JP3375251B2 - Bathing assistance device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bathing assisting device, and more particularly, to a bathing assisting device that enables a sick person with limbs and the like to take a bath without much labor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hospital having a relatively large body, for example, a sick person who has difficulty in bathing due to inconvenience of hands or feet, has a body fixed to a bed and bathed together with the bed. Etc. have been adopted.

These devices are extremely large and expensive. Therefore, in reality, a sick person who is resting at home is bathed by a family member or a nurse while holding the body of the sick person.

[0004]

However, it is extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming to hold a sick person who is substantially naked due to the nature of bathing in his / her hands and take a bath. On the other hand, it is a burden, but it is impossible in terms of space and economy to equip the home with such a large automatic bathing apparatus. Therefore,
There are actual circumstances such as avoiding bathing in a sick person, etc., or refusing to take a bath in consideration of the burden on the family.

The present invention has been made in order to overcome this kind of inconvenience, and allows a sick person or the like having a physical disability to easily take a bath and is attached to a bathtub at home. In addition, it is possible to significantly reduce the burden on the caregiver, and to provide a bathing assistance device that allows the sick person to immerse himself / herself in the bathtub with a simple structure.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a base having a hole penetrating therethrough and a slit communicating with the hole, and a hole integrally provided on the base. A seat and a seat provided with a guide member projecting through the slit and a holding member that holds the base and the seat in the bathtub; and the base and the seat via the holding member. It has a drive source that moves up and down in the bathtub, and a rod that is rotationally driven by the drive source, the holding member is a cord that is wound around or rewound by the rod, and the seating portion is the base. It is characterized in that it is rotatable through the hole portion and movable along the slit.

In the above-described structure, first, a sick person or the like is seated on the seating portion. The base and the seat are integrated, and when the drive source is biased, the base and the seat are gradually suspended into the bath while being suspended by the holding member. When the sick person is immersed in the water in the bathtub, the resistance of the water stabilizes the posture of the sick person and the like. When the drive source is reversed, the holding member rises and the base and the seating portion gradually rise. Then, if the sick person is removed from the seat, the bathing work is completed.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of a bathing assistance apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates a bathtub. A planar U-shaped housing 12 is attached to a rectangular corner portion of the bathtub 10. The inside of the housing 12 is hollow, and a U-shaped support 14 is provided inside the housing 12 along the planar shape of the bath 10. The support 14 is provided with bearing members 18a, 18b for rotatably supporting the first and second rods 16a, 16b. In FIG. 2, only one bearing member 18a, 18b is shown for each of the rods 16a, 16b, but it goes without saying that a plurality of bearing members 18a, 18b may be provided.

Pulleys 20a and 20b are mounted on the rods 16a and 16b, respectively.
Suspending means made of a wide flexible member as a holding member, specifically, wide straps 22a, 22b made of synthetic resin are wound and attached to a and 20b. That is, the cord 22 is moved from one pulley 20a to the other pulley 20a.
a is suspended, and the cord 22b is also one pulley 20b in the same manner.
Is suspended from the other pulley 20b. Rod 16a
A first worm wheel 24 is attached to one end of the first worm wheel 24, and a first worm gear 26 meshes with the first worm wheel 24. The first worm gear 26 is pivotally mounted on a rod 28, which is coupled to a coupling 30.
It is connected to the rod 32 via.

The rod 32 has a second worm gear 3
4 is mounted on the shaft, and a timing pulley 36 is mounted on the end of the shaft. The second worm gear 34 has a second
Meshes with the worm wheel 37. The second worm wheel 37 is attached to the rod 16b that holds the other pulley 20a, 20b. As described above, the timing pulley 36 is attached to the end portion of the rod 32, and the timing pulley 36 is suspended from the timing pulley 42 attached to the main shaft of the DC motor 40 via the timing belt 38. The timing pulley 36
A reduction mechanism between the second worm gear 34 and the second worm gear 34
It can be easily appreciated that the rotational force of the C motor 40 can be reduced.

Then, the base 50 is attached to the cords 22a and 22b. As is apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3, the base 50 has a substantially rectangular shape, and large-diameter holes 52a and 52b are formed by being deviated from the central portion thereof, and the holes 52a and 52b are formed. A slit 54 that communicates with each other is defined.

A seating portion 60 is mounted on the base 50 constructed as described above. In this case, the seat 60 is movably fitted and fixed to the base 50. As is easily understood from FIG. 2, the seating portion 60 is configured by a shape obtained by substantially dividing an ellipse into two, and handrails 62a and 62b are provided along the semi-elliptical outer edge thereof, and The guide member 64 is attached to the bottom of the central portion so as to project. The width of the guide member 64 is formed to be slightly smaller than the width of the slit 54, and the tip of the guide member 64 penetrates the slit 54 and is fixed by a disc 65 below the base 50. That is, the guide member 64 is provided with guide surfaces 67a and 67b that are in sliding contact with the base 50 that defines the slit 54. Therefore, the seating portion 60 has the slit 5 between the holes 52a and 52b of the base 50 by the guide member 64.
It is free to move in 4 horizontally. It should be noted that detection sensors 70a, 70b for detecting the vertical position of the base 50 are provided on the upper surface of the housing 12, and the detection sensors 70a, 70b are magnetic bodies 72a provided on the cords 22a, 22b. , 72b. In this case, the detection sensor 70a
Detects the position where the base 50 is at the highest position, and the detection sensor 70b detects the position where the base 50 is at the lowest position in the bathtub 10. Therefore, the magnetic bodies 72a and 72b are provided in the winding direction and the unwinding direction of the cords 22a and 22b so as to indicate the uppermost position and the lowermost position of the seating portion 60, respectively.

