The present invention relates to a bed attachment according to the pre¬ amble of appended Claim 1.

It is common practice today to provide hospital beds and also beds used in homes with so-called bed attachments with the aid of which a person lying in the bed may raise themselves to a sitting position. While prior art bed attachments function satisfactorily in this regard, they suffer from a serious drawback in that the person lying in the bed can¬ not assume different "length positions" in the bed with the aid of the bed attachment. In other words, if the person wishes to move his or her head closer to or further away from the headboard, he or she must generally be assisted by one or more nurses or other helpers if the patient is not capable of moving on his own.

One object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a bed attachment which does not display the above-outlined drawbacks. This object is attained by means of a bed attachment according to the characterizing clause of appended Claim 1.

The apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of the present in- vention displays a rigid or stiff connection between the handle proper and the horizontal carrier bar. The rigid connection which supports the handle may be fixed on the carrier bar. In addition, the position of the handle portion on the carrier bar may simply be adjusted by the person lying in the bed, by releasing the fixing arrangement. Hereby, the patient can, by moving the handle portion to a suitable position on the carrier bar, pull himself upwards in the bed.

Expedient embodiments of the present invention are disclosed in the ap¬ pended subclaims.

The present invention will now be described in greater detail herein- below, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a bed attachment according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the handle portion proper;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 111-111 in Fig. 2;

Figs. 4 and 5 are side elevations of alternative embodiments of the horizontal carrier bar; and

Figs. 6a and 6b are side elevations of a stirrup which is suitable for use in the embodiments according to Figs. 4 and 5.

The bed attachment according to the embodiments shown in the Figures comprises a vertical post 2 anchored in a suitable manner to a bed 4. The vertical post merges into a horizontal carrier bar 1 and, for stabilizing the horizontal carrier bar, a strut 3 is disposed obliquely between the vertical post 2 and the horizontal carrier bar 1. The hori¬ zontal carrier bar 1 supports a stirrup 6 which may be displaced along the horizontal carrier bar 1 to a stop 12 at the end of the bar.

A rigid or stiff connection is disposed between the stirrup 6 and the handle 5. The rigid connection comprises an interiorly threaded tube 8 which is pivotally carried via a screw connection 9 in the stirrup 6. The inner thread of the tube 8 receives a threaded rod 11 which carries a handle 5 which may be grasped by the person lying in the bed. A cover sleeve 10 is movably journalled on the tube 8 for normally covering the threaded rod 11. Thanks to the thread, the height position of the handle 5 may simply be adjusted by rotating the handle 5. On rotation of the handle, its position is raised or lowered depending upon the direction in which the handle is rotated, and the cover sleeve 10 auto¬ matically accompanies this movement.

In other embodiments, the threaded tube is connected to the handle por¬ tion 5 proper, while a rod with corresponding threading is pivotally

connected to the stirrup 6. A person skilled in the art will perceive that this rigid connection may be provided in a plurality of different ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventive con¬ cept as defined in the appended Claims.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1-3, a material 7 of high fric¬ tion is disposed on the inside of the stirrup 6, the material 7 posi- tionally fixing the stirrup 6 to the carrier bar 1 when the handle is placed under loading. The friction between the friction material 7 and the carrier bar 1 should be so great that the stirrup 6 is reliably held in place without sliding when the handle is loaded at all normally conceivable angles between the horizontal carrier bar 1 and the loaded handle portion. The distance between the upper edge of the tube 8 and the frictional surface 7 on the inner side of the stirrup 6 exceeds the diameter of the horizontal carrier bar 1 by a distance which is suffi¬ cient for the frictional surface 7 reliably to be released from the carrier bar 1 on raising of the stirrup 6.

The bed attachment according to the present invention is employed in the following manner. When a person lying in the bed wishes to raise himself up, he can grasp the handle 5 and pull himself up using his arms as help. This corresponds to the manner in which a standard bed attachment is also employed. If, on the other hand, the person lying in the bed wishes to change position in the bed, he moves the stirrup 6 along the horizontal carrier bar 1 by moving the handle 5 upwards, whereupon the frictional surface 7 is released from the horizontal carrier bar 1, and moves the stirrup 6 to a suitable position to be able to pull himself to the desired position in the bed. If he wishes to move a distance of any length, he may either repeat the movement according to the foregoing several times, or he can screw the handle 5 downwards whereupon the available movement distance increases. In order, in this embodiment, for the person lying in the bed himself to be able to change the position of the stirrup 6, the connection between the handle 5 and the stirrup 6 must be sufficiently rigid to release the stirrup 6 from the locking engagement.

In the embodiment according to Figs. 4-6, the stirrup 6 with the fric¬ tional material 7 on its inside has been replaced by a stirrup or lug 26 which cooperates with projections 22 disposed on the horizontal carrier bar 21 in the embodiment according to Fig. 4, and with recesses 32 provided on the horizontal carrier bar 31 in the embodiment accord¬ ing to Fig. 5. Other parts correspond to those in the embodiment according to Figs. 1-3.

In yet a further embodiment (not shown) the stirrup has been substi- tuted by a motor-driven carriage. When the motor carriage is station¬ ary, the friction is sufficient against the carrier bar for the bed attachment to be able to function in the manner described above. How¬ ever, it is also possible to increase this friction by providing the carriage with a specific brake device which locks against the carrier bar. The motor consists of an electrically, hydraulically or pneumati¬ cally driven motor or piston, or alternatively the carriage is driven by the motor by the intermediary of a belt, a band, a gear rack, a screw or the like. In this embodiment, the connection between the stir¬ rup and the handle need not be rigid. Operating means for the motor are disposed in connection with the handle.

Since it is of no major importance to the present invention, it is not shown how the bed attachment is anchored in the bed 4. A person skilled in the art will perceive that there are many different possibilities available. For example, the vertical post 2 may project down in a cir¬ cular opening in a carrier frame of the bed 4. In other embodiments, the bed attachment is supported via a bracket fixedly screwed in the bed 4.

The stop or abutment 12 is disposed at the end of the horizontal carrier bar 1 so as to prevent the stirrup 6,26 from being removed from the carrier bar 1. In one embodiment, the stop or abutment 12 is dis¬ posed such that it may be loosened from the carrier bar if the inten¬ tion is to remove the stirrup for repair, maintenance, etc. In other embodiments, the stop or abutment 12 constitutes an integral, permanent part of the carrier bar 1. In this case, the screw connection 9 must be

released, whereafter the stirrup 6,26 may be lifted straight up from the carrier bar 1.

It is also possible to utilize the carrying supports of already exist- ing bed attachments. In such instance, the existing apparatus, normally a chain, which carries the handle is replaced by the rigid support according to the present invention, while the existing carrier struc¬ ture is retained.

The person skilled in the art will readily perceive that the locking between the stirrup which supports the handle and the horizontal carrier bar may be provided in a plurality of different ways. The person skilled in the art will further perceive that the cross- sectional configuration of the different parts may vary in different embodiments.

The above detailed description has referred to but a limited number of embodiments of the present invention, but a person skilled in the art will readily perceive that the present invention encompasses a large number of embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended Claims.