. When the disabled person is to leave the chair, the buckle 6 is released, and the attendant puts his foot instead into the front loop 2a and pushes it downwards, whereby the sheet 1 is moved forward to move the disabled person forward towards the front part of the seat from where he can leave the chair. Figs. 5-7 illustrate a different embodiment of the appliance according to the invention, according to which the relatively thin seating sheet as shown in Figs. 1-4 is replaced by a thicker padded cushion 8. Fig. 5 shows the cushion 8 in a forward position in which the tie straps 4 are secured in the buckle 6 behind the back-rest to prevent the cushion from sliding off the chair. Figs. 6 and 7 show the cushion 8 in the retracted and secured position which is uti¬ lised when the attendant has moved the disabled person backwards into contact with the back-rest of the chair. In the embodiment illustrated, the cushion 8 has essentially the same length as the seat of the chair. Therefore the cushion 8 has, at least at its portion facing away from the back-rest, a flexibility such that it can be folded down over the chair front edge in a position removed from the back-rest, as is clearly shown in Fig. 5. Such flexibility is achieved either by making the entire cushion 8 sufficiently flexible, as in Fig. 5, or by providing the cushion with one or more transverse fold lines where the cushion has a reduced thickness. In addition, the appliance shown in Figs. 5-7 has an essentially flat piece 9 of anti-friction mate- rial which is separate from the seating element and rests on the seat of the chair where it is retained in the longitudinal direction by its two downwardly directed end edges 9a and 9b. Naturally, such a sepa¬ rate piece of anti-friction material can be used also in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-4 in which the seat¬ ing element is a thinner seating sheet. The appliance shown in Figs. 5-7 also has a spe¬ cial stop mechanism at the ends of the tie straps. The stopping mechanism may comprise a stop 10 which is fixedly mounted on the strap end 7 to be inserted into and locked by means of the buckle 6 at the other strap end. To form the stop 10, the extreme portion of the strap end 7 may, for example, be doubled and stitched up a distance from the end edge of the double portion. In this manner, a tab is formed between the seam and the original end edge of the strap end 7, and this tab is turned such that it can be readily inserted into the buckle 6 upon connection. When the tab has passed through the buckle, it will act as a stop if it is attempted to pull the tie strap out of the buckle 6, unless the attendant's fingers press the tab against the strap so that the tab can be passed back through the buckle 6. Such a locking mechanism which is, of course, applicable also to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-4, has two advantages. In the first place, it obviates the risk that the disabled person, when seating himself on the drawn-out cushion (Fig. 5), may slide down upon the floor because of the undesired forward slid¬ ing movement of the cushion on the seat. In the second place, it obviates the risk that the cushion and the disabled person sitting thereon, when pulled forward by the attendant, are moved too far forwards relative to the seat so that the disabled person falls off the chair.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Appliance for disabled persons, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that it is adapted to be used together with a chair with a back-rest, and that it comprises a seating element (1, 8) separate from the chair, such as a seating sheet (1) or cushion (8), one side of which is adapted, upon use of the appliance, to face and be supported by the actual seat of the chair, the other side of said seating element being adapted to support a disabled person, and operating means (2a, 2b) associated with said seating element (1, 8) and comprising at least one front (2a) and one rear (2b) operating means at the front (la) and the rear (lb) end, respectively, of said seating element (1, 8), said operating means (2a, 2b) being adapted to be actuated by an attendant for moving the disabled per¬ son away from or against the back-rest. 2. An appliance as claimed in claim 1, in which the seating element is a cushion (8), c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that the cushion (8) has, at least at its portion facing away from the back-rest, such flexibility that, in a position removed from the back¬ rest, it can be folded down over the front edge of the actual chair seat. 3. An appliance as claimed in claim 1 or 2, c h a - r a c t e r i s e d in that the front (2a) and the rear (2b) operating means are each in the form of a stirrup¬ like member associated with the corresponding end (la, lb) of the seating element (1, 8) and adapted to receive one of the attendant's feet in order to accom- plish the said movement. 4. An appliance as claimed in any one of claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it has between said seating element (1, 8) and said seat, a means for re- ducing the friction between said seating element (1, 8) and said seat. 5. An appliance as claimed in claim 4, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i s e d in that said friction-reducing means comprises an anti-friction layer fixedly attached to the side of said seating element (1, 8) facing the seat of the chair. 6. An appliance as claimed in any one of the pre¬ ceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by locking means (4, 6, 7) by which said seating element (1, 8) can be locked in a desired position relative to the back-rest. 7. An appliance as claimed in claim 6, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i s e d in that said locking means com- prise two tie straps (4) connected each with one side edge of said seating element (1, 8) and adapted to be laid around and detachably interconnected behind the back-rest of the chair.

Inventors: DAHL STURE VALFRID, ERIKSSON KURT ARON, PERSSON STURE IVAN, DAHL, STURE, VALFRID, ERIKSSON, KURT, ARON, PERSSON, STURE, IVAN
Applicants: DAHL STURE VALFRID, ERIKSSON KURT ARON, PERSSON STURE IVAN, DAHL, STURE, VALFRID, ERIKSSON, KURT, ARON, PERSSON, STURE, IVAN
Application year: 1988
Main classification: A47C1
IPC codes: A61G5