Abstract:
The safety and torso positioning apparatus consists of three straps removably anchored to a wheelchair or the like and adjustably fastened to hold the seated occupant and stabilize the occupant&#39;s torso in a vertical position.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR 
     DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to apparatus for securing a sitting person in an upright position by adjustable and easily removable means. 
     2. Background Information 
     Means for securing persons safely within a chair have long been studied and developed, with particular attention paid to the safety, dignity, and liberty needs of medical and nursing home patients. Under normal circumstances, the chaired person desires, and must be able, to free him or herself from the safety device and chair. Further, in medical and nursing home environments, federal law prohibits the use of restraints, except under special circumstances. See, e.g., 42 USC 1395i-3(c)(1)(A)(ii)(“a skilled nursing facility must protect and promote the rights of each resident, including . . . the [right to be] . . . [f]ree from . . . any physical . . . restraints . . . ”). 
     The following disclosure will point out those patents related thereto of which Applicant is aware. Most devices act to belt in the chaired person at the waist and fail to provide means for stabilizing the person&#39;s torso in the upright, vertical plane. This is a matter of singular importance to any person suffering from weakness, paralysis, muscular dystrophy, or the like, whose torso is caused to slump sideways while seated in the chair and secured only by a traditional wheelchair lap belt. Further, most devices require permanent attachment to the chair and are not easily removable for cleaning, strap replacement, or temporary use on another chair. The present invention provides a positioning and securing means for permitting the use of a chair, particularly a wheelchair, in a more dignified, fully upright manner. Additionally, the invention can be easily attached to, and removed from the wheelchair, without tying. The apparatus can be made from machine-washable material. The three straps are individually removable and replaceable. The invention can accept a variety of strap fastening and length-adjusting means, to allow for use under a variety of circumstances. For persons with use of their arms and hands, the apparatus can be used without any assistance by others. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,807 issued Dec. 11, 1979 to Ocel et al. describes a device that permanently secures to the back of a wheel chair, hospital bed or the like, reaches around to encompass a person sitting in the wheel chair, hospital bed or the like, and then attaches the distal end thereof to the proximal end of the device by means of Velcro fasteners. Means for positioning a person&#39;s torso in the vertical plane are not provided. The device has a structure specifically designed to prevent a person strapped therein, from making egress therefrom. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,046 issued Jun. 19, 1984 to Linderoth describes a safety device permanently affixed to a wheelchair, that combines a seat belt used to secure a person within the wheel chair, with a securing mechanism interconnected between the wheel chair and a hold-down component on a transport vehicle such as a train coach, ship or aircraft. Means for positioning a person&#39;s torso in the vertical plane are not provided. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,852 issued Mar. 29, 1994 to Morales-Quintero describes a one-piece removable security harness for a wheel chair or a bed comprising a crotch panel combined with a waist strap and contiguous front and rear panels into which a person is placed, together with respective pairs of straps that extend from the front and rear panels and must be tied to the pushing handles of a wheel chair or the sides of a bed. This device must be put on the person first, before the device is secured to the support chair or bed. The device does not enable the person so held to access conveniently the means for disconnecting or removing the device, and hence acts as a restraint. The one-piece ensemble does not allow for immediate single strap replacement or washing. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,398 issued May 6, 1997 to Wooldridge describes a safety strap that is permanently affixed to a chair and may be wrapped around a person sitting in a wheel chair and secured at the back thereof. No means for positioning a person&#39;s torso in the vertical plane are provided, and the inaccessibility of the securement means, to the person in the chair, causes this device to act as a restraint. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,843 issued Mar. 17, 1998 to LaTrace describes a seat belt permanently affixed and extending upwards from below the seating area of a four-wheeled comfort chair, the seat belt having a release mechanism the same as those currently common in motor vehicles. Means for positioning a person&#39;s torso in the vertical plane are not provided. 
