HOIST CLIP

Background to the invention

The present invention relates to a clip for a patient hoist.

It is well known to provide a clip for a patient harness comprising a headed stud which is secured to the lifting arm of a patient hoist or the like. This type of conventional clip is provided with a slot comprising a first portion through which the head of the stud will pass, a second portion through which the head of the stud will not pass and a passage joining the first and second portions. In order to place the clip on the stud the first portion of the slot is aligned with the head of the stud and moved relative to the stud until the shaft of the stud is disposed in the second portion of the slot. The second portion of the slot may receive the shaft of the stud as a friction fit to discourage unintentional movement of the clip from a working position in which the shaft of the stud is disposed in the second slot portion to a disengageable position in which the shaft of the stud is disposed in the first slot position.

However, often these clips become unintentionally disengaged for example through movement of the patient received in the harness. On solution to this is to provide a narrowed portion at the entrance to the second portion of the slot which requires a degree of force to push the shaft of the stud past. Thus, additional force is required to move the shaft of the stud out of the second portion and the movement of a patient received within the harness is less likely to cause unintentional disengagement of the clip from the hoist.

However, these narrowed portions wear away over time and because this is a gradual process, the wear often goes unnoticed until eventually the shaft of the stud may be simply removed from the second portion without use of additional force as the narrowed portion has worn away to such an extent that there is no additional

resistance experienced when moving the clip from the second position to the first position to disengage the clip from the stud.

There have been several instances where such wear and tear has occurred unnoticed and the clip has become unintentionally disengaged from the hoist, resulting in severe injury and, in some instances, the death of the patient.

There is therefore a need for a clip for a patient harness which is cannot be unintentionally disengaged during use.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention seeks to address the problems of the prior art.

Accordingly, a first aspect of the present invention provides a clip for a patient hoist, the clip comprising a body defining a stud insertion aperture adapted for receiving the head of a stud therethrough, a stud retention aperture adapted to retain at least a portion of a stud therein, and a non-linear channel connecting the stud insertion aperture and stud retention apertures with one another, such that in use the clip is rotatable between a first orientation where the stud may be passed through the stud insertion aperture and a second orientation where the stud is located within the stud retention aperture.

Such an arrangement ensures that once the stud is located within the stud retention aperture, the clip cannot be unintentionally disengaged from the stud as the clip would need to be moved so as to guide the stud along the non-linear channel in order to reach the stud insertion portion where the stud head can be passed through the aperture and the stud removed from the clip. This is not possible simply by a patient shifting in the harness causing intermittent vertical movement of the clip relative to the stud.

In one embodiment, the stud insertion aperture is dimensioned such that it is at least the width of the head of a stud to be received therein in a first axis and less than the width of the head of a stud to be received therethrough in a second axis transverse to the first axis, such that the head of the stud may be received through the stud insertion aperture only by rotation of the clip relative to the stud about the longitudinal axis through the widest part of the stud insertion aperture.

In this way, the insertion and retention of the stud within the clip can be carefully controlled, with the stud having only one point of access to the channel, i.e. via the stud insertion aperture, and a distal stud retention aperture connected to the stud insertion aperture in a non-linear fashion.

In a further embodiment, the width of the non-linear channel is wider than the wide of the neck of a stud to be received therethrough and narrower than the width of the head of the stud to be received therethrough.

This ensures that the stud is retained within the channel of the clip as the channel is not of a sufficient dimension to allow passage of the head of the stud therethrough.

The non-linear channel is preferably a substantially L-shaped channel. However, it will be appreciated that any suitable shape of channel may be employed provided that the channel is non-linear and that rotation of the clip relative to the stud to insert a stud into and remove a stud from the clip is not prevented due to obstruction from the arm of the hoist.

In one embodiment, the non-linear channel defines a portion of restricted width located adjacent the stud retention aperture, the restricted width corresponding to the width of the neck of a stud received within the channel. Preferably, the portion of restricted width is dimensioned such that it is a close frictional fit with the shaft of the stud. Thus, the application of force is required to push the clip relative to the

stud such that the stud is moved from the channel into the stud retention portion, movement of the stud back into the channel again being prevented by the restricted width portion unless there is sufficient application of force to the clip to overcome the close frictional fit.

The stud retention portion may be dimensioned so as to be able to receive the neck of a stud therein but to prevent the passage of the head of the stud therethrough.

The clip may comprise a non-metal material. For example, the clip may comprise any suitable plastics material of sufficient strength and durability for the purpose.

The clip may further comprise at least one harness location portion for securing a conventional patient support harness to the clip.

The or each harness locating portion may comprise an aperture defined by the body.

A further aspect of the present invention provides a harness for supporting a patient, the harness comprising a clip in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a conventional stud connected with a portion of a conventional arm of a patient hoist;

Figure 2 is a front view of a hoist clip in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention shown in the vertical working orientation; and

Figure 3 is a front view of the hoist clip of figure 1 shown in the stud insertion orientation;

Detailed Description of the Invention Figure 1 shows a conventional hoist arm 10 and connected stud 20 arrangement in which the stud 20 is either integral with the arm 10 or, more typically, is welded or otherwise fastened in place relative to the arm 10.

Stud 20 comprises a head 30 and connected shaft 40 connected to arm 10 by means of connecting portion 45 which, as mentioned above, may comprises a weld or other suitable connecting means.

Figure 2 is a front view of a hoist clip 50 in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention.

Hoist clip 50 comprises a body 60 defining a stud insertion aperture 80, stud retaining aperture 90 and channel 100 connecting the one with the other.

