Patent Publication Number: US-6699173-B1

Title: Canopy seal for infant care apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present invention relates to an infant care apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus with an infant compartment having a canopy that moves in a vertical direction and seals against upstanding vertical panels forming that infant compartment. 
     There is, at the present, a type of infant care apparatus that combines the function of an infant warmer having a planar surface for supporting an infant with radiant heat directed toward that infant and an incubator where that infant is actually contained within an infant compartment where the surrounding environment for the infant including heat, and possibly humidity, are carefully controlled to improve the well being of the infant. 
     One such apparatus is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,499 B1 of Thomas C. Jones and U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,935 B1 of Mackin et al. With that particular apparatus, there is a canopy that can be raised and lowered with respect to an infant platform. When the canopy is in its upper position, an overhead radiant heater directs infrared energy toward an infant positioned on the infant platform to warm the infant, while, on the other hand, when the canopy is in its lower position, a convective heating system located beneath the infant platform provides heat to the infant. 
     As can be seen from a review of the aforedescribed U.S. patents, the infant compartment is formed, not only by the hood in its lower position but also by a plurality of vertical upstanding walls that extend upwardly from the infant platform forming a generally rectangular upper peripheral edge when all of the walls are in the vertical position. It can also be seen that at least one of the vertical walls, and preferably three of such walls, can be opened by the user for access to the infant contained within the infant compartment and therefore, those walls are also doors that are pivotally affixed to the infant platform at the lower edge of the doors, such that the user can swing the doors outwardly and downwardly in obtaining access to that infant. 
     Accordingly, one of the difficulties of such apparatus is that there must be an effective seal between the lower edge of the canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the vertical walls so that the desired thermal environment can be achieved and maintained within the infant compartment when that canopy is in its lower position. Also, at least one of the walls is, in effect, a door that is pivotally affixed to the infant platform so that the door can be opened and closed by the user. As such, the door swings outwardly and downwardly in opening the door and, of course, swings upwardly and inwardly in closing the door. Since the door is operable, that is, it can be opened and closed with the canopy in its lower position, not only must the seal between the canopy and the door be effective with respect to the vertical movement of the canopy, but the seal must also be effective in providing a seal against the upper edge of the door as it pivots about the infant platform. 
     Too, the seal must be economical to produce and install in order to minimize the cost to the overall apparatus. In addition, since the infant compartment itself is normally humidified, there is considerable moisture present and therefore the seal must be designed so as to not collect that moisture in order to avoid creating a favorable location for the growth of bacteria or simply for collecting water. As a further feature, it would be advantageous to have some means of covering or hiding the mounting hardware so that the outer appearance of the seal, as well as the apparatus itself, is aesthetically appealing. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention relates to an infant care apparatus that has an improved seal located between the lower edge of the canopy and the upper peripheral edge of the vertical walls forming the infant compartment. 
     With the present invention, the infant care apparatus is of the type previously outlined, that is, there is a canopy that is movable vertically with respect to the infant platform and which has a lower edge that seals against the upper peripheral edge formed by the plurality of vertical walls that enclose the infant compartment. Thus, with the seal of the present invention, there is an efficient seal that is made between the vertically movable canopy and those vertical walls that include a door that can pivot outwardly and downwardly. The seal of this invention is effective in both instances, that is, against the canopy vertical movement as well as against the rotational movement of the door. 
     The seal of this invention is a one piece or unitary extruded construction so that it can be produced, stored and shipped relatively inexpensively. Also, the seal is comprised of differing materials with each material having different properties of flexibility. There is an elongated flange of a generally rigid material that is used to affix the seal to the lower edge of the canopy and which seal thereby extends along that lower edge and around the entire lower peripheral edge of the canopy. The elongated rigid flange is preferably constructed of a plastic extrudable material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). 
     That rigid flange has a sealing flap that extends at an angle downwardly and inwardly from the lower portion of the elongated flange toward the infant compartment and preferably that sealing flap has a generally planar upper surface so that any moisture that is formed on the generally planar edge simply drips downwardly by the force of gravity and falls from the sealing flap so that moisture is not retained or collected on the seal. 
