Untitled record

(Application filed June 20, 1898.1

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THE NORRIS PETERS CO·. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTON, D. C.

United States Patent Office.

CORNELIA J. CHADWICK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,694, dated March 7,1899.

Application filed June 20,1898. Serial No. 684,017. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Cornelia J. Chadwick, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhat5 tan, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carriers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which— io Figure 1 is a perspective front view of one form of my carrier combined with harness, and Fig. 2 shows a similar rear view of same in actual use.

The object of my invention is to provide a 15 carrier or device by means of which wounded or otherwise-injured persons or those from any cause ineapacited from moving their bodies in the usual way may be safely and readily moved and transported from place to 20 place by the assistance of bearers or other persons and likewise to provide such a device which shall be not only economical in construction, but also light in weight, and so flexible or easily folded as to be readily stored 25 for use in such form or folded condition as to occupy but little space, and also to provide a carrier of such a character that the hands and arms of the bearers may be free to carry weapons or to grasp the patient or other ob30 jects for the purpose of steadying, and also to provide such a carrier which will occupy when expanded for use the least possible space and will when loaded likewise bear its burden in such a position as to facilitate its 35 carriage through narrow or tortuous passages, ascents, or descents—such as narrow stairways, companion-ways, or through paths filled with obstacles which must be avoided by the bearers and their load. Broadly, I attain 40 these objects by departing from the former method and position in which patients have heretofore been carried in litters—viz., a position in which the patient is horizontally or substantially horizontally extended, and the 45 bearers are located at either end of the body thus horizontally supported, and the power of the bearers is in part or in whole applied directly through their arms by catching hold of the rigid or at least partly-rigid frame of 50 the carrier, and by substituting in lieu of such former devices one adapted to support at least the trunk of the patient in a substantially vertical or upright position and in such relation to the bearers that one of them shall be at each side instead of at each end of the 55 patient, and of thus connecting the patient so supported by a suitable carrier with the bodies of the bearers in such a way that his weight will hang from and be supported by suitable harness bearing upon the shoulders 60 or bodies of the bearers and so located that while carrying forward the patient the hands of the bearers may be, when desired, entirely free.

In its most general aspect my invention 65 consists in providing for the base of the body of the patient a supporting-seat upon which the trunk may be carried in its normal upright position, as when standing or sitting, and by providing flexible supports and con- 70 nections, whereby the said seat thus supporting the body may be connected with and carried by the bearers, one on either side of the patient, without materially interfering with the free use of their hands or limbs. 7 5

The matter of form enters but little into my invention. The seat in question may be made of any convenient form. I prefer, however,to make it of flexible material—such as a good stout textile fabric, like canvas, for in- 80 stance—and to give it the shape in which the seat A is illustrated in the drawings. The seat A is provided with at least two vertical or substantially vertical supporters B B', which may be made of leather straps, for in- 85 stance, or out of suitable widths of canvas or other preferably flexible material, and these supporters may, if desired, be multiplied, though I find two sufficient and preferable, having due regard to economy of construe- 90 tion and weight, or, again, in lieu of the supporters the seat A might be carried by a continuous sheet of fabric covering the back of the patient.

To return, however, to the particular form 95 of my invention illustrated by the drawings, my two supporting-straps B B' are attached in any convenient manner to the seat A and are also united at their opposite extremities by a connection II, which, like the seat, is 100 preferably constructed out of flexible material and by which the neck or upper portions

620,694 of the trunk of the patient are supported against falling backward while being carried. The said supporters Β B' are also preferably again connected about midway between II 5 and A by another flexible connecting-band C, which should not only form a rearward connection between the two supporters, but should also be sufficiently extended in front to form a detachable front connection or supio port, resisting tendency of the trunk of the patient to fall forward. As shown in the particular form of the invention illustrated in the drawings, this supporting-band C is substantially a belt provided with a snap-clasp 15 c, engaging in a suitable ring c', as will be well understood, both adapted to be fastened together, so as to surround or support the trunk of the patient about midway between his seat and neck. It is of course obvious, 20 as stated, that the parts.H, C, Β, B', and A might consist of a single sheet of flexible material, at least at the back of the patient, without departing from my invention.