     Based upon the foregoing, there has been a need for a removable safety device for securing a person in a chair in a manner that stabilizes and positions the person&#39;s torso in the vertical plane, and allows for easy egress therefrom. Such a device is shown and described in the present application. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The apparatus consists of a spanning strap placed over the chair back, and two elongated, length-adjustable, vertical positioning straps extending therefrom, which attach to the seat frame of the chair, and to each other at the waist area of the seated person. When a person is seated in the chair, each positioning strap drapes over a shoulder, front torso and thigh area. The bottom portion of each vertical positioning strap is looped around the chair&#39;s seat area, adjusted to a comfortable length, and secured to itself above the person&#39;s thigh, by a fastening means. A fastening means draws and secures the vertical positioning straps together at approximately waist-level. The apparatus can be left on the chair, or easily removed for cleaning, or transfer to another chair. Each positioning strap can accept a variety of fastening means, and can be individually removed for replacement or cleaning. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a rear oblique view of the present invention secured to a wheelchair. 
     FIG. 3 is a front oblique view of a person seated in a wheelchair using the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a close-up of strap anchoring ( 76 ) used to form loop attachment means ( 22 ,  24 ,  36 ,  56 ) 
     FIG. 5 is a view of strap attachment means employing posts ( 84 ) and post apertures ( 86 ). 
     FIG. 6 is a view of strap attachment means employing loops ( 22 ,  24 ,  36 ,  56 ). 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, FIG. 1 shows the preferred embodiment of safety and positioning apparatus  10  comprising the present invention. It consists of a spanning strap  12  with removable attachment means  22  and  24  for attaching to the upper back area of a chair, and two vertical positioning straps  30  and  50 , each removably attached to spanning strap  12  by slideably attachment means  36  and  56 . Vertical positioning strap  30  has removable adjustable chair attachment means  42  and  44  disposed at the distal end thereof. Vertical positioning strap  50  has removable adjustable chair attachment means  62  and  64  disposed at the distal end thereof. Vertical positioning strap  30  fastens to vertical positioning strap  50  by removable fastening means  70 . 
     FIG. 2 shows the straps  12 ,  30  and  50  attached to wheelchair  3  having pushing bars  4  and  5  in the upper back area of wheelchair  3 , and horizontal seat bars  6  and  7 . It should be noted that although the invention is described as for use with a wheelchair, the invention could be used with any type of chair that has an upper portion and seat area to which the straps may be attached to. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, spanning strap  12  is attached to the upper rear pushing bars  5  and  6  of wheelchair  3 , by attachment means  22  and  24 . This attachment means can be accomplished by any conventional means, such as, but not limited to, anchoring spanning strap left end  14  to left portion  16  to form a closed loop  22 , and anchoring right end  18  to right portion  20  to form a closed loop  24 , as shown in FIG.  6 . This strap anchoring can be accomplished by any conventional means, such as, but not limited to, sewing through spanning strap  12 , as shown in FIG. 1 at  76 . The looped means  22  and  24  for attaching spanning strap  12  to wheelchair  3 , as shown in the preferred embodiment, allows spanning strap  12  to be so placed without a tying action, which is an advantage for persons suffering from arthritis or who have other limits on their manual dexterity. Other types of chair attachment means for the spanning strap  12  could be used without departing from the scope of the invention. Another example would be sewing VELCRO onto the spanning strap left and right portions  16  and  20  to facilitate wrapping each portion  16  and  20  around the upper portion of a chair. 
     As shown in FIG.  1  and FIG. 6, each vertical positioning strap  30  and  50  is removably and adjustably attached to spanning strap  12 , by slidable means  36  and  56 . This slideable attachment can be accomplished by any conventional means, such as, but not limited to, anchoring vertical positioning strap top end  32  to top portion  34  to form a closed loop  36 , and anchoring top end  52  to top portion  54  to form a closed loop  56 , where said loops  36  and  56  are wide enough to allow spanning strap  12  to pass therethrough, as shown in FIG.  6 . This strap anchoring can be accomplished by any conventional means, such as, but not limited to, sewing  76  as shown in FIG.  4  and FIG.  6 . 
