Abstract:
A decontamination unit ( 10 ) is provided including an upright collapsible frame ( 12 ) and a one-piece integrated enclosure ( 14 ). The frame ( 12 ) includes extensible legs ( 16 ) interconnected by upper scissor linkages ( 20 ); it may be manually erected in the field in a very few minutes. The enclosure ( 14 ) is suspended on and supported by the frame ( 12 ) and preferably includes a lower basin floor ( 30 ) and upright wall structure ( 40 ). One or more ingress/egress passageways ( 70 ) are provided in the wall structure ( 40 ). The unit ( 10 ) may be used individually or a plurality thereof may be positioned juxtaposition for staged decontamination purposes.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/269,547, filed Oct. 11, 2002, which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention is broadly concerned with field-erectable decontamination units which may be quickly and easily installed and used at or adjacent a contaminated site for the purpose of rapid decontamination of individuals or objects. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such decontamination units and methods of use thereof wherein the units include an upright frame with supports a decontamination enclosure, the latter preferably having a liquid-collecting basin floor as well as upright wall structure. The units may be used individually or a plurality thereof may be placed in adjacency for staged decontamination operations.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     In situations of industrial workplace or use of biological or chemical weapons, individuals or important objects in the vicinity may become contaminated. It is often essential that decontamination procedures be carried out on a rather immediate basis, in order to minimize the risks to health and well being of affected individuals. It has been suggested in the past to provide field decontamination devices allowing application of decontaminating substances such as sprays or powders. However, these prior assemblies are often heavy and cumbersome, and difficult to erect and move. For example, heavy basins have been provided along with separate upright screens. However, owing to the non-integrated nature of these systems, they are bulky and time-consuming to install. At the same time, these units often do not provide any degree of privacy, which is important inasmuch as contaminated individuals may be required to disrobe.  
         [0006]     There is accordingly a need in the art for improved decontamination units which can be readily erected while at the same time being rugged, impervious to contaminants and decontamination substances, and which can be used singly or in combination.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The present invention overcomes the problems outlines above and provides a decontamination unit including a unitary, one-piece, upright liquid-containing enclosure comprising a basin floor and upright wall structure extending upwardly from the basin floor. The enclosure is formed of a flexible material with the inner face thereof formed of synthetic resin material, and is of sufficient height to accommodate a standing adult therein. The overall unit further includes a frame supporting said enclosure which may be exterior therein or within the confines thereof.  
         [0008]     In preferred forms, the basin floor and upright wall structure are permanently interconnected by means of heat welding or other means to form the enclosure. Although the enclosure may be initially fabricated form individual pieces, the ultimate enclosure is essentially unitary and one-piece.  
         [0009]     The most preferred frame has a plurality of upright, telescopic legs with scissor linkages interconnecting the legs. The linkages are designed so that the entire frame may be collapsed into a compact package, while nevertheless allowing the frame to be fully erected in a minute or so. The enclosure is preferably fabricated from synthetic resin materials, with the basin floor advantageously fabricate from reinforced synthetic resin material to enhance the durability and puncture resistance thereof, whereas the wall structure may be fabricated using somewhat thinner synthetic resin material. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a decontamination unit in accordance with the invention shown during use thereof where a decontaminating spray is applied to a person (not shown) within the unit enclosure;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged, fragmentary view depicting portions of the exterior decontamination unit frame and the strap connectors preferably employed for securing the upright enclosure to the frame;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a side view of the preferred exterior unit frame in a partially collapsed condition;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a fragmentary vertical sectional view illustrating the construction of the basin floor forming a part of the enclosure, as well as the preferred drain opening; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a plan view of a decontaminating assembly made up of plural decontamination units placed in close proximity juxtaposition, allowing staged decontamination operations. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]     Turning now to the drawings, a decontamination unit  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 1  and broadly includes an exterior frame  12  supporting an upright enclosure  14 . The unit  10  is designed to be quickly field-erected and used to decontaminate individuals. As depicted in  FIG. 1 , a person (not shown) within enclosure  14  may be decontaminated by application of a liquid spray or other decontaminating substance, with the latter being effectively collected within the enclosure for safe disposal.  
         [0016]     In more detail, the frame  12  in the illustrated embodiment includes a total of four upright telescopic legs  16  which are laterally spaced apart and are adapted to engage the earth or other support surface. Each leg includes an upper square tubular segment  16   a  as well as a telescopic interfitted lower square tubular segment  16   b , the latter terminating with a short ground-engaging footpad  18 . A pair of spaced apart, spring loaded locking pins  19   a  and  19   b  ( FIG. 2 ) are provided on leg segment  16   a  as shown. The legs  16  are interconnected by four identical scissor linkages  20  positioned adjacent the upper ends of the legs. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , each leg is equipped with an uppermost L-bracket  22  as well as a tubular, vertically reciprocal slide L-bracket  24  disposed below bracket  22  and having a locking aperture  25 . Each linkage  20  is made up of four linkage arms  26 - 32 . The legs  26  and  32  are each pivotally coupled to a bracket  22 , while the arms  28  and  30  are pivotally coupled to a slide bracket  24 . The arms  28  and  30  are pivotally interconnected at the ends thereof through pivot pins  33 , as are the arms  26  and  32 . Finally, the arms  26 ,  28  and  30 ,  32  are pivotally interconnected at their respective midpoints as shown via pivot pins  33   a . As best seen in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , each segment  16   a  is provided with a connection strap  34  having one and secured beneath bracket  22  and with a female buckle connector  36  at the other end thereof. It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the frame  12  may be moved from a collapsed, compact orientation wherein the arms of linkages  20  are generally parallel and vertically oriented to the fully extended use position shown in  FIG. 1 , with the slide brackets  24  accommodating the movement between the collapsed and use positions. In the extended use position the respective bracket apertures  25  receive the corresponding pins  19   a , while in the collapsed position these apertures  25  receive the lower pins  19   b.    
