AU2009100445A4

AU2009100445A4 - A connector for securing a tether strap of a child safety seat

Info

Publication number: AU2009100445A4
Application number: AU2009100445A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Wieslaw Maciejczyk
Original assignee: Britax Childcare Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Britax Childcare Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2004-06-09
Filing date: 2009-05-12
Publication date: 2009-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2013-06-09
Also published as: AU2010101338A4; AU2010101338B4; AU2009100836B4; AU2008100763B4; AU2009100836A4; AU2008100763A4; AU2008100765A4; AU2008100764A4; AU2012202655A1; AU2007100856B4; AU2009100837A4; AU2007100856A5; AU2007100854B4; AU2009100835B4; AU2008100765A8; AU2009100837B4; AU2007100854A5; AU2009100835A4; AU2009100445B4; AU2008100764B4

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR AN INNOVATION PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: Britax Childcare Pty Ltd Actual Inventor: Wieslaw Maciejczyk Address for Service: C/- MADDERNS, First Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: A CONNECTOR FOR SECURING A TETHER STRAP OF A CHILD SAFETY SEAT The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

2 FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to child safety seats and in particular to connectors to secure tether straps and harnesses used with child safety seats. 5 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In current child safety seats, the child is restrained in the safety seat by a child harness, which is connected at the top and bottom to the shell of the safety seat. The seat 10 shell itself is connected to the vehicle by means of the vehicle seat belt, for example a lap and/or sash belt. In addition, it is usual to have a tether strap connected between the shell and a vehicle anchorage point. Typically, an upper tether strap is connected to a vehicle anchorage point on a shelf behind the rear seat using a latching hook connector. 15 However, the shell of a child safety seat can have imperfections and weak points, which may give way in the event of a collision, thereby compromising the safety of the infant. Furthermore, children of different sizes are not always sufficiently restrained in the safety seat. 20 It is an object of the present invention to reduce or eliminate some or all of the disadvantages of conventional child safety seat arrangements. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 25 Accordingly, the present invention provides a connector for securing the tether strap of a child safety seat to an anchor point of a motor vehicle and for attaching thereto a harness of said child safety seat, the connector comprising: a body, a connection means at one end of the body for attaching the connector to said 30 anchorage point of the motor vehicle, a first aperture in the body through which said tether strap locates; and a second aperture in the body to which the upper end of said harness is attached.

3 Current arrangements rely on the mechanical integrity of the seat shell of the child safety seat to secure the child with respect to the vehicle. In the event of a collision, the collision loads are applied to the seat shell. Therefore, the safety of the infant is dependent on the integrity of the seat shell. However, this disadvantage is alleviated with the present 5 invention, wherein the harness can be secured independently of the seat shell via the connector. The tether strap for the child safety seat is secured to the seats shell and preferably comprises a strap connected at each side of the backrest of the child safety seat. The tether 10 strap locates through the first aperture of the connector and the connector is then attached to the vehicle anchorage point via the connection means which preferably comprises a hook with a latch member. The harness for securing an infant to the child safety seat comprises a pair of shoulder 15 straps that secure at the lower end preferably to the motor vehicle seat belt that is located across the waist of the infant within. In this case, both the sash and the lap portion (or just the lap portion in the case of the lap only seatbelt) of the vehicle seat belt may be brought together and positioned over the waist of the child. This arrangement therefore acts to restrain the child at their waist and also thereby hold the lower end of the child safety seat with respect 20 to the motor vehicle seat. The lower ends of the harness may have loops through which the vehicles seat belt locates thereby anchoring the lower part of the harness with respect to the motor vehicle. 25 The other part of the harness, which extends over the infants shoulders and behind the child safety seat is preferably provided with a hook means attached to the harness which itself then attaches to the second aperture of the connector. This thereby secures the harness independently of the chid safety seat and instead secures it at either end with respect to the motor vehicle. 30 Preferably, the harness comprises a single length of strap which loops behind the safety seat through a pair of apertures in the backrest portion of the safety seat with each end of the strap having loops through which the vehicle seat belt locates.

