US3144661A

US3144661A - Hospital garment

Info

Publication number: US3144661A
Application number: US48707A
Authority: US
Inventors: Elizabeth A Buser
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1960-08-10
Filing date: 1960-08-10
Publication date: 1964-08-18
Anticipated expiration: 1981-08-18

Description

18, 1964 E. A. BUSER 3,144,661

HOSPITAL GARMENT I Filed Aug. 10, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR EL/ZA BETH A. buss/a ATTORNEY6 Aug. 18, 1964 Filed Aug. 10, 1960 E. A. BUSER 3,144,661

HOSPITAL GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ELIZABETH A. 5086/? ATTORNEYS United States Patent This invention relates to hospital garments and more particularly to an improved hospital garment which is especially adapted for use by patients undergoing treatment in oxygen tents.

The broad object of the present invention is to provide an improved garment for maintaining a patient warm and comfortable in the chilled atmosphere of an oxygen tent.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide an improved one piece hospital garment for use by patients in oxygen tents and which effectively protects the entire upper trunk of the patients body including his head, neck, chest and arms.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a hospital garment of the foregoing'nature which is reversible and may be readily applied to and removed from a patient by hospital aides with a minimum of movement of or on the part of the patient.

Other objects and their attendant advantages will become apparent as the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a typical oxygen tent and related equipment asconventionally used in hospitals and showing a patient wearing the garment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the garment of the invention showing it in its fully open position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the garment of the invention showing it in its partially folded position; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the garment showing it in its completely folded position.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, a patient 18 is illustrated lying in a hospital bed 12 which has attached thereto a typical oxygen tent 14 which partially covers the patient as shown. The tent 14 is supplied with oxygen from a tank 16 which is connected to the tent by well known valve means generally indicated by the numeral 18. The valve means meters the fioW of oxygen into the tent at a predetermined rate and as the oxygen escapes into the tent it expands and creates a natural refrigerating effect which is inherent in the sudden expansion of substantially all compressed gases. Because of this refrigerating effect the atmosphere within the tent is normally much cooler than the temperature of the surrounding room and because a single spark, which might occur by static electricity from a wool blanket, would cause instantaneous combustion of burnable material within the tent, the patient is normally provided with only cotton blankets for protecting his body against the cold. The garments worn by a patient in an oxygen tent have usually comprised the conventional light cotton hospital gown and a separate cap-like head covering similar to a babys bonnet which atfords some protection to the head against the cold though the rest of the patients body must remain substantially immobilized beneath the blankets in order to keep warm. Where a patient must remain in an oxygen tent over a long period of time, his inability to move without extreme discomfort from the cold is demoralizing and this frequently contributes to the retardation of a patients recovery.

The present invention is particularly designed to overcome the attendant disadvantages and discomforts of the presently used means for protecting a patient against the cold atmosphere in oxygen tents, and accomplishes this by the provision of a unitary garment which is readily 3,144,661 Patented. Aug. 18, 1964 applied to a patient while at the same time affording complete coverage of all parts of the patients body in the oxygen tent including his head, neck, arms and upper torso.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the garment of the invention comprises a unitary body of non-sparking cloth material, such as heavy cotton flannel or the like, made up of three interconnected substantially

congruent panels

20, 22, 24. The

respective side panels

20, 24 of the garment have free, suitably hemmed

outer side edgelines

26, 28 and have inner edgelines which are connected by respective

common seams

29, 30 to the opposed side edges of the central panel 22, the panels being so arranged that the central panel affords a single piece adapted to cover a patients back, and the side panels, when folded over the central panel, afford two overlapping pieces for covering the patients chest.

Each of the side edges of each of the three panels has adjacent its upper end a concave, arcuate seam part which, when the garment is in its folded and tied position of FIG. 4, define arm hole lines which are numbered respectively from left to right in FIGS. 2, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42. The

concave seam parts

34, 36 and 38, 40 at the upper ends of

inner seams

29, 30 form the inner ends of elongated sleeves 43, 44 and joined to the upper ends of all of the arcuate seam parts are substantially straight inwardly and upwardly sloping

seam parts

45, 46, 48 and 50 each of which defines a shoulder line of the garment. The

upper edges

52, 54, 56 of the respective panels define necklines of the garment when in its folded position of use and attached to said upper edges is the lower edge of a hood member 58 which extends across the entire upper edge 54 of the central panel to approximately midway of the

upper edges

52, 56 of the

respective side panels

28, 24. Each of the three panels has a respective substantially straight bottom edgeline 6t), 62, 64 which is spaced from each upper panel edge a distance slightly greater than the length of the torso of an average person so that the entire upper part of the body confined within the usual oxygen tent is Well covered by the garment when worn in its position of use.