     The sealing flap is comprised of a material that is more flexible that the rigid material used for the flange that affixes the seal to the lower edge of the canopy. By more flexible, it is meant that the sealing flap is a flexible material that also has good sealing properties, and one material that has been found to be well suitable for such material is a polyolefin that is available from Advanced Polymer Alloys under the name ALCRYN. Thus, while the PVC for the flange is a rigid material, the sealing flap is com of a flexible material of about 80 A Shore durometer and therefore more flexible than the material used for the sealing flap. That material is flexible and yet provides a good seal against the upper vertical walls and does not have a material that migrates to the surface, as does PVC, that eventually become sticky and adheres to the surface of the vertical walls and cause a sticking problem upon the opening of those vertical walls when employed as doors. 
     In addition, such material, albeit having a differing flexibility than the rigid polyvinyl chloride material of the flange, can be co-extruded along with the flange such that the overall seal of this invention can be readily extruded as a single, unitary piece construction with the differing materials in the extrusion and thus is relatively convenient and inexpensive to produce. 
     The seal also has a cover flap that extends downwardly from the upper edge of the elongated flange and encloses the outer surface of the flange. As such, the cover flap is used to cover the mounting hardware, such as screws, that secure the elongated flange to the lower edge of the canopy so as to improve the overall appearance of the seal and the infant care apparatus itself. The lower or distal end of the cover flap is also releasably affixed to the elongated flange by an interlocking arrangement where the lower or distal edge of the cover flap can be easily locked into a suitable shaped recess formed in the lower area of the elongated flange. 
     Thus, that lower, distal edge of the cover flap can be secured to the elongated flange along the entire length of the elongated flange so as to provide a good appearance of the seal and the infant care apparatus. The interlocking of the distal edge of the cover flap and the recess of the elongated flange can readily be accomplished similar to the functioning of a zip lock by the user simply moving a pressure means, such as a finger, along the cover flap to secure it within the recess of the elongated flange and the distal edge of the cover flap can be just as easily detached from the elongated flange. 
     Obviously, the cover flap is unsecured when the elongated flange is being mounted to the lower edge of the canopy so that access can be had to the screws or other type of mounting hardware and when that mounting is complete, the user can readily affix or lock the distal edge of the cover flap to the recess formed in the lower area of the elongated flange to complete the assembly of the seal to the canopy. 
     Again, by the process of co-extrusion, there is a material having more flexibility than the rigid material that forms the elongated flange and the cover flap and that more flexible material is co-extruded into the seal as the extrusion process takes place and which forms a flexible hinge in the seal between the upper edge of the elongated flange and the upper portion of the cover flap. As such, the cover flap is flexibly affixed to the upper edge of the elongated flange and can more easily be manipulated to lock and unlock the distal edge of the cover flap to the lower portion of the elongated flange. In the preferred embodiment, as stated, the rigid material used for the flange and for the cover flap itself is preferable polyvinyl chloride while the more flexible material used to form the more flexible hinge intermediate the elongated flange and the cover flap is ALCRYN. 
     With the use of the differing materials used in the co-extrusion of a unitary seal, there is a significant difference in the flexibility of the ALCRYN material and the polyvinyl chloride material such that the former material acts well as a sealing material for the sealing flap as well as a flexible material that is well suited to be used in the formation of a hinge intermediate the rigid, elongated flange and the cover flap. 
    
    
     These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent during the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the infant care apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention wherein the canopy containing a radiant heater is shown in its upper position; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 but showing the canopy in its lower position; 
     FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of a prior art seal used with the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a seal constructed in accordance with the present invention; and 
     FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view showing the seal of the present invention affixed to the lower edge of a canopy of the infant care apparatus of FIGS.  1  and  2 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of an infant care apparatus  10  constructed in accordance with the present invention with the canopy  12  in its upper position. Referring also to FIG. 2, there is a perspective view of the infant care apparatus  10  as shown in FIG. 1 but with the canopy  12  in its lower position. As will be understood, in the FIG. 1 position, the infant care apparatus  10  acts as an infant warmer with considerable access to the infant for performing interventions on the infant and in the FIG. 2 configuration, the infant care apparatus  10  acts as an incubator with the infant confined within a protective environment and having a controlled atmosphere to provide warmth as well as controlled humidity for that infant. 
