AU2013201724A1 - Improved child harness for a child safety seat - Google Patents

Abstract

Also disclosed is a child safety seat arrangement having a seat shell with apertures through which a harness can be passed. The harness preferably includes a main harness strap which is looped behind the seat shell, through a pair of apertures therein, to provide two shoulder straps to extend over a 5 child's shoulders. The disclosure includes multiple pairs of apertures to allow for adjusnent of the height of the shoulder straps,

Description

IMPROVED CHILD HARNESS FOR A CHILD SAFETY SEAT FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to 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 shell itself is connected to the vehicle by means of the vehicle seat belt, for example a lap/sash belt, In addition, it is usual to have a 0 tether strap connected to the shell and to 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. 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 15 different sizes are not always sufficiently restrained in the safety seat It is an object of the present invention to reduce or eliminate some or all of the disadvantages of conventional child safety seat arrangements, 20 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a first aspect, the present invention provides a harness for a child safety seat arrangement including a seat shell for seating a child, the harness including a main harness strap which can be looped behind the seat shell to provide two shoulder straps to extend over the child's shoulders to secure the child when seated in the seat shell. In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a harness for a child safety seat arrangement including a seat shell -for seating a child, the harness including two shoulder straps and a cross strap connecting the two shoulder straps at a point below the child's shoulders when seated in the seat shell. 30 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An illustrative embodiment of the present invention will be discussed with reference to th.e accompanying drawings wherein: 35 FIGURE 1 is a view of a harness for use according to the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a view a harness for use according to another embodiment of the present invention; 2 FIGURE 3 is a view of a child safety seat arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in operation; FIGURE 4 is a rear view of a child safety seat arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of 5 the present invention; FIGURE 5 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; and 10 FIGURES 6 to 11 show detailed views of counting arrangements as used in various embodiments of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figure 1 shows a child harness 20 consisting of two shoulder straps 21 and a cross strap 22. The 15 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 belt. The child harness 20 is adjustable in length by means of an adjustable buckle 25, which is covered during use within the padding 24 on one of the shoulder straps 21. There is also a latching hook connector 26 on the upper end of the child harness 20. 20 In Figure 2, the same harness is shown with an additional extension strap 27, which inthis instance is adjustable by means of another adjustable buckle 28. The extension strap 27 has a connection buckle 35 that enables attachment to the latching hook connector 26. A second latching hook connector 29 is attached to the other end of the extension strap 27. 25 Figure 3 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 seat shell 30, by means of shoulder straps 21. The harness 20 is passed through a pair of apertures 32 in the seat back of the seat shell 30. The shoulder straps 21 then extend over the child's shoulders and chest. The vehicle lap belt 33 is passed through the loops 24 at the lower ends of shoulder straps 21. The lap belt 33 can then 30 optionally be connected to the seat shell 30 by means of crutch strap 34, which helps keep the lap belt 33 as low as possible. In Figures 4 and 5, there can be seen the mounting arrangements for securing the harness 20 and the seat shell 30 with respect to the vehicle, A tether strap 40 is connected at one end to the seat shell 30 35 at connection points 41 and 42, and at the other to a vehicle anchorage point 50 through latching hook 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.