In order to retain the garment on a patient, each of the outer

free side edges

26, 28 of the

respective side panels

20, 24 is provided with a pair of vertically spaced

ties

66, 68, the upper tie of each pair being at the junction of the respective

arm seam parts

32, 42 with their

side seam parts

26, 28 and the lower tie of each pair being about midway of the side seams. In like manner, the left hand central seam 29 between

panels

20 and 22 is provided with a pair of ties 70 having the same corresponding position as the

respective ties

66, 68 and on the opposite side of the garment there are provided a pair of ties 72 which are sewed to the right hand central seam 30 between

panels

22, 24 in the same corresponding position as the ties previously mentioned. Additionally, each of the

respective shoulder seams

45, 46, 48, 50 is provided with a pair of ties respectively numbered 74, 76, 78, 80, the lower tie of each pair being attached to the garment immediately above the concave arm parts and the upper tie of each pair being attached to the garment at the juncture of each shoulder seam with respective ends of the

neck seams

52, 54, 56, it being observed that the ties 78 on the right hand inner shoulder seam 48 are on the same side of the garment as the ties 72, that is to say, on the side opposite that on which the

ties

78, 76, appear.

In applying the garment of the invention to a normally prone patient, the latters left arm would desirably be first inserted into the sleeve 44, then the left hand panel 20 and central panel 22 would be bunched along the patients left side and thereafter the right hand panel 24 in FIG. 2 would be folded over the patients chest. The

patient would then be rolled onto his left side sufficiently so that the left and rear panels could be pulled out sideways on the bed under the patient and he would then roll onto his back and insert his right arm into the sleeve 44. The ties 68, 80 on the right hand panel 24 are then tied, preferably by bow knots, to the

ties

70, 76 on the inner left seam 29 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thereafter the left hand panel 20, is folded over the previously folded and tied right panel 24 and the

ties

66, 74 of the left panel are tied to the

ties

72, 78 along the opposite side of the inner right hand seam 30 as illustrated in FIG. 4.

It will be noted that with the lower edge of the hood part 58 extending approximately half way along the

upper edges

52, 56 of the side panels that when the latter are folded over, as above described, the lower side parts of the hood are folded forwardly from a substantially planar disposition when the garment is in the fully opened position of FIG. 2 into a true hood capable of snugly encompassing the wearers head to a point well forward of his ears and the hood part 58 is provided with a draw string 84 capable of being tied beneath the patients chin.

One of the important features of the invention resides in its reversibility; that is to say, the sleeves 43, 44 can be positioned either as shown in FIG. 3 or they can be turned inside out and the disposition of the parts of the garment will be identical relative to each other except that the

ties

72, 78 will appear in the same position as the

ties

70, 76 and the latter will be on the outer side of the garment. Thus a hospital aide, before applying the garment to a patient, need only ascertain that both sleeves are on the same side of the garment and need not waste time with possible extra discomfort to the patient, in adjusting the sleeves to a particular side.

If desired, extra sets of ties can be placed on both sides of the garment along the

inner seams

29, 30 thus eliminating any necessity for the panels being folded over in a particular order. As a practical matter, however, it has been found that the number and position of the ties illustrated are entirely sufficient and additional ties might under some circumstances cause discomfort to a patient.

It should be particularly noted that the panels of the garment extend fully from the shoulder line to a line below the hips of the wearer with the latter being afiorded at least two plys of material over his chest area. The hood and sleeves provide snug head and arm coverings so that the patient, while remaining comfortably Warm, is also able to move his arms outside of the covers for reading and the like without suffering from the chilled atmosphere as occurs when the patient wears only the usual hospital garment and depends solely on the cotton blankets for warmth.

The garment of the present invention is now being employed in a hospital for patients in oxygen tents and has proved entirely satisfactory in every way and fulfills a need which has not heretofore been available in the hospital supply trade.

It will be apparent that the garment of the invention is susceptible of various modifications and changes without however departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims;

What is claimed is:

1. A hospital garment for use in oxygen tents comprising a central back panel and two side panels adapted to be folded over a patients chest in overlapping relationship, all of said panels having substantially the same size and shape including a neckline and opposed shoulder, arm hole defining, and side edge lines and a bottom edge line, said panels having a length sufiicient to extend from the neck to a line below the hips of an average sized person and a width to extend fully from side to side of an average sized person, the inner side edges and shoulder lines of said side panels being joined by common seams to the corresponding lines of said back panel, a pair of sleeves joined to the armhole defining lines between said common side and shoulder line seam, a hood part having a head-covering portion and a lower edge line joined by a common seam to the neck line of said central panel, said lower edge line and said common seam extending from said central panel in opposite directions partly along the neck lines of said side panels, a plurality of ties along each outer side edge and shoulder line of said side panels, at least some of said ties on one of said side panels being in the same corresponding position as at least some of the ties on the other of said side panels, a plurality of ties on one side of said garment along one of said pair of common side edge and shoulder line seams, at least some of said ties corresponding in position to at least some of the first mentioned ties along said outer side edge and shoulder lines, and a plurality of ties along the other of said pair of common side edge and shoulder line seams on the side of said garment opposite the last mentioned ties, at least some of said ties along said last mentioned seam corresponding in position to at least some of said first mentioned ties.

2. The garment of claim 1 wherein there is at least one tie disposed at each end of each of said armhole defining lines.

3. The garment of claim 2 wherein there is at least one tie on each of said side edge lines and at least one tie at the inner end of each of said shoulder lines.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,849,578 Jackson Mar. 15, 1932 2,374,643 Boettcher May 1, 1945 2,425,402 Sieloff Aug. 12, 1947 2,807,022 Bonanni Sept. 24, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 526,348 Belgium Feb. 27, 1954

Claims

1. A HOSPITAL GARMENT FOR USE IN OXYGEN TENTS COMPRISING A CENTRAL BACK PANEL AND TWO SIDE PANELS ADAPTED TO BE FOLDED OVER A PATIENT''S CHEST IN OVERLAPPING RELATIONSHIP, ALL OF SAID PANELS HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME SIZE AND SHAPE INCLUDING A NECKLINE AND OPPOSED SHOULDER, ARM HOLE DEFINING, AND SIDE EDGE LINES AND A BOTTOM EDGE LINE, SAID PANELS HAVING A LENGTH SUFFICIENT TO EXTEND FROM THE NECK TO A LINE BELOW THE HIPS OF AN AVERAGE SIZED PERSON AND A WIDTH TO EXTEND FULLY FROM SIDE TO SIDE OF AN AVERAGE SIZED PERSON, THE INNER SIDE EDGES AND SHOULDER LINES OF SAID SIDE PANELS BEING JOINED BY COMMON SEAMS TO THE CORRESPONDING LINES OF SAID BACK PANEL, A PAIR OF SLEEVES JOINED TO THE ARMHOLE DEFINING LINES BETWEEN SAID COMMON SIDE AND SHOULDER LINE SEAM, A HOOD PART HAVING A HEAD-COVERING PORTION AND A LOWER EDGE LINE JOINED BY A COMMON SEAM TO THE NECK LINE OF SAID CENTRAL PANEL, SAID LOWER EDGE LINE AND SAID COMMON SEAM EXTENDING FROM SAID CENTRAL PANEL IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS PARTLY ALONG THE NECK LINES OF SAID SIDE PANELS, A PLURALITY OF TIES ALONG EACH OUTER SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINE OF SAID SIDE PANELS, AT LEAST SOME OF SAID TIES ON ONE OF SAID SIDE PANELS BEING IN THE SAME CORRESPONDING POSITION AS AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIES ON THE OTHER OF SAID SIDE PANELS, A PLURALITY OF TIES ON ONE SIDE OF SAID GARMENT ALONG ONE OF SAID PAIR OF COMMON SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINE SEAMS, AT LEAST SOME OF SAID TIES CORRESPONDING IN POSITION TO AT LEAST SOME OF THE FIRST MENTIONED TIES ALONG SAID OUTER SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINES, AND A PLURALITY OF TIES ALONG THE OTHER OF SAID PAIR OF COMMON SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINE SEAMS ON THE SIDE OF SAID GARMENT OPPOSITE THE LAST MENTIONED TIES, AT LEAST SOME OF SAID TIES ALONG SAID LAST MENTIONED SEAM CORRESPONDING IN POSITION TO AT LEAST SOME OF SAID FIRST MENTIONED TIES.