     Other types of removable attachment means for attaching vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  to spanning strap  12  could be used without departing from the scope of the invention. As shown in FIG. 5, a removable attachment means can be accomplished by anchoring at least one post  84  to post placement areas  80  and  82  of spanning strap  12 , and providing at least one post aperture  86  on each strap  30  and  50 . 
     Other types of removable and also adjustable attachment means can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention. As shown in FIG. 5, a removable and adjustable attachment means can be accomplished by anchoring two or more posts  84  on post placement area  80  and  82  of spanning strap  12 , and constructing a post aperture on each strap  30  and  50 . Another example of removable and adjustable attachments means for attaching vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  to spanning strap  12  would be provided by anchoring VELCRO to spanning strap  12  and to the top portions  34  and  54  of vertical positioning straps  30  and  50 . 
     As shown in FIG.  2  and FIG. 3, vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  are attached at their bottom portions  40  and  60  to the horizontal bars  6  and  7  in the seat area of wheel chair  3  by removable adjustable means  42 ,  44 ,  62  and  64 . This attachment means can be accomplished by any conventional means, such as, but not limited to, threading adjustment buckle  42  onto vertical positioning strap  30 , winding bottom portion  40  around horizontal seat bar  7  to form loop  44 , inserting bottom end  38  through adjustment buckle  42  and adjusting the length and snugness of vertical positioning strap  30  thereby; and threading adjustment buckle  62  onto vertical positioning strap  50 , winding bottom portion  60  around horizontal seat bar  6  to form loop  64 , inserting bottom end  58  through adjustment buckle  62  and adjusting the length and snugness of vertical positioning strap  50  thereby. Adjustably removable attachment means  42 ,  44 ,  62  and  64  allows the length of each vertical positioning strap to be individually adjusted to each side of chaired person  1 . Other ways of providing adjustable, removable attachment of vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  to the seat area of a chair could be used without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, facing the bottom portions  40  and  50  with VELCRO could also be used. Other means for removable attachment of vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  could be used without departing from the scope of invention. For example fixedly attaching at least one post  84  and post aperture  86  to bottom portions  40  and  60  could be employed. 
     As shown in FIG. 3, vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  fasten together by removable fastening means  70  found proximate to torso  2  of seated person  1 . As shown in FIG.  1  and FIG. 2, left vertical positioning strap  30  has removable fastening means left portion  72  adjustably disposed intermediate to top portion  34  and bottom portion  40 . Right vertical positioning strap  50  has removable fastening means right portion  74  adjustably disposed intermediate to top portion  54  and bottom portion  60 . Each fastening means portion  72  and  74  can be placed to favor right or left handedness of person  1 . An example of a removable fastening means includes, but is not limited to, a manually operated buckle  70  used with conventional safety or restraining belts. Other types of fastening means could be used. For example, an electronically operated fastening means could be employed by persons who lack use of their arms or hands. 
     Different types of fastening means could be used interchangeably or temporarily, without departing from the scope of invention. 
     In order to use the safety and torso positioning apparatus  10  all that is necessary is to first place the spanning strap  12  on the upper portion of a chair, then drape the vertical positioning straps  30  and  50  over each side of one&#39;s torso  2 , wrap bottom portions  40  and  50  around each respective seat area, insert bottom ends  38  and  58  into adjustment buckles  42  and  62  adjust the length and snugness of each vertical positioning strap thereby, and secure oneself in by fastening means  70 . If one cannot use one&#39;s arms or hands sufficiently to position and adjust the straps oneself, a second person may assist. To free oneself from the apparatus, one simply opens the fastening means  70 . If the chair is to be used by the same person each time, upon departure from the chair the apparatus may remain attached to the chair, to allow for quick re-seating. 
     It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that other arrangements and disposition of the aforesaid components, the descriptions of which are intended to be illustrative only and not limiting, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which must be identified and determined from the following claims and equivalents thereof.