Semi-rigid air pallet type patient mover

An air pallet type patient mover for frictionless movement of a hospital patient over a relatively soft or depressible underlying relatively fixed support surface, said patient mover comprising:

• top, intermediate, and bottom, thin flexible sheets,
• means for sealing given sheets together linearly to define a plenum chamber between said intermediate and bottom sheets, and at least one backing member cavity between said top sheet and said intermediate sheet,
• said bottom thin flexible sheet including a portion defined by the footprint of the load having a plurality of closely spaced small diameter pinhole type perforations opening directly into the plenum chamber and directly onto said support surface,
• air inlet means communicating with said plenum chamber at one end thereof for permitting low pressure air flow pressurization of the plenum chamber for initially jacking the load and for subsequent discharge through the perforations to create a thin air film between the bottom thin flexible sheet and the support surface,
• the improvement wherein said top and intermediate thin flexible sheets define a backing member cavity, and a semi-rigid sheet is carried by said backing member cavity, extending generally the length of said patient mover, and said semi-rigid sheet is of a width less than the lateral width of said plenum chamber, so as to define with the plenum chamber air dispersion means for insuring air flow throughout the plenum chamber when the air pallet is under load at the time of air pressurization of the plenum chamber and constituting with said bottom thin flexible sheet means for controlling pillowing of the thin flexible sheet material to permit jacking of the semi-rigid sheet constituting the backing member and the load, while preventing ballooning of the thin flexible sheet material,
• and wherein said semi-rigid backing member permits deflection of the patient mover somewhat to conform said patient mover to depressions within the soft depressible support surface due to the mass and contour of the patient carried thereby to permit transport of the patient via the air pallet type patient mover over said support surface.