GB2163045A - Convertible carrier for an infant - Google Patents

Abstract

The carrier particularly suitable for use with a folding push-chair comprises a bottom 8 and a lateral skirt 9 connecting the bottom 8 with an upper peripheral rim 10 for support and fixing of the carrier. The bottom 8 may be bent about at least one transverse hinge line 12, retention means 13 being provided to vary the effective height of the skirt locally on each side of the carrier, as from the rim 10, on both sides of the carrier and at least at one point but preferably at two points, situated on either side of said hinge line. When the retention means are released, the skirt occupies its maximum effective height and the bottom is opened out to be more or less flat, so that the carrier is in a "bed" position. When the retention means are operated, the bottom is lifted locally with respect to the edge, so that the carrier is in a "chair" position. The bottom may be provided with stiffening plates 23. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Convertible carrier for an infant This invention relates to a carrier intended for an infant, and in particular, but not exclusively, to such a carrier intended to be fitted to an infant carriage, and especially for a folding push-chair, At present, depending upon whether one wants to lay the child flat or put it in a sitting position, one must have two devices: a carry-cot, that is to say a sort of bed having a more or less flat bottom; and a chair comprising a seat and a back inclined with respect to the seat.

This necessity involves inconvenience as to the space necessary for the storage of the devices when they are not used, and disadvantages as regards the cost, because two devices must be bought, and as to the handling. On this latter point, eitherthe two devices are intended to be mounted on a common support such as the chassis of a push-chair, which means one device must be removed from the support before the other may take its place the one device then having to be stored, or else each device is provided with its own support, which exacerbates the storage problem.

In the particular case of a push-chair, the replacement of one device by the other is only possible at home, or in a general way, at a place where both devices are available at the same time, for example, at an automobile if one has taken care to bring the two devices. In any case, it is not possible for the mother, while travelling, to make this replacement because she then has available only the device mounted on the push-chair, which prevents her from changing the child overfrom the normal sitting position to the prone position, or vice versa.

A solution to the above problems has already been proposed, which consists of a seat with variable inclination, but in this case, the lying position is not comfortable for the child because he has to lie on his back with his legs folded.

The principal object of this invention is at least to mitigate the disadvantages discussed above, by providing a carrier which can easily be converted from serving as a bed (or carry-cot) to serve as chair, whilst being very comfortable and natural for a child, in either position.

Accordingly, a carrier of this invention comprises a bottom and a lateral skirt attached to the bottom and having an upper peripheral edge for supporting and fixing the carrier, the bottom being deformable along at least one transverse hinge line and there being retention means adapted locally to adjust the effective height of the skirt of at least one point on each side of the carrier, whereby the retention means when released allows the skirt to take up its maximum effective height so that the bottom is opened out to be substantially flat, thereby to obtain a bed position, and the retention means when operated locally lifts the bottom to a position near the edge, so that the bottom folds to define a back rest and a seat thereby to obtain a chair position.

The transverse hinge line of the base corresponds to the junction between the back and the seat, for the chair position. Preferably, the base is also deformable along a second transverse hinge line, corresponding to the front edge of the seat for the chair position, for which the base, for this position, has an extreme front portion inclined with respect to the seat, for supporting the lower part of a child's legs.

In a particular embodiment suitable for use with a reversible push-chair, the carrier is symmetrical as regards its skirt and its base, and preferably also as regards the retention means, with respect to a transverse plane in order to be able to put into a position facing the mother or facing forward by simple pivoting about a transverse axis without turning the carrier around, so that the carrier can, for each ofthe chair or bed positions, be oriented in the direction of travel or in the opposite direction.

The carrier can include means for folding away the excess material of the skirt in the chair position.

These means of folding away may be, for example, constituted by a gusset or a pleat which may contain the said excess and closed by appropriate means (buttoning, a zip fastener, hooks, lacing, selfgripping fastener, straps, or the like). Instead, this excess may be gathered up on itself, against the- skirt and/or against the lower or exterior face of the base of the carrier.

