Abstract:
A caddy for use with hospital staff or patients provides a rigid housing having a carriage with at least one vertically and, preferably, at least one horizontally accessible compartments. The housing provides a semi-circular opening above the carriage to act as a handle while also, for many embodiments, a back to which a pivot connects to a connector which connects to a hospital bed rail to maintain the caddy in a pre-determined relationship while the rail is angled relative to a horizontal surface.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/671,549 filed Jul. 12, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Numerous parties have developed travel caddy constructions for various purposes. Design Pat. No. D656,317 shows a construction that could be hung over a door or a rail. Other devices, such as D522,750 and D420,510 appear to be more narrowly directed to use with a hospital bed rail. 
     Other, more durable caddy structures have also been utilized with hospital bed rails such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,504,992, 6,253,399 and 5,651,152. 
     However, the applicant is unaware of any attempt to make any of these devices where they are self leveling. Specifically, hospital beds normally raise and lower the head and torso of a patient relative to their legs so they can sit up. For the prior art caddy structures, articles on them might tend to slide off onto the floor or fall out when at an angle to the horizontal. 
     Additionally, while some have handles such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,237, none are known to have a convenient construction taking advantage of their shape for aesthetics and possibly balance as well. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a present object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide a hospital caddy for use by patients and/or medical personnel to store items alongside of a hospital bed. 
     It is a present object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide a hospital caddy for use by patients and/or medical personnel to provide a self-leveling caddy which can maintain a predetermined relationship to horizontal regardless of the angle of the bed rail to which the caddy is attached. 
     It is a present object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide a hospital caddy for use by patients and/or medical personnel to provide a caddy which can be easily removed from hospital bed rails and sat on a horizontal surface in a horizontal configuration. 
     It is a present object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide a hospital caddy for use by patients and/or medical personnel to provide a rigid storage device having multiple storage compartments in close proximity to a patient for various uses. 
     Accordingly, in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, an improved storage device is provided in which an outer housing provides a semi-circular handle about a portion of a carriage which holds items at least partially therein. Some items can be held in a vertical arrangement and some in a horizontal arrangement for at least some embodiments in rigid compartments in the carriage. The carriage may have a round or flat bottom which has been found helpful for some embodiments to provide an ability to stand easily when not attached to a hospital bed rail. 
     For many embodiments, a back of the carriage has a self-leveling connector or hook which connects to a bed rail and is rotatably connected to the carriage so that as the bed rail is angled the carriage remains in a horizontal configuration with the compartments remaining in a desired orientation to at least attempt to prevent articles from falling out or being difficult to access. The connector may connect via a pivot to the carriage. 
     Many embodiments may have a multi-piece carriage which allows for a cover over at least some of the compartment space. 
     The compartments may take on various forms, whether to hold an anti-microbial hand gel or hand sanitizer, a toothbrush and/or toothpaste, cell phone, note pad, exercise band, lip balm, lotion or possibly storage for such items as glasses, combs, etc. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front plan view of a first presently preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a side plan view of the first presently preferred embodiment of the present invention while also showing a first alternatively preferred embodiment in phantom; 
         FIG. 3  is a front plan view of a first alternatively preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the embodiments of  FIGS. 1-2  and  4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a front schematic view of the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-2  and  4 - 5  in use; and 
         FIG. 7  is an exploded view of the embodiment of  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows a caddy  10  of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention. Specifically, a housing  12  provides a circular cross section or perimeter  14  for many embodiments, or a substantially circular cross section or perimeter  16  (as shown in  FIG. 3  for a first preferred embodiment as will be explained in detail below). 
     The housing  12  preferably provides at least a substantially semi-circular handle  18  above a carriage  20  which is preferably utilized to hold such items as one or more pump dispensers  22  which could be used to hold hand sanitizer (if not provided in an another style container) and/or lotion, etc. lip balm  24 , container  26 , glass  28 , toothbrush/toothpaste holder(s)  30 , exercise bands, and/or provide general storage such as for glasses, mobile phones, etc. 
