Mealtime Partners, Inc.

Specializing in Assistive Dining and Drinking Equipment

December 2021 Independent Eating and Drinking Newsletter

	December Topics: Mealtime Partners Drinking Systems and the Various Mounting Systems Available
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS Mealtime Partners would like to wish all of our readers happy holidays. We appreciate your support and would like to send our best wishes to you and your families. We hope that 2022 will be a safe, healthy, and happy year for you all!

Mealtime Partners Drinking Systems and the Various Mounting Systems Available

We periodically receive enquires about selecting a hands-free drinking system, or what drinking systems will fit on a specific wheelchair. Knowing that some of our readers may be intending to give a loved one a drinking system as a holiday gift we hoped that the following article might make the selection easier. Of course, we love to talk to you and are always happy to help, so please call if we can provide any assistance.

Mealtime Partners, Inc. has several different types of hands-free drinking systems to choose from: the Hydration Backpack with Drinking Tube Positioning; the Front Mounted Drinking System; and the Drink-Partner. They can all be easily attached to a bed or wheelchair and can be positioned to meet the individual user’s need.

For many years the foundation of our hands-free drinking systems has been the method by which they are attached to a wheelchair or bed. Originally all of our drinking systems were mounted using the Mealtime Partners Wheelchair Clamp

The Wheelchair Clamp (Part 4960)

This clamp is designed specifically to attach to a round (i.e., tubular) wheelchair frame and can be oriented in any direction, vertically, horizontally, or on angled parts of the wheelchair frame. It will attach to tubular components ranging from 3/8" to 1-1/4" in diameter. Although designed specifically for wheelchairs, it can be used to clamp onto any piece of furniture or object with tubes or shafts (like bed rails) with the diameters described above.

The opening near the top of the Clamp with a Thumbscrew provides an attachment holder that is an integral part of the Wheelchair Clamp. The integral attachment holder will accommodate either a 5/8” (0.625”) Flex Arm or 1/2" Flexible Conduit that are used with the Mealtime Partners Drinking Systems.

This clamp not only holds the drinking system, but can be clamped to manual or powered wheelchairs (or hospital beds, or anything else with metal rails). However, this clamp requires handles, or rails, etc., to allow it to be attached.

Wheelchairs are constantly evolving. Today, many new innovations have improved complex power wheelchairs. Newer powered wheelchairs, for example, no longer have a tubular frame as the basic structure of the wheelchair. Instead they have molded modules for the wheelbase, seat and back of the chair. Additionally, they use an open arm-rest design that allows the arm-rests to be raised and lowered to permit the user ease of access and exit from the chair. Because the arm-rests lift, they do not have a front support column. These changes have eliminated locations on wheelchairs where the Mealtime Partners Wheelchair Clamp can be attached.

These newer models of powered wheelchair have accessory-mounting hardware built into them as an integral part of the chairs seating system. The hardware takes the form of rectangular rails that have slots in them that are commonly known as T-slots.

T-Slots for Standard or UniTrack

This hardware was intended by the wheelchair manufacturers to allow them to easily mount chair accessories, like the headrest. However, they also allow other items to be mounted on the wheelchair. Mealtime Partners refers to these mounting rails as “slide-tracks”. Depending upon the wheelchair manufacturer, the slide tracks have a single slot or dual slots in them (as shown above). Slide-tracks are found in various locations like the back of the seat, under the arm rests, or on the sides of the seat.

Wheelchairs with slide-tracks often do not have any tubular components to attach the original Mealtime Partners wheelchair mounting accessories. Mealtime Partners has expanded its product line to accommodate attaching its drinking and mounting systems to slide-track mounts. Different wheelchair manufacturers use different sizes of T-slots in their slide-tracks, so Mealtime Partners have different sized T-Nuts to accommodate mounting our products on different sized T-slots. Two examples of the Mealtime Partners mounting systems for track mounting are pictured below.