In some cases, the retention means and the meansforfolding away can be common, for example, if self-g ripping or buckled or knotted straps or the like are used or even if zip fasteners are used, for reducing the effective height of the skirt and at the same time for folding away the excess of this latter when in the chair position.

Advantageously, the base includes means therein for stiffening, for example in the forms of laths or plates arranged alongside the transverse hinge line or lines. These means of stiffening, while being constituted by a relatively rigid material, for example of polypropylene some few millimetres in thickness, may nevertheless permit a degree of flexibility of the whole of the base, for example by having lines of weakness or by spacing the said means of stiffening. In the particular case of a carrier for a folding push-chair, though this can also be used in applications other than that for a push-chair, the base may have at least one longitudinal hinge.

line disposed so that the carrier can be folded on itself, about this longitudinal hinge line.

According to a particular embodiment, the base may include separate stiffening plates the adjacent edges of which are parallel, these plates being held between two thicknesses of cloth or similar material and being maintained in place by lines of stitching or the like joins extending between the said adjacent edges of the plates, in order to define seams preventing movement of the plates.

The upper edge of the carrier may be secured to two longerons connected by end cross-members, with central side handles being provided so that the carrier can be lifted from a support and used as a carry-cot. For a case where the carrier is to be used with a folding push-chair of the laterally collapsible type, in which the push-chair is folded on itself in the transverse sense, the cross-members can be relatively movable'or foldable, tQ permit such lateral folding.

By way of example only a specific embodiment of this invention will now be described in greater detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a part perspective view showing an embodiment of carrier according to the invention, in a chair position, mounted on a push-chair; Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 and shows the carrier in a bed position; Figure 3 is a view similarto that of Figures 1 and 2 and shows the carrier in a chair position, but protected laterally; Figure 4 is a sectional side vieYv;a3f the carrier of Figures 1 to 3, in full lines for thee bed position and in broken lines for the chair position; Figure 5 shows in plan the arrangement of stiffening plates for the bottom of the darrier of Figures 1 to 4; .

Figures 6 to 8 are views similar to Figure 5 as regards three other arrangements of the plates; Figure 9 is a perspective view showing a support frame for a carrier, for use as a carry-cot suitable for a folding push-chair; and Figure 10 is a perspective view of an alternative form for longerons for a carrier.

In Figures 1 to 4, there is shown a carrier 1 intended for an infant. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the carrier 1 is mounted on the chassis 2 of a push-chair, for example of the "walking-stick" type comprising arms 3 with handles 4, a front strut 5 carrying the front wheels (not shown), and a rear strut 6 carrying the rear wheels (also not shown). The carrier 1 is mounted on the chassis 2 by means of clamps 7 which enable the angular position of the carrier to be adjusted and secured at a required position.

The carrier 1 comprises a bottom 8 and a lateral skirt 9 connecting the bottom 8 with an upper peripheral rim 10 for mounting the carrier on the chassis 2 by means of the clamps 7. In practice, the upper edge of the skirt 9 is accepted, on each side, by a support longeron 11 (Figure 9) for example by use of fixing bands or a tubular hem. The longerons either form part of a frame (Figure 9), or are parallel and independent (Figure 10).

The skirt 9 is constituted by a supple or deformable material, for example, canvas. It has on each side a panel which extends in height from the rim 10 to its connection with the bottom 8.

The bottom 9 extends the whole length of the carrier, so as to connect the two small transverse sides of the latter.

The bottom 8 is deformable along a transverse hinge line 12 and retention means 13 are provided to make the effective height of the skirt vary locally, on each side of the carrier, as from the rim; as can be seen in Figures 1 to 4, such means are provided on both sides of the hinge line 12.

In the embodiment shown, the retention means 13 comprise straps able to lap over the rim 10 in their active position. The rear straps 13 are fixed at one end to the exterior face of the carrier, at the junction between the skirt and the base. At their other ends, they carry a button 14 orthe like which can be brought to co-operate with a complementary element 15,forexample, a press-stud at the appropriate height on the interior face of the skirt (Figure 3). The front straps 13 are fixed, at one end, on the interior face of the carrier, at the junction between the skirt and the bottom end and in the neighbourhood of tte front edge of the seat.At their other ends, they carry a button 16 or the like which can be brought to co-operate with a complementary element 17, for example, a press-stud provided on the exterior face of the skirt, just below the edge 10.