         [0017]     The enclosure  14  broadly includes a basin floor  38  as well as upright wall structure  40 . The floor  38  is preferably formed from a synthetic resin material having a thickness of from about 15-50 mil, and is most preferably fabricated from commercially available fiber cord-reinforced triple laminate extruded or blown polyethylene having a thickness of about 27 mil. As illustrated, the drain floor  38  includes a bottommost generally horizontal bottom panel  42  as well as an upright circumscribing sidewall section  44 , the latter heat welded to present vertical corner joints  45 . In this fashion, the floor  38  serves as a liquid collection basin. As best seen in  FIG. 4 , the sidewall section  44  is equipped with a hard synthetic resin drain fitting  46  provided with a threaded outer section  48 . A cap (not shown) may be threaded into the section  48  during use of the unit  10 , and alternately a drainage line equipped with a pump may be secured into and through fitting  46  to allow drainage of collected liquid from the drain floor  38 .  
         [0018]     The wall structure  40  is likewise preferably formed from sheet synthetic resin material, typically having a thickness of from about 5-25 mil, and most preferably a blown polyethylene film having a thickness of 10 mil. The wall structure is fabricated from four generally rectangular sheets  50 - 56  having vertical marginal heat weld seals  58 , thereby presenting a substantially quadrate configuration in plan. The lower margin of the wall structure  40  is similarly heat welded to the upper margin of the wall section  44 , thus defining a circumscribing joint  60 . The upper margins of the respective sheets  50 - 56  are folded over and sealed, thereby defining elongated, horizontally extending passageways  62 . A continuous mounting strap  64  formed of canvas or other suitable material passes through the passageways  62 , and has a male buckle connector  66  at each corner thereof, which are designed to mate with the connectors  36  described above.  
         [0019]     Each of the corner seals  58  also have two vertically spaced apart connector straps  68  of length to wrap about the adjacent portion of a leg  16 ; the straps  68  each have a conventional snap connector arrangement as depicted permitting connection to the leg.  
         [0020]     In order to permit ingress and egress from the unit  10 , a passageway  70  is provided in one of the wall structure sheets  50 - 56 , it being noted that the bottom of the passageway is above bottom panel  42  to retain the liquid-holding capacity of the basin floor  38 . Also, other similar passageways can be provided in other wall structure sheets, such as shown in phantom in  FIG. 1 , depending upon the desired use of the unit in question. In preferred embodiments, perforations may be made in portions of wall structure  40  so that additional passageways may be formed by punching out the perforated wall portions. Providing perforated wall sections enables the unit  10  to be used in a staged decontamination procedure in coordination with additional units.  
         [0021]     The erection of the unit  10  is very easy and can be accomplished in a matter of a very few minutes. As delivered, the unit is housed within a flexible bag, containing the frame  12  in its collapsed condition, as well as the enclosure  14 . The first step is to erect the frame  12 , involving separation of the scissor linkages  20  by manually shifting the legs  16  until the slide brackets  24  move upwardly and the pins  19   a  are received within the bracket apertures  25 . Next, the legs  15  are elongated by extension of the sections  16   b  relative to the upper section  16   a . At this point, the enclosure  14  is mounted on the erected frame. This involves first snapping the corner-mounted male buckle connectors  66  into the connectors  36  secured to the corner straps  34 . Next, the individual straps  68  are wrapped about the adjacent legs  16  and snapped together. This creates the enclosure  10 .  
         [0022]     During decontamination use of the enclosure  10 , an individual to be decontaminated steps into the unit through passageway  70 . At this point, a decontaminating substance is applied, such as through the spray equipment illustrated in  FIG. 1 . After such decontamination, the treated individual leaves the unit through the passageway  70 .  
         [0023]     It will be appreciated that while a single decontamination unit  10  can be employed as depicted in  FIG. 1 , the construction thereof allows plural units to be positioned in adjacency, for a staged decontamination procedure. This utility is illustrated in  FIG. 5 , wherein three individual decontamination units  10   a ,  10   b  and  10   c  are placed in adjacency. The unit  10   a  includes two passageways  70  each having a protective and openable flap  72 ; it will be observed that the passageways are on opposite sides of the enclosure. The central unit  10   b  is similar to  10   a , except that includes a third passageway  70  covered by openable flap  72 . The final unit  10   c  is identical to the unit  10   a . It will be understood that the assembly illustrated in  FIG. 5  can be used for decontamination purposes, but that this design affords a degree of flexibility not inherent in a single unit. That is, the  FIG. 5  assembly can be used for application of successive, different decontaminating substances in each of the units. Another utility would be the use of the unit  10   a  as a derobing station, the unit  10   b  as a decontamination station, and the final unit  10   c  as a rerobing station. It will further be appreciated that the respective adjacent passageways  70  of the plural units are arranged in close proximity and in general registry. In this fashion, an individual may move from one decontamination unit to the next by a single stride through the adjacent passageways.  
         [0024]     While preferred embodiments of the decontamination units are illustrated, it will be appreciated that a number of different alternatives are possible. To give but a few examples, the units may be provided with roof structure, and/or the frames may be mounted inside the enclosure rather than exteriorly thereof. Also, while a generally quadrate shape has been depicted, virtually any plan configuration shape can be used. Finally, a wide variety of other materials can be used in lieu of the preferred synthetic resin materials. Basically, so long as the inner surface of the enclosure  14  presents a surface resistant to contamination and degradation by decontamination substances, it may be used in the context of the invention.