AU623585B2

AU623585B2 - Hoist apparatus for disabled people

Info

Publication number: AU623585B2
Application number: AU70746/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Kenneth William Miles
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-03-25
Filing date: 1987-03-24
Publication date: 1992-05-21
Anticipated expiration: 2007-03-24
Also published as: AU7074687A

Description

P/00/011 23585 Form PATENTS ACT 1952-1973 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (ORIGINAL) 1 It1 T FOR OFFICE USE Li Class: Int. Cl: S Application Number: 7 7 f6 17 Lodged: t 0 S'Complete Specification-Lodged: i Accepted: Published: Priority: 1 1 1 2 2 p

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Related Art: 4 4 a.

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: 1 /e~IV TI4 Wil-L.IAM MILL= A i 0 I. Address of Applicant: 1, SrToN Y csee K o 5 tcDMs/US UlPPR 53 Actual Inventor: 4. Vi. MIL es rW rnn-n (nnrf) AQS. I k I' Address for Service: r it l vSno-'< 2.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: 0 Oit$7 PPARAtr5 FOR P J F P opL, The following statement Is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to 'Note: The description Is to be typed in double spacing, pica typo face, in an area not exceeding 250 mm In depth and 160 mm In width, on tough white paper of good quality and It Is to be Inserted Inside this form.

S11710/?70-L CiJ TOMPisoN. Commoniweahh Government I'Prlne. Canbwra This invention relates to lift and a hoist apparatus for physically handicapped persons, such as the frail and elderly, but more particularly concerns indoor hoist apparatus for paraplegic persons which can be installed in a home withoutnecessity for drastic structural alterations.

The invention, according to a general aspect may reside in a hand-operated lifting and lowering device for a phsically handicapped person, such as a paraplegic .Of 10 person which comprises a carriage assembly mountable overhead across or adjacent a doorway opening or the like; a hand operable, rotary vertical lifting means such as a hoist, block and tackle or the like suspended below and attached to the carriageway by a flexing member such as a rope cable or the like and means below the lifting means for supporting the person in correct suspension attitude on the lifting or lowering device to enable a t t 9 handicapped person to lift or lower themselves while supported by the device as required by rotating the rotary lifting means.

The invention, according to another aspect may reside in a hand-operated travelling and supporting device for enabling a physically handicapped person to move themselves to and fro in horizontal directions while supported, which comprise,, a carriage assembly adapted to be mounted overhead and in a doorway or the like, a person load suspension rope or cable with one or lower end att-ached to support mneans, the other or upper end being attached to a corner on the carriage; and a 530 separate or endless loop, r'ope or cable with each end thereof attached to an end of the carrier whereby a person carried by the support means can move himself or herself to and fro with respect to the carriage by gripping and pulling the endless loop and moving it in a selected direction or counter-direction.

The invention, according to another general aspect may reside in a hand-operated for lifting and lowering and enabling horizontal travel of a physically-handicapped person supported by the apparatus which comprises; oo 10 vertical lifting and lowering means such as a hoist, 0000 block and tackle and the like suspended below and o1 0000 o* oattached to the carriageway by a flexing member such 0 094 as a rope, cable or the like and in correct suspension @0 on the lifting device to enable a handicapped person 15 to lift or lower themselves in a sling as required by :°o0000 hand winding, the rotary lifting means and separate or So vendless loop rope or cable with each and thereof attached 00to an end of a carrier bar on the carriage whereby a o 0 person carried by the support means can move himself or 0 herself to and fro by gripping the endless loop and aoo 000 pulling it around in a selected direction.

0 Preferably, a four-way wire guide for the load suspension wire is provided at the top of the hoist body and in vertical alignment with or in the same vertical plane as a sling-supporting spreader bar at the bottom of the hoist body.

Preferably, the wire guide comprises two sets of idle rollers arranged around the load-suspension wire with a clearance for the wire.

-1 i L Preferably, anchorage means are provided adjacent the wire guide for a top or shoulder support strap or belt to constrain theanchorage and spreader bar to move into vertical alignment under load reaction of a person in a support sling, mounted on the spreader bar and a shoulder strap on the anchorage regardless of the centre of gravity.

