A power ambulance cot having a cot control system operably connected to a cot actuation system to control independent raising and lowering of front and back legs thereof, and which detects a presence of a signal requesting a change in elevation of a support frame thereof and causes the cot actuation system to raising or the lowering of the front and/or back legs automatically upon detecting a condition during loading/unloading a patient from an emergency vehicle or transporting the patient up or down an escalator and methods thereafter are disclosed.

Patient transport apparatus with defined transport height comprises a support structure and a litter that are interconnected by a lift mechanism. The support structure comprises a base frame and a plurality of articulable support members or legs. The litter comprises a litter frame and a patient support surface with articulating back and leg sections. The lift mechanism may comprise one or more actuators configured to raise and lower the litter between a lowered position and one or more defined raised positions. The Patient transport apparatus may further comprise a controller coupled to one or more sensors and the lift mechanism. The controller may be configured to define a transport height for the litter based, at least in part, on a characteristic detected by the one or more sensors, and to manipulate the lift mechanism to adjust the litter to the defined transport height.

An ambulance cot and cot loading and unloading system for an emergency vehicle comprises a cot having a head end, a base for mounting to a deck of an emergency vehicle, a track mounted for linear movement along said base, and an arm mounted for linear movement along said track from a retracted position to an extended position. The arm is and configured to engage the cot, and wherein when the track is extended along the base and the arm is extended along the track the arm is extended from the base in an extended position and is configured for lifting the cot and providing cantilevered support to the cot while in the extended position.

Embodiments of a cot comprise a support frame, legs coupled to the support frame, at least one hydraulic actuator configured to raise or lower the legs, and a manual release system coupled to the at least one actuator and configured to lower the cot manually at a controlled descent rate. The manual release system comprises a manual actuation component, a manual release valve operable to be opened upon actuation by the manual actuation component, a fluid reservoir operable to receive hydraulic fluid from the at least one actuator upon opening of the manual valve; and a flow regulator configured to control the flow rate of the hydraulic fluid into the fluid reservoir, wherein the release of hydraulic fluid into the fluid reservoir at the controlled flow rate is configured to manually lower the cot at the controlled descent rate.

A power ambulance cot having a cot control system operably connected to a cot actuation system to control independent raising and lowering of front and back legs thereof, and which detects a presence of a signal requesting a change in elevation of a support frame thereof and causes the cot actuation system to raising or the lowering of the front and/or back legs automatically upon detecting a condition during loading/unloading a patient from an emergency vehicle or transporting the patient up or down an esculator and methods thereafter are disclosed.

A patient handling apparatus includes a frame, a base, and a lift assembly supporting the frame relative to the base, the lift assembly configured to extend or contract to raise or lower the base or the frame with respect to the other of the base and the frame. The patient handling apparatus further includes a control system, which comprises at least one hydraulic cylinder to extend or contract the lift assembly, a hydraulic circuit to direct the flow of hydraulic fluid to and from the hydraulic cylinder, and a controller operable to control the hydraulic circuit. Based on an input signal, for example, an input signal that is indicative of a status or condition of the patient handling apparatus, the controller is configured to open, optionally automatically, fluid communication between the rod end chamber and the cap end chamber to redirect a portion of the fluid output from the rod end chamber to the cap end chamber when the rod is extending to thereby increase the extension speed of the rod.

A cot can include a support frame that extends between a front end and a back end. A front leg and a back leg can be slidingly coupled to the support frame. A front actuator can be coupled to the front leg and slide the front leg to retract and extend the front leg. A back actuator can be coupled to the back leg and slide the back leg to retract and extend the front leg. One or more processors can execute machine readable instructions to receive signals from one or more sensors indicative of the front end of the cot and the front leg. The one or more processors can actuate the back actuator to extend the back leg to raise the back end of the cot, when the front end of the cot is supported by a surface and the front leg is retracted a predetermined amount.

Roll-in cots having wheel alignment mechanisms. According to one embodiment, a roll-in cot includes a support frame, a pair of legs pivotably and slidably coupled to the support frame, and a pair of hinge members that are pivotably coupled to the support frame and to one of the legs. The roll-in cot also includes a wheel linkage pivotably coupled to the pair of legs and a wheel alignment mechanism. The legs and the hinge members pivot relative to one another in a relative angular rotation ratio and the wheel alignment mechanism rotates the wheel alignment mechanism relative to the hinge members at a reduction ratio. The relative angular rotation ratio of the legs and the hinge members is approximately inverse to the reduction ratio of the wheel alignment mechanism.

According to the embodiments described herein, a self-actuating cot can include a support frame, a pair of legs, and a hydraulic actuator. The support frame can extend from a front end to a back end. The pair of legs can be in movable engagement with the support frame. The hydraulic actuator can be in movable engagement with the pair of legs and the support frame. The hydraulic actuator can and extend and retract the pair of legs with respect to the support frame.

A first transport apparatus includes a deck for supporting a patient thereon and a lift mechanism supporting the deck. The deck is removable from the lift mechanism for use as a second transport apparatus or part of a second transport apparatus. The first transport apparatus further includes an electrically powered device at the first transport apparatus, and a user input device for wireless control of the electrically powered device, which is operable at or near the first transport apparatus and the second transport apparatus.