AU728869B2

AU728869B2 - Child safety seat

Info

Publication number: AU728869B2
Application number: AU67999/98A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Wieslaw Maciejczyk
Original assignee: Britax Child Care Products Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Britax Childcare Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1997-05-24
Filing date: 1998-05-21
Publication date: 2001-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 2018-05-21
Also published as: AU6799998A; NZ330454A; KR19980087270A; GB9710651D0

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

0 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: CHILD SAFETY SEAT O*

S.

Name of Applicant: Britax Child-Care Products Pty Ltd Actual Inventor: Wieslaw Maciejczyk Address for Service: MADDERNS, 1st Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: CHILD SAFETY SEAT The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

la CHILD SAFETY SEAT This invention relates to a child safety seat for fitting to a vehicle seat having a vehicle seat belt including a lap portion, the child safety seat comprising a seat body having first guide means on one side thereof and second guide means on an opposite side thereof for locating the lap portion of the vehicle seat belt. A seat of this type is disclosed in EP-A-0326265.

It has been found that, in some circumstances, for example if the vehicle seat belt is not correctly tightened or if a child wriggles to an excessively reclined position, there is a risk that, in the event of an accident, the child's body can slip under the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt.

In order to mitigate this problem, WO-A-9700184 discloses a safety seat of the type described above, having a central forwardly projecting hook member on the seat body so that the lap belt may be guided down between the legs of the child and engaged under the hook member. An adult securing a vehicle seat belt around a child occupant of such a seat has to grope between the legs of the child in order to engage the lap belt with the hook member. Such an arrangement has not found general acceptance. The present invention aims to provide a more acceptable alternative.

According to the invention, a child safety seat of the type described above has an auxiliary strap secured to the seat body so as to extend between the legs of a child occupant of the seat, and releasable coupling means for effecting engagement of the auxiliary strap with a portion of the lap portion of the vehicle seat belt located between said first and second guide means.

In one form of the invention, the auxiliary strap is connected to a hook arranged to engage round the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt. In another form of the invention, the auxiliary strap has one end attached to the child seat and the other end attached to releasable IT coupling means engageable with complementary coupling means on the child seat so that the auxiliary strap may be looped round the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt.

In a further form of the invention, applicable to a child seat of the type having a child harness which includes a crotch strap having a buckle secured thereto, for example as described in GB-A-2282321, an auxiliary hook is arranged to be engageable with said buckle and to hook round the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a child seat in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of part of the auxiliary strap of the child seat shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view from below of the child seat shown in Figure 1; Figures 4, 5 and 6 are views corresponding to 2 Figures 1, 2 and 3 of a second embodiment of the invention; S. 20 Figures 7 and 8 are views corresponding to Figures 1 and 2 of a third embodiment of the invention; Figures 9 and 10 are views corresponding to Figures 1 and 2 of a fourth embodiment of the invention; Figure 11 is a front view of a child seat in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the invention, fitted with a child's five-point harness; Figure 12 of the seat shown in Figure 12 using an auxiliary strap in accordance with the invention in conjunction with a vehicle seat belt; Figure 13 is a perspective view on an enlarged "scale of part of the auxiliary strap of the child seat *oo* shown in Figure 12; Figure 14 is a perspective view of the child seat shown in Figure 12, occupied by a child; and Figure 15 is a perspective view from below on an enlarged scale of part of the seat shown in Figures 11-14.

T Figures 1-3 show a child safety seat having a seat Sbody 10 comprising a seat portion 12 with side walls 14 and 16 forming armrests. The seat body 10 also has a backrest 19 with side wings 20 and 22 in the form of continuations of the side walls 14 and 16, respectively. The seat 10 is intended to be held in place on a vehicle seat (not shown) by the lap strap 24 of a vehicle seat belt which also has a shoulder strap 26, the lap and shoulder straps 24 and 26, which form a continuous loop connected by a buckle tongue 28 to a vehicle seat belt buckle 30. In use, a child sits on the seat body 10 facing forwards in the vehicle and is held on the seat body 10 by the lap and shoulder straps 24 and 26 of the vehicle seat belt.

In accordance with the invention, an auxiliary strap 32 has one end wrapped round the central bar of a three-bar link 34 where it is attached by sewing 36. The other end of the auxiliary strap 32 projects through a slot 38 in a metal hook 40 which is secured on the auxiliary strap 32 by sewing 42. The seat portion 12 of the seat body 10 has a recess 43 (Figure 3) in its bottom surface, from which a slot 44 extends through to the top surface.

S. 20 The auxiliary strap 32 is threaded through the slot 44 and the three-bar link 34 is received in the recess 43. The upwardly projecting part of the auxiliary strap 32 is passed between the legs of an occupant of the seat and the :hook 40 engaged round the lap strap 24 of the vehicle seat belt. It is immaterial whether the open side of the hook 40 faces rearwardly, as in Figure 1, or forwardly as in Figure 3.