In a variant, the two pairs of straps 13 can be arranged in the same way, for example, like the front straps. As another variant, the straps could be of the self-fastening ribbon type, or could be replaced by zip fasteners 18, shown schematically and partially on Figure 4.

From the preceding and from an examination of Figures 1 to 4, it will be appreciated that the hinge line 12 and to the means for varying the effective height of the skirt enable the carrier to be configured as a bed (Figures 2 and 4), in which the bottom 8 is more or less flat and the skirt 9 is extended, or as a seat (Figures 1 and 3), in which the bottom is bent about the line 12 and the skirt is locally lifted, which accompanies and/or causes the local lifting of the bottom towards the rim 10.

When configured as a seat, the carrier bottom 8 presents a back-rest part 8a and a seat part 8b, inclined to one another and joined along line 12.

When the front straps 13 are operated, part 8b of the bottom 8 is lifted to define the seat; the rear straps 13 can can also either be operated in order to obtain an open seat (Figure 1), or be left inactive in order to obtain a seat protected laterally at the high part of the back-rest 8a (Figure 3). If required, the rear straps 13 or similar can be dispensed with, the carrier then remaining protected laterally when serving as a seat.

When in the bed position, the carrier is put into the normal horizontal position, while for the chair position, it can be put at any desired angular position.

In the chair position, the skirt locally has an effective height less than that which it has in the bed position, so there is local excess of material which, normally, forms folds 20 (Figures 1 and 3), established in a random manner. However, means may be provided to fold away this excess of material. For example, these means can be constituted by a bellows, a false pocket, or a fold closed in an appropriate manner, in particular by buttoning, a zip fastener, hooks, laces, a self-fixing fastener, or the like. As an example, there are shown on Figure 1 two bellows or zip fasteners 21 on the lower face of the bottom 8, but these means could be part of the retention means 13. For example, the straps 13 can be extended on the exterior face of the skirt and so retain the folds 20; as another example, zip fasteners, of the type illustrated at 18 on Figure 4, may be used in order to obtain the local lifting and control of the skirt and the folding away of excess material resulting from this.

The carrier of this invention may have the bottom 8 deformable about a second transverse hinge line 22, corresponding to the front edge of the seat 8b, so that the bottom, for the chair position, presents an extreme front part 8c inclined with respect to the seat 8b, so as to contitute a support surface for the lower part of the child's legs.

The extreme front part 8c can be situated in the plane of the upper rim 10 for the chair position. For this position, the height of the skirt 9, in the front extreme zone corresponding to the part 8c, is zero, the excess material, of triangular form, being folded away in a bellows closed by one of the zip fasteners 18 shown in Figure 4.

In Figure 4, the carrier has been shown in full lines forthe bed position and broken lines forthe chair position. It can be seen that, for the chair position, the excess material of the skirt in the back-rest zone 8a is more or less triangular, with an apex situated on the transverse hinge line 12; the excesses of material of the skirt in the zones of the parts 8b and 8c are also triangular, with apices respectively on the line 12 and on the extreme front transverse edge of the carrier.

There is also shown in Figure 4, by means of sectioning, a construction of the bottom 8. The bottom 8 includes stiffening means formed by laths or plates 23. These laths or plates are separated from one another; they are disposed between two thicknesses or layers 24, 25 of canvas or the like, which are sewn along the lines of stitches 26 in the spaces between the laths or plates. These lines 26 join together the two layers of canvas 24, 25, and define gussets or pockets to prevent movement of the laths. In a variant, the lines of stitches 24 can be replaced by weld lines, generated for instance ultrasonicaily.

There are at least two transverse lines of stitches 26 or similar, corresponding to the hinge lines 12 and 22.

