Abstract: This invention relates to a bed for accommodating heavy persons. The bed is particularly for use in hospitals, where heavy patients have to be treated. The invention provides a bed comprising a frame; a central support section mounted on the frame; two opposite end support sections, one being a head section and the other being a foot section, each mounted for pivoting movement relative to the central section; and drive means for driving the end support sections for pivoting movement relative to the central section; wherein the foot section has a platform which extends at an angle to the plane of the section, and the foot section can pivot to a position where the platform is substantially at ground level. In a particularly preferred embodiment the central section is mounted for pivoting movement about a pivot axis at or near to its edge adjacent the foot section and further comprises drive means for driving the central support section for pivoting movement about said pivot axis.

Abstract: An optical wavelength Bragg grating system has a length of optical waveguide (2) containing a set of Bragg gratings (10, 20, 30) at each of a number of locations along the fibre. Each location is assigned a unique digital code defining the wavelength set (&lgr;1, &lgr;4, &lgr;7; &lgr;1, &lgr;5, &lgr;9; &lgr;3, &lgr;6, &lgr;8) of the gratings at that location. The waveguide (2) is coupled to a wide-band optical source (5) and the combined response from all the grating locations is correlated (16) with each digital code to discriminate responses from the respective grating locations.

Abstract: This invention relates to a bed for accommodating heavy persons. The bed is particularly for use in hospitals, where heavy patients have to be treated. The invention provides a bed comprising a frame; a central support section mounted on the frame; two opposite end support sections, one being a head section and the other being a foot section, each mounted for pivoting movement relative to the central section; and drive means for driving the end support sections for pivoting movement relative to the central section; wherein the foot section has a platform which extends at an angle to the plane of the section, and the foot section can pivot to a position where the platform is substantially at ground level. In a particularly preferred embodiment the central section is mounted for pivoting movement about a pivot axis at or near to its edge adjacent the foot section and further comprises drive means for driving the central support section for pivoting movement about said pivot axis.