DE20002305U1 - Modules furniture arrangement - Google Patents

Description

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SCHROETER FLEtl.OHAlJ? .tEHfvfA&k^ GALLO

PATENT ATTORNEYS · EUROPEAN PATENT & TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS
WOLFRATSHAUSER STR. 145 · D-81479 MUNICH

New German utility model application

Berthold Nubert 9 February 2000

Our reference: nub-10-de Fi/ho

Modules furniture arrangement

The present invention relates to a modular furniture arrangement for medical practices, in particular dental practices with cabinet-like modules, namely a doctor module, a head module and an assistant module.

The ergonomically correct placement of treatment instruments plays a very important role in the dental treatment process. On the one hand, the dentist uses a certain group of instruments that he takes directly from a tray, and on the other hand, his assistant hands him another specific group of instruments, devices or materials to use during treatment. This involves a large number of instruments, devices and materials that often have to be in the right place at a very specific time, i.e. available to the dentist. These instruments etc. have to be stored near the treatment site or be able to be brought to the site extremely quickly and be able to be put away again just as smoothly and quickly.

To meet this requirement, fixed furniture arranged around the patient's chair is known, in whose drawers the necessary instruments are stored. There are also mobile treatment trolleys that have to be pulled over by the attending doctor or assistant, which block the space around the patient to be treated and have to be put away again after the treatment. There are also treatment sets that are arranged so as to be suspended above the patient's chair and can have an oppressive effect on the patient in one case or another.

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It is an object of the present invention to provide a furniture arrangement with which the disadvantages of the aforementioned prior art can be avoided or at least greatly reduced.

The problem is solved with a modular furniture arrangement for doctor's offices, in particular dentist's offices with cabinet-like modules, namely a doctor's module, a head module and an assistant's module, which are arranged essentially in a U-shape relative to one another, for which purpose the assistant's module and the doctor's module enclose the essentially transversely oriented head module between them as legs of the U, characterized in that the doctor's module and the assistant's module each have drawers arranged one above the other at their free end which can be pivoted about essentially vertical axes from a work surface common to all modules into a work position.

With such a furniture arrangement, the ergonomic, optical or psychological disadvantages mentioned above can be eliminated in an advantageous manner. In a particularly advantageous manner, it is possible to ensure that the instruments remain largely invisible to the dentist in the immediate vicinity of the patient at the dentist's chair, who works according to humane, non-technically conspicuous working methods, while the attending doctor is still able to access all the instruments he needs. This is made possible by the swiveling, advantageously circular drawers, which in the furniture arrangement according to the invention reach so close to the dentist's reach that he always has all the instruments or materials he needs within reach. The drawers according to the invention can advantageously be provided with removable trays, which can have compartments for instruments and materials and are easy to keep clean because they can be removed. In an advantageous development of the invention, the drawers are provided with advantageously pre-tensioned locking devices, which preferably hold the drawers in a resting or working position. The pre-tension of the locking devices is advantageously selected in such a way that a certain basic resistance must be overcome in order to move the respective drawer from its rest or working position into a different position. Once brought into one or the other position, however, the doctor can blindly rely on reaching into the drawer, for example in the working position, in order to take out a certain instrument. The drawers arranged one above the other also have the advantage that the doctor, who has developed a certain sense of height coordination due to his practice, can actually blindly open a drawer of his choice in order to then

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The required instrument can be removed from the selected location or deposited again after use. Closing a drawer according to the process just described can also be done without the doctor having to visually orient himself on the drawer. In an advantageous development of the invention, the vertical pivot axis of the drawer is arranged as close as possible to the walls of the modules facing the inside. This maximizes the pivoting range of the drawers.

A further advantageous development of the invention is that the doctor module and/or the assistant module of the modular furniture arrangement each have a seat that can be pulled out telescopically and/or swiveled in the direction of the patient chair next to the swiveling drawers. Since the doctor, especially the dentist and his assistant, usually work sitting down, they use mobile work chairs in conventional furniture arrangements. The disadvantage of this is that the generally very narrow space between the treatment chair and the furniture arrangement is further narrowed or completely blocked by one or even two work chairs. The doctor or assistant driving back and forth with mobile work chairs also has the disadvantage that work processes are interrupted, even if only briefly, and unpleasant breaks arise for the doctor, the assistant and the patient. With a seat that can be pulled out telescopically and/or swiveled in the area of the drawers towards the patient chair according to the invention, the cumbersome work chairs are advantageously no longer necessary. Like the drawers described above, they can disappear into the free end area of the doctor module and/or assistant module when they are not needed.

