SLIDABLE LIFTING SEAT APPARATUS AND METHOD TO ASSIST STANDING UP

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are disclosed to help the elderly or physically impaired individual standing up from a chair, a bench, a wheel chair, a toilet seat, a commode, a rollator seat, a walker seat, or a car seat. The disclosed apparatus to generate lifting thrust for individual to stand up from a chair has a base, a slidable seat pivoted mounted on the base and a lifting spring to reserve the energy on sitting down and release the saved energy on standing up.

Claims

1. A method to reduce the suspending torque on buttocks during sit-to-stand movements to assist individuals standing up from a chair, a bench, a seat cushion, a toilet seat, a commode, a wheel chair, a rollator seat, or a walker seat, said method comprises the following steps: sitting on a slidable seat; motion of sliding forward said slidable seat to reduce said suspension torque; and standing up from said forward slid seat.

2. A slidable seat apparatus to reduce the muscle force required for individual standing up from a chair, a toilet seat, a commode, a wheel chair, a rollator seat or a walker seat, said apparatus comprises: a first means is a stational base for transferring the sitting weight down; a second means to carry buttocks; and a slidable means to slide said second means over said first means linearly toward directions of front and rear ends of said first means.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said slidable means comprises: a slidable portion and a fixed portion; said slidable portion comprises multiple roller assemblies and multiple roller shaft brackets; said roller assembly comprises a roller shaft and two rollers; said rollers are mounted on either end of said roller shaft and are capable to spin on said roller shaft freely; a pair of said roller shaft brackets are mounted on said roller shaft and suspended support the roller shaft and rollers; said fixed portion comprise a pair of long U-shape channels for said rollers to run freely; said long U-shape channels are fixed on the side of said first means facing said second means, positioned in parallel and square to each other, one end of said U-shape channel points to said front end of said first means and the other end of said U-shape channel points to said rear end of said first means, the open side of the first U-shape channel is facing the open side of the second U-shape channel; the first end of said brackets are fixed on the side of said second means facing said first means in two rows to hang said roller shafts in 90 degree angle to said U-shape channels; and Inserting said rollers into the U-shape channel to connect said slidable portion and said fixed potion, and unite said slidable seat apparatus.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein at least one re-track means for pulling back said second means after completed the standing up motion; said re-track means is located between said first means and said second means; the first end of said re-track means is fixed on said first means; the second end of said re-track means is fixed on said second means; upon forward sliding said second means extends said re-track means and builds up energy on said re-track means; and releasing said built up energy on said re-track means pulls back said second means.

5. A method to generate lifting thrust for individual standing up from a chair, a bench, a toilet, a commode, a wheel chair, a rollator, a walker, a car seat or a seat cushion, said method comprises the following steps: sitting on a slidable lifting seat to apply the body weight torque to pre-load a lifting member and reserve spring energy; continuing motion of shifting forward said slidable lifting seat to reduce said body weigh torque on pre-loaded said lifting member; said lifting thrust is trigged as said body weight torque is reduced to smaller than the spring expanding torque which is pre-loaded on said lifting member; and standing up with said lifting thrust generated by releasing said pre-loaded energy from said lifting member.

