US 11,679,041 B2
Patient transport apparatus with auxiliary wheel assembly
Kevin M. Patmore, Plainwell, MI (US); and Henry Kuhnen, Mount Pleasant, SC (US)
Assigned to Stryker Corporation, Kalamazoo, MI (US)
Filed by Stryker Corporation, Kalamazoo, MI (US)
Filed on Aug. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/460,650.
Application 17/460,650 is a continuation of application No. 16/204,100, filed on Nov. 29, 2018, granted, now 11,129,760.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/592,940, filed on Nov. 30, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0386603 A1, Dec. 16, 2021
Int. Cl. A61G 1/02 (2006.01); A61G 7/05 (2006.01); A61G 7/08 (2006.01)
CPC A61G 1/0268 (2013.01) [A61G 1/0237 (2013.01); A61G 7/0528 (2016.11); A61G 7/08 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A patient transport apparatus for transporting a patient over a surface, the patient transport apparatus comprising:
a support structure comprising a base and a patient support surface;
support wheels coupled to the base;
an auxiliary drive assembly coupled to the support structure and comprising an auxiliary driver movable relative to the base from a stowed position to a first deployed position and further to a second deployed position, the stowed position being spaced from the surface and the second deployed position being in contact with the surface; and
an actuator system operatively coupled to the auxiliary driver and configured to move the auxiliary driver relative to the base from the stowed position to the first deployed position and further to the second deployed position, the actuator system comprising:
a first actuation device operable to move the auxiliary driver from the stowed position to the first deployed position in a first stage of the auxiliary driver, and
a second actuation device operable to move the auxiliary driver from the first deployed position to the second deployed position in a second stage of the auxiliary driver, wherein each of the first and second actuation devices is operable separately from the other of the first and second actuation devices to move the auxiliary driver.