Apparatus for helping a person to get in or out of a bath

摘要

Apparatus for helping a person to get in or out of a bath comprises a seat mounted at the lower end of a carrier which is suspended at its upper end from the upper end of the push rod of a hydraulic jack having its cylinder fixed vertically in position adjacent the end of the bath. The push rod is extended to lift the carrier by supplying mains water to the cylinder under the control of a valve, the push rod being guided vertically and restrained laterally by a pair of fixed vertical guide channels in which run wheels mounted at the end of a cross bar fixed to the upper end of the push rod. The upper end of the carrier simply hooks over the cross bar, and when the push rod is fully extended the carrier hangs from the cross bar with wheels mounted at the back of the carrier at its lower end resting against and restrained by an anchor plate fixed in position above the upper edge of the bath. When the cylinder is exhausted, the push rod retracts so that the seat is lowered into the bath, the wheels running off the plate and down the inside of the bath until the seat reaches the bottom. Any change in inclination of the carrier caused by the wheels following the contour of the bath is accommodated by the upper end pivoting about the horizontal axis of the cross bar. A second example is described in which the seat carrier is also rotatable about the vertical axis of the lifting jack when the seat is in its fully raised position above the bath.