The Indian Recliner [Prototype #2]

Recliner Production [Day 2]

Recliner Production

Taking off from our 3 ideas discussed in the prototype stage to make our bed recline, we zeroed in on either using an electric car jack and/or the water equilibrium/pump idea as our final mechanism.

After making the prototype of our bed out of wood using the mechanism of the car jack as a lever, we encountered certain problems in the functioning of the bed. The wheel at the side of the bed, connected to the jack, still required considerable amount of manual force to be rotated which cannot be utilized by old people. And this was primarily because wood as a material is heavy and far too flexible and flimsy, compared to metal. So the wood could never really hold the jack together and allow it to offer a smooth transition between 0 to an optimal 75\80 degrees of inclination. In order to overcome this hurdle we decided instead to start with a light metal frame, and replaced the manual car jack with an electric one at a slightly higher cost.

So we started work at a workshop in the city with an access to a welder, lots of scrap metal and power-tools. Immediately, we saw many loopholes appear in our water equilibrium design, though it wasn't exactly impossible to achieve, we decided to shelve it until we finished the other mechanism as we were working against the clock. After about 11 hours of deliberation with the metal frame including some unforeseen re-adjustments and last minute hiccups, we at the end managed to complete the basic frame work including a fully functional electronic reclining mechanism.

The Indian Recliner (Prototype #1)

Click here for Project Brief.

Fully inclined angle of our prototype.

Working the mechanism.

Fully flat position.

The Indian Recliner

Click here to see Prototype #1.

Click here to see Production of Final.

As we gets older our muscles begin to slowly lose their strength and we have difficulties in getting up from our beds or chairs as we don’t have the ability to carry our weight on our back. With an outlook to improve the existing situation of bad design incorporated in reclining beds for the aged at homes, old age homes and hospitals, we are setting out to make it much easier for ‘The Grand Patients’ to be self sufficient in reclining their beds.

There are 2 prevalent systems of reclining beds present in India apart from an electric alternative. One involves the caretaker to physically turn a crank situated at the end of the bed near the foot of the person lying on the bed. The other system has notches on the back of the reclining bed which the caretaker has to manually shift and prop it up with the help of a metal rod. The problem with both lie in the fact that they are extremely hard to negotiate with by the patients\patrons themselves. Also combined with the fact that these beds cost a minimum of twenty thousand rupees, while the electric one can set one back by anywhere between thirty to eighty thousand, a cheaper\handier alternative seems very viable considering the Indian perspective.

We have three proposals -

1. With the help of a set of gears incorporated in the working of the reclining bed, the patient can themselves control the extent of recline of the bed by rolling a small wheel, situated on their side at an arms distance, which is attached to the gears. This motion is facilitated by a counterweight extending from underneath the bed, which helps bring the top half of the bed to a semi upright

position. [Fig 1.2 and 1.2]

Fig. 1.1

Fig. 1.2

2. The patient can control the extent of recline of the bed by pressing two buttons, one for either direction, situated on the side of the bed at an arms distance. These buttons will be connected to a handy\cheap car hydraulic jack situated underneath the bed to move the counter weight.

3. This idea is a pure original. Keeping in mind the original counterweight idea, a motor pump [a simple alternating pump] is used to pump water as a weight to and fro from a tank affixed to the bed, to vary the extent of recline of the bed. There will be two buttons again on the side of the bed which would be connected to the pump. [Fig 2.1 and 2.2]

Fig 2.1

Fig 2.2

The option that turns out to be the most viable after making the prototype and figuring out material and cost will be the decided option to work on.

- Alok Utsav & Siddhanth Shetty

Aquadettes : A short film (click here)

The film is about a 75 year old synchronised swimmer, Margo Bouer, on life, death and synchronised swimming. The group she swims with call themselves the Aquadettes and comprise a group of elderly women wanting to maintain their mobility, and therefore their independence.

A Dining Experience designed for The Elderly suffering from Dementia

(click on the title to check out the link)

This concept could be helpful if we have certain ideas directed towards product based final projects.

Our Objective

I’d like to start off by saying that we’re all nineteen year olds and nowhere near the age to experience what we’re talking about in this blog. Nevertheless, since this project is an effort to create an improvement/assistance in the quality of perception and ability of the aged we are trying to deconstruct their behaviour and practices through observation research and personal experiences.
I came across this statement earlier this month, ‘The youth think the old are foolish but the old know the youth are foolish’, which is an idea many people share, especially in this country, as much as we revere our elders and their wisdom. We’re not here to argue that statement though we hope to disprove it by the outcome of our project.