Adjustable bed

• US 7,165,277 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2004
• Issued: 01/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Taguchi, Kenji, Morikawa, Masashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Trettel; Michael
• Application Number:
  US10/960,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20050076440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 561/7, 5 6/8, 5 7/2, 5/2
• US Class Current: 5/618
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/015 divided into different adjustable sections, e.g. for Gatch position

Abstract

An adjustable bed that enables a Gatch mechanism to be operated in an excellent fashion to match the flexing of a care recipient'"'"'s body, and that is, moreover, useable as a superior low platform bed for care recipients. To this end, a parallel link mechanism having a pair of perpendicular arms is provided in the adjustable bed as part of a sitting-up mechanism, and by always keeping these arms in a perpendicular position, the sitting-up mechanism is operated with a position removed from the surface of a lower-back board by a prescribed interval as an imaginary rotation center when the bed is driven. This prevents any slippage of the care recipient'"'"'s body in relation to the platform surface, thereby suppressing the occurrence of bedsores and realizing a natural sitting-up action that takes account of the care recipient'"'"'s body movement.

Claims

1. An adjustable bed comprising a platform having a first surface member and a second surface member disposed adjacently in a longitudinal direction of the bed, and a Gatch mechanism for performing a Gatch action to raise a platform surface of the first surface member from a reference bed surface, wherein

the Gatch mechanism includes a parallel link mechanism formed from a first arm group that lies in the longitudinal direction of the bed and a second arm group disposed at an angle intersecting the reference bed surface, with the first surface member being coupled to the second arm group by a coupling part, and

as a result of the second arm group, when the Gatch action is performed, being translationally driven while maintaining the angle intersecting the reference bed surface, the Gatch mechanism raises the platform surface of the first surface member from the reference bed surface due to a circular motion of the coupling part around an imaginary rotation center located at a prescribed height above the second surface member.

2. The adjustable bed of claim 1, wherein the first and second arm groups each include three or more arms, as a result of which is formed a pantograph mechanism extendable in the longitudinal direction of the bed.

3. The adjustable bed of claim 1, wherein

a support arm lying in the longitudinal direction of the bed is fixed to the first arm group at a prescribed angle, and

the Gatch action involves the support arm rising up together with the translational action of the second arm group, with a coupling point of the first and second arm groups as a rotation center, and pushing the first surface member up from below.

4. The adjustable bed of claim 1, wherein

the platform includes at least one of (a) an upper-back platform and a lower-back platform, and (b) the lower-back platform and an upper-leg platform, and

a combination of the first and second surface members equates to at least one of (a) the upper-back and lower-back platforms in the same order, and (b) the upper-leg and lower-back platforms in the same order.

5. The adjustable bed of claim 4, wherein

the platform further includes a lower-leg platform that is moveably coupled to the upper-leg platform, and

the lower-leg platform inclines together with the upper-leg platform being raised from the reference bed surface when the Gatch mechanism is driven.

6. The adjustable bed of claim 1 further comprising a mechanism that is interlocked with the Gatch mechanism, and elevates the end of the second surface member nearer the first surface member to a position higher than the reference bed surface when the Gatch mechanism is driven.

7. A mattress for use with the adjustable bed of claim 1, comprising a plurality of mattress sections disposed in a longitudinal direction of the bed, wherein

each section in at least one pair of adjacent mattress sections includes a protrusion that fit together in a thickness direction of the bed, and

an overall length of the mattress extends when the Gatch action is performed, due to the complementary protrusions shifting apart in the longitudinal direction of the bed.