Figures 4-6 show a child seat having a seat body which is basically similar to the seat 10 of Figures 1- 3. Identical parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described again in detail. In place of the single central slot 44, the seat portion of the seat 50 has two slots 52 and 54, each of which leads upwardly from a respective recess 56, 58 in the bottom surface of the seat portion 12. An auxiliary strap extends freely through the slot 38 in the hook 40 and has T a respective three-bar link 61, 62 sewn on to each end.

The two ends of the auxiliary strap 60 project through 4 respective slots 52 and 54 and the two three-bar links and 62 are received in respective recesses 56 and 58. The hook 40 engages with the lap strap 24 of the vehicle seat belt as previously.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate an alternative auxiliary strap arrangement with use with the seat body shown in Figures 4-6. The single auxiliary strap 60 is replaced by two straps, each of which has one end sewn onto a respective three-bar link (not shown) and projects upwardly through a respective slot 52, 54 in the seat portion 12. The free end of one auxiliary strap 68 is wrapped round the lap strap 24 of the vehicle seat belt and connected to the free end of the other auxiliary strap 66 by a press stud 70 or alternatively by a touch-and-close S 15 fastener of the type sold under the Registered Trade Mark

"VELCRO".

Figures 9 and 10 illustrate a further modification of the seat shown in Figures 7 and 8 in which the press stud fastener 70 is replaced by a buckle 72 on an end of 20 one auxiliary strap 68 which engages with a tongue 74 on the end of the other auxiliary strap 66.

Figures 11-15 show a child safety seat having a *seat body 80 which is generally similar to the seat body except that its seat portion 82 has two additional 25 slots 84 and 86 for the lap straps 88 and 90 of a child *harness, and its backrest 92 has two sets of three alternative slots 94, 96 for the shoulder straps 98 and 100 of the child harness. A double crotch strap 102 extends through the slots 52 and 54 in a similar manner to the auxiliary strap 60 of Figures 4-6. The crotch strap 102 carries a child buckle 104 which receives a pair of tongues 106, 108 each of which is received on a respective continuous loop of webbing, one formed by the lap and shoulder straps 88 and 98 and the other by the lap and shoulder straps 90 and 100. The child seat 80 can be used by a relatively young child in conjunction with the auxiliary harness 88-104. When the straps 88, 90, 98 and 100 are removed, the seat can be used by an older child as described above. To enable the crotch strap 102 to serve as an auxiliary strap in accordance with the invention, a U-shaped hook 110 having a bifurcated limb in the from of two legs 112 and 114 which are inserted into the openings in the buckle 104 for the tongues 106 and 108 respectively of the child harness, and a parallel limb 116 which engages round the lap strap 24 of the vehicle seat belt.

When the seat 80 is used with a child harness as illustrated in Figure 11, the hook formation 110 is stored in a recess 120 in the top surface of the seat portion 182 between the slots 52 and 54 where it is held captive by a :cord 122 (Figure 15). The recess 120 is covered by a flap (not shown) in a fabric cover for the seat, the flap being S" 15 held down by touch-and-close fastener such as VELCRO (registered trade mark).

-In any of the above embodiments of the invention, a strap adjuster may be provided for adjusting the length of the auxiliary strap. Such a strap adjuster may be an 20 in-line strap adjuster located above the seat portion 12.

Alternatively, it may be an adjuster of the type described in GB-A-2246389 secured to the bottom surface of the seat portion 12.

e•

Claims

1. A child safety seat for fitting to a vehicle seat having a vehicle seat belt including a lap portion, the child safety seat comprising a seat body having first guide means on one side thereof and second guide means on an opposite side thereof for locating the lap portion of the vehicle seat belt, an auxiliary strap secured to the seat body so as to extend between the legs of a child occupant of the seat, and releasable coupling means for effecting engagement of the auxiliary strap with a portion of the lap portion of the vehicle seat belt located between said first and second guide means.

2. A child safety seat according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary strap is connected to a hook arranged to engage round the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt.

3. A child safety seat according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary strap has one end attached to the child seat and the other end attached to releasable coupling means engageable with complementary coupling means on the child seat so that the auxiliary strap may be looped round the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt.

4. A child safety seat according to claim 1, having a child harness which includes a crotch strap having a buckle secured thereto, an auxiliary hook being arranged to be engageable with said buckle and to hook round the lap strap of the vehicle seat belt. A child safety seat, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 9th day of November 2000. BRITAX CHILD-CARE PRODUCTS PTY LTD By their Patents Attorneys MADDERNS A