Stretcher

In a stretcher for transporting hospital patients and the like from place to place, which stretcher has a patient-receiving bed portion and a chassis portion supporting said bed portion and means for raising and lowering said bed portion with respect to said chassis portion, said chassis portion having a frame and and caster-wheel assemblies at each corner portion of said frame, all of said caster-wheel assemblies having a swivel frame in which the wheel is rotatably carried and being freely swivelable about a vertical axis when so desired, the improvement which comprises steering means for optionally and selectively turning the vertical plane of one wheel, said steering means being operable from the end of the stretcher opposite that carrying said wheel and including a telescopically extendable and retractable guide member having one end thereof suitably attached to a swivel frame of one wheel, said guide member having a plurality of rigid generally tubular sections of progressively larger cross-sectional dimensions, each of said sections save the largest being only longitudinally slidable into the next larger section, and means for preventing separation of said sections of said telescoping guide member when said guide member is extended to its maximum length, and means operable from a remote portion of the stretcher for turning the upper end of said guide member and through it the angular position of the plane of one wheel.