Foldable bed

July 26, 1938. τ. b, bardaji 2,124,602

FOLDABLE BED

Filed Nov. 22, 1934

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Teodorc Bascis Bcurdciji

3nt>entor

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Attorney.

Patented July 26, 1938

2,124,602

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,124,602

FOLDABLE BED

Teodoro Basas Bardaji, Barcelona, Spain, assignor to Jose Maria Bragulat, New York, N. Y.

Application November 22,1934, Serial No. 754,237 In Spain December 7, 1933

Claims.

This invention relates to foldable beds, and has for its object to provide an improved device which is applicable to foldable beds in which the part corresponding to the head of the bed and, in 5 . some cases, also the foot part can be raised. By means of this device the result is obtained that the movement of raising the head of the bed and the foot part can be effected with the minimum of effort and with great simplicity, and also that 10 the person lying in the hinged bed is able to regulate it to the desired inclination without the help of another person.

Foldable beds as described above are already known per se, and are employed mainly by in15 valids and convalescents for whom a more comfortable rest is desirable. These beds, in the normal position, have the appearance of an ordinary or plain bed, but, if the invalid has to be raised on it, the metallic bed bottom or spring or box 20 mattress is hinged up for the head part and for the foot part as required until the desired position is obtained.

Nevertheless, all the hitherto known systems of beds of this class have the important disad25 vantage of requiring for their movement a great effort or else a mechanism which is complicated, expensive and slow in operation and cannot be worked by the person lying in the bed. The arrangements usually adopted comprise racks, 30 worms or toothed sectors, and their mechanisms are actuated by means of handles or pulleys.

The device forming the subject matter of this invention enables a portion of the bed spring to be folded or moved on a pivot as already stated, 35 without any effort and rapidly and without the aid of another person. Moreover, it is of great simplicity and therefore economical.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference will now be made to the ac40 companying drawing which illustrates a practical embodiment of the invention solely by way of example.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device applied to a hinged bed, the bed being shown in the 45 normal or extended position.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the parts shown in Figure 1 as they appear from the opposite side.

Fig. 3 illustrates the same device, in an external side-view similar to Fig. 1, but with the head por50 tion and the foot portion of the bed spring raised.

Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically the combination of a bed with a device installed thereon in the condition shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 illustrates a bed with the device in the 55 condition shown in Fig. 3.

(Cl. 5—69)

The device, in the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, comprises a system of springs I—2 which can be joined together in pairs, threes or more, as required, and these springs are fastened at both ends to the frame 5 of the spring 3 and, at their center to a connecting rod 4. The connecting rod is floating in the sense that its lower end is not mechanically fixed in any predetermined position but depends for its position entirely upon the tension springs by 10 which it is supported.

This connecting rod 4 is hinged at 5 to the frame of the movable part of the head 6 of the bed to which it transmits a thrust which it receives from the springs I and 2. Preferably the 15 connecting rod is not pivoted directly to the head portion 6 of the spring frame, but is pivotally secured to a short arm 5' which may desirably have a length approximately equal to the spacing between the arm 5' and the fulcrum pin 7 upon 20 which the head frame portion 6 is angularly adjustable. By virtue of the tension of these springs, the connecting rod 4 tends to maintain itself in the raised position (see Fig. 3) and thus, in turn, effects the raising of the head 6 of the 25 bed spring. The advantage of employing the short arm 5' to locate the pivot 5 below the level of frame 6 is to maintain a sufficient leverage on the frame in the lifting movement thereof. Obviously, if the fulcrum 5 were located directly 30 on the side of the movable frame section 6, the leverage of the connecting rod on such frame section would rapidly decrease as the frame section became elevated. By the arrangement disclosed, a substantially constant leverage is main- 35 tained sufficient in view of the decreasing load of the occupant’s body on this frame section, to maintain the frame section upright notwithstanding the decreased tension of the counterbalancing springs resulting from their contrac- 40 tion.

As the tension given to the spring i—2 (which can be regulated by means of spreaders 8) is calculated so as to counteract the weight of the person lying in the bed, any movement of 45 the latter would cause a rocking of the head of the bed and, on the other hand, when the bed is unoccupied, the latter would always remain with the head portion raised. In order to avoid this disadvantage and to be able to leave the spring 50 frame fixed in the desired position, there has been provided a sector 9 joined at one part to the head of the bed and passing through a guide 10 within which it can be immovably secured by means of a screw I I. 55

2,124,602

If desired, the foot part 12, 12' can also be pivotally arranged, so as to be capable of being folded in conjunction with the head of the bed (by means of a connecting rod device 13) or 5 independently of the latter, The connecting rod 13 is preferably pivoted to the head section 6 of the spring frame at the end of a short lever arm 15 which projects from the pivoted end of the head frame 6. The connection of the link or 10 rod 13 with the foot frame element 12 is effected through a short lever arm 16 which projects from the pivoted end of the foot section 12 in a direction opposite to that in which arm 15 projects. Thus, in this preferred arrangement of the parts, 15 the upward movement of the head frame member 6 is accompanied by an opposite upswinging movement of the foot member 12 which rests beneath the upper legs and knees of the occupant and which draws up with it the pivoted foot sec20 tion 12' beneath the lower legs of the occupant.

In the former case, as is shown in the example of embodiment represented in the drawing, the actual device for counterbalancing the head part of the spring frame will serve for balancing or 25 counteracting the weight of the foot part, and in the case in which the folding of the latter part is effected independently of that of the head part, there can be separately arranged a similar counterbalancing device which acts solely for the foot 30 part.

From what has been set forth above, the operation of the described device can be clearly deduced; this consists in counteracting the weight of the hinged part of the bed bottom and that 35 of the person whom it supports by means of a system of springs which exert a tension in a suitable direction tending to maintain the hinged part of the bed bottom in the raised position.

The disclosed arrangement whereby the head 40 portion 6 of the bed spring frame and the lower portions 12 and 12' thereof are interconnected for simultaneous upward movement under the pressure of the counterbalancing spring system is very desirable in facilitating the almost effort45 less self-adjustment of the bed at the will of the occupant. Of course, the counterbalancing springs are so fixed that even the slightest lifting of the occupant’s body will permit the bed spring frame sections to be raised by the springs. If, 50 however, the occupant be a patient so weak as to be unable to lift his body alone, he can accomplish the elevation of the bed spring frame sections by simply drawing up his knees. This natural movement of the occupant’s body con55 forms to the movement of parts 12 and 12' from the Figure .4 position to the Figure 5 position thereof and the release of the pivotal joined foot parts 12 and 12' from the load of the patient’s knees is in itself sufficient to raise not only the 60 foot sections 12 and 12' but the head section 6 of the bed spring frame Conversely, a slight straightening of the occupant’s body sufficient to supplement the weight of the knees on the joint between the foot sections 12 and 12' is sufficient 65 to restore the parts to their Figure 4 position. Thus the counterbalancing springs do not need to be accurately adjusted to the weight of the occupant’s body and, throughout a wide range of body weights, the bed spring frame sections re70 spond so readily to the occupant’s wishes as to make the operation seem completely effortless.

The device is advantageously mounted on both sides of the frame of the bed for the sake of better efficiency, but it may also be arranged on 75 one only of its sides.

It should be noted that the counterbalancing device described may be subjected to accessory modifications, alterations and changes which do not affect its essence.