3 As is also shown clearly in Figures 3 to 5, the seat shell 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. It is preferable to have the shoulder straps located close to the child's shoulders, as this gives greater retention of the child in the safety seat. Although multiple pairs of apertures are shown in this 5 preferred embodiment, it would also be possible to have the harness passed through a single aperture in the seat shell. For instance, the shoulder straps could be joined before they are passed through a single aperture. The harness 20 is secured with respect to the vehicle through latching hook connector 26, connection 0 strap 44, buckle 45 and latching hook connector 43. In this instance, it will be noted that latching hook connector 43 is connon to both the iounting arrangement for the harness 20, and to the mounting arrangement for the seat shell 30. However, the harness 20 is still secured to the vehicle through an arrangement that does not include the seat shell 30. i5 Of course, the mounting arrangements for securing the harness 20 and seat shell 30 with respect to the vehicle can take other forms. Figures 6-I1 show a variety of mounting arrangements for the harness 20 and tether system 30. The arrangement in Figure 6 does not require the connection strap 44, and the harness 20 is secured to 20 the vehicle anchorage point 50 simply by means of the two latching hook connectors 26 and 43. As will be noted, the latching hook connector 43 as shown in Figures 6 and 7 includes two apertures to receive both the tether strap 40 and the hook connector 26. Typically, latching hook connectors only include one aperture to receive the strap that they are intended to secure. However, in the present invention, a single latching hook connector may be common to both of the mounting arrangements for 25 the harness and for the seat shell. Therefore, it may need to be attached to one or more components from both mounting arrangements, The additional aperture in latching hooked connector 43 (as shown in Figure 6) increases the flexibility in attaching multiple other components to a single latching hooked connector. 30 Figure 8 shows in more detail the mounting arrangement shown in Figures 4 and 5. A. tether strap 40 is connected to a vehicle anchorage point 50 through latching hook connector 43. The harness 20 is secured with respect to the vehicle through latching hook connector 26, connection strap 44, buckle 45 and latching hook connector 43. In this instance, it will be noted that latching hook connector 43 is comrnmon to both the mounting arrangement for the harness 20, and to the mounting arrangement for 35 the seat shell 30. Figures 7 and 9 also show other options for securing a tether strap 40 to the latching hook connector 43, and these alternatives are also envisaged under the present invention.

4 Figures 10 and 11 show arrangements which can he used when there are two vehicle anchorage fittings 51 52 provided. In this instance, the mounting arrangements for the seat shell 30 and the harness 20 are independent. in both Figure 10 and 11, the seat shell (through tether strap 40) is 5 secured to the vehicle by connecting the latching hook connector 43 to one of the vehicle anchorage fittings '1, Howe ver, the harness 20 is connected to a separate vehicle anchorage fitting 52, Figure 11 shows a connection directly by means of latching hook connector 26, whereas in Figure 10, the connection strap 44 and buckle 45 are also used to secure the child harness 20 to vehicle anchor fitting 10 Although a number of embodiments of the present invention have been described in the foregoing detailed description. it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodirnents 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 5 a skilled addressee are deemed within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

1. A harness for a child safety seat arrangement including a seat shell for seating a child, the harness 5 including a main harness strap which can be looped behind the seat shell to provide two shoulder straps to extend over the child's shoulders to secure the child when seated in the seat shell

2. The harness of claim I. wherein one of the shoulder straps includes a length adjuster, the length adjuster located at the front of the child when seated in the seat shell. 0

3. The harness of claim i or 2. wherein the shoulder straps are securable at their lower ends to a vehicle safety belt.

4. The harness according to claim 3, wherein the shoulder straps each includes a loop at their lower 5 end to receive the vehicle seat belt.

5. The harness according to any one of claims I to 3, wherein the shoulder straps are configured to pass through a pair of apertures in the seat shell, 0 6. The harness according to any one of claims I to 5, wherein the harness further includes a cross strap connecting the two shoulder straps at a point below the child's shoulders.

7. The harness according to claim 6, wherein the cross strap is removable attached to one of the shoulder straps. -5 8, The harness according to claim 7, wherein the cross strap is removably attached to one of the shoulder straps by a loop of the cross strap that can be slipped on or off the bottom of the shoulder strap. 30 9. A harness for a child safety seat arrangement including a seat shell for seating a child, the harness including two shoulder straps and a cross strap connecting the two shoulder straps at a point below the child's shoulders when seated in the seat shell

10. The harness of claim 9., wherein the cross strap is removably attached to one of the shoulder 35 straps, i1. The harness of claim 10, wherein the cross strap is removably attached to one of the shoulder straps by a loop of the cross strap that can be slipped on or off the bottom of the shoulder strap. 6

12. A harness for securing a child with respect to a vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings,