Anchorage Member FIELD OF INVENTION The present application relates to an anchorage member for a child safety seat and in particular, to a device for anchoring a tether arrangement of a child safety seat and a 5 harness arrangement in a combined manner to a common vehicle anchorage point BACKGROUND ART Due to their size and body shape, infants and young children travelling in vehicles are typically unable to safely use standard vehicle restraint systems, such as seat belts and the like. For this reason, child safety seats have been developed to assist in the safe 10 transport of infants and children. Child safety seats come in a variety of styles and sizes depending on the age and/or size of the child to be transported. Capsule-type safety seats are typically employed to transport infants, whilst more conventional forward facing and upright seats are employed to transport toddlers and young children. In most cases the safety seat is 1s typically mounted to standard vehicle seating using the standard vehicle seat belt and is further anchored to a dedicated anchor point on the vehicle by way of a tether strap, to provide stability to the safety seat. Restraints/harnesses are typically employed with existing child safety seats to restrain the child in a seated position within the seat. A variety of different types and styles of 20 restraints have been developed for this purpose, ranging from standard three-point harnesses to five-point harnesses. Typically, such restraints/harnesses are anchored to a shell of the safety seat. One problem with such an arrangement is that, in the event of a vehicle accident, the safety seat and/or the restraint/harness can be subject to significant forces. As such, any imperfections in the shell of the safety seat can result in the 25 restraint/harness failing to perform its function, thereby placing the child in danger of injury. In some instances, particularly in safety seats suitable for larger children, the safety seats may be configured to utilise the existing seat belt system of the vehicle to restrain the child in position. In such instances, the vehicle scat belt may be incorrectly fitted 30 about the child and may fail to restrain the child in the event of an accident. Another problem with incorrectly fitted seat belts is that under the forces of an accident the seat belt may apply excessive forces against the child. Should these forces be applied to vital organs, damage to such organs is possible.
To address these and other problems dedicated restraint/harness systems that are anchored directly to the vehicle have been developed. Such anchor systems are designed to fit children of various ages and sizes in a safe and effective manner and are directly anchored to a dedicated anchor point of the vehicle. In such systems two 5 separate anchor points are typically required to anchor both the tether strap for the safety seat and the harness to the vehicle. A variety of systems have been proposed to achieve this, including providing additional vehicle bolts and fittings to provide multiple attachment points at a single anchor point of the vehicle. A problem with this proposal is that it requires a number of additional 10 parts to be bolted to the vehicle, which requires additional time and expertise to assemble and fit the system to the vehicle. Another proposal has been to add additional connection straps to the safety seat tether strap such that the harness can be indirectly anchored to the vehicle anchor point by way of the tether strap. Whilst this proposal enables a single vehicle anchorage point to be used to secure both the safety seat and the 1s harness, the need to have a separate and dedicated connection strap secured to the tether strap reduces the interchangeability between straps of the system. Further, the strength of the anchor system is greatly reliant on the integrity of the stitching securing the connection strap to the tether strap, and should the stitching or the tether strap fail; the integrity of the system is compromised. 20 As such, there is a need to provide for an anchorage system for attaching a tether strap of a safety seat and a harness of a safety seat to a single attachment point of a vehicle which is both relatively easy to use and is relatively safe and secure. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a 25 context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application. STATEMENT OF INVENTION 30 Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention there is provided an anchorage member for anchoring a child safety seat and a child restraint harness to an anchorage point on a vehicle, comprising; a body securable to the anchorage point of the vehicle, said body having a recess configured to receive both the child restraint harness and a tether strap of the 35 child safety seat.
In one embodiment, the recess comprises an elongate slot to receive either a strap of the child restraint harness or the tether strap of the child safety seat. The slot may have at least one notch formed therein for receiving a hook member associated with either the tether strap of the child safety seat or the child restraint harness. 5 The at least one notch may be configured to receive and locate the hook member such that the hook member is located in a substantially fixed position. The body may be detachably secured to the anchorage point at a first end and the recess may be located proximal a second end, the second end being distal the first end. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 10 The invention may be better understood from the following non-limiting description of preferred embodiments, in which: FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an anchorage member according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 shows a top view of the anchorage member of FIG. 1; 15 FIG.3 shows a perspective view of the hook member of FIGS. 1 and 2 in use to secure a safety seat and a safety harness to a vehicle anchorage point; FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an anchorage member according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 shows a top view of the anchorage member of FIG. 1; and 20 FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the anchorage member of FIGS. 4 and 5 in use to secure a safety seat and a safety harness to a vehicle anchorage point. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Preferred features of the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the 25 features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a hook or anchorage member 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. The hook or anchorage member 10 resembles a conventional hook connector of a child safety seat mounting system and has an 30 attachment end 12 for engaging with a recess or slot 6 of a corresponding mounting element, such as a vehicle anchorage point 5 (FIG. 3). A resilient closing arm 14 is pivotally mounted to the main body 16 of the hook member 10 to close the attachment end 12 to engage the hook member 10 with the anchorage point 5. The distal end of the hook member 10, namely the end distal to the attachment end 12, 5 has a recess or eye 18 formed therein. The eye 18 is in the form of an elongated slot that extends substantially across the distal end of the main body 16. A notch 19 is formed along a distal edge of the eye 18 and is located in a central region of the eye 18. The notch 19 is in the form of a U-shaped cut-out or recess portion. However, it will be appreciated that the size and shape of the notch may vary whilst still falling within the 1o spirit of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the breadth X of eye 18 is sufficient to accommodate a tether strap 17 of a child safety seat in the manner as shown in FIG. 3. Similarly, the breadth Z of the notch 19 is sufficient to accommodate an attachment end 12 of a harness hook 20 associated with a harness restraint system 21. It will be appreciated that, instead of a 15 hook member 20, other means for securing the harness system 21 to the eye 18 may also be employed. The combined width Y of the eye 18 and the notch 19 is sufficient to accommodate both the tether strap 17 of the child safety seat and the attachment end 12 of the harness hook 20, such that there is sufficient clearance to facilitate movement of the tether strap 17 independently of the harness hook 20. 