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Air assisted medical devices

  • US 5,033,457 A
  • Filed: 06/23/1989
  • Issued: 07/23/1991
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/23/1989
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for assisting or resisting movement of a body part relative to a relatively fixed surface comprising a one-piece expandable air bag for placement between the body part and the relatively fixed surface and having first and second relatively movable surfaces, said first surface for contact with the body part, said second surface for contact with the relatively fixed surface, accordion-like expansion means interconnecting said first and second relatively movable surfaces for assisting or resisting movement of said first surface relative to said second surface upon varying the amount of air in said air bag, control means for controlling the amount of air in said air bag and means for supplying pressurized air into said air bag, wherein said means for controlling includes valve means for controlling flow of air into and out of said air bag and settable timer means for controlling the flow of air into and out of said airbag in accordance with a predetermined time sequence, and wherein said accordion-like expansion means includes a plurality of expansion means portions having differing degrees of flexibility to vary the rate of relative movement of separate portions of said air bag.

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