     As shown, the infant care apparatus  10  includes an infant platform  14  that underlies and supports an infant. As is also seen, a plurality of vertically oriented walls  16  are provided to contain the infant safely within the infant care apparatus  10  and are located at all of the four sides of the infant platform  14 . The walls  16  are preferable constructed of transparent plastic material and, as will be explained, cooperate with other components in order to provide an incubator function to the infant care apparatus  10  when in the FIG. 2 configuration. 
     The infant platform  14  is mounted to a vertical movable base member  18  which, in the preferred embodiment, is movably affixed to a stationary vertical base member  20 , which, in turn, is mounted to a base  22  having wheels  24  for ready movement of the infant care apparatus  10 . 
     The vertical movable base member  18  is preferably mounted so that the user can adjust the height of the infant platform  14  by raising and lowering the vertical movable base member  18  as desired, thus the infant platform  14  can be adjusted to the preferred height by the user. As further standard features, the walls  16  have handholes  26  to afford access to the infant when in the incubator configuration of FIG. 2, and which generally have doors  28  that can be opened to obtain access to the infant and, of course, closed when the particular intervention has been completed to preserve the desired environment surrounding the infant. 
     Another convenient feature includes a drawer  30  to retain supplies or other devices needed to carry out some operation on the infant and which is normally located beneath the infant platform  14 . The walls  16  are pivotally mounted at their lower portions to the infant platform  14  by means of hinges  17  such that at least one, and preferably three, of the vertical walls  16  is also a door that can be swung outwardly and downwardly to open those walls  16  and, of course, closed by swinging upwardly and inwardly. The vertical walls  16  are also adapted to be easily removed from the infant platform  14  for cleaning and maintenance of the vertical walls  16 . As such, therefore, when the canopy  12  of the infant care apparatus  10  is in its upper position as shown in FIG. 1, the walls  16  can be dropped downwardly or removed altogether so that the attending personnel can have unlimited access to an infant resting on the infant platform  14  to perform interventions on that infant. 
     Further structural components of the infant care apparatus  10  include stationary frame members  32  that are affixed to the base member  18  and, as shown, there are two vertical stationary frame members  32  in the preferred embodiment although there may be only one or there may be further numbers of such members. Two vertical movable frame members  34  are movably fitted into the vertical stationary frame members  32  and which can be moved upwardly and downwardly by the user as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,499 B1 of Thomas C. Jones, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
     A control module  36  is conveniently positioned intermediate the vertical stationary frame members  32  and may include displays of various monitored parameters as well as include the various controls for operation of the functions of the infant care apparatus  10 . 
     As may now be seen in general, in the operation of the infant care apparatus  10 , the canopy  12 , in the preferred embodiment, houses a radiant heater  38  that can provide a source of infrared energy to be directed toward an infant when situated on the infant platform  14 . The canopy  12  can be moved between its lower position as shown in FIG.  2  and its upper position as shown in FIG. 1 depending upon the mode of operation desired by the user. 
     In the upper position of FIG. 1, the infant care apparatus  10  functions as an infant warmer where there is full access to the infant and where the overhead radiant heater  38  supplies heat to maintain the infant with sufficient warmth. In the lower position of FIG. 2, the infant care apparatus  10  functions as a normal incubator, since the lower edge  40  of the infant canopy  12  fits fully over the combined upper peripheral edges  42  of the walls  16  to form therein, an infant compartment  44  that is provided with warm air and controlled humidity in the normal functioning of an incubator. 
