Scissor-Action Stocking Aid for Users with Reduced Mobility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users with reduced mobility or strength, often due to advanced age, illness, or vascular problems, face difficulties in putting on and taking off therapeutic elastic stockings that require sufficient tensioning force.
Innovation Solution
A device with two elongate supports coupled via a pivoting connection and spacers forming a handle, allowing for easy gripping and minimal force required to tension and position the stockings, enabling users to pull on and off elastic stockings with reduced mobility and strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the user pulls on the elastic stocking directly with hands, then the stocking can be applied to the leg, but the user requires sufficient strength and mobility which is often limited in the target user group
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a pulling aid as an intermediary device between the user and the elastic stocking. The aid includes supports with tensioning elements that engage the stocking, allowing the user to apply the stocking with reduced force requirements. The spacers act as mediators to distribute and transmit the pulling force effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends the interaction from a one-dimensional hand-pulling action to a two-dimensional scissor-like movement of the supports. By moving the supports relative to each other in a planar motion, the device amplifies the user's input force and applies it effectively to the stocking, reducing the direct force requirement on the user.
2Reliability
If the stocking is made with high elasticity to provide therapeutic tension, then the therapeutic effect is improved, but the difficulty of putting on and taking off the stocking increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pulling aid serves as a mediator that bridges the gap between the user's limited capability and the high tension requirements of the elastic stocking. The tensioning elements and spacers work together to gradually apply and release the high elastic force without requiring the user to directly withstand it.
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes dynamic movement of the supports in a scissor-like fashion to progressively apply the elastic stocking to the leg. This dynamic approach allows the high tension to be applied gradually and controlled, making the process manageable for users with limited strength while maintaining the therapeutic effectiveness of the high-elasticity material.
3Device complexity
If the pivoting connection is placed close to the supports, then the device structure is compact, but the force required to operate the device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the pivoting connection at a distance from the supports, utilizing the spacers to create a lever arm in the lateral dimension. This spatial arrangement transforms the force application, allowing the user to operate the device with reduced force by exploiting the mechanical advantage created by the extended pivot position.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device facilitates easy application and removal of elastic stockings with reduced force and mobility requirements, making it suitable for users with limited strength and mobility, while maintaining the necessary tension for therapeutic effect.
Implementation Method 1
two mutually coupled elongate supports (5a, 5b)... coupled by an intermediate pivoting connection (6)... with which the supports can be moved in the manner of scissors
Implementation Method 2
the pivoting connection is placed at a distance from the supports in a frontal plane by means of spacers (9a, 9b)... an optimal balance between the force to be exerted and the degree of widening (opening out) of the elastic stocking is achieved
Implementation Method 3
therapeutic elastic stocking... For a good therapeutic effect the elastic stocking must exert pressure on the leg with a determined tensioning force... an elastic stocking can be opened out and tensioned with little force
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an aid for pulling an elastic stocking on and off. The aid comprises two mutually coupled elongate supports having in a tensioning position a proximal gripping end and a distal tensioning end, wherein the coupling comprises a pivoting connection which is placed between the two outer ends and with which the supports can be moved in the manner of scissors The supports each comprise a first tensioning element between the distal outer end and the pivoting connection, which elements form an adjacently placed pair over which an elastic stocking can be arranged so as to be pulled on and a second tensioning element, which elements form an adjacently placed pair for pulling off the stocking. The aid is hereby suitable for pulling, in particular therapeutic, elastic stockings on as well as off.