US3112968A - Nurse call and utility unit - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 3, 1963 B. w. COTTON ETAL NURSE CALL AND UTILITY UNIT Filed June 1. 1961 /N VENTORS BY/ 5MM/f5 BERYL W. COTTON TIMOTHY L. THOMAS FIG. 4.

TTORNEY United States Patent O 3,112,968 NURSE GALL AND UTILITY UNET Beryl W. Cotton, 1941 Yosemite, and Timothy L. Thomas, 3024 Bryan, both of Fort Worth, Tex. Filed .lune 1, 1961, Ser. No. 114,095 1 iaim. (Cl. 31h- 248) This invention relates to electrical communication systems used in hospitals and refers more particularly to the equipment provided 4for the patient to use for calling the nurse, watching television, listening to radio, piped music or talking on an intercom or telephone.

rI`he present equipment provided for these services involves the necessity of having various wires or pull chains draped over the head of the bed or lying on the pillow, or alongside the patient. Besides the inconvenience of becoming entangled in the wires or rolling over on such an uncomfortable yobject as a television control, the push button or chain for calling the nurse may accidentally fall away from the bed out of reach of the patient. Furthermore, whenever the bed is moved or remade, all these wires and devices have to be rearranged.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide a single, adjustable wall-suspended cabinet to contain all the necessary control buttons, outlets and lights, including a speaker and a telephone set, which are required by cornrnunication services in a hospital room; a cabinet which can be folded compactly against the wall when not in use but which can be extended a considerable distance and in a wide range of positions over or alongside the bed, and a cabinet which the patient can reach yfrom almost any position and which always presents the same pattern of controls -in the same relative position to each other so that he quickly learns Where everything is and has no trouble locating the control for any part of the system he wishes to use.

A yfurther purpose of lthis invention is to provide a cabinet for the aforesaid purpose which serves equally well while the patient is able to sit up in a chair.

In the accompanying drawing, lwhich is a part of this description FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the cabinet and bracket.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the cabinet and bracket.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the cabinet extended on 1in-e 5-5 of the bracket in a typical position relative to the patient.

`FIGURE 4 is a plan View showing the cabinet folded flat against the wall.

FIGURE 5 is a cross section taken on FIGURE 2.

The for-m of the invention shown consists essentially of a rectangular cabinet 10 containing a telephone compartment 1K1, a compartment 12 for switch elements, and a speaker compartment 13. This cabinet is supported in a special manner described hereinafter on a swinging forked bracket 14 pivotally connected to a wall box 15 which may be adapted to contain auxiliary electrical equipment and which is preferably mounted within the wall 16 with only the yface plate y-17 and access panel 18 visible.

The [forked bracket 14 cons-ists of an upper arm 19 and a lower arm 2d connected by a rigid column 21 and each arm having a rearward extension 22 pivotally attached to ICC vbox is.

The outer ends of the arms 19l and Ztl of the forked bracket 14 are pivotally attached to a metal channelshaped receptacle 25 open on its side and having flanges 26 top and bottom. Each flange 26 contains on its inner surface a groove 27 running parallel to the channel.

Brazed permanently within each groove 27 is a hardened steel rod 28, with slightly more than half o-f its diameter exposed. The exposed side of the rods 28 engage slidably with similar -grooves 29 cut lengthwise in the top an-d bottom surfaces of the cabinet 10 and after the cabinet 10 is thus engaged within the receptacle 25, stops 30 are secured within the ends of groove Z9 to keep the cabinet 10 4from being accidentally withdrawn from the receptacle 25.

The front o-f the compartment '12 holds an assortment of knobs, push buttons and plugs collectively numbered 31 which may control a variety of equipment, including a nurse call, speaker volume control, tuning for AM and FM radio contained in compartments 12 and 13, overhead and reading lights, doctors examination light and controls for TV set standing elsewhere in the room. The speaker or speakers contained in the compartment 13 may serve for intercom, radio and TV or piped in music.

A flexible cable 32 vcarries all the necessary circuits from the cabinet 10 to the wall box 15 through the removable access plate `18 where it connects with the various standard circuits running through the hospital.

As can be seen from the drawing, the forked bracket 14 carrying the cabinet 1t)` can be swung in an 180 are around the hinges 23 while the lcabinet 10 can be faced in any direction due 4to the pivoted connection between the receptacle Z5 and the `forked bracket 14. In addition, the cabinet 10 can be pulled nearly its full length beyond the bracket 14 so that it will extend all the way over a bed in front of the patient, or it can be set at an angle for easy access, as shown in FIGURE 3. When not in use, however, the cabinet 10 can be pushed back between the arms of bracket 14 and stowed compactly against the wall as shown in FIGURE 4.

In any case there is never a wire or call button or any other paraphernalia resting on the bed or getting lost under the covers or behind the patients head as is often the case with present equipment. All the controls remain in the same pattern, regardless of being 4moved about. It can be seen, therefore, that this cabinet offers many advantages over the present type of equipment and is more acceptable to both patients and nurses.

rIhe invention is not limited to the exemplary construction herein shown and described, but may be made in various ways Within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is: y

A hospital room utility unit comprising:

an elongate horizontal cabinet having a back and a front, said front being open and having compartments therein,

a C-shaped receptacle receiving the back of said cabinet and extending over and under the -upper and lower portions thereof,

said cabinet being longer than said C-shaped receptacle is lWide,

3 d means along the Itopv and bottom of said cabient slidwith the upper and lower ends of said C-shaped realbly mounting the same in said receptacle, ceptacle. a Ver-tical face plate, a forked bracket consisting of an upper arm and a lower arm connected by a rigid References Cited in the le of this patent yCOlllIIlIl, UNITED STATES PATENTS means hingedly connecting said arms at said `column on v 1,008,754 Thompson Nov. 14, 1911 i face plate for movement about a vertlcal am, 1,380,222 Lichtenberg May 31 l 921,1 2,691,560 Beck Oot. 12, 1954 means p1vota11y connectmg said upper and lower arms 2,962,281 Hodgson NOV. 29 1960

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