A non-limitative example of a practical arrangement of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 is a perspective view of a paraplegic tOIL hoist apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a detailed plan view of the load o* suspension wire guide used in the apparatus of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a hoist for paraplegics which can be installed *o0o°0 in a home at critical locations such as shower, bath o 00 0. or toilet without necessity for drastic structural modifications to a home and which comprises a closed-end hoist supporting door carriage assembly 10 adapted to J 0o00 090 be mounted within a doorway, bulkhead or the like and ot o having end stop portions 10a, 10b, and supporting a reciprocatable carrier bar 11 attached to carriage wheels, rollers and the like 12, (broken outline) running between tracks. A load-carrying or transfer rope 13 is suspended from the carrier bar 11 by means of a closed metal eye 14. The lower end of the rope terminates in a metal such as steel, carrying hook 15 U adapted to be fastened through the closed eye 16 on the upper end of a wire load suspension rope 17, i L~I1_ attached to hoist 18, enclosed in housing 18a under which there is suspended the spreader bar 19 between which there is fixed a sling 20 for supporting the buttocks or legs of a paraplegic person. A pair of shoulder straps or top belt securing books 21, 22 are fixed to the top of the hoist, and to which the steel rings 21a, 21b of a shoulder support belt 21c may be secured, a manually operable hoist winding (or unwinding) handle 23 for vertical movement of the hoist. Horizontal movement of the hoist is obtained by means of the closed l'oop I! *fit transfer rope 24 which is passed through the pulley i left blocks 25, 26 mounted for swivel movement at either oc end of the carriage. The ends of the rope are each attached by loops 27, 28 to the end of the carrier bar 11, so that a handicapped person can pull the °looped rope 24 in either direction to achieve to and o a.

0 0 fro horizontal movement of the hoist along the carriage.

°o ,oReferring to Figure 2, there is shown a load a C suspension four-way wire guide in the form of two 20 pairs or sets of parallel idle rollers, transverse 0ola with respect to each other and comprising a pair of upper rollers 29, 30 and a pair of lower rolle 31, 32 thereunder and at right angles to the first sc of rollers. The rollers are in vertical alignment with the spreader bar to take up the thrust exerted by the load of a person in the sling.

The hoist 18 comprises a hoist box housing, a hoist mechanism in the form of a drum driven by a worm and gear mechanism with a various gear ratios.

i 4 The mechanical arrangement is such that the spreader bar and the upper support belt or shoulder strap anchorage will always remain in vertical alignment, or in the :same vertical plane, regardless of attitude of the person/load on the apparatus. The advantage of this is, that it is unnecessary for the user or supported person to cling to the load suspension rope. Also, in this arrangement, if a person is slung in the apparatus from the hook, the apparatus will automatically find its own centre of 1Q gravity in a self-adjusting reaction.

If'' ,die Fig. 3 is a sketch showing the relationship between Track-movement rope hoist and slings.

C t c Fig. 4 is a scale drawing of the hoist.

cc C C€ S1( t c 1 c t I t j rr c t t -F .i t This invention is an overhead lifting system for either self lift or assisted lift. It allows disabled people to transfer or be transferred from one situation to another in a sitting upright position.

The means by which the upright position is achieved is as follows:- 1. The ceiling mounted hoists' load bearing wire .winding drum is lower than the top sling anchor points.

2. The top sling anchor points have load aligning rollers which bear against the taut load suspension wire.

3. The bottom anchor point is in the form of a

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Sspreader bar to which is attached slings of various I designs. These slings carry the greatest part of the load.

t £1 V. L.J. M'LgS9 i' r

Claims

1. A lift and hoist apparatus for lifting and moving a person having a carriage assembly comprising a carrier track, a carriage bar movably mounted on said carrier track and a lateral movement wire attached at both ends to said carriage to form an endless loop, said movement wire engaging rollers positioned at either end of the carrier track whereby movement of said wire relative to said rollers will move the carriage bar laterally along said carrier track and a vertical lifting hoist comprising a hoist body with upper and lower anchorage means for attachment of a means to support the person being lifted, a load suspension rope for suspension of said hoist body from said carriage bar, said suspension rope reeling onto a drum within said hoist body and a set of guide rollers mounted in said hoist body for guiding said suspension rope from said hoist body.

2. A hoist apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said load suspension wire extends beyond the top of the hoist body and said set of guide rollers maintains said hoist body and a person supported thereby in substantially vertical alignment.

3. A hoist apparatus in accordance with either of claims 1 or 2 wherein said lower anchorage means of the hoist body is a spreader bar for lower attachment of a sling to support the person to be lifted. I. bc/13/9464.res 92 2 i ii -I i 9

4. A hoist apparatus in accordance with any one of the preceding claims wherein the set of guide rollers comprises two pairs of idle rollers arranged around the load suspension rope with clearance for the rope.

5. A hoist apparatus in accordance with any one of the preceding claims wherein said upper anchorage means on said hoist body for an upper support strap is adjacent the set of guide rollers such that said set of guide rollers maintains the substantially vertical alignment of said hoist body under load reaction of a person supported by said support sling and upper support strap.

6. A hoist apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the 15 accompanying drawings. DATED this 25 February 1992 I CARTER SMITH BEADLE Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: KENNETH WILLIAM MILES t bc/1/9464.res 92 2 J^ 1.