EP1787550A1

EP1787550A1 - Sliding rail for beds

Info

Publication number: EP1787550A1
Application number: EP05025018A
Authority: EP
Inventors: José Pardo Herrera
Original assignee: INDUSTRIAS HIDRAULICAS PARDO SA
Current assignee: INDUSTRIAS HIDRAULICAS PARDO SA
Priority date: 2005-11-16
Filing date: 2005-11-16
Publication date: 2007-05-23

Abstract

The sidebars (5-5') forming the rail incorporate, at their ends, studs (10) which retract against the tension of respective springs (12), studs (10) which in turn fit in guides (6) fixed to the inner face of the headboard (1) and the footboard (2), said guides (6) being materialized in profiles with a groove (8) which are finished at their upper ends by an inflection in the form of a hook (9), wherein the upper stud (10) is coupled in operative situation of the rail, which is easily locked and unlocked in said limit situation.

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a rail for beds, specifically to a sliding rail at a height to facilitate access to the interior of the bed or hinder the exit therefrom, preventing the user from accidentally falling.
The rail is especially suitable for use in clinical beds, but it can be equally used in any conventional beds where, as children, the sick or the elderly use them, there is a risk of falling therefrom.
The object of the invention is to achieve a structurally simple rail, easily assembled, which further requires extremely simple handling to change position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the scope of sliding rails for beds, a known solution consists of fixing, at each side of the headboard and footboard, bars acting as guides for the sliding of the rail, as shown in document ES 1 028 257 U , wherein, on said guide-bars, slide respective bushings articulately joined to the rail and extended with respective handles, so that said bushings tend to tilt due to the weight of the rail and to lock the guide-bars at any height of the rail, unlocking when one actuates said handles upwards.
Another commonly used solution, and as shown in document ES 1 058 392 U , is that wherein, instead of said guide bars, true guides are established on the headboard and the footboard with orifices to lock the retractile rods connected to the rail, so that in this case the stability thereof is determined by the introduction of at least four rods belonging to the two rails, in different orifices of the headboard and the footboard.
Either of these two solutions has extensive, varied problems that basically centre on the following aspects:

The displacement of the rail is not vary stable, with a tendency to jamming or sticking, which makes the simultaneous use of both hands necessary during the lifting or lowering movements.
- The rail assembly should be performed simultaneously with the bed assembly, i.e. with the headboard and footboard assembly, and it is also necessary to dismantle the bed in parallel to be able to dismount the rail, when it is necessary to repair or replace it, which means a considerable loss of time.
- Said handling problem when raising and lowering the rail also requires both hands to be used to lock and unlock the rail in raised position, which is especially problematic in the case of clinical beds or beds used for people requiring special care, where the person who should handle the rail frequently has their hands full with a tray with treatment, cleaning or other materials.
- The unlocking of the rail should typically first be performed at one of the ends of the bed and then at the other, which slows down the manoeuvre.
- Both systems are structurally complex, with the consequent negative impact on final product cost.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The sliding rail proposed by the invention resolves in a fully satisfactory manner said problem stated in the different mentioned aspects, so that the rail can be raised or lowered with a single hand, in a quick simple operation, and with an extremely simple rail structure, with the consequent impact on costs.
To do this, and more specifically, the rail disclosed incorporates, in correspondence with the ends of its sidebars, respective pairs of studs that fit in guide-grooves operatively established in the headboard and the footboard, with the special feature that the ends of these guides are finished in a configuration by way of a hook which allows the rail and its unit to be suspended by the upper stud at each one of its ends, a stud which can easily abandon this stable raised position of the rail with no more than slightly raising the sidebar and side tilting thereof, so that said upper studs reach the upper main portion of the grooves or guides.
These guides can be embedded in the panels forming the headboard or footboard or superimposed thereon.
In any case and with the object of facilitating the assembly of the rail and to permit that this assembly can be performed after the bed assembly, it has been provided that said studs are retractile against respective springs established in the base of blind holes wherein said studs fit.
The rail may have a single sidebar, but will normally have more than one sidebar, in which case each pair of sidebars is related at the level of its adjacent studs by a towline which acts as maximum spacing for the sidebars, but which nevertheless permits the retracting thereof until a situation of direct contact of the sidebar with the immediately lower one.
The upper sidebar will preferably have a handle, longitudinally centred, which should correctly indicate the area thereof whereon one should manually act so that the force applied thereto is appreciably positioned in correspondence with its centre of gravity so that the lifting and lowering of its ends is balanced, nevertheless being able to dispense therewith, since it is feasible to perform the same manoeuvres holding the rail at any point, being able to incorporate two or more handles as is deemed convenient.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description being made and in order to aid towards a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, in accordance with an example of preferred embodiment thereof, a set of drawings is attached, as an integral part of said description, wherein the following has been represented with an illustrative, non-limiting character:

Figure 1: shows, according to a perspective schematic representation, a bed provided with a sliding rail made in accordance with the object of the present invention.
Figure 2: shows an enlarged close-up of the perspective of the preceding figure, at the level of the connection of the rails to the headboard.
Figure 3: shows a close-up similar to that of the preceding figure but corresponding to the connection area of the rails to the footboard.
Figure 4: finally, shows a front elevational view of the guides established both in the headboard and in the footboard.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The described figures represent a bed comprised of a headboard (1), a footboard (2) and a metal frame (3), whereby the collaboration of supports (4) suitably fixes the headboard and footboard. It also represents a pair of side rails, each materialized in a pair of sidebars (5-5'), but evidently this embodiment is merely illustrative, corresponding to one of the multiple possibilities of practical embodiment that exist for the bed, embodiments that are practically unlimited and do not affect the invention.
Likewise, the bed may have a single sliding rail on the side selected for this purpose, or instead two sliding rails as in the example of the drawings, without this affecting the essence of the invention either.
In any case and in correspondence with the rail (5-5') or with each rail, both in the headboard (1) and in the footboard (2) different guides (6) are established as represented in detail in figure 4, consisting of a tubular profile with orifices (7) to be fixed by screwing to the headboard (1) or to the footboard (2), superimposed to these elements as in the case of the figures or preferably embedded therein, in any case, said guides (6) having a longitudinal groove (8) constituting the guide and finished at their upper ends in a lateral inflection, by way of a hook (9) with its free end oriented downwards. In these grooves (8), vertical pairs of studs (10) are designed to be housed with the possibility of vertical displacement, connected to the ends of the sidebars (5-5') constituting the rail, which fit in blind holes (11) of said sidebars with the interposition of respective springs (12) which tend to project said studs (10) towards the inside of the groove (8), which facilitates the extraction of the sidebars.
Optionally, the tubular profile (7) can be solid, incorporating the corresponding guide grooves (B), having also provided for the possibility that the guide grooves (8) are positioned directly in the headboard and in the footboard, without this affecting the essence of the invention.
In this way and starting, for example, from a lower limit situation for the rail, pulling upwards on the upper sidebar (5), properly applied to the middle zone thereof, emphasized by a handle (13), determines that when the upper studs (10) of said sidebar (5) reach the upper end of the groove (8), by slight transversal outwards displacement, said sidebar (5) is capable of reaching the end of the hook (9), the rail thus "hanging" from the upper end of the guides (B) with an extremely quick and simple manoeuvre.
Similarly, to lower the rail it suffices to perform a small upwards movement with the upper sidebar (5) accompanied with inwards tilting so that that upper studs (10) are released from the ends (9) in the form of a hook from the grooves (8) and can lower together with the other studs to the lower end position of the lowered rail.
If there are several sidebars (5-5') on the rail, they may be irremovably connected to one another, e.g. by short vertical posts, but preferably they will be connected together by towlines (14) which cross the ends of the studs (10) corresponding to the adjacent sidebars (5-5'), as is observed in either of figures 2 or 3, so that these towlines keep the sidebars (5-5') correctly distanced when the rail is in operating position and, nevertheless, permit an optimum retracting thereof until its sidebars (5-5') make contact in inoperative or lowered position thereof.
The towlines (14) are positioned inside the tubular body (6) forming the corresponding guides, and to avoid said towlines from coming out, especially when the rail is retracted, the existence of at least one lower lid (15) has been provided, which can be coupled with pressure to the end of the tube (6), covering it.
As has been represented in the drawings, the hook (9) which finishes the grooves (8) of the guides (6), will be oriented outwards to avoid the accidental unlocking of the rail due to an accidental bump by the bed user, which makes the rail safer, but obviously the position can be reversed if deemed convenient for any reason.
Likewise, said single handle (13) can be duplicated or tripled if thus deemed convenient, having, for example, a handle corresponding to each of the ends of the upper sidebar (5), also being able to dispense with said handles, on being able to perform the same manoeuvres holding the rail at any point.

Claims

Sliding rail for beds, of the type that can establish a side containment barrier for the bed, in situation of use, or of retracting to a lower situation wherein it leaves free access to said bed, characterized in that it is formed by at least one sidebar (5) provided at each of its ends with at least one stud (10) which fits in a guide-groove (8) established on the inner face of the headboard (1) and of the footboard (2), with the special characteristic that said groove (8) is finished at its upper end by an inflection by way of a hook (9) to couple the corresponding stud (10) in raised or operative situation of the rail.
Sliding rail for beds, as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the guide-grooves (8) are established in the wall of profiles (6) that are fixed to the headboard (1) and the footboard (2), either superimposed thereon or embedded therein.
Sliding rail for beds, as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that each sidebar (5-5') thereof incorporates a pair of studs (10) that retract inside the orifices (11) of the sidebars (5-5'), against the tension of respective springs (12) that tend to project the studs (10) towards the interior of the profiles (6) which define the guide-grooves (8).
Sliding rail for beds, as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that when several sidebars (5-5') participate therein, these are connected together by towlines (14), which are fixed at their ends to respective studs (10), which space out the sidebars (5-5') but allow the approximation thereof in inoperative situation of the rail, said towlines (14) being housed in the interior hollow of the profiles (6), which are closed below by lids (15).
Sliding rail for beds, as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that it incorporates a handle (13) at the mid point of its upper sidebar.