The next step is to pro vide the bearers with 25 any suitable harness, to which may be attachably and detachably connected my said perpendicularly - supporting carrier. Any form of harness may be employed which will bring the weight of the patient upon the shoul30 ders of the bearers. The form illustrated in the drawingsis an advantageous one, in which D D are diagonal shoulder-straps permanently united where they cross each other at the back and in the front adapted to be 35 opened for the purpose of facilitating the insertion of the body of the bearer and thereafter closed and fastened into position—as, for instance, by buttoning over the button d. As the strain is a severe one upon theshoul40 ders of the bearers not only in a downward, but also to some extent in a sidewise direction, it will prove of advantage to further add to the said straps a breast-belt E E' and also a waist-belt F F', each said breast-belt 45 being likewise preferably permanently secured to the shoulder-straps at their place of crossing in the rear of the bearer and detachably fastened at the front in the same way as the shoulder-straps themselves—that is, 50 buttoned down over the button d, for instance—and the belts F F' also secured to the transverse shoulder-straps and adapted to open and be closed with ordinary buckles, snap-hooks m m, or the like in front. 55 In the form of my carrier illustrated in the drawings I prefer to make the supporter H of the upper part of the trunk or neck of the patient of one continuously-extending piece of flexible material, to which is detachably 60 secured in any convenient manner at the appropriate points, as by snap-hooks δ δ engaging into rings c c, the extremities of the supporting-straps B B'and in turn to detachably connect two continuations or extensions 65 of the supporter H—say Η' H³—with the har ness of the bearers at or about the point where the diagonal straps and breast-belt are secured together and across each other at the backs of the bearers, as shown in Fig. 2; but of course these extensions might be dispensed 70 with or varied in form, so that the upper rear supporter II -will become an integral part of the carrier itself, which latter might by any suitable or convenient attachments or extensions be in turn itself secured detachably to 75 the harnesses.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The wounded or otherwise-incapacitated person may be placed upon the carrier, the latter being at the time detached from the harnesses 80 of the bearers. The patient is caused to assume a sitting posture upon the seat A and the midway supporting-belt C is carried around his body and there locked, so as to afford to the upright trunk a support against both back- 85 ward and forward falling. The arms of the patient are then placed, as shown in Fig. 2, behind the supports Β B', those parts of the latter intercepted by the arms of the patient being represented by dotted lines in Fig. 2.' The 90 bearers having adjusted and fastened upon themselves the harnesses, next bring, their bodies in any convenient way into the required position in order to enable the connections between the carrier and the harness to 95 be made and the former hooked or snapped into place relative to the said harnesses. The bearers then assume their natural position, as shown in Fig. 2, and thereby lift from the ground the trunk or torso of the patient, 100 when, owing to his sitting posture, his feet likewise swing clear and he may be carried indefinitely in a normal and healthful position and without impeding or interfering substantially with the bearers, particularly as 105 regards freedom of forward or other motion of their feet and of handling weapons or seizing hold of proper supports.

It will be observed that the seat of my carrier A, in combination with its other parts, no supports the trunk or torso of the patient in a substantially upright or vertical position. The midway supporter C prevents either backward or forward disturbance during the progress of carrying. The upper support II not 115 only assists in preventing the upper portions of the body from falling backward, but also acts as a support to the neck and head. The arms of the patient being passed behind the upright supporters Β B', likewise offset the 120 tendency of the body to fall forward, while correspondingly the upper supporter H further tends to prevent the body from falling in an opposite direction.

When not in use, my carrier, with its har- 125 ness connections, may be readily packed away into a small space, thus enabling ambulances and the like to keep on hand considerable numbers of my invention without occupying much room. 130

620,694

As previously stated, the parts ABB' and those parts of C H which pass behind the patient might be equivalently produced and used in the shape of a single sheet of mate5 rial so shaped and cut as to include within the external boundaries of the sheet material upon substantially the lines and in the positions of these parts. In such a case in order to prevent the patient from falling forward io either front midway supporting-straps like C C' may be used, or, if preferred, the length of the oblong sheet of continuous and rearwardly supporting material may be increased, so as to bring it under the entire seat of the 15 patient, so as to underly the under part of his thighs, in which case, the lower ends of the continuous sheet being pulled upward higher than the bottom of the seat and secured in that position by detachably connecting them 20 with the harness or with some connection between themselves and the harness, the thighs of the patient will be doubled or drawn upward to\vard his chest, their under portions bearing against and supported by the thus 25 upwardly-turned portion of the sheet and his trunk or body thus prevented from falling forward. It is obvious that such or other methods of shaping or arranging the flexible material constituting my carrier constitute no 30 departure from my invention.

I am aware that litters for wounded or incapacitated persons have been constructed of flexible material; but such litters have been provided with one or more parts of rigid 35 material, such as wood, intended to be carried by the hands of bearers, with one of the latter at each end of the body of the patient.

One of the advantages incident to the use of mycarrier, as described, is its capacity for 40 carrying the patient either facing forward or facing backward, as may be most advantageous. For instance, in going upstairs it will prove advisable to carry the patient backward, in which case the carrier is locked or 45 snapped to the harnesses in such a way as to insure this result, and the legs of the patient thus overhang instead of encounter the stairway or ladder. Other obvious advantages resulting from this capacity for reversing the litter easily and quickly will be apparent. 50