US3191599A - Restraining harness - Google Patents

Description

June 29, 1965 s. s. KENDELL 3,191,599

RESTRAINING HARNESS Filed 000. 29, 1962 FIG-2 INVENTOR.

SARA S. KENDELL ATTORNEYS United States Patent The present invention relates to safetybelts or harnesses, especially for use in hospitals and nursing homes.

In certain types of sickness, and sometimes in convalescence, the patient becomes abnormally restless, often shifting his position across the bed and unless restrained, might roll off the edge and suffer injury. Various forms of harness have been devised to provide this restraining effect but most, if not all, allow so little movement, even in the permissible directions, that the patient would never wear the harness voluntarily as a safety measure.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a belt or harness of light weight, completely devoid of buckles and which will allow reasonable movement on the part of the patient while preventing any extreme movement as might result in injury. 7

Another object is to provide a belt or harness of the type mentioned which is inexpensive to manufacture, readily cleansed and easily applied, even by an inexperienced person.

Other objects and features will be apparent as the specification is perused in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 represents a fragmentary view of the improved harness or belt as applied to a patient lying in bed;

FIGURE 2 shows an enlarged view of the harness held to a shape as readily-would be applied to a patient;

FIGURE 3 depicts a fragmentary sectional View, somewhat enlarged, and taken along line 33 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 depicts the manner in which the harness can be applied to a patient in a chair; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of the improved harness.

Referring more particularly to FIGURE 2, reference character 1 represents a long strip of interwoven webbing of a strong and non-stretchable character. The webbing may be made of heavy cotton yarn tightly knitted together. The webbing may, for example, be about one inch wide and possibly one-eighth inch thick but of dimensions depending upon the use to which the harness is to be put, i.e., whether for man, woman or child and the amount of restraint necessary.

At a position approximately one-fourth of the distance from the end 2 of the strip, there is a heavy inside layer 3 of soft white felt of about one foot long and sewed, as indicated at 4, to the webbing or strip. This felt layer may, if desired, be somewhat wider than the width of the Webbing in order to add greater comfort across the shoulder to the wearer as will be more fullydescribed hereinafter.

One end of the webbing 1 is sewed as indicated at 5 "ice apart at the top as seen in FIGURE 2 and are so positioned as to rest lightly about the shoulders of the wearer. The strip 10 is provided at positions represented by the breast bone in front and at the middle of the back, just below the shoulder blades of the wearer, with short loops of webbing material sewed at the ends to the different portions of the strip 10. These loops preferably lie along the outside surface of the strip when the harness is in position to be placed over the shoulder of the wearer. These short strips are of a length as loosely to receive the front and back portions of the webbing l. The latter is therefore adapted freely to slide within the loops and thus accommodate the harness as a whole to the body of the wearer. The lower end 12 of the strip 10 is made fast to the webbing 7 as by sewing 13 so that the ends 2 and 12 are fixedly secured to the webbing 7 at approximately the opposite ends of the felt 8. The sewed end portions of strips 1 and 10 are preferably positioned between the felt layer and the strips in order that only the soft material 8 presses against the body.

When it is desired to restrain a patient in bed for safety reasons, the harness is held in the position shown in FIG- URE 2 and gently dropped over the head of the patient as seen in FIGURE 1 with the felt members 3 resting on the shoulders. The felt layer 8 is laid across the abdomen of the patient as indicated in FIGURE 1 and the lower hand loop 11 (FIGURE 2) and the lower ends of the to a wide strip of webbing material designated at 7. The

middle portion of the webbing is intended to encircle the waist of the wearer. In order to make this encirclement more comfortable, a heavy layer 8 of soft felt, wider than the strip if desired, may be sewed as indicated at 9 to the inside surface of the strip 7. It will be noted that this felt layer, which may perhaps be about twelve inches long, is positioned about midway of the length of the strip 7.

There is a third piece of webbing 10 employed in the improved harness. This webbing or strip is formed of similar character, width, thickness and length as the webbing 1. The webbing 10 is provided with an inside layer of soft felt 3 sewed as indicatedat 6 to the webbing. The felt layers 3 and their attached webbing can be spread strips are also looped and/or tied to the opposite bed rails as indicated at 14.

It will be noted that the short piece of webbing 11 which in effect form eyelets for loosely receiving the strip 1 constitute soft fiat elements, in contradistinction to metal buckles so that there can be no irritation to the front or rear portion of the body of the wearer. In other words, the patient can lie comfortably down on these loops since they are of flat character and the Webbing is relatively soft.

These loosely fitting loops 11 serve the purpose of not only holding the strips 1, 10 together with their sewed ends 2, 12 in position, but also, permits parts of the bar ness to adjust itself to the body of the patient and the only restraining effects are exercised by the pull at the lower ends of the strips Where connection can be made to the bed rail so that in this case the amount of restraining force is already adapted to the particular circumstances.

It will be apparent that the patient shown in FIGURE 1 could quite readily come to a half reclining position from the prone position without any need for loosening the bed rail turns, and with a small loosening effect, the patient can easily come to a full sitting position while still being restrained in a sidewise direction. On the other hand, if a rigid rest-raining effect is desired, it is merely necessary to exercise a more than normal pull on the lower ends of the strips 1, 10 and securely tie these strips to the bed rail.

The improved harness is also of assistance in restraining a patient while seated in a chair as shown in FIGURE 4. The chair is indicated at 15. The strip 7 which passes around the abdomen of the patient is merely looped or tied to the back stays of the chair while the rear portions forward at the waist and yet be securely fastened to the chair so as to be unable to fall out of the chair sidewise.

