Importance

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Abstract

This restraint mechanism utilizes a flexible tether or cord, which is attachable at one end to a harness or garment worn by a patient, or the like, and which is attached at its opposite end to an inertial reel. The reel may be mounted for travel in a track or groove formed in a ceiling of a room or the like, or it may be fixed to the ceiling, or even to an overhead frame on a walker. A spring in the reel normally tends to retract the tether to maintain slight tension therein when it is attached to the patient's harness. If the patient should suddenly fall, a centrifugally or hydraulically operated safety mechanism in the reel immediately resists rotation of the reel in an unwinding direction, thereby causing the patient to be lowered gently to the floor. Also, should the tether suddenly be released from the patient's harness, the reel includes a centrifugally or hydraulically operated mechanism for preventing sudden retraction of the tether into the reel. The harness itself may be a garment worn by the patient, or may comprise a plurality of straps wrapped around the patient, and attached by releasable clamps to the lower end of the tether, or to a yoke member attached to the lower end of the tether. The garment or straps may have 'Velcro' type closures for releasably securing surfaces thereof together.

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First Claim