Bed apparatus with urinal and an integral drive mechanism

Claim 1

A bed apparatus with a urinal and an integral drive mechanism for moving the urinal between a closed, storage configuration and an open, use configuration, comprising: a bed frame placed with a cushion unit thereon, a cover pivotally provided at an opening formed in the cushion unit, a urinal slidably held along the longitudinal direction of said bed frame beneath said cushion and mounted by means of a guide frame along the sliding direction thereof, a shielding unit pivotally disposed at a top end of the urinal, normally held, in said closed configuration, in the horizontal state underneath the cushion unit, displaced from said opening, and means for urging said shielding unit toward a vertical state, and a drive mechanism including: a drive means fixed on one of said bed frame and said urinal, a wire, adapted to be driven by said drive means, having two ends, and interconnecting said drive means and said urinal, so as to enable relative movement thereof, stops disposed at respective ends of said wire, a pair of tong pieces projecting from one of the guide frame and the urinal and adapted to engage said stops at the ends of said wire, a tension spring disposed between the tong pieces, connected to the ends of said wire and adapted to take up any slack in said wire, and a connecting rod connected at one end thereof to said cover and at the other end thereof to the guide frame and adapted, in response to movement of said guide frame, to pivot said cover toward the lower side of the bed frame when the urinal faces the opening, thereby uncovering the urinal for use by a person resting on said bed.