Clip 50 is further provided with harness receiving portions in the form of apertures 70 into which a portion of the harness (not shown) is secured, for example by being stitched in place or by any other suitable conventional method or means known to the skilled person.

Stud insertion aperture 80 comprises an aperture wherein the width of the aperture 80 in the direction of axis A in figure 2 (axis B in figure 3) is greater than the width of the aperture in the transverse direction and the width in the direction of axis A is at least equal to the diameter of the head of stud 20.

Stud retention aperture 90 is dimensioned to have a diameter of less than the diameter of the head of stud 20 but greater than the diameter of shaft 40 of stud 20 such that the shaft 40 of stud 20 is able to pass into stud retention aperture 90.

Channel 100 is located between stud insertion aperture 80 and stud retention aperture 90 and is dimensioned such that the width of channel 100 is less than the diameter of head 30 of stud 20 and greater than the width of shaft 40 of stud 20. Channel 20 narrows in width towards stud retention portion 90 such that movement of clip 50 relative to stud 20 to move the shaft 40 of stud 20 into stud retention portion 90 require the application of force to overcome frictional resistance at the narrowed portion of channel 100. Once sufficient force has been applied to push shaft 40 of stud 50 into stud retention aperture 90, shaft 40 of stud 20 is able to freely rotate within stud retention aperture 90 of clip 50 due to the larger diameter of stud retention aperture 90 relative to the narrowed portion of channel 100.

Hoist clip 50 in figure 2 is shown in a vertical working position in which the stud insertion aperture 80 is located vertically above the stud retaining aperture 90 and channel 100, and hoist clip 50 in figure 3 is shown in a horizontal stud insertion position in which the stud insertion aperture 80 and stud retention aperture 90 are located coaxially with horizontal axis B.

In use, clip 50 is oriented as shown in figure 3 and stud insertion aperture 80 is placed adjacent the edge of the head 30 of stud 20. The edge of the head 30 of stud 20 is then pushed at least partially into stud insertion aperture 80 and then clip 50 is rotated relative to the head 30 of stud 20 about an axis running transverse to the longitudinal axis through the shaft 40 of stud 20 i.e. axis B shown in figure 3, until the whole of the head 30 of stud 20 has passed through stud insertion aperture 80.

Once the head 30 of stud 20 has passed through stud insertion aperture 80 and clip 50 returned to an orientation wherein the plane of body 60 of clip 50 is

substantially parallel to the plane of the surface of head 30 of stud 20, the head of stud 20 is located on one side of stud 20, the hoist arm 10 is located on the opposing side of stud 20 and shaft 40 of stud 20 is located at least in part within the stud insertion aperture 80.

Clip 50 is then moved relative to stud 20 so as to move the shaft 40 of stud 20 along channel 100 of clip 50. As shaft 49 of stud 20 is moved along channel 100, force is required to move clip 50 relative to stud 20 so as to move shaft 40 of stud 20 into stud retention aperture 90, as detailed above.

Once within stud retention aperture 90, clip 50 can only be moved relative to clip 50 to return shaft 40 of clip 20 to channel 100 by applying force to clip 50 to move shaft 40 of clip 20 past the narrowed portion of channel 100 located adjacent stud retention portion 90.

Clip 50 is then rotated such that stud insertion aperture 80 and stud retention aperture 90 are no longer aligned vertically i.e. no longer aligned along axis A, but instead are located along axis B (shown in figure 3). Once in this orientation, the widest dimension of stud insertion aperture 80 is located relative to the head 40 of stud 20 such that rotation of clip 50 about axis B results in head 40 of stud 20 is passed back through stud insertion aperture 80 and clip 50 is removed from stud 20.

When clip 50 is in the working configuration as shown in figure 2 with shaft 40 of stud 20 located in stud retention aperture 80, any movement or shifting of the weight of a patient received within the harness (not shown) will not result in accidental removal of clip 50 from stud 20 due to the force required to move stud 20 from stud retention aperture 90 due to the narrowed portion of channel 100.

Over time, should the narrowed portion wear and become wider such that no significant force is required to accidentally move the stud 20 and stud retention portion 80 of clip 50 out of engagement with one another such that stud shaft 40 moves into channel 100, the clip will still not be accidentally disengaged from stud 20 of hoist arm 10 as the clip 50 cannot be removed from stud 20 without rotation of clip 50 relative to stud 20 to allow head 30 of stud 20 to pass through stud insertion aperture 80 due to the asymmetric nature of the aperture of stud insertion aperture 80.

This rotation cannot be achieved whilst a patient is located within the harness as the force applied to the clip 50 is a downward force relating to the weight of the patient and harness being support on the hoist arm 10 by means of clip 50. In order to rotate clip 50 relative to shaft 40 of stud 20 sufficiently to allow the passage of stud head 30 through stud insertion aperture 80 i.e. about around 90°, the weight of the patient would need to be removed from clip 50. Thus, even if the narrowed portion of channel 100 became worn, there is no danger of accidently disengagement of the clip 50 from stud 20 and therefore there is no risk to the safety of a patient supported in a harness suspended on the hoist arm 10 of a patient hoist due to unintentional disengagement of clip 50 from stud 20.

Although aspects of the invention have been described with reference to the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise embodiment shown and that various changes and modifications may be effected without further inventive skill and effort. For example, although the clip is in figures 2 and 3 is shown as being rotated about 90° between stud insertion orientation (figure 3) and working orientation (figure 2), it will be appreciated that the angle of rotation may vary in dependence upon the precise application of the clip and the design of the hoist arm itself.