In a variant, the hingelines 12 and 22 can be produced by lines of weakness joining the plates. In this case, all of the laths or plates are in one piece and may also have grooves or notches to allow flexibility.

By way of example, the laths or plates 23 can be of polypropylene, and may be several millimetres thick.

Preferably, the stiffening means in the parts 8a, 8b and 8c are arranged so as to prevent nevertheless a certain flexibility, either by providing in each part 8a, 8b and 8c laths or plates 23 separated by lines of stitching 26, or by providing lines of weakness in the material forming the laths or plates.

In Figures 5 to 8, four examples of arrangements of stiffening plates 23 are shown. These examples are of carriers of the invention preferably intended to be fitted to folding push-chairs of the laterallycollapsible type. In these examples, the means of stiffening are formed by separate plates 23, of which the adjacent edges are parallel and separated by lines of stitching 26, shown by broken lines. For clarity, the upper layer of canvas 24 has been removed.

For the laterally-collapsible folding, the bottoms 8 in Figures 5 to 8 have a central longitudinal hinge line 27, situated in the vertical median longitudinal plane PP of the carrier, this plane being a plane of symmetry.

In Figure 5, the back-rest part 8a includes on each side of the plane PP, a trapezoidal longitudinal plate 23a extending to half the width of the carrier, and followed, in the lumbar region, by two small triangular plates 23a' and 23a" placed head-to-tail; the seat 8b is formed, on each side, by a rectangular plate 23b extending to half the width of the carrier, up to the neighbourhood of the transverse hinge lines 12 and 22 formed by stitching; the part 8c is formed, similarly to the seat 8b, but two symmetrical plates 23c.

The plates 23a-23c confer on the bottom 8 good local rigidity and at the same time a certain flexibility of the whole. This flexibility can be further improved if lines of longitudinal weakness 28 are provided on the plates 23a, 23b and 23c.

The carrier of Figure 6 has the characteristic of being equally symmetrical about a transverse median plane QQ in respect of its rim 10, its skirt and its bottom 8, and preferably, also in respect of its retention means 13 and its means of folding away, if provided. This carrier is intended to be fitted to a push-chair, notably a foldable one as indicated above; it is of the type which is reversible by simple pivoting about the clamps 7, of which the pivoting axis is situated in the plane of symmetry QQ, without turning the bottom 8 end for end. This carrier has two first transverse hinge lines 12 and two second transverse hinge lines 22, symmetrical in pairs with respect to the plane QQ.

Each quadrant is formed by an end plate 23ac (23ca), an intermediate plate 23ab (23ba) and a central plate 23ab (23ba); these plates, like the plates shown in Figure 5, can include lines of longitudinal weakness (not shown).

For the seat position, and in the reversible position facing forward the back-rest 8a comprises eight plates 23ac, 23ab and 23ab' and 23ba', the seat 8b includes two plates 23ba and the support part Sc includes two plates 23ca; in the reversible position, facing the mother, the back-rest comprises eight plates 23ca, 23ba, 23ba' and 23ab', the seat comprises the two plates 23ab and the support part comprises the two plates 23ac.

In the variant of Figure 7, the back-rest 8a is formed by two longitudinal trapezoidal plates 23a, which, with the hinge line 12 define an empty lumbar gusset 29, the seat 8b and the end support part 8c being formed by plates similar to the plates 23b and 23c of FigureS; as in Figure 5, the plates 23a, 23b and 23c can have longitudinal lines of weakness 28.

While the carriers of Figures 5 to 7 can be folded into a V-shape owing to the central longitudinal hinge line 27, the carrier of Figure 8 can be folded into a W-shape. For this, it has, on each side of the median longitudinal plate PP, two additional longitudinal hinge lines 27', situated at a quarter of the width of the carrier and formed by interruptions or lines of weakness. In this Figure, the plates themselves have not been shown. Naturally, the above characteristic of folding into a W-shape is applicable to any one of the carriers of Figures Sto 7.