     The handle  18  may transition into the carriage  20  such as is shown in the figures, but for many embodiments, the width  32  of the handle  18  is preferably no more than about half of the width  34  of the carriage. 
     Carriage  20  is shown having a top face  36  and a front face  38 . The top has vertically accessible compartments  40 ,  42 ,  44 ,  46 ,  48  illustrated with other embodiments possibly having more or fewer and/or with different configurations as at least one vertically accessible compartment ( 40 - 48 ). The front face  38  preferably provides at least one horizontally accessible compartments  50  which is illustrated as being perpendicularly oriented relative to the vertically accessible compartments  40 - 48  with the vertically accessible compartments  40 - 48  being located above the horizontally accessible compartment(s)  50 . Also, for at least many of the preferred embodiments, the vertically accessible compartments  40 - 48  as well as the horizontally accessible compartment(s)  50  are symmetrically disposed about a center line  92  of the housing  12 . 
     From  FIG. 2 , one can see that for at least some embodiments, the vertical accessible compartments  40 - 48  does not necessarily preclude insertion from an angle from above such as is shown with the pump dispenser  22  and the toothbrush/toothpaste holder(s)  30 . 
     The housing  18  is preferably a rigid material such as a plastic which could be injection formed, vacuum formed or otherwise provided. The carriage  20  may be a similar or different rigid material, preferably for many embodiments with a different color scheme than the housing  18 . In the preferred embodiment, the housing  12  surrounds, supports, and/or even encircles the carriage. 
     The carriage  20  preferably bends at bend  52  to transition from the top face  36  to the front face  38 . Housing  18  may provide this similar shape as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     At a back  54  of the carriage  20  or housing  12  a connector  58  is preferably rotatably connected at a pivot  56 . The connector  58  provides at least a slot  60  for receiving a hospital bed rail  62  therein. The connector  58  illustrated is a clip providing a the slot at elbow  64  which extends on to arm  66  and hand which bends away from arm  64  to allow one, such as a patient or hospital personnel, to press the clip onto the rail  62 . 
       FIG. 2  also shows optional flat  70  which is better shown in  FIG. 3 . Flat  70  provides a planar surface onto which the caddy  100  can sit (without being connected to a rail  62 ) in a horizontal position/configuration. Flat  70  need not be provided for all embodiments as can be seen with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 4 .  FIGS. 3 and 7  show the construction of a first alternatively preferred embodiment  100 . 
       FIG. 5  shows an exploded view showing the housing  12  separated from the carriage  20 . The carriage may be multi-piece such as with cover  72  covering base  74  which provides much of the compartments therein with the cover  72  providing the aesthetics. Of course, other embodiments could be constructed differently.  FIG. 5  also shows the connection of the connector  58  connecting at a bushing  76  to provide a pivot at the carriage  20  (the bushing  76  effectively serves as a nut and would for this embodiment, be on the other side of wall  78  to receive shoulders  80 , 82  on posts  84 , 86  as would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. This embodiment just provides one way to provide a pivot  56 . Other embodiments may provide the pivot differently. 
     By providing pivot  56 , as the angle of the rail  62  changes, such as normally occurs when the rail  62  is raised/lowered with one portion of a hospital bed  88  relative to another as is shown in  FIG. 6 , then an angle alpha is created whereby the angle alpha is the angle relative to horizontal (as shown in  FIG. 1 ). The pivot similarly rotates relative to the position shown in Figure by the same angle alpha to maintain the horizontal configuration as shown in  FIG. 6 . This is referred to by the applicant as self-leveling. The patient need not make the rotation for many embodiments, but instead, gravity acting on the carriage  20 , the housing  12  and/or the components in the caddy preferably provide the rotation as the angle alpha is changed. Thus, the caddy  10  with its pivot  58  maintains the housing  18  at a predetermined position relative to the horizontal surface  90  as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6  in phantom, the pivot  56  is at a center portion of the housing perimeter  16 , but could be at other locations such as connected to either the housing  12  and/or carriage  20  for other embodiments at various locations. 
     Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. 
     Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed herein is: