Patent Publication Number: US-6711759-B1

Title: Transfer system for an invalid patient

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a transfer system that uses conveyor belts. The system is most useful in the medical field, although other uses are contemplated. In the medical field the system is most useful in transferring aged, sick or invalid persons from one location to another for various reasons. It is known that more than one person is required to move a patient which is very cumbersome and creates a great discomfort for the patients. Various devices have been developed in the transfer of people, especially disabled patients, from one location to another. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,757 shows a moving sidewalk using two opposed en belts having upper and lower runs operating in opposite directions while both inner runs are contiguous to each other and running in the same direction. This basic principle is used in the invention at hand. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,418,670 discloses opposing belts to using a small upper roller assembly that is disposed for receiving a patient in which the patient is eased onto the small roller assembly and then it provides for pulling the patient onto a stretcher as the stretcher moves under the patient. A crank arm turns a worm gear to drive the lower belt which then drives the upper belt by frictional engagement therewith. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,104 illustrates a carrying assembly to lift and transport a disabled person. The device includes two lateral plates which are moved toward each other and under the patient who remains in a seated portion 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,152 shows a patient transfer device which includes two roller supported endless belts disposed one above the other. The lower endless belt drives both belts toward the patient while the upper endless belt is moving in the opposite direction via drive means attached to the plurality of the rollers. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,818 shows a device for moving a recumbent person includes a base plate, an insertion plate and a pair of rollers having a belt trained around the same which belt can be wound to and from each of the rollers while the belt is trained around the base plate. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,917 shows a device for lifting or positioning a person which includes a base, a multiplicity of supporting elements for the body of the person and positioning device connecting the base to the supporting elements. This device does use any opposing conveyor belts. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,279 discloses a multiple belt conveying device that includes at least one endless inner belt which is movably wound on at least one substrate plate further included is an outer endless belt movably mounted on a front roller. The outer belt movably overlaps the with an inner surface of the outer belt frictionally contacting the outer frictional surface of the inner belt. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,321 shows the use of opposing belts as a means for moving objects. An endless upper and an endless lower belt are each trained around a pair of rollers while the inner surface of the upper belt and the upper surface of the inner belt are in contact with each other and are moving in unison when one of the rollers is driven in either direction. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,748 discloses a body turning apparatus. This apparatus does use any endless conveyors to accomplish the task at hand. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to construct a device that can easily pick up any object, particularly a patient, without having to move the patient, lift the patient and transport the patient by either an overhead conveyor mechanism or an apparatus that is movable on the ground. The invention includes a conveyor system making the use of at least two endless conveyor belts, although one of the ends of the endless of the belts is tethered at the point of origin that are trained around a pair of front and a pair of rear rollers. 
     The overall system executes at least four motions, that is, number one, to move the patient along a track to a desired location, that is anywhere in a building. 
     Number two to pick up a patient in any location that is, from a mattress, a chair, a floor, from a bath tub or from a wheel chair. 
     The second motion is to transport the patient from any point in a building, by an overhead transport system. 
     The third motion is to move a patient vertically from a low position, that is, from the floor to a position such as a chair or the entrance into a bathtub. 
     The fourth motion is to employ a seat under the patient to engage the bottom of the patient to be freed from any encumbrance the patient is sitting on. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows the overall device which can be moved in many different modes and directions; 
     FIG. 2 shows the device and the mechanism that will drive the transfer system in at lest three different driving modes; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a cross section of FIG. 2 including a fourth motion of driving; 
     FIG. 4 shows a cross section of the downward driven mechanism including at least three drive motions; 
     FIG. 5 shows the mechanism for driving the seat control including one of the three driving motions; 
     FIG. 6 shows a different view of the mechanism for driving the seat assembly in an employed or extended condition; 
     FIG. 7 is a view of the view of one forward end in an employed condition including the rollers having a web trained around them; 
     FIG. 8 is a view of one half of the seat assembly in a fully retracted position. 
