Importance

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Abstract

In this system an inertial reel is mounted beneath a platform, which is carried by a pair of trucks that roll along an overhead rail which is fastened to the ceiling of a hospital corridor or the like. Two, adjustable, rigid handles project downwardly from the platform to be gripped by a patient, who in turn is adapted to be connected by a harness to a retractable tether or cord, which extends downwardly from the inertial reel behind the patient. While gripping the handles the patient may walk beneath the overhead rail, thereby causing the trucks to roll on the rail and to maintain the platform above the patient. If the patient should suddenly stumble or fall, an hydraulic mechanism in the reel automatically brakes the trucks against movement on the rail and resists withdrawal of the cord from the reel, so that the patient is slowly lowered to the floor. The platform is rotatable by the patient 180.degree. relative to the overhead trucks so as to enable the patient to reverse his or her direction of movement. Also the hydraulic mechanism includes a frustum-shaped reel which causes the resistance to the withdrawal of the cord to be decreased slightly as the knees and/or hands of a falling patient reach the floor.

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First Claim