It is evident that I have disclosed a new form of restraining harness which can be applied equally to mildly or violently re-active patients whether man, woman or child, depending on the weight of the harness, thickness an-d'width of the webbing, etc. It is equally suitable to bed or chair use and yet the harness in all cases would rest comfortably on the shoulders and about the waist of the patient with no metallic objects necessary for tightening purposes.

The webbing is extremely strong and responds only to a laborious cutting effect. It is very comp-act in nature and thus, can be readily stored in large numbers within small boxes in hospitals and nursing homes. Upon being removed from the storage box it is available for instant use since, as it has already been stated, the various parts accommodate themselves to the body on account of the sliding effect exercised at the short lengths 11. The harness is of such a light character that it has none of the earmarks of .a strait jacket .and yet it will perform all the functions of a strait jacket as far as bed and chair use is concerned without any reticence on the part of a patient who merely needs a mild restraining effect from voluntarily using the same.

One of the chief advantages of the improved harness is the matter of its inexpensiveness of construction as the webbing, land the inside felt layers may be procured at low cost and all of the joints are obtained solely through an inexpensive sewing operation. There are no metal buckles employed, which are not only expensive, but sometimes are a source of danger to the patient, in fact, there is absolutely nothing about the harness by which a patient could suffer injury of any kind.

It may sometimes be necessary, but only in violent cases, to bind the wrists of a patient as well as provide for the sidewise restraining oifered by the harness illustrated in FIGURES 1 through 4. The improved harness lends itself to the use of an accessory which can readily be employed'for arm or Wrist restraint. In FIGURE 5 there is-shown a pair of strips of webbing attached to the abdomen strip 7 at the sewing 16 at positions beyond the ends of the soft felt layer 8. The strips 15 terminate in self-gripping buckles 17 of any suitable and well known type and which normally loosely receive the strips. Thu-s, loops are formed which can be enlarged at the buckles to slip over the hands of the patient and tighten against the Wrists. Soft layers of felt 18 may be secured as indicated at 19 to the interior surface of the loops so as not to .abrade the skin when the buckles are tightened.

It will be noted in FIGURE 5 that the improved harness when provided with the wrist locks are all complete in that whenever it is necessary to mildly restrain a patient for sidewise movement in the bed, and also provide ref straint at the wrists, the application of the harness will take care of all of the restraint, whatever may be necessary. The wrist locks may be left on the harness and not used in case it is desired to provide only a sidewise restraint. The wrist restraints can be applied while the harness is already in place and the patient is restrained in a prone or sitting position.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order toadapt it to different usages and conditions; and accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: I

1. A restraining harness for a patient comprising a pair of strips of flexible material, one of said strips having a pair of loops for loosely receiving two separate portions of the other strip to form crossing points at the front and back of the harness, the upper portions of the strips between the crossing poin-ts being adapted to pass over the opposite shoulders of the patient, a third strip of flexible material being adapted to pass around the abdomen of the patient, one set of ends of said pair of strips being secured at separate positions to said third strip, and the ends of all the strips except said one set of ends extending down the back and also from opposite sides of the patient and adapted to be wrapped around stationary objects whereby a pull on the shoulder and abdomen strips causes restraint to be exercised on the patient.

2. A restraining harness for throwing over the shoulders and encircling the waist of a patient, said harness comprising a pair of strips of flexible material, one of said strips being provided with a pair of loops of webbing material sewed to the strip for loosely receiving the other strip at separate crossing points at the front and back of the harness, respectively, said crossing'point-s coinciding approximately with the breast bone of the patient and a position just below the shoulder blades, the upper portions of the strips between the crossing points being adapted to pass over the opposite shoulders of the patient, .a layer of flexible felt sewed to the inside surface of the Webbing Where the strips come into con-tact with the shoulders, a third strip of webbing material adapted to pass around the abdomen of the patient, a layer of soft felt sewed to said third strip at least over that portion that comes in contact with the abdomen, the ends of the Webbing material represented by the lower portions of the strips below the back crossing point extending downwardly along the back of the patient and adapted to be secured to a stationary object, the ends of the strip which passes around the abdomen extending outwardly from the patient and adapted to be secured to a stationary object whereby tightening of any of the strips below the front and back crossing points and also the strips beyond the abdomen portion serves to apply restraint tothe patient within the harness.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,245,293 6/41 Ogburn 128134 2,252,357 8/41 Shaw 128-134 2,289,726 7/42 Prespare 128134 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner,

Claims (1)

1. A RESTRAINING HARNESS FOR A PATIENT COMPRISING A PAIR OF STRIPS OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL, ONE OF SAID STRIPS HAVING A PAIR OF LOOPS FOR LOOSELY RECEIVING TWO SEPARATE PORTIONS OF THE OTHER STRIP TO FORM CROSSING POINTS AT THE FRONT AND BACK OF THE HARNESS, THE UPPER PORTIONS OF THE STRIPS BETWEEN THE CROSSING POINTS BEING ADAPTED TO PASS OVER THE OPPOSITE SHOULDERS OF THE PATIENT, A THIRD STRIP OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL BEING ADAPTED TO PASS AROUND THE ABDOMENT OF THE PATIENT, ONE SET OF ENDS OF SAID PAIR OF STRIPS BEING SECURED AT SEPARATE POSITIONS TO SAID THIRD STRIP, AND THE END OF ALL THE STRIPS EXCEPT SAID ONE SET OF ENDS EXTENDING DOWN THE BACK AND ALSO FROM OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE PATIENT AND

Images