For a better understanding, the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to drawings.

Figure 1 shows a modular furniture arrangement according to the invention from the side, seen

from the viewpoint of a treatment chair not shown.

Figure 2 shows the furniture arrangement shown in Figure 1 from above with a schematic sketch of a patient and a doctor treating him.

Figure 3 shows the furniture arrangement according to Figure 1 seen from the left side.

Figure 4 shows the furniture arrangement according to Figure 1, seen in the direction of arrows A-A

of Figure 1.

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Figure 1 shows a modular furniture arrangement 1 with a doctor module AM, an assistant module HM and a so-called head module KM. The doctor module AM and the assistant module HM carry swing-out drawers L arranged one above the other, which are arranged so as to be pivotable about vertical axes VA. The head module KM, which is arranged transversely between the doctor module AM and the assistant module HM and connects them, houses a hand wash basin 2. Furthermore, facilities not to be considered in detail, such as connections, devices, sockets, etc., are housed here. The head module KM also contains storage space for devices and material, for example also containers for waste material, which can be fed through openings 3 and 4 in a cupboard side wall.

Figure 2 shows a drawer L that has been swung out of the doctor's module AB in its working position AS, schematically, with the swivel axis VA easily visible, around which the drawer L can be brought from a rest position RS (shown here hidden) into the working position AS. A doctor, shown schematically in Figure 2, treating a patient who is also sitting on a treatment chair can, as can be clearly seen in Figure 2, reach into the drawer L in an ergonomically optimal manner and remove or put back the required instruments. To do this, he grabs a handle knob marked 5 on a drawer L, for example, and turns it towards himself about a vertical axis VA in order to position it in a working position AS. Once he has used the instruments he needs, he can, for example, swing the swung-out drawer back into its rest position RS with just an elbow or hip movement. On the right-hand side of the furniture arrangement shown in Figure 2, the assistant's module HM can be seen, from which no drawer L has been swung out in this illustration. The drawers, which are preferably shown as circular, are very conveniently placed one above the other in the assistant module and, as shown in Figure 2, are arranged so that they can be swung out, roughly axially symmetrical to the arrangement of the drawers in the doctor's module AM. It is easy to see in this illustration that a large passage is kept free between the doctor or patient module and the assistant module, for example for the assistant or other people required for treatment, while at the same time all the drawers in the assistant module, containing all the necessary instruments, are ready for immediate use in the immediate vicinity.

Figures 3 and 4 show the doctor's module from the outside and show the drawers L arranged conveniently one above the other or the assistant's module with drawers shown as examples, how they are arranged so that they can be conveniently operated or used from the position of the treating doctor on the one hand and at the same time from the position of an assistant.

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The modular furniture arrangement according to the invention has been described in the present case in particular for use in a dentist's office. However, the person skilled in the art will recognize that this arrangement can be used in the same way for doctors from other faculties, for example oral surgeons, ophthalmologists, etc.

Claims (5)

1. Modular furniture arrangement for doctor's offices, in particular dentist's offices with cupboard-like modules, namely a doctor's module, a head module and an assistant's module, which are arranged essentially in a U-shape with respect to one another, the assistant's module and the doctor's module enclosing the essentially transversely oriented head module (KM) between them as legs of the U, characterized in that the doctor's module (AM) and the assistant's module (HM) each have drawers (L) arranged one above the other at their free end which can be pivoted about essentially vertical axes (VA) from a rest position (RS) common to all modules into a working position (AS). 2. Modular furniture arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the drawers (L) have removable trays (W) for instruments and consumables. 3. Modular furniture arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the drawers (L) have (spring-)preloaded locking devices (RE) which preferably hold the drawers (L) in the rest position (RS) and in the working position (AS). 4. Modular furniture arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the vertical pivot axes (VA) are arranged in the vicinity of walls (IW) of the modules (AM, HM) facing the inside. 5. Modular furniture arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the doctor's module (AM) and/or the assistant's module (HM) each have a seat which can be telescopically extended and/or pivoted in the direction of the patient's chair next to the pivotable drawers (L).