Flex Arm Holder with Knobs for Slide-Track (Part 4971)	The Attachment Holder for Slide-Track (Part 4973)

The Flex Arm Holder for Slide-Track is used to mount all of our products that use a Flex Arm for mounting and positioning. For example the Front Mounted Drinking System that is mounted on Slide-Track use this clamping system for attaching to a wheelchair. The photographs below show a Front Mounted Drinking System mounted to the slide-track on the side of the seat (in the left photograph) and mounted to the slide-track on the back of the wheelchair in the right photo. Front Mounted Drinking Systems are available in 5 different length Flex Arms (6” – Part 5906; 12” – Part 5912; 18” – Part 5918;  24” – Part 5824; and 30” – Part 5930).

Front Mounted Drinking System Mounted on Side of Wheelchair	Front Mounted Drinking System Mounted on Rear of Wheelchair

The Attachment Holder for Slide-Track is used to attach all of our drinking products that use Flex-Tubing (which is a flexible conduit) to a wheelchair. An example of this application is the Hydration Backpack with Drink Tube Positioning for Slide-Track (Part No. 6557) that is shown below mounted to slide-track on the back of the wheelchair.

Hydration Backpack with Positioning (Rear View)	Hydration Backpack with Positioning (Side View)

Mealtime Partners offers one other hands-free drinking system: The Drink Partner Drinking System. The basic product consists of a cup-holder (also used in our Front Mounted Drinking Systems) that holds a 25-ounce water bottle. There are two different types of mounting systems that are available for Drink-Partner systems. One Drink-Partner Drinking System attaches to both manual wheelchairs that have tubular frames (or handles), and to powered wheelchairs that also have tubular frames. The other type fits on powered wheelchairs that have slide-track rails. In this way the Drink-Partner Drinking System can be mounted to most wheelchairs regardless of the type of wheelchair, thus making the Drink-Partner available for many users.

The Drink-Partner Drinking System for Manual Wheelchairs	The Drink-Partner Drinking System for Wheelchairs with Slide-Track

Typically, the cup holder is mounted to the back of the wheelchair and the bottle inserted into it. The flex tubing guides the drink tube over the user’s shoulder and positions the tip of the drink tube close to the user’s mouth. The Drink-Partner shown in the left photograph can be attached to the wheelchair handle or rail by a clamp that is an integral part of the cup holder. The Drink-Partner shown in right photograph uses a T-Nut that fits into the slide-track to mount it.

When selecting a drinking system please specify what type of wheelchair it will be mounted on for us to make sure that we provide the correct mounting system.

For additional information, or to order a product, please visit our website by clicking here. https://www.mealtimepartners.com/drinking/drinking.htm for help in choosing a drinking system, please call 800-996-8607 or email catherine@mealtimepartners.com.

 

Check Out Our Wonderful Holiday Gift Ideas
A hands-free drinking system can enable someone to drink independently throughout the day and is a gift that they will appreciate all year. Mealtime Partners, Inc. has several different types of hands-free drinking systems to choose from: the Hydration Backpack with Drinking Tube Positioning; the Front Mounted Drinking System; and the Drink Partner. They can all be easily attached to a wheelchair and can be positioned to meet the individual user’s need.
Hydration Backpack with Drink Tube Positioning
Front Mounted Drinking System for Wheelchairs with Slide-Track	Front Mounted Drinking System for Manual Wheelchairs
To view all of the Mealtime Partners drinking products, click here. Remember Mealtime Partners drinking products can be attached to powered wheelchairs with slide rails, manual wheelchairs with handles and/or tubular frames, or hospital beds with plastic or metal bed rails. For additional guidance about how to select the appropriate drinking system for your specific needs, click here.

 

A Holiday Did You Know? Did you know that Frank Epperson invented the Popsicle by mistake? He left a soft drink outside with a stirring stick in it. The next morning it was frozen to the stick. He shared his invention with his friends and later his own children. He called it the POP’s-sicle! Did you know that M&Ms (Mealtime Partners favorite “food group”) are named after the people who invented them: Mars and Murrie? Did you know that people in Switzerland eat the most chocolate in the world, approximately 10 kilos (around 22 lbs) for each person per year? Did you know that French fries were originally from Belgium? Did you know that American’s eat 35,000 tons of pasta a year? Did you know that more Coca Cola is drunk in Iceland than any other country? Did you know that your mouth produces a liter of saliva a day? Did you know that if food is not mixed with saliva, you can’t taste it?