Figure 9 shows another possibilityforthe carrier of this invention. The longerons 11 of the carrier are connected by end cross-members 30, pivoted together at the centre 31. The pivots 31 are of a type having a stop atthe opened position where the cross-members are aligned. The pivots 31 enable the carrier to be folded with the push-chair, or independently of the latter; the stop in the open position avoids the carrier closing by the weight of a child. The whole can be fitted with central handles 32 enabling the carrier to be used as a carry-cot.

As is apparent from the foregoing, a carrier according to the invention can be used equally well as a chair or as a bed or normal configurations, without an appreciable increase in the cost price and without needing long and delicate operations and separate accessories. In particular, for the bed position, a child will have available a more or less flat base, so may lie stretched out on his back, stomach or side, which has not been possible with the tilting seats of the prior art.

Claims (20)

1. A convertible carrier for a child comprising a bottom and a lateral skirt attached to the bottom and having an upper peripheral edge for supporting and fixing the carrier, the bottom being deformable along at least one transverse hinge line and there being retention means adapted locally to adjust the effective height of the skirt at least at one point on each side of the carrier, whereby the retention means when released allows the skirt to take up its maximum effective height so that the bottom is opened out to be substantially flat, thereby to obtain a bed position, and the retention means when operated locally lifts the bottom to a position nearer the edge, so that the bottom folds to define a backrest and a seat thereby to obtain a chair position.

2. A carrier according to claim 1, in which retention means are provided one each side of the bottom hinge line.

3. A carrier according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the hinge line corresponds to the junction between the back-rest and the seat parts of the bottom.

4. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 3, in which the bottom is also deformable along a second transverse hinge line corresponding to the front edge ofthe seatforthe chair position, wherebythe bottom may define in the chair position, an extreme front surface inclined with respect to the e seat for supporting the lower part of the legs of a carried child.

5. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 4, in which the carrier is symmetrical as regards the skirt and bottom and optionally the retention means thereof with respect to a transverse to permit the use of the carrier on a reversible push-chair, wherein the carrier in the chair position may face the mother orface forward bya pivoting movement thereof about a transverse axis.

6. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 5, in which means are provided for folding away excess material of the skirt when in the chair position.

7. A carrier according to claim 6, in which the means for folding away comprise one of a bellows arrangement, a fold and a false pocket, and are closed by one of buttons, zip fasteners, hooks, laces, self-fastening closures and straps.

8. A carrier according to claim 6 or claim 7, in which the excess material is gathered up against the skirt or against the lower external face of the bottom.

9. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 8, in which the means for folding away and the retention means are common.

10. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 9, in which the bottom includes stiffening means arranged alongside the transverse hinge line or lines.

11. A carrier according to claim 10, in which the stiffening means is made of a substantially rigid material configured to permit the bottom to flex.

12. A carrier according to claim 11, in which the stiffening means is provided with lines of weakness or with interruptions, to permit flexing of the bottom.

13. A carrier according to any of claims 10 to 12, in which the stiffening means are formed by plates preferably of polypropylene of a few millimetres thickness.

14. A carrier according to claim 10 or claim 11, in which the bottom includes separate stiffening plates the adjacent edges of which are parallel, the plates being held between two thicknesses of canvas or like material and being maintained in position by lines of stitching or the like extending between the said adjacent edges of the plates in order to define seams preventing movement of the plates.

15. A carrier according to claim 10 or claim 1, in which the bottom is formed in one piece, with notches or grooves and/or lines of weakness which define the said hinge line and, if required, contribute to the flexibility of the carrier.

16. Acarrier according to any of claims 1 to 15, in which the bottom has at least one longitudinal hinge line suitably disposed to permit the carrier to be folded about that hinge line.

17. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 16, in which the upper edge is supported by two longerons inter-connected by end cross-members, central side handles provided so that the carrier can be lifted from a support and used as a carry-cot.

18. A carrier according to claim 17, in which the end cross members are relatively movable or foldable, to permit folding ofthe carrier.

19. A carrier according to any of claims 1 to 16, in which two parallel and independent longerons are provided.

20. A carrier according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.