     As seen, specifically in FIG. 2, when the infant care apparatus  10  is functioning as an incubator, the canopy  12  is in its lower position and the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12  fits against the upper peripheral edges  42  of the vertical walls  16  and, therefore to maintain the protective and controlled environment within the infant compartment  44 , it is necessary to provide a seal  46  along the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12  to seal that lower edge  40  against the upper peripheral edges  42 . 
     Turning now to FIG. 3, there is shown a cross sectional view of a prior art seal  48  that has been used on the infant care apparatus described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. As can be seen, the prior art seal  48  is affixed to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12  and that affixation can be by screws (not shown) that pass through the prior art seal  48  and the lower edge  40 . The prior art seal  48  includes an elongated flange  50  that is actually affixed to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12 . A flap  52  extends downwardly from the upper portion of the elongated flange  50  around the front surface  54  of the elongated flange  50 , that is, the surface that faces outwardly from the lower edge  40  of canopy  12  so as to cover the screws that affix the prior art seal  48  to that lower edge  40  and has a distal end  56  that curves upwardly so that the prior art seal  48  can seal against the vertical wall  16 , (FIGS. 1 and 2) when the sealing function is due to the vertical movement of the canopy  12  or the swinging motion of one of the vertical walls  16  when utilized as a door. 
     Due to the co-extrusion process, the elongated flange  50  is constructed of a fairly rigid polyvinyl chloride material and the flap  52  is constructed of a more flexible polyvinyl chloride material so that the flap  52  is sufficiently flexible to be pulled upwardly in securing the screws through the elongated flange  50  to mount the prior art seal  48  to the canopy  12 . 
     The prior art seal  48  did act to provide an acceptable seal between the canopy  12  and the vertical walls  16 , however it had a few disadvantages, namely, the upwardly curved distal end  56  collected moisture from the humidity within the infant compartment and acted as a rain gutter such that the collected water spilled out when disturbed such as when a door was opened and deposited the water back into the infant compartment. The overall shape and the material of the prior art seal  48  was flexible and thus had a tendency to change its profile during shipping. Additionally, the polyvinyl chloride material itself is a relatively sticky substance that tended to migrate and stick to the door such that opening the door became a difficult task. 
     Turning now to FIG. 4, there is shown a cross sectional view of a seal  46  constructed in accordance with the present invention. As can be seen, the seal  46  includes an elongated flange  58  that, again, is adapted to be affixed to the acrylic lower edge  40  of the canopy  12  with mounting hardware, such as screws (not shown). The elongated flange  58  is preferably about 0.060 inches in thickness to achieve the desired rigidity and strength to affix the elongate flange  58  to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12  and is constructed of a rigid plastic material that can be extruded and the preferred material is polyvinyl chloride (PVC). With the rigid nature of that material, the elongated flange  58  has some flexibility so as not to easily broken during shipping, handling and the like, however it is also sufficiently strong so as to be affixed by the mounting hardware to be firmly retained to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12 . The vertical height of the elongated flange, as viewed in FIG. 4 is about 0.900 inches. 
     The seal  46  has a cover flap  60  that extends downwardly from the upper edge  62  of the elongated flange  58  and the cover flap  58  covers the front surface  64  of the elongated flange  58  so as to hide the mounting hardware, such as the screws, that are used to mount the seal  46  to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12 . The distal end  66  of the cover flap  60  is formed into a downward directed tab  68  that fits into a recess  70  formed in the lower portion  72  of the elongated flange  58 . 
