Articulated chair for health care

[0002] The invention herein pertains to reclining chairs and particularly pertains to a chair for use by patients suffering incapacitating and other ailments as residing in hospitals, retirement homes or the like.

[0003] Thousands of patients die each year from progressive skin lesions often occurring from prolonged contact while sitting or laying in one position without adequate air circulation. If unattended such ischemic necrosis and tissue ulceration can advance and include bone destruction, osteomyelitis, septicemia and ultimately death. Hospital workers and medical personnel frequently experience difficulties when handling geriatric patients such as when moving patients in and out of chairs or when changing the patient's position to decrease prolonged pressure on a particular body area. In addition, an increasing problem is encountered by hospital personnel in maintaining chairs used by geriatric patients clean, sanitary and dry.

[0004] Thus, with the problems and difficulties encountered in the health care field regarding prolonged skin contact while sitting, it is the objective of the present invention to provide a chair which allows easy ingress and egress of an infirm or geriatric patient.

[0005] It is another objective of the present invention to provide a chair which can be easily articulated to an upright or horizontal position.

[0006] It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a chair in which the seat and back are relatively easy to clean and dry and which provides a high degree of air circulation to the patient.

[0007] It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a chair in which the seat will allow moisture or body fluids to rapidly drain therefrom such as while bathing a patient in situ.

[0008] It is also another objective of the present invention to provide a chair having a seat and back construction to accommodate anatomical pressure points to reduce tissue anoxia in an immobilized or semi-immobilized patient.

[0009] Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.

[0010] The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing an articulated chair of the reclining type having a back which can be rotated from an upright position to a substantially horizontal position. Also included is a foot rest which likewise extends from an open position substantially level with the seat when the back is positioned at a reclining angle to a compact folded position when the back is fully upright. The back and seat are formed with opposing side members from extruded aluminum. The opposing side members are substantially oval in cross-section and include an exterior groove for receiving the edges of a stretchable fabric and an interior groove for mounting U-shaped lateral supports therein. Two lateral supports are positioned both along the back and the seat which, by being U-shaped easily apply outward tension to the side members thus maintaining the fabric in a taut condition. The fabric is formed from elastomeric yarns which provide stretch in both the warp and weft direction. The woven fabric allows air to circulate to the contact points of the patient to aid and assist in preventing ischemic ulcers and other adverse conditions from developing. Likewise, the woven fabric allows moisture to penetrate the fabric and quickly dry should the patient be bathed or washed. In an alternate embodiment of the chair a conventional standard mechanical arm assembly is attached to allow the patient to raise the armor comfort while sitting or lower the arm whereby the patient can be slid laterally during egress.

[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a front perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the articulated chair of the invention;

[0012] FIG. 2 shows a rear elevational view of the chair as seen in FIG. 1;

[0013] FIG. 3 pictures a left side elevational view of the chair of FIG. 1 with an optional collection pan removed;

[0014] FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of the back of the chair along lines 4—4 as shown in FIG. 2;

[0015] FIG. 5 depicts a corner of one edge of the fabric removed from the back;

[0016] FIG. 6 illustrates a front perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the invention;

[0017] FIG. 7 features a side elevational view of the chair shown in FIG. 6 with the arm raised; and

[0018] FIG. 8 shows the chair as seen in FIG. 7 but with the arm lowered.

[0019] For a better understanding of the invention and its operation, turning now to the drawings, preferred articulated chair 10 is shown in FIG. 1 having a back 11 and a seat 12 which are joined indirectly to chair frame 13 as shown in FIG. 2. Frame 13 is attached to a typical reclining mechanism 15 not fully shown therein. Back 11 is movable from an upright position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to a reclining position as shown in FIG. 3. Back 11 is affixed to conventional reclining mechanism 15 (not fully shown) well known in the industry. Foot rest 14 is likewise affixed to reclining mechanism 15 shown partially in FIG. 3 which extends as back 11 pivots to recline. Back 11 includes back frame 20 which includes a pair of extruded opposing side members 21, 21′ and a pair of U-shaped lateral supports 22, 22′ as seen in FIG. 2. Back frame 20 is formed from aluminum and as shown in FIG. 4, side members 21, 21′ consist of aluminum extrusions which are oval in cross section and include exterior edge grooves 23, 23′ and interior edge grooves 24, 24′. Preferred fabric 25 is positioned in exterior groove 23, 23′ whereby arcuate lateral back supports 22, 22′, which are somewhat resilient are mounted in interior grooves 24, 24′ to apply outward tension and maintain fabric 25 in a taut condition. The edges of fabric 25 include stitches 27 by sewing which attach flexible plastic strip 26 to the edges of fabric 25. The edges of fabric 25 are thus configured to frictionally engage exterior edge grooves 23,23′ while lateral back support members 22, 22′ apply tension to thus maintain fabric 25 in a taut, stable position on chair back 11.