     FIG. 9 shows a view of the forward rolls, when extended, as to how the belts are trained around the forward rollers to be moved under a patient; 
     FIG. 10 illustrates the belts as to how they are paid out from tension rollers; 
     FIG. 11A shows a patient sitting on a support prior to an employment of a seat support; 
     FIG. 11B shows the seat assembly after having been employed under a patient. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1 shows the overall patient transfer system  1  as it is deployed to transfer a patient from one point to another. The system  1  consists of a ceiling supported upper unit  3  which is supported from the ceiling  2 . There is a lower support unit  4  which is mounted to the support unit  3  which will be explained below. There is a left  8  and a right  9  seat support assembly to support a patient during transport. This will be explained with reference to later Figs. Also shown in FIG. 1 are the inner shaft housing  51  and the outer shaft housing  50  which are telescoping relative to each as the seating unit moves up and down to varies positions. The operations within the outer shaft housing and the inner shaft housing will be explained with reference to FIG.  4 . Also shown in FIG. 1 is the control display for the patient to control the at least four different motions of the patient transfer unit  1 . 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the lower support unit  4  in detail. To this end, the lower support unit  4  is mounted to the upper support unit  3  by way of the brackets  27  having the holes  28  through which the bolts  28   a  pass to be fastened to the upper unit  3 . This unit  4  will initiate three driving motions. The first one will perform a movement of the unit  4  relate to the ceiling  1 , that is will rotate the unit  4  relative to the ceiling  1 . The support unit  4  has at an upper section thereof a gear ring  23  mounted together with the brackets  27 . The whole unit  4  is rotated by the driven gear wheel  20  which is mounted on a pivot arm  16  which in turn is controlled by the control unit  17  which causes the control arm  16  to swing into two different positions. In a first position, the gear  20  will be engaged with the teeth on the gear ring  23 . The gear wheel  20  is driven by a motor  15  which is located adjacent to the pivot arm  16  and concentric therewith. When the control arm  16  swings into a first position, the gear wheel  20  will engage the ring gear  23  to thereby rotate the whole support unit  4  relative to the ceiling. The rotation of the support unit  4  is made possible because the support unit  4  is supported on rollers  24  which are mounted on the bracket  26  and the rollers  24  are running in a roller channel  25  which is part of the ring gear  23 . With other words, the ring gear  23  is stationary on the support unit  3  while the support unit  4  may rotate relative thereto. 
     Turning now to the second drive motion on the support unit  4  and that is the drive for the seat deployment which will described in more detail below. The support unit  4  supports a drive motor  29  having a chain sprocket wheel  30  mounted thereon. The upper chain  31  is driven by the motor  29 . The upper chain  31  is trained around the sprocket wheels  32  on all four corners of the support unit  4 . Each of the sprocket wheels  32  is connect to downwardly oriented shafts  12  at all four corners. These shafts are concealed within the inner and outer shaft housings  50  and  51  of FIG. 1 which are telescoping relative to each as will explained below. In this particular drive, when the pivot arm  16  swings to its second position, the gear wheel  21  will engage the driving gear wheel  19  on the motor  15  to thereby drive the driven gear wheel  22  which carries a chain sprocket wheel  18  thereon. The sprocket wheel  18  has a lower drive chain  14  trained there around which in turn will drive the sprocket wheels  13  located on all four corners of the support unit  4 . All four sprocket wheels  13  drive an outer shaft  11  which is concentric with the earlier described inner shaft  12  which drives the seat employment system. The presently described shafts  11 , being driven by the sprocket wheels  13 , are responsible for driving the elevation system of the patient&#39;s seat which will be described below. 