20 This arrangement is shown clearly in FIG. 3. The tether strap 17 of the child safety seat is passed through the hook member 10 in the manner as shown. In this arrangement, in the absence of a child support harness, the hook member 10 can be directly attached to the anchor 5 of the vehicle to secure the child safety seat to the vehicle for use, in a conventional manner. 25 In applications where a child harness restraint system 21 is also to be used, as shown in FIG. 3, the harness hook 20 is attached to the eye 18 of the hook member 10. The harness hook 20 is attached such that it is located behind the tether strap 17 and is located within the notch 19. The provision of notch 19 retains the harness hook 20 in position thereby ensuring that the harness hook 20 is located in a substantially fixed 30 position within the eye 18 and is thus prevented from sliding along the eye 18 during use. Following attachment of the tether strap 17 and the harness hook 20 to the hook member 10; the hook member 10 is attached to the anchorage point 5 of the vehicle to secure the child safety seat and the harness 21 thereto. The tether strap 17 and the 35 harness 21 may be adjustable to enable their desired lengths to be optimised to remove any slack that may exist therein, such that the child safety seat and the harness 21 are securely retained in position within the vehicle. It will be appreciated that by providing a hook member 10 as described above, the length between the harness hook 20 and the anchor 5 of the vehicle is reduced. This is particularly important in some vehicles where the anchor 5 is remotely located in the 5 vehicle. Further, the hook member 10 of the present invention can be readily retrofitted to existing child safety seat tether straps to enable harness restraint systems 21 to be used with existing child safety seat arrangements. An alternative embodiment of a hook or anchorage member of the present invention is shown in relation to FIGS. 4 - 6. 10 In this embodiment, the hook or anchorage member 30 functions in substantially the same manner as hook member 10 of the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1 - 3 and has an attachment end 32 for engaging with a recess or slot 6 of a vehicle anchorage point 5. A resilient closing arm 34 is also pivotally mounted to a main body 36 of the hook member 30 to close the attachment end 32 to engage the hook member 30 with the 15 anchorage point 5. The distal end of the hook member 30, namely the end remote from the attachment end 32, has a recess or eye 38 formed therein. The eye 38 in is the form of an elongated slot that extends substantially across the distal end of the main body 36. A pair of notches 39 are formed along opposing edges of the eye 38 so as to be positioned centrally along 20 the width of the eye 38. Each of the notches 39 are in the form of a U-shaped cut-out portion or groove, although it will be appreciated that the configuration of the eye and notches may take a variety of forms whilst still falling within the spirit of the present invention. Referring to Figure 6, the hook member 30 is shown in use. In this embodiment, the 25 child harness 37 passes through the elongate eye 38 of the hook member 30 such that the hook member 30 is free to slide along the harness strap. As the hook member 30 directly engages with the anchorage point 5 of the vehicle, as shown, in this embodiment the harness is directly anchored to the vehicle anchorage point rather than indirectly anchored to the vehicle anchorage point 5 as is shown in the embodiment of 30 FIG. 3. Once the harness 37 is anchored in position, the tether strap 41 of the child safety seat is able to be attached to the hook member 30 to enable the child safety seat to be anchored in position with respect to the vehicle anchorage point 5. As is shown, the hook member 40 of the tether strap 41 is attached behind the harness 37 and is received 35 within the notch 39. In such an arrangement the provision of the notch 39 retains the hook member 40 and tether strap 41 of the child safety seat in position with respect to the hook member 30 thereby ensuring that the child safety seat is securely anchored in position in the vehicle. The provision of the opposing notch 39 in the eye 38 enables a degree of clearance 5 between the strap of the harness 37 and the body 36 of the hook member 30 when the hook member 40 of the tether strap 41 is attached to hook member 30. As the hook member 40 of the tether strap 41 is attached to the hook member 30 behind the harness 37, the hook member 40 may act against the harness thereby reducing the clearance between the harness and the inner walls of the eye 38. The provision of the opposing 1o notch 39 acts to provide added clearance between the walls of the eye 38 and the harness, such that the hook member 30 is free to slide along the harness 37. In this regard, the opposing notch 39 may be wider than the notch 39 that receives the hook member 40. It will be appreciated that the embodiments shown in Figures 3 and 6 may be 15 interchangeable. In this regard, the hook member 10, 30 may be directly attached to the tether strap or the harness to facilitate direct attachment of the tether strap or harness to the vehicle anchorage point. As such, the hook member 20, 40 that attaches to the hook member 30 may also be associated with either the harness or the tether strap of the child safety seat. It a preferred form, the harness is directly anchored to the vehicle by way of 20 hook member 10, 30 and the tether strap is connected to the hook member 10, 30 as it is the harness that typically bears the greatest load during a vehicle accident. However, it will be appreciated that either arrangement may be employed. It will also be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments 25 without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. Throughout the specification and claims the word "comprise" and its derivatives are intended to have an inclusive rather than exclusive meaning unless the contrary is 30 expressly stated or the context requires otherwise. That is, the word "comprise" and its derivatives will be taken to indicate the inclusion of not only the listed components, steps or features that it directly references, but also other components, steps or features not specifically listed, unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise. 35 It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the methods of the invention described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Orientational terms used in the specification and claims such as vertical, horizontal, top, bottom, upper and lower are to be interpreted as relational and are based on the premise that the component, item, article, apparatus, device or instrument will usually be 5 considered in a particular orientation, typically with the anchorage member uppermost.