Semi-rigid air pallet type patient mover

An air pallet type patient mover for frictionless movement of a patient over a 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 a backing member cavity between the 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 pin hole 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 pressurization of the plenum chamber for initially jacking of 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,
• a semi-rigid backing member within said backing member cavity supporting said load and extending generally the length of said patient mover,
• means for dispersion of air throughout said plenum chamber when the air pallet is under load during air pressurization of said plenum chamber,
• the improvement wherein said semi-rigid sheet is of a width less than the lateral width of said plenum chamber, and wherein foam strips extend longitudinally within one of said plenum chamber and said at least one backing member cavity between said top sheet and said intermediate sheet along the sides thereof outside of said semi-rigid sheet to effect padding completely along the lateral edges of the air pallet type patient mover to eliminate sharp edges at the sides of the patient mover and to thereby minimize the effect of the patient mover edges on radiation lines when said air pallet type patient mover is employed in supporting the patient during X-ray radiation within a cat scan unit or the like.

An air pallet type patient mover for frictionless movement of a patient over a 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 a backing member cavity between the 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 pin hole 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 pressurization of the plenum chamber for initially jacking of 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,
• a semi-rigid backing member within said backing member cavity supporting said load and extending generally the length of said patient mover,
• the improvement wherein said patient mover has a head end and a foot end, said bottom thin flexible sheet has pin hole type perforations extending over a surface portion of approximately one-half of its length at said head end with said foot end thereof being non-perforated, wherein said intermediate and bottom thin flexible sheets are sealed together in a central loop form over a significant portion of the non-perforated foot end of the patient mover, and wherein said air inlet is within the foot end of the patient mover such that low pressure air supplied to said air inlet passes to opposite sides of the sealed loop area of said non-perforated foot end portion to the plenum chamber portion including pin hole type perforations within the bottom thin flexible sheet for sequential jacking of the patient from the foot end to the head end of the patient mover, thereby maximizing the air bearing under the torso of the patient while providing a non-air-bearing portion underlying the legs of the patient with jacking of the patient's legs to the same level as the patient's torso at the plenum chamber portion defined by the pin hole type perforations within the bottom thin flexible sheet.