Open medical system

• US 7,227,081 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Issued: 06/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nexxspan Healthcare, LLC
• Original Assignee: Lifespan Healthcare LLC
• Inventors: Bally, Alexander, Kato, Tomio, Schindele, Gary M., Kasten, John P.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, DHIRUBHAI R
• Application Number:
  US11/051,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20050167139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• Field of Search: 174/53, 174/48, 52/28
• US Class Current: 174/53
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 12/002 Supply appliances, e.g. columns for gas, fluid, electricity supply vertical ducts or channels for receiving utility lines E04F17/08; installations of electric cables or lines, wall trunking H02G3/0431; structural combinations of lighting devices with other articles F21V33/0068; stands or trestles as supports for apparatus or articles F16M11/00; buildings for public purposes E04H3/08
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 12/004 mounted on the ceiling
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 12/005 mounted on the wall
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 12/007 mounted on the floor, e.g. tracks
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 13/107 Supply appliances supply appliances for dental machines A61C1/0007
• CPC Class Codes: E04F 17/08 for receiving utility lines, e.g. cables, pipes covers giving access to the ducts or channels, covers of inspection holes E04F19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 3/0493 Service poles

Abstract

An open medical system for deploying, supporting and organizing medical equipment and medical utilities includes a utility connection, and a main assembly having a primary structure having an upper plate and lower plate held in fixed spaced apart relation by a plurality of spacers, the main assembly also having at least one core, with each core having at least one utility outlet, the system having an open space bounded by the upper and lower plates and the inner surfaces of the outlets, which open space is free of utility outlets. Equipment rails are connected between the spacers to support medical equipment. A rotating base assembly may be used to support the system, and to restrict rotation.

Claims

1. An open medical system for deploying, supporting and organizing medical equipment and medical utilities, comprising:

a main assembly having

an upper plate having upper and lower surfaces,

a lower plate having upper and lower surfaces,

said upper and lower plates being elongated so as to define a first end and a second end thereof, said upper and lower plates further including a front edge and a rear edge,

a plurality of vertically extending structural spacers secured between said lower surface of said upper plate and said upper surface of said lower plate so as to maintain said upper and lower plate in fixed spaced apart relation, and

first and second vertically extending opposing utility cores respectively extending between said lower surface of said upper plate and said upper surface of said lower plate at said first and second ends thereof, each of said utility cores having an inner surface and at least one utility outlet located on said respective inner surface, said lower surface of said upper plate, said upper surface of said lower plate and said inner surfaces of said utility cores bounding an open work space wherein no structural elements are located within said open work space between said front and rear edges of said upper and lower plates, said utility outlets having an outlet surface at least partially facing said work space and being accessible from within said work space by medical personnel; and

a utility connection for connecting utilities to said respective first and second utility cores.

2. The open medical system of claim 1 in which the system has a frontal plane, and said outlet surfaces are angled between 20 and 70 degrees inwardly in relation to the frontal plane.

3. The open medical system of claim 1 in which the main assembly is supported by a base assembly attached to the lower plate, which base assembly allows the main assembly to rotate.

4. The open medical system of claim 3 in which the rotation of the main assembly is restricted to between 0 and 180 degrees in each direction from the orientation upon installation.

5. The open medical system of claim 1, having at least one movable contoured equipment rail, in which the contoured equipment rail has two ends, a straight rear segment and two angled segments, one on each end, such that the end of the contoured rail may be attached to a spacer, and the angled segments follow the general shape of the core closest to the angled segment on each end of the rail.

6. The open medical system of claim 5 in which the system has a side-to-side axis, and in which the contoured rail is attached at each end to, and extends between, two spacers aligned so that a line drawn between the two spacers would be approximately parallel to the side-to-side axis of the system.

7. The open medical system of claim 1 further comprising a wall-mounting bracket for supporting said main assembly by attachment to a wall of a medical facility and in which the wall-mounting bracket is separable from the main assembly and has a plurality of lateral extensions on which the main assembly may be removably mounted.

8. The open medical system of claim 1 in which the lower plate has two long edges and at least one of the long edges is contoured to provide an indentation which allows medical equipment supported on the system to extend below the lower plate.

9. The open medical system of claim 1 in which the open work space is at least 19.44 cm (36 inches) in size between the upper and lower plate, and 30.48 cm (12 inches) in size between the outlet surfaces.

10. The open medical system of claim 1 in which the open work space extends upward to a height approximately of the reach of a female of the 5th percentile, and downward from the height at least 91.44 cm (36 inches).