6. The slidable lifting seat apparatus as recited in claim 2 further comprising: a third means pivoted connected on said front end of said first means; and a lifting member is positioned between said first means and said third means to reserve energy upon said first means is pivoted closed to said third means and to release said reserved energy upon said first means is pivoted opened to said third means.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein said sliding means comprises: a slidable portion and a fixed portion; said slidable portion comprises multiple roller assemblies and multiple roller shaft brackets; said roller assembly comprises a roller shaft and two rollers; said rollers are mounted on either end of said roller shaft and capable to spin on said roller shaft freely; a pair of said roller shaft brackets are mounted on said roller shaft and suspended support the roller shaft and rollers; said fixed portion comprise a pair of long U-shape channels for said rollers to run freely; said long U-shape channels are fixed on the side of said first means facing said second means, positioned in parallel and square to each other; one end of said U-shape channel points to said front end of said first means and the other end of said U-shape channel points to said rear end of said first means, the open side of the first U-shape channel is facing the open side of the second U-shape channel; the first end of said roller shaft brackets are fixed on the side of said second means facing said first means in two rows to hang said roller shafts in 90 degree angle to said U-shape channels; and inserting said rollers into the U-shape channel to connect said slidable portion and unite said slidable seat apparatus.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein at least one re-track means for pulling back said second means after completed the standing up motion; said re-track means is located between said first means and said second means; the first end of said re-track means is fixed on said first means; the second end of said re-track means is fixed on said second means; upon forward sliding said second means extends said re-track means and builds up energy on said re-track means; and releasing said built up energy on said re-track means pulls back said second means.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein said lifting member comprises: a coil spring with top spring arm and bottom spring to transfer the compression load on sitting down and expanding thrust on standing up; said top spring arm is pressing on the side of said first means facing said third means and said bottom spring arm is pressing on the side of said third means facing said first means; both said top and bottom arms are pointing said read end of the first means direction; a pair of spring brackets fixed on the side of said first means facing said third means to hold a spring shaft on both ends of said spring shaft; and said spring shaft connects said spring shaft and said coil spring loosely.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a slidable lifting chair not occupied on raised open position.

[0015] FIG. 2 is the explosive view of a slidable seat in accordance to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the rollers are in the U-channel

[0016] FIG. 3 is the explosive view of a slidable lifting seat in accordance to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the roller shaft is fixed in the roller shaft bracket on the top-seat.

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates the slidable lifting seat on re-tracked and on lowered closed position.

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates the slidable lifting seat on forward slid position.

[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates the sliding means and re-track spring according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates the coil spring and hinge according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrate the long and short sliding means according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 9 illustrates the three phases on sit-to-stand transfer movements.

[0023] FIG. 10 illustrates the suspending weight torque changes according to the amount of trunk leaning and knee bending. Length is defined as a horizontal distance between the sitting trunk and the standing foot. Length A represents normal sitting. Length B represents slightly lean forward trunk. Length C represents fully lean forward trunk. Length D represents standing up.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the convenience of the description, it should not be construed as limiting the novel embodiments of the present invention, which will not be further described in the following embodiments.

[0025] In FIG. 1 illustrates a slidable lifting seat on a regular chair as one of many applications this disclosed invention can be integrated into a seat cushion, a toilet seat, a bench seat, a commode, a wheel chair, a rollator seat, or a walker seat, sofa chair, a car seat, helping individuals standing up from sitting. As shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 the disclosed slidable seat 10 apparatus comprises a top-seat 12 and a fixed-seat 11. The top-seat 12 is capable to move the sitting trunk forward and backward linearly on the fixed-seat 11 on directions of the front end 15 and rear end 16 of the slidable seat 10. The fixed-seat 11 is capable to carry the trunk weight and can be part of chair structure.

[0026] In addition, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, a sliding means comprises a slidable portion and a fixed portion. The slidable portion of the sliding means comprises multiple long roller assemblies 40, a pair of short roller assemblies 54, and multiple roller shaft brackets 13. The roller shaft bracket 13 is the structure parts connecting the long or short roller assembly and the top-seat 12. The long roller assembly 40 comprises a long roller shaft 43 and two rollers 42, the long roller shaft 43 is suspended fixed on a pair of roller shaft brackets 13, a roller 42 is mounted on each end of the long roller shaft 43 and capable to spin on the roller shaft 43 freely. The short roller assembly 54 comprises a short roller shaft and a roller 42, the first end of the short roller shaft is fixed to a roller shaft bracket 13 and a roller 42 is mounted on the second end of the roller shaft 43 and capable to spin on the short roller shaft freely.

[0027] The fixed portion of the sliding means comprises a pair of U-shape channels 41. The U-shape channel 41 is a long U-shape flat channel to provide a flat straight run way track for rollers 42 to travel on. The pair of U-shape channels 41 are fixed on the side of the fixed-seat 11 facing the top-seat 12, positioned in parallel and square to the other U-shape channel 41 and on equal distance from the center line of the fixed-seat 11. The first end of the U-shape channel 41 is pointing to the front end 15 and the second end of the U-shape channel 41 is pointing to the rear end 16. The open side of the U-channel 22 is facing the center line of the fixed-seat 11. Both ends of the channel are closed as the roller travel limits, one of the travel limits 44 is removable and can be re-installed after the rollers 42 are inserted into the U-shape channel 41. The first end of the roller shaft brackets 13 are fixed on the top-seat 12 facing the fixed-seat 11 side, aligned in two lines and in parallel to the U-shape channels 41 on the fixed-seat 11. Inserting the rollers 42 of the roller assemblies into U-channels 22 of the U-shape channels 41 to connects the slidable portion and fixed portion of the sliding means and completes the assembly of the slidable seat. The top-seat 12 is fixed on the roller shaft brackets 13 and the fixed-seat 11 is fixed on the U-shape channel 41.