     FIG. 3 shows the support unit  4  in cross section. In this FIG. 3 like reference characters have been applied to the same characters as were applied in FIG.  2 . This FIG. 3 illustrates how the overall movement of the device  1  is accomplished relative to the ceiling from which the device is suspended. As shown in FIG. 3, the overall unit  1  is suspended from a track system which is contained in a well  2   a  system within the concrete  2  of the ceiling. Two longitudinal tracks  2   c  are mounted within the well  2   a  by way of bolts  2   b , the upper support unit  3  has left and right brackets  34  and  33  attached thereto which brackets support left and right support rollers  36  and  35  thereon. The roller  36  and  35  run within the tracks  2   a  to thereby be able to move the support unit  3  relative to the ceiling. Movement of the overall system is accomplished by a drive motor  39  which is supported by the pillow block  42 . The motor drives a driving pinion which is engaged in a gear track  41  located in a well of the ceiling. The motor  39  is supplied with power by a low voltage power battery  39   a  which battery receives recharging power from the left and right electric slide connections  38  and  37  by way of left and right power tracks  38   a  and  37   a.    
     It should be pointed out at this time that the tracks for supporting the overall system do not have to be mounted within a well in a ceiling but could instead be mounted flush with the ceiling From FIG. 3 it can also be seen that a cover shroud  10  is mounted between the stationary unit  3  and the rotating unit  4  so that it can act as protection against dust and dirt. The shroud  10  is connected to the supporting unit  4  so it can rotate relative to stationary unit  3 . 
     FIG. 3 further shows the power supply to the motor  15  by way of a low voltage battery  15   a  and at the same power of supply to the motor  29  is shown by the battery  29   a . Also, FIG. 3 shows the lower support unit at or  43 . 
     FIG. 4 shows the downward drive of the various shafts as they are derived from the support unit  4 . A section of the support unit  4  is clearly shown at the top of FIG.  4 . Again, like references are shown as they were applied to earlier Figs. The upper sprocket wheel  32  as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 drives the downwardly extending shaft  12  which in turn drives the lower extending shaft  6  to drive the seat employment system, since the shafts  12  and  6  can move relative to each and still maintain driven rotation, the two shafts  12  and  6  are splined to each other by splines  66 . Therefore, the two splines can move up and down as to what the system requires but still will maintain driving contact, the lower part of shaft  6  has a circular recess  61  therein so that a connecting lug on the shaft  6  can engage within this recess  61  to keep control of the height of the shaft  6  when the system is moving up or down. 
     The lower sprocket wheel  13  by way of the chain  14  drives the elevating shaft  11 , the outer shaft  11  is held in a position so that it only can rotate relative to the support unit  4  but cannot move up or down. This is so because the outer shaft  11  has an outer extension ring  54  there around which is rotatably fitted within a circular recess within the support unit  4 . It is supported by a bearing  55  and a non-frictional bushing  54   a . The bushing  54   a  could be made of TEFLON™ which is known to be a self-lubricating material. The outer housing  11  has supported therein a second outer housing shaft  57 . The connection between the outer shaft and the second is by way of telescoping screw threads  58 . That means, when the outer shaft  11  is being rotated by the sprocket wheel  13  the second outer shaft  57  is moving within the outer shaft  11  either up or down depending on the directional rotation. The lower end of the second outer housing shaft  57  has a circular connecting lug  59  thereon which fits into the circular recess  61  of the inner shaft  6 . This means, that when the second outer shaft  57  is moving up or down, the inner shaft  6  must follow this movement. There is a thrust bearing between the second outer shaft  57  and the inner shaft  6  at  60  to aid in the rotation between the two shafts. 
     In order to protect the moving shaft from any damage and to protect a patient from getting entangled within the shafts and the gears, there is provided an upper protective sleeve  50  which is fastened to the support unit  4  by bolts  52 . Then there is a lower protective sleeve  51  which is mounted to the second outer shaft  57  by bolts  53 . These two sleeves are shown at  50  and  51  in FIG. 1 also. The inner shaft  6  has at its lower end a miter gear  68  provided which meshes with the miter gear  69  fastened to the horizontal shaft  70 . These gears  68  and  69  drive the seat employment system which will be explained below. It should be understood that there are four driving systems as shown in FIG. 4 for each corner of the overall system. The other driving systems are mere mirror images of the one shown and explained. A pair of the driving system of FIG. 4 work in tandem to be able to extend the seat system  8  and  9  as is shown in FIG.  1 . For this purpose, there is shown a horizontal connecting bar at  71  in FIG. 4 which will appear in later Figs. 
