ABSTRACT A nursing care bed with a wheel chair facility that comprises a bed frame including a head board, a first bed body and a second bed body, the first bed body and second bed body extending longitudinally of the bed frame and spaced away 82779

from each other and each of the first and second bed bodies having one end secured to the corresponding lateral side of the head board, and a wheel chair having casters mounted beneath the bed frame for moving the wheel chair into or out

Patent  Application  Publication    Aug。 31, 2006 Sheet 6 of  8 US 2006/0191073 Al

NURSING  CARE  BED  WITB  WBEEL CBAIR FACILITY

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001]    1。 Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a nursing care bed that is designed for use by the aged persons, physically handicapped persons, sick persons and other like persons who need the nursing care because they cannot support themselves without relying upon the help of some persons who give the nursing care。 In particular, the present inven- tion relates to a nursing care bed with a wheel chair facility that can reduce the burden of the person who gives the nursing care when he or she is moving the aged person or any other person from the bed onto the wheel chair or from the wheel chair onto the bed, ensuring that this movement can be done easily and with  safety。

[0003]    2。 Prior Art

[0004] In the following description, persons  who need some nursing care, such as the aged persons, physically handicapped persons, sick persons and any other similar persons, will be referred collectively to as the “nursed person or persons”, and persons who attend to the nursed persons by giving the nursing care will be referred to as the “nursing person or persons”。

[0005] It is not easy for one nursing person alone to move the nursed person lying on the bed to the stretcher or wheel chair。 The nursed person must suffer some pains during this movement。 To avoid this, there is proposed a bed that incorporates the wheel chair as part of the   bed。

[0006] For example, one conventional  nursing  care bed that is proposed in the Japanese patent application No。 2000-166981 comprises a bed body that can be pided into two sections, that is, the right-side mat section and the left-side mat section, and a wheel chair A storage space for the wheel chair is provided between the right-side mat section and left-side mat section。 The wheel chair is equipped with casters, and is capable of moving into or out of the storage space。 The wheel chair has a back mat part, a seat mat part, a leg mat part and a foot mat part, and further includes a reclining mechanism that may be operated to cause those parts to be folded。 When the respective back mat parts, seat mat parts, leg mat parts and foot mat parts included in the right-side mat section and left-side mat section are placed in their flat positions by operating the reclining mechanism, the right-side mat section and left-side mat section may be placed on the substantially same  plane。

[0007] In another conventional nursing care bed proposed in the Japanese patent application No。 2001-218799, a bedstead that is equipped with a wheel chair forming facility is fitted in the middle of the bed, wherein the bedstead may be pulled out and then the wheel chair may be formed by using the reclining device。 It is described that when a nursed person is being moved from the bed onto the wheel chair, the nursing person can accomplish it simply and  easily。

[0008] In the nursing care bed proposed in the Japanese patent application No。 2000-166981 mentioned above, the entire bed will be disassembled when the wheel chair is to be pulled  out  of the bed。  Thus, this  makes  it  di8icult  to