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.

Disclosed is a liftable hospital bed, comprising a bedplate base frame (1) symmetrical about a transverse central plane and a longitudinal central plane, wherein two ends of the bedplate base frame (1) are provided with bed leg rods (2), the lower end of the bed leg rods (2) being hinged to a first roller device (3) in contact with the ground and the upper end of the bed leg rods (2) being connected to a second roller device (4), the second roller device (4) being slidable in tracks (5) on the bedplate base frame (1) and the tracks (5) being parallel to a longitudinal axis of the bedplate base frame (1); connecting rods (6) are hinged to the bed leg rods (2); and a turnover mechanism is further provided for changing included angles between the bed leg rods (2) and the bedplate base frame (1) to lift the bedplate base frame (1), the turnover mechanism comprises the connecting rods (6) and a thrust mechanism, end portions of the thrust mechanism drive the connecting rods (6) to rotate via a hinged four-rod mechanism (7), and the connecting rods (6) drive the bed leg rods (2) to turn over relative to the bedplate base frame (1), so that the lifting of the hospital bed is realized.

According to one embodiment, a roll-in cot may include a support frame, a pair of front legs, a pair of back legs, and a cot actuation system. The pair of front legs may be slidingly coupled to the support frame. Each front leg includes at least one front wheel. The pair of back legs may be slidingly coupled to the support frame. Each back leg includes at least one back wheel. The cot actuation system includes a front actuator that moves the front legs and a back actuator that moves the back legs. The front actuator and the back actuator raises or lowers the support frame in tandem. The front actuator raises or lowers the front end of the support frame independently of the back actuator. The back actuator raises or lowers the back end of the support frame independently of the front actuator.

A stretcher including a support frame for supporting a patient, front legs and rear legs rotatably coupled to the support frame around a respective first and second rotation axis. Each front and rear leg supports respectively a front wheel holder frame hinged to the respective front leg around a first oscillation axis parallel to the first rotation axis and supporting a front wheel resting on a rest plane and a rear wheel holder frame hinged to the respective rear leg around a second oscillation axis parallel to the second rotation axis and supporting a rear wheel resting on a rest plane. The stretcher has a handling arrangement for the front wheel holder frame and the rear wheel holder frame, and a control module configured to keep the first and second pivot axes always orthogonal to the rest plane on which the front and rear wheels roll.

An ambulance stretcher, including a support frame for supporting a patient; a pair of front and rear legs, each having a front and rear wheel, respectively; an actuation arrangement provided with front and rear actuators, which move the front and rear legs, respectively; a front coupling body connected to the support frame; a control unit of the coupling body including a first sensor configured to detect a correct positioning of the coupling body in a respective support coupling of an automatic loading/unloading apparatus of an ambulance, a second sensor configured to detect a load bearing on the coupling body; a release arrangement configured to operate a release between the coupling body and the support coupling; and an electronic control unit configured to actuate one of the actuation arrangement and the release arrangement as a function of a signal received from the first and/or second sensor of the control unit.

A lifting mechanism for a bed comprises a leg connecting a foot to a frame for supporting a mattress, the frame defining a support plane; an actuator; a drive linkage mechanism comprising a drive input link pivotally connected to the frame about a first pivot axis and a drive output link pivotally connected to the frame about a second pivot axis; and a leg linkage mechanism comprising a leg input link and a leg output link, the leg input link being pivotally connected to the frame about the second pivot axis and being coupled to the drive output link, and the leg output link being pivotally connected to the frame about a third pivot axis, and wherein a length of the leg input link is shorter than a length of the drive output link.

A lifting mechanism for a bed includes an elongate first leg having a first leg axis; an elongate second leg having a second leg axis and being pivotally connected to the first leg; a carriage assembly slidably connected to the first leg so as to be moveable in a direction substantially parallel to the first leg axis; a guide rail connected to the second leg and having a guide rail axis, the guide rail axis being at a non-zero angle to the second leg axis; and a moveable actuator configured to apply a force to the carriage assembly.