[0020] Preferred fabric 25 is of the woven elastomeric type designed to allow a high degree of air circulation to the patient while preventing collection of fluids thereon. Preferred fabric 25 is constructed of polyester elastomer monofilaments having, preferably a durometer reading of 55 in the warp direction and a diameter of 0.5 millimeters. In the weft direction, 500 dernier elastomeric polyester yarns are utilized of a nominal diameter of 0.1 millimeter. While various other elastomeric fabric specifications and constructions may perform satisfactory, it is important that the stretch and resiliency is obtained with a bi-axial orientation of the elastomeric yarns to ensure proper relief of pressure points when a patient remains seated in the same position for a prolonged period. Bi-lateral (two directional) stretch is of particular importance in areas that exert high pressure such as at bone protrusions of the macro-lumbar region.

[0021] In the manufacture of back 12, fabric 25 with flexible plastic strips 26, 26′ are sewn to the opposites edge thereof and is inserted into exterior grooves 23, 23′ of back side member 21, 21′ respectively. After insertion, the side members are expanded (separated) by means of air cylinder jigs to the recommended elongation parameters of fabric 25 (generally 5%). Lateral back support 22, 22′ are then inserted into interior grooves 24, 24′ and are held in place with metal screws 17 as shown in FIG. 2. Back 12 can then be removed from the jig attached to chair frame 13 by usual assembly techniques:

[0022] Preferred seat 12 as shown in articulated chair 10 in FIG. 1 is formed the same way as back 11. There, fabric 35 with plastic edge strips 26, 26′ affixed by sewing is likewise positioned within exterior grooves of seat frame 30 which includes a pair of extruded opposing side members 31, 31′ which are oval in shape and which include exterior grooves 33, 33′ such as shown in FIG. 2. Side members 31, 31′ also include interior grooves (not seen) for securing lateral seat supports 32, 32′ (32′ not seen in FIG. 2). Once formed as described above for back 11, lateral seat supports 32, 32′ maintain fabric 35 in a taut posture on seat 12. Fabric 35 is identical to fabric 25 as hereinbefore described and seat 12 is formed using jigs as is back 11 described above.

[0023] Side frames 40, 40′ which can be fabric covered are affixed to cross brace 42 (FIG. 1) of which reclining mechanism 15 (not fully shown) is mounted. Cross brace 42 is affixed to mounting plates 37, 37′ which in turn attach to side frames 40, 40′ by screws 43. Pairs of wheels 50, 501 are affixed to side members 40, 40′ as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 to allow easy moving of chair 10. Optional collection pan 60 as seen in FIG. 3 can be slidably positioned between side frames 40, 40′ and affixed in place such as by screws, channels or the like. Pan 60 may be formed of a molded plastic and is available for collecting fluid which passes through seat fabric 35 during bathing or an accidental patient discharge.

[0024] An alternate embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 6-8, with articulated chair 60. Chair 60 is constructed substantially as chair 10 but includes conventional movable arm mechanisms 65, 65′. Arm mechanisms 65, 65′ are shown in the raised or extended position in FIGS. 6 and 7 and showed lowered in FIG. 8. A patient can be moved laterally across seat 62 when departing from chair 60 with arm mechanisms 65 or 65′ lowered. Arm mechanism 65, 65′ are conventionally used with the office chairs and related furniture. As shown in FIGS. 6-8 side frame 64, 64′ are configured to accommodate arm mechanism 65, 65′ to allow easy patient egress when arm members 65, 65′ are lowered.

[0025] The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.