4 The edge of the second aperture in the connector may have an indentation within which the hook means of the tether strap is received. Preferable, the indentation is located over the longitudinal centre line of the connector so that, when the harness is placed in tension, the hook means of the harness is retained in a centrally located position within the 5 second aperture. This ensures that the hook means of the harness is therefore aligned with the longitudinal centre line of the connector. This inturn prevents the hook means of the harness locating in one side of the second aperture therefore applying an asymmetric load to the connection means of the connector. 10 Preferably, the body of the connector comprises of a plate of metal with the first aperture being located between the connection means and the second aperture. Preferably, the second aperture comprises an aperture having a rectilinear out line, with the indentation located in the edge of the second aperture furthest from the connection means. 15 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An illustrative embodiment of the present invention will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 20 FIGURE 1 is a view of a harness used in a child safety seat; FIGURE 2 is a front view of a child safety seat arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in operation; FIGURE 3 is a top rear view of a child safety seat arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, attached to a vehicle anchorage point; 25 FIGURE 4 is a view of the connector attached to a vehicle anchorage bracket and having attached thereto a tether strap and a harness; and FIGURE 5 is a second preferred embodiment of a connector having a single tether strap attached thereto. 30 DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figure 1 shows a child harness 20 consisting of two shoulder straps 21 formed from a length of strap and a cross strap 22. The shoulder straps are provided with padding 23, and the lower end of each shoulder strap 21 is provided with a loop 24 to receive a vehicle seat 5 belt. The child harness 20 is adjustable in length by means of an adjustable buckle 25, which is covered during use within the padding 23 on one of the shoulder straps 21. There is also a latching hook connector 26 on the upper end of the child harness 20. 5 Figure 2 shows a front view of child safety seat arrangement according to the present invention in operation. A child harness 20 is shown holding the child 31 in a safety seat 30, by means of shoulder straps 21. The harness 20 is passed through a pair of apertures 32 in the backrest portion of the safety seat 30. The vehicle belt 33 comprising either the vehicle lap belt or a combination of the lap and sash belt is passed through the loops 24 at the lower ends 10 of shoulder straps 21. The vehicle belt 33 can then optionally be connected to the seat shell 30 by means of crutch strap 34 (shown not connected in Figure 2), which helps keep the lap belt 33 as low as possible. In Figure 3, there can be seen the mounting arrangements for securing the harness 20 15 and the safety seat 30 with respect to the vehicle. A tether strap 40 is connected to the backrest portion of the safety seat 30 at connection points 41 and 42, and at the other to a vehicle anchorage point 53 through the connector 43. The length of the tether strap 40 can be adjusted through the adjustable buckle 46, to allow the mounting arrangement to suit different vehicles. 20 As is also shown clearly in Figures 2 and 3, the safety seat 30 includes multiple pairs of apertures 32, 32a and 32b. The harness 20 can be looped through any of these pairs to adjust the height of the shoulder straps 21 with respect to the size of the child 3 1. It is preferable to have the shoulder straps located through apertures that are level with the child's 25 shoulders, as this gives the safest retention of the child 31 in the safety seat. Although multiple pairs of apertures are shown in this preferred embodiment, it would also be possible to have the harness pass through a single aperture in the head end of the backrest portion or around grooves in the perimeter of the backrest portion. For instance, the shoulder straps could be joined before they are passed through a single aperture. 30 The harness 20 is secured with respect to the vehicle by the latching hook connector 26 attaching to the connector 43.

6 Figure 4 shows in greater detail the connector 43 which comprises a pressed metal plate. Formed at one end of the connector 43 is the connection means which comprises a hook 50. Hook 50 locates in the aperture of a vehicle anchorage bracket 51 and has a sprung latching member 52 that closes the hook 50 so as to prevent accidental unhooking from the 5 vehicle anchorage bracket. The connector 43 has a first aperture 54 which comprises an elongate slot. The tether strap 40 locates through the first aperture 54 the connector 43 also has a second aperture which comprises the generally rectangular opening 56. The latching hook connector 26 of the 10 harness 20 is attached to the connector plate 43 by locating in the rectangular opening 56. The edge of the rectangular opening 56 furthest from the hook 50 has an indentation 57 within which the latching hook connector 26 locates. The indentation 57 is placed generally over the longitudinal centre line of the connector 43 and has a width which is equal 15 to the width of the latching hook connector 26 which locates therein so as to prevent lateral movement of the latching hook connector 26 within the opening 56. This ensures that the latching hook connector 26 is held on the longitudinal centre line of the connector 43 to prevent asymmetric loads being applied to the connector 43 as might be the case if the latching hook connector 26 were to lodge in one or other of the ends of the opening 56. If this 20 were to occur, then the hook 50 would not remain square to the aperture with in which it locates in the vehicle anchorage bracket. Accordingly, when tension is applied to harness 20, the latching hook connector 26 and connector 44 are thereby kept inline. Figure 5 shows a second embodiment in the arrangement shown in Figure 4 and 25 incorporates all of the features shown in Figure 4 except that the tether strap 40 is a single length of strap which is attached to the connector 43 by a loop 59 which locates through both the first and second apertures 54 and 56. Although a number of embodiments of the present invention have been described in 30 the foregoing detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention. Modifications and variations such as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

2. A connector according to claim I wherein the harness further comprises a hook means at its upper end that locates through the second aperture to attach the harness with respect to the connector.
3. A connector according to claim 2 further comprising an indentation on a edge of the 15 second aperture within which the hook means is received.
4. A connector according to claim 3 wherein the indentation is located over the longitudinal centre line of the connector.
5. A connector according to claim I wherein the body comprises a plate of metal with the first aperture being located between the connection means and the second aperture.