     A sealing flap  74  extends downwardly from the lower portion  72  of the elongated flange  58  and the sealing flap  74  is generally a flat, planar surface of about 0.050 inches in thickness and that extends inwardly at an angle of between about 120 degrees and 150 degrees, and more preferably about 135 degrees, from the plane of the elongated flange  58 , shown as angle A, so that the sealing flap  74  cannot collect moisture and also so that the sealing flap  74  can provide a good sealing surface between the lower edge  40  of the canopy  14  as it descends vertically downwardly as well as with the vertical wall  16  (FIGS. 1 and 2) as that wall acts as a door pivoting about its lower edge as it closes. Preferably, the sealing flap  74  is about 0.545 inches in length 
     The sealing flap  74  is constructed of a material that is more flexible than the PVC used for the construction of the elongated flange  58  and that material is also chosen to have a good sealing exterior surface that is fairly slippery and which does not become sticky over time and create problems in the opening of the walls  16  (FIGS.  1  and  2 ). Since the sealing flap  74  is co-extruded along with the rigid elongated flange  58 , the actual junction of the differing materials is a smooth transition such that there is simply a material change as the sealing flap  74  extends outwardly from the lower portion  72  of the elongated flange  58 . As stated, the preferred material for the sealing flap  74  is a polyolefin material that is available from Advanced Polymer Alloys under the name ALCRYN. That material has good sealing properties, is considerably more flexible than PVC and can be co-extruded with PVC as a unitary, one piece seal in accordance with the present invention. 
     There is also co-extruded into the seal  46  a strip of a different material than PVC that is located between the upper edge  62  of the elongated flange  58  and the cover flap  60 , shown as a hinge  76  and the material of the hinge  76  is more flexible than the material of the elongated flange  58  and the cover flap  60  so that the hinge  76  provides a flexibility to the cover flap  60  to enable it to easily be moved with respect to the elongated flange  58  in order to access the mounting hardware that secures the seal  46  to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12 . In the preferred embodiment, the material used for the hinge is also the polyolefin material available under the name ALCRYN, the same material that is preferably used for the sealing flap  74 . 
     According the hinge  76  is co-extruded into the unitary, one piece seal  46  in order to allow that more flexible material to be utilized for its desired properties of increases flexibility. Thus, the material for constructing the seal  46  is polyvinyl chloride, with the exception of the sealing flap  74  and the hinge  76  such that the seal  46  is co-extruded as a one-piece, unitary construction with different materials that take advantage of the particular property of the material that is desired i.e. the sealing flap  74  is a real slippery exterior surface and is flexible so as to act as a good seal between the canopy  12  and the walls  16  (FIGS. 1 and 2) and the hinge  76  is of the more flexible material so as to provide the flexibility necessary to facilitate the opening and closing of the cover flap  60 . 
     Turning finally to FIG. 5, there is shown a side cross sectional view of the seal  46  of the present invention in its mounted position to illustrate the effect of a wall  16  that is acting as a door that pivots about the infant platform (FIGS. 1 and 2) to open and close against the seal  46  as shown by the arrow B. As can be seen, due to the angle of the sealing flap  74 , the wall  16  can be opened and closed and still seal against the sealing flap  74  as well as the vertically movable canopy  12  and that seal  46  is therefore utilized to effectively seal the canopy  12  against the upper peripheral edges  42  of the walls  16  in both cases, that is, whether the vertical wall  16 , acting as a door, pivotally opens and closes as depicted by the arrow B or whether the canopy  12  is raised and lowered vertically with respect to the upper peripheral edge  40  of the vertical walls  16  as depicted by the arrow C. 
     As also can be seen there are screws  78  that are used to mount the seal  46  to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12  and the screws  78  pass through the elongated flange  58  to bite into the lower edge  40  of canopy  12 . Thus the flexibility provided to the flap  60  by means of the flexible hinge  76  (FIG. 4) constructed of a material more flexible that the PVC material used to construct the flap  40  allows the flap  60  to be raised for access to the screws  78  so the screws  78  can be tightened to carry out the mounting of the seal  46  to the lower edge  40  of the canopy  12 . 
     When the mounting of the seal  46  has been completed, the tab  68  at the distal end  66  of flap  60  is inserted into the recess  68 , thereby locking the flap  60  to the elongated flange  58  in the manner of a zip lock by running a pressure point along the distal end  66  of the flap  60 . Upon completion of that locking step, the flap  60  covers the screws  78  so that the screws  78  are not visible to the user and therefore the overall infant care apparatus has a good outward appearance and is easier to maintain and clean. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily recognize numerous adaptations and modifications which can be made to the infant care apparatus of the present invention which will result in an improved seal, yet all of which will fall within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined in the following claims. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.