The housing 12 is further provided with an arm 74 capable of swinging in the horizontal direction, and a switch 76 for urging the DC motor 40 to control the vertical movement of the seat 60 is provided on the arm 74. . In the figure, reference numeral 78 is a switch for emergency stop.

The bathing assistance device according to the present embodiment is basically constructed as described above, and its operation and effect will be described below.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the seat 60 is moved horizontally from the base 50 through the slit 54 and is rotated in the hole 52b so that the tip of the seat 60 is moved to the bathtub 10. To the outside. Here, the sick person is seated on the seating portion 60 using the handrails 62a and 62b. The seat 60 is rotated in the hole 52b so that the sick person's foot can be put in the bathtub 10, and the foot is placed in the bathtub 10. Then, the seating portion 60 is arranged approximately in the middle of the holes 52a and 52b through the slit 54 (see the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3).

Then, the switch 76 is pushed to drive the DC motor 40. The rotational force of the DC motor 40 is transmitted from the timing pulley 42 to the timing pulley 36 via the timing belt 38. As a result, the rods 32 and 28 rotate, and the rod 16a rotates via the first worm gear 26 and the first worm wheel 24. On the other hand, the rod 16b rotates via the second worm gear 34 and the second worm wheel 37. Therefore, as the rods 16a and 16b rotate as described above, the cords 22a and 22b gradually descend, and the base 50
Then, the seat portion 60 enters the bathtub 10 together with the sick person. Since the bathtub 10 is filled with hot water, coupled with the resistance of the water, the horizontal swaying of the cords 22a and 22b is gradually prevented, and the sick person is compared to the bathtub 10 in comparison. It is immersed in a stable state.

After being immersed in the bathtub 10, the sick person can fully relax, but at this time, the cords 22a, 22b.
As a result, the base 50 and the seating portion 60 can be appropriately swung, that is, the sick person can touch the inner wall of the bathtub 10 and slightly push it, so that it can be soaked in hot water in an extremely comfortable state. it can. The seat 60
When reaches the lowest position, it is possible to know that the detection sensor 70b is at the lowermost end by detecting the magnetic body 72b.

Then, when the bathing is completed, the switch 76 is pushed again to rotate the DC motor 40 in the reverse direction. Contrary to the previous time, since the rods 16a and 16b are reversed, the cord 22
The a and 22b are rolled up in the opposite directions, and the base 50 and the seating portion 60 can once again reach the substantially same position as the upper surface of the housing 12. Also here, the detection sensor 70a detects the magnetic body 72a, the seating portion 60 reaches the highest position, and the rotation of the DC motor 40 is stopped.

After the seating portion 60 is again moved to the hole portion 52b side and rotated by about 90 ° to take out the foot from the bathtub 10,
The sick person can easily leave the bathtub 10. In an emergency, the DC motor 40 can be deenergized by pressing the switch 78, and the vertical movement of the seat 60 can be stopped midway.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a bathing assistance device having an extremely simple structure and easy to handle. A sick person or the like can automatically enter the bathtub and take a bath by sitting on the seating portion and raising and rotating the legs. Therefore, the nurse is freed from the labor of dipping the sick person in the bathtub while holding the patient in the conventional manner. Moreover, since it has a simple structure, it is inexpensive and can be attached to an existing bathtub, which is extremely convenient.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view showing a state in which a seating portion of a bathing assistance apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is exposed to the outside so that a sick person can easily sit.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a seating portion, a base, and a drive mechanism for moving them up and down.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between a seat portion and a base.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory perspective view showing a state in which the seating portion and the base are slightly lowered into the bath.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory perspective view showing a state in which the base and the seating portion are most lowered in the bathtub.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... tub 16a, 16b ...
Rod 24 ... 1st worm wheel 26 ... 1st worm gear 34 ... 2nd worm gear 37 ... 2nd worm wheel 40 ... DC motor 50 ... Base 52a, 52b ... Hole part 54 ... Slit 60 ... Seating part 70a, 70b ...
Detection sensor 72a, 72b ... Magnetic material 76, 78 ... Switch

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A seating portion provided with a base having a hole penetrating therethrough and a slit communicating with the hole, and a guide member integrally provided on the base and projectingly inserted into the hole and the slit. A holding member for holding the base and the seat in the bathtub; a drive source for vertically moving the base and the seat in the bath via the holding member; and a rotational drive by the drive source. And a rod that is wound around, or the reel is wound around the rod by the rod, or the seat belt is rotatable through the hole of the base,
A bathing assistance device, which is movable along the slit. 2. The bathing assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the guide member has a disc that holds the base between the seat and the seat. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a handrail is fixed to the seating portion. 4. The bathing assistance device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the rods are provided and are connected to each other through a worm wheel and a worm gear, respectively. 5. The device according to claim 4, wherein A support for rotatably supporting the rod, A housing containing the rod and the support, A bathing assisting device characterized by having: 6. The bathing assistance device according to claim 1, further comprising a detection sensor for detecting the position of the upper part or the lower part of the base, or the position of the upper part and the lower part of the base. . 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the cord is provided with a magnetic body, and the detection sensor is installed so as to face the magnetic body provided on the cord. .