[0028] On the first phase of sit-to-stand transfer movements, FIGS. 9 and 10, the individual starts the movements with leaning forward and flexion knees while slipping feet backward to reduce the suspending weight torque on a regular chair or seats. Sitting on the slidable seat 10, the individual can start the sit-to-stand transfer movements with leaning forward, flexion knees while keeping his feet fixed on the floor, and sliding forward trunk by pulling forward the top-seat 12 on the slidable seat 10 to minimize the suspending weight torque. Comparing to most of the chairs with limited room for slipping feet backward to reduce the suspending weight torque on standing up, the slidable seat 10 improves the performance on the suspending torque reduction noticeably and makes standing up an easy job for elderly and physically impaired individuals. With sliding forward the top-seat 12 on the slidable seat 10, the individual uses a small amount of muscle power to reduce the suspending weight torque on the first phase of the sit-to-stand transfer movements. In return, the gain in the suspending torque reduction requires less muscle power to stand up. In addition, the muscle used in the first phase of the sit-to-stand transfer movements is a different muscle used in the second phase of the sit-to-stand transfer movements and on different time frame. The muscle used in reducing suspending torque does negative to the muscle to be used on lifting trunk up. The disclosed method is to slide sitting trunk forward to reduce the suspending weight torque before activate muscle to stand up is a superior method and apparatus in efficiency using the muscle power on standing up movements.

[0029] In addition, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 7, the disclosed slidable lifting seat 60 apparatus comprises a slidable seat 10, a seat base 20, at least one coil spring 34, and a spring shaft 30. The slidable seat 10 is pivotally connected to a seat base 20 on the hinge 14 in the front end 15 of the fixed-seat 11. The first part of the hinge 14 is fixed on the fixed-seat 11 facing the seat base 20 side, the second part of the hinge is fixed on the seat base 20. The coil spring 34 is positioned near the front end 15 between the fixed-seat 11 and seat base 20. The top spring arm 31 is pressed against the fixed-seat 11 from the side of facing the seat base 20 and the spring arm is pointing to the rear 16 end, the bottom spring arm 32 is pressed to the seat base 20 from the side of facing the fixed-seat 11. The spring shaft 30 goes through the coil center of the coil spring 34 to loosely limit the movement of the coil spring 34, both ends of the spring shaft 30 are fixed to the spring bracket 33 on the fixed-seat 11 facing the seat base 20 side.

[0030] The slidable lifting seat 60 is raised and opened when the seat is not occupied and the coil spring 34 is expanded and relaxed. The slidable lifting seat 60 is down and closed when the seat is occupied and the coil spring 34 is compressed and loaded. On the first phase of the sit-to-stand transfer movements, the individual leans forward, bends knees, and shifts forward body weight by pulling forward the top-seat 12 on the slidable seat 10. As the top-seat 12 carrying the body weight moving forward, the body weight torque on the coil spring 34 under the fixed-seat 11 of the slidable seat 10 is reducing according to the amount of the forward travel distance. The lifting thrust from the slidable lifting seat 60 and the second phase of the sit-to-stand transfer movements will be triggered when the compressed spring torque becomes greater than the body weight torque. As the pre-loaded coil spring 34 expanded, the expanding spring force pushes the buttocks up and assists the individual standing up from sitting. The saved muscle power can be used to stabilize and balance the rising body on the third phase of the sit-to-stand transfer motion and reduce the risk of falling for elderly and physically impaired individuals. The disclosed method is to slide sitting trunk forward to reduce the body weight torque to trigger the pre-loaded spring expanding torque pushing sitting trunk up to.