Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Apr., 1887.
Complete Left, 27th Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 27th May, 1887.
1, CAROLINE DRAKE, of Avon, in the County of Fulton, and State of Illinois,
United States of America, Housekeeper do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:
The object of my invention is to provide an attachment which may be applied to an
ordinary bed for the purpose of lifting sick persons when desirable to remove them,
or change the bed-clothing, said attachment also being adapted to bring the body to a
sitting position or to shift it to either side.
My invention consists in details of construction described below.
In a bed in which are head and foot boards, is a sheet of canvas or suitable material,
made in three sections, the smaller being for the upper portion of the body and the
larger one for the lower. It is important to have the head section in two parts, so
that if a person is lying on one side of the sheet the body may be raised without
changing its position or interfering with the pillow under the head. Each section has
turned-under or corded edges, and are removably fastened to a surrounding frame,
by cord-loops passing over pins on the frame; but any suitable means of attachment,
such as short straps and buckles, will answer. The head-sections are held together by
buttons and detachable loops, and have respectively two eyes, and a short stiffening-
rod the latter being surrounded by the turned-under canvas and extending entirely
along the upper edge of section whereby, by means of operating-cords, described
below, one or both of said, sections may be raised independently of the frame.
Between the head and foot sections are suitably arranged pieces of rubber sheeting,
to prevent soiling when a bed-pan is used.
The frame is divided into four sections by the hinges, so that it will allow the sheet
to come into varying positions when they are operated together; but the side hinges
are not often used, and their purpose is mainly to allow the frame to be packed away
in small compass or to allow the foot-section of the sheet to be raised alone. Any of
the hinges may be locked open by a pin, used in connection with them.
Inside the head and foot boards of the bed standards are placed, braced on the floor
by U-shaped feet or tripods, which should be of sufficient extension to prevent the
standards from moving inwardly or laterally. The standards are also vertically
extensible by means of a tongue-and-socket joint, and an adjusting-pin. Between the

page_text: standards runs a shaft, provided, near the standard, with a pulley, and a ratchet and
pawl, for holding the sheet or its sections at any desired height.
To fit different-sized beds the shaft is made extensible by a joint, similar to that in
the standards. From either pulley cords extend down, and a triangular cord, is
fastened or knotted to the cords, and extend, respectively, to the head and foot of
frame, or the cord may engage with the eyes on the head-sections of the sheet, to
raise one or both of them, as desired, prior to which said sections must be properly
disengaged from the frame. The lower ends of the cords may have hooks, detachably
engaging with eyebolts on the ends of said frame, or with the eyes on the sections of
the sheet.
eyes
Now it will be seen that by releasing the cord at the foot and properly disengaging
the head sections of the sheet from said frame the cord can engage
with the and
raise the head-sections to a position, when a person wlll be in a sitting position, or
this could be accomplished without disengaging the head-sections by unlocking the
side frame-hinges and attaching the cords to the eyebolts at the head of the frame,
and it will also be seen that one of the head-sections of the sheet could be easily
raised by releasing the loops and attaching the cord to the eyes. By releasing one end
of cords from loops, as the case may be, and unlocking the end frame-hinges, the frame
and sheet united may be turned to either side to shift the person, or this may, perhaps,
be sufficiently done by releasing the one cord entirely, and one end of the other cord.
When the side hinges of the frame are locked, the end hinges unlocked, and both ends
of cords attached, the person may be raised entirely from the bed and kept from
falling out by the inclined sides of the sheet, and if all the hinges are locked the person
will be raised on a substantially flat sheet. By releasing the cord and unlocking the
side hinges the foot-section may be alone raised by attaching the cord to eyebolts at
the foot of the frame.
HORN & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hospital Bedsteads.
I, CAROLINE DRAKE, of Fulton, State of Illinois, United States of America,
Housekeeper, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to machines for handling sick people and invalids while in bed,
of which the following is a specification.
The object of my invention is to provide an attachment which may be applied to
an ordinary bed for the purpose of lifting sick persons when desirable to remove them
or change the bed-clothing, said attachment also being adapted to bring the body to
a sitting position or to shift it to either side.

page_text: My invention consists in details of construction described below, and pointed out
in the claims.
In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing my improvement arranged in
connection with a bed and the means of operating it. Fig. 2 is a front elevation
looking toward the head-board, the foot-board being removed. Fig. 3 is a like view
looking toward the foot-board, the head-board being removed. Fig. 4 is a detached
plan view of the sectional canvas sheet and its hinged frame. Fig. 5 is a detached
end view of the sheet and frame, looking from the foot and showing how either side
may be lifted up. Fig. 6 is a detached side view of the sheet and frame, showing the
head sections both lifted up together. Fig. 7 is a detail view showing the manner of
attaching removably the operating-cords to the sheet-frame.
Like letters refer to like parts.
A is a bed, in which a b are the head and foot-boards.
B (see Fig. 4) is a sheet of canvas or suitable material, made in three sections,
ce, the smaller being for the upper portion of the body and the larger one for the
lower. It is important to have the head-section in two parts, so that if a person is
lying on one side of the sheet the body may be raised without changing its position
or interfering with the pillow under the head. Each section has turned-under or
corded edges d d, and are removably fastened to a surrounding frame, C, by cord-
loops e e passing over pins ff on the frame, but any suitable means of attachment,
such as.short straps and buckles, will answer. The head-sections are held together by°
buttons and detachable loops and have respectively two eyes, p P, and a short
stiffening-rod, p the latter being surrounded by the turned-under canvas and extending
entirely along the upper edge of section c¹ c², whereby, by means of operating-cords
described hereinafter, one or both of said sections may be raised independently of the
frame C. Between the head and foot sections are suitably arranged pieces of rubber
sheeting, ss, to prevent soiling when a bed-pan is used.
The frame C is divided into four sections by the hinges f¹ f₁, so that it will allow
the sheet to come into varying positions when they are operated together, but the side
hinges are not often used, and their purpose is mainly to allow the frame to be packed
away in small compass or to allow the foot-section of the sheet to be raised alone.
Any of the hinges may be locked open by a pin, g, used in connection with them.
Inside the head and foot boards of the bed standards D D¹ are placed, braced on
the floor by the U-shaped feet or tripods h h, which should be of sufficient extension
to prevent the standards from moving inwardly or laterally. The standards are also
vertically extensible by means of a tongue-and-socket joint t, and an adjusting-pin t¹
(see Figs. 2 and 3). Between the standards runs a shaft, E, provided, near the
standard D, with a pulley, i, and near D¹ with a turn-wheel, k, pulley 2, and a ratchet
and pawl, 1, (see Fig. 1,) for holding the sheet or its sections at any desired
height.
To fit different-sized beds the shaft is made extensible by a joint, t², (see Fig. 1,)
similar to that in the standards. From either pulley cords m m² extend down, and a
triangular cord, m² m³, is fastened or knotted at n to the cords m m³, and extend,
respectively, to the head and foot of frame C, or the cord m² may engage with the
eyes p p on the head-sections of the sheet to raise one or both of them, as desired,
prior to which said sections must be properly disengaged from frame C. The lower
ends of the cords m² m³ may have hooks o, detachably engaging with eyebolts o¹
on the ends of said frame, or with the eyes p p. on the sections c¹ e² of the sheet.
Now it will be seen that by releasing cord m³ at the foot and properly disengaging
the head-sections of the sheet from frame C the cord m² can engage with the eyes pp
and raise the head-sections to a position similar to Fig. 6, when a person will be in a
sitting position, or this could be accomplished without disengaging the head-sections
by unlocking the side frame-hinges and attaching the cords to the eyebolts at the head
of the frame, and it will also be seen that one of the head-sections of the sheet could
be easily raised by releasing the loops and attaching cord m² to the eyes p p. By.
releasing one end of cords m² m³ from loops o¹, as the case may be, and unlocking the
end frame-hinges, the frame and sheet united may be turned to either side to shift the

page_text: person, as in Fig. 5; or this may, perhaps, be sufficiently done by releasing cord m³
entirely and one end of cord m². When the side hinges of the frame are locked, the
end hinges unlocked, and both ends of cords m² m³ attached, the person may be raised
entirely from the bed and kept from falling out by the inclined sides of the sheet,
which will be in a similar position to the dotted lines of Fig. 5, and if all the hinges
are locked the person will be raised on a substantially flat sheet. By releasing the
cord m² and unlocking the side-hinges the foot-section c may be alone raised by
attaching the cord m³ to eyebolts o' at the foot of the frame C.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination, with the frame C, of the head-sections c¹ c² of the sheet, said
sections being detachable from the frame and from each other, and having, respectively,
eyes p p and stiffening-rods p¹ p¹, the hooked operating-cord m², the turn-shaft, and
the standards for supporting the turn-shaft, whereby said head-sections may be raised
singly or together independently of the frame, as set forth.
2. The combination, with a bed, of a frame, C, hinged together at the sides and
ends, as shown, and provided with hinge-locks g and eyebolts o¹, a removably-attached
sheet, B, having a foot section and two head-sections, the latter adapted to be united
or separated, and having, respectively, eyes p and stiffening-rods p', the hooked
operating-cords, and the turn-shaft, whereby the head-sections of the sheet may be
lifted singly or together independently of the frame, or, by properly locking or
unlocking the hinges, the whole sheet, either longitudinal half, or the foot-section
may be raised in connection with the frame, as set forth.
3. The sheet B, composed of section c, rubber portions s, and sections c¹ c², the
latter detachable from the frame and each other, and having eyes p and stiffening-
rods p', combined with the lock-hinged frame C, having screw-eyes o¹, the hooked
cords m² m³, the longitudinally-extensible shaft having a turn-wheel, pulleys, a ratchet
and pawl, the tripods h h, and the vertically-extensible standards D D¹, braced by the
said tripods h h, as set forth.
DL: 07h love of Anil 1007