     FIG. 5 shows the mechanism for employing the two seat halves  8  and  9  toward or away from each other. In this FIG. 5 the connecting bar  71  can be seen in part detail. The connecting bar  71  is extended toward each corner with one corner shown in phantom as the inner shaft housing  51 . The connecting bar  71  has upper and lower tracks with the lower slide dovetail  74  and the upper dovetail at  75 . There is a left slide block  72  and a right slide block at  73 . Both slide blocks are received within their respective dovetails in the horizontal connecting bar  71 . At the left side of FIG. 5 there is shown the miter gear  69  which was identified in FIG.  4 . There is also shown the horizontal drive shaft  70  also shown in FIG.  4 . The drive shaft  70  has helical gear threads  70   a  thereon which mesh with inner helical gear threads (not shown) within the blocks  72  and  73 . 
     At the center of the shaft  70  the helical gear threads change directions so that the two blocks  72  and  73  can move away or toward each other as is indicated by the arrows  72   a  and  73   a . In FIG. 5 there is also shown linking bar  76  which will move in the direction of  76   a  when block  72  is activated. This movement will be explained below. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates an extended view of the one half of the seat system. This view shows the blocking blocks  72  and  73  fully extended from the center location of FIG.  5 . As can be seen in this view, the two linkage bars  76  have moved from their straight positions in FIG. 5 to a position where they are parallel to each other and at opposed corners of the overall system. The linkage bars  76  are pivoted to their respective blocks  72  and  73  by way of pivots  76   c . The forward ends of the linkage bars  76  are pivoted at  76   b  to respective ends of a rigid cross bar  77 . The respective cross bar  77  has connecting blocks  78  and  79  thereon to rigidify the various elements. 
     On the left side of the cross bar  77  and on the respective block  78  there is provided a female receiving recess  81  while on the right side of the cross bar  77  and at the forward end of the connecting block  79  there is provided a male connecting bolt  80 , when the two halves of the seat assembly meet at the center and are fully deployed, the male connecting bolt  80  will seat in the female recess to thereby rigidify both halves of the seat assembly and will be able to safely support a patient thereon even when above normal weight. 
     FIG. 7 shows an outside corner of a fully extended half of a seat assembly. In this view there can be seen forward connecting bar  77  as it is pivoted to the linkage bar  76  and to the connecting block at  76   b . In front of the connecting bar  77  there are located two rollers one is a top roller  87  and the other is a lower roller  85 . The purpose of each of the rollers is to return a web of material trained around them to thereby make double runs to aid in the deployment of the one half of the seat assembly. In this view there is shown the bottom web  83  and the return web  83   a . Then there is shown the bottom roller  85 . In between the webs there is located a small diameter idler roller  91  and behind the rear unit deployment roller  85  there is located another small diameter  87 . Also there is shown an upper boss  88  and a lower boss  89  on the connecting block  78  between which the pivot pin  76   b  is held in place. The forward edge of the one half of the seat assembly has a rigid connecting piece of metal which extends all the way across to the side of this assembly. 
     FIG. 8 illustrates the one half of the overall seat assembly in a retracted position. As can be seen, the two sliding blocks  72  and  73  have moved to their respective positions whereby the linkage bars  76  have moved to their respective straight line position. The connection bar  77  has moved to a position wherein it is parallel to the linkage bars  76 . The rollers  85  and  87  are located adjacent to the connection bar  77 . This view thereby shows that a minimum of space is required between opposed seat assemblies to either dispose of a patient or to pick one up. Again, like reference characters have been applied as in previous Figs. 
     FIG. 9 illustrates the deployment of belts used in the seat assembly system. As can be seen, there are upper belts and lower belts. The upper belt consists of an upper run  84   a  and a lower run  84  guide around a forward roller  87 . The upper run  84   a  extends from is fixed or tethered location while the lower run  84  extends from a tension roller (shown in FIG.  10 ). The lower run  84  is trained around a small diameter deflection roller so as not to interfere with any other runs of the belt system. The lower belt system consists of a lower run  83  whose end is fixed or tethered around the inner roller  85  and then as a run  83  back to a tension roller which will wind up or pay out the belt material depending on the movement of the seat belt assembly. The arrow  92  in FIG. 9 indicates the movement of the half of the seat assembly. In this case, the upper run  84   a  of the upper belt system is tethered while the lower run  84  is paying out from a tension roller. The lower web system, in this case, is paying out the web from a tension roller with its upper run  83   a  around the roller  85  while the lower run  83  remains tethered. The small diameter roller  86  takes up any slack that may develop in the belt. 
     FIG. 10 illustrates the system that controls the payout and the retraction of the two belts  83  and  84 . To this end, a plate  95  is mounted in front of the horizontal support block  71  which plate acts as a tether bar to hold the ends of the belts  83  and  84  in a stationary position. The plate  95  also has mounted thereon the left  98  and right  99  upper support brackets to hold the web tension roller  97  there between. At the same time there are the left  100  and the right  101  support brackets which are mounted on the plate  95  at a lower position to hold the support brackets  100  and  101  thereon. The support brackets  100  and  101  hold the tension roller  96  there between which will pay out the belt  83   a  as was explained with reference to FIG.  9 . In FIG. 10 there also can be seen right and left outer and vertical housing enclosures  51  and to which the horizontal connecting rod  71  is mounted or attached thereto as well as the tether bar or plate  95 . FIG. 10 also illustrates how the linkage bars  76  are connected to their respective stationary points such as  76   b  and  76   c . This illustration of FIG. 10 also gives a demonstration of the inner ends of the one half of the seat deployment  8  before a patient is being transported. 
     FIG. 11A illustrates the condition before a patient is being picked up or engaged to be transported to a different location. In this view, the patient is sitting on a bed, a cushion, a wheel chair or even on the floor. Both of the halves of the transport system move under the patient as was explained with reference to FIGS. 7 through 10. 
     FIG. 11B illustrates the fact that two halves of the seat assemblies  8  and  9  are connected to each other under the patient sitting on the two halves of the patient&#39;s seat assembly The control system  7  and  7   a  will control, by way of push buttons, to determine the various motions the overall transfer system  1  will have to undergo the final result and that is to transfer a patient from one point to another point without the help of any intervening structures or any medical assistance help. 
     Conclusion 
     It can now be seen from all of the above that the patient transfer system involves at least four motions or movements to transfer a patient from, point A to point B. 
     The first movement is shown in FIG. 3 wherein the pinion gear  40  which is powered by the motor  39  drives along the track  41  in a straight or curved track  41  from which the overall system is suspended. 
     The second movement is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The ring gear  23  is suspended and fastened to the upper support unit  3  and the motor  15  drives the pinion gears  19  and  20  when engaged by the pivot arm  16 . 
     The third movement is still shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 where the motor  15  drives the chain sprocket  18  when engaged by the gear  21  and  22  when the pivot arm is moved into that position and drives the lower chain  14  around all four corner columns having the sprocket wheels  13  thereon. This movement will rotate downwardly extending shafts  11  which in turn establish the third movement which is an up and down movement of the overall system 
     The fourth movement is derived from the second support unit  4  having a motor  29  therein. This motor, by way of sprocket wheel  13  drives a vertical shaft  11  which is splined to the telescoping shaft  6  having a miter gear  68  thereon which in turn drives the miter gear  69  which is attached to the horizontal drive shaft  70 . This drive shaft  70  is instrumental in operating the seat deployment mechanism.