Tilt mechanism for infant care apparatus

摘要

An infant care apparatus that has a infant bed tilt mechanism that can be accessed by the user in close proximity to the infant mattress and at the mattress level. When the infant care apparatus is an infant incubator, the tilt mechanism is operable internal of the infant compartment. The user can thus be carrying out some procedure on the infant within that infant compartment of the incubator or at the level of the infant bed of an infant warmer and be able to alter the tilt angle of the infant bed (20) without breaking the semi sterile conditions surrounding the infant and its close proximity by manipulation of an actuating mechanism that is situated at the level of the infant bed and in close proximity to the infant. The tilt mechanism itself has a lead screw (26) rotatably mounted to the infant bed (20) and which passes through a threaded nut (28) that is resiliently affixed to the base of the incubator or infant warmer. A ball (32) is fixed to one end of the lead screw (26) which, when the tilt mechanism is locked to keep the bed (20) at a fixed tilt, is held captive by a braking mechanism (30). The braking mechanism (30) allows the user to unlock the lead screw quietly by disengaging the ball (32) so that the lead screw is free to rotate smoothly to adjust the tilt angle of the infant bed and then relock the lead screw quietly to prevent its rotation with respect to the infant bed to lock the infant bed (20) into that new tilt edge.