GB2175545A

GB2175545A - Foldable push-chair

Info

Publication number: GB2175545A
Application number: GB08607949A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patrick Surot
Original assignee: Ampafrance SA
Current assignee: Ampafrance SA
Priority date: 1985-04-01
Filing date: 1986-04-01
Publication date: 1986-12-03
Also published as: GB8815849D0; GB2175545B; GB8607949D0; GB2205791B; GB2205791A

Abstract

A foldable push-chair has two side chassis assemblies 6 connected together by two transverse strut linkages 7 and 21. The rear linkage 21 has a pair of arms 24 each pivoted at one end to the upper section 9a of one side chassis assembly and at the other end to the lower section 9b of the opposed side chassis assembly. The upper part 10 of each arm 24 is of substantially rectilinear form and when the push-chair is unfolded, that upper part 40 extends downwardly from the pivotal connection 27 to the upright member 9, substantially in the longitudinal plane of the upright member. Each arm 24 further has an intermediate part 41 also of substantially rectilinear form and extending from the upper part 40 to the central articulation 25 of the linkage 21 the intermediate part 41 extending substantially at right angles to the upper part 40. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Child's perambulator of the foldable push-chair type The invention is concerned with children's perambulators of the foldable push-chair type, generally called "walking-stick" push-chairs, which are made up of a chassis foldable on itself, mounted on wheels and carrying a seat or the like to receive the child.

It is known, from our earlier British Patent Specification No. 2145982, to provide a push chair which has a chassis mounted on wheels and carrying a chair or the like, the chassi being made up of two similar side chassis assemblies each comprising one main support element and a rear upright member, there being at least one deformable rear transverse strut linkage connecting the rear upright members of the two chassis assemblies.In this construction, each rear upright member comprises at least two sections telescopically connected together, the upper section having its upper part articulated to the associated main support element about a transverse axis fixed in relation to the said support element, the lower section having its lower end part articulated to an element of the associated side chassis assembly about a transverse axis, and the rear transverse strut linkage being articulated on the two telescopically-connected sections of each upright member.The rear transverse strut linkable remains wholly in the lower part of the chassis for the unfolded position of the push-chair, at a level lower than that of the lowest part of the seat, the rear transverse strut linkage comprising an articulated cross each arm of which is connected obliquely to the rear upright members, the lower extremities of the arms being articulated to the lower sections of the upright members, and the upper extremities of the arms being articulated each to a respective slider arranged to be displaceable on the upper section of the corresponding upright member. Such a push-chair will hereinafter be referred to as a 'push-chair of the kind described'.

A push-chair of the kind described has been described and claimed in the Specification of our pending Application No. GB-2145982-A, and the present invention has as its object improvements in such a push-chair.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention provides a push-chair of the kind described in which the upper part of each arm of the rear transverse strut linkage, which upper part is articulated on the associated slider for sliding displacement on the upper section of the corresponding upright member, is of substantially rectilinear form and, in the unfolded position of the push-chair, extends downwardly from its articulation to the slider and lies substantially in the longitudinal plane of the corresponding upright member.

On each arm of the transverse strut linkage, the said upper rectilinear part preferably is contiguous with a substantially rectilinear part extending from said upper part to the central articulation of the two arms of the linkage, the intermediate part extending substantially at a right angle with respect to the said upper part.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a push-chair of the kind described, in which the upper section of each upright member carries, above the respective slider, a stop able to co-operate with the slider when the carriage is unfolded from an intermediate position, to couple the unfolding movement of each side chassis assembly in the longitudinal sense with the side-ways unfolding of the push-chair by deformation of at least the rear transverse strut linkage.

By way of example only, one specific embodiment of this invention will now be described in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a push-chair according to the invention and in the unfolded or opened-out position; and Figure 2 is a partial rear elevation showing, for the opened-out position of the push-chair, the rear upright members, the rear transverse strut assembly and the locking means.

There will be briefly described in the following the essential elements constituting the push-chair though for a more detailed description of the basic parts of a similar kind of push-chair, reference can be made to the description given in the Specification of British Patent Application No. 2145982-A.

The push-chair comprises a chassis 1 which is mounted on front wheels 2 and rear wheels 3, and supports a seat or the like 4.

The chassis 1 is constituted by two side chassis assemblies 6, which are symmetrical, by a lower transverse strut linkage 7 and by a rear transverse strut linkage 21.

Each side chassis assembly 6 is constituted by a mainsupport element 8, a rear upright member 9 and a rear strut 10.

The main support element 8 is in two sections 8a and 8b, which are articulated one on the other about a pivot 12.

The rear strut 10 carries a rear wheel 3 at its lower extremity while its upper extremity is articulated about a pivot 14 on a clip 15 fixed on the upper section 8a of the main support element 8.

The seat or the like 4 is supported by the two side chassis assemblies 6 by the intermediary of the clip 15 and can be locked in a required position by two knobs 16 associated with these clips.

The rear upright member 9, which lies in a vertical longitudinal plane of the push-chair, carries fixed at its upper extremity a clip 17 which is articulated at 18 near to the upper extremity of the section 8a of the main support element 8. At the lower extremity of the upright member 9 there is fixed a clip 19 which is articulated by a pivot 20 near to the lower extremity of the rear strut 10.

The transverse connection of the two side chassis assemblies 6 is obtained by the two strut linkages 7 and 21. Each of these two linkages is constituted, in a generally known manner, by two arms in a cross formation, each arm connecting obliquely the two side chassis assemblies 6 to which it is articulated.

Each upright member 9 is made up of two sections 9a and 9b which are connected telescopically, the upper section 9a carrying the clip 17 and the lower section 9b carrying the clip 19. Each arm 24 of the rear cross linkage 21 co-operates at its upper extremity with the upper section 9a of one upright member and at its lower extremity with the lower section 9b of the other upright member.

The upper part of each arm 24 is articulated by a pivot 27 on a slider 28 able to slide on the upper section 9a of the corresponding upright member 9.

The lower position of the slider 28, corresponding to the opened-out position of the push-chair, is defined by a fixed stop 32 carried by the section 9a.

The lower extremity of each arm 24 is articulated on the corresponding section 9b about a pivot 26.

According to one of the characteristic features of the present invention, the upper part 40 of each arm 24 of the rear cross linkage 21, which is articulated by the pivot 27 on the slider 28, is more or less rectilinear and, for the opened-out position of the push-chair shown in the drawings, extends downwardly from the pivot 27 while lying more or less in the vertical longitudinal plane of the corresponding upright member 9.

The upper rectilinear part 40 is contiguous with an intermediate part 41 extending to the central pivot 25 of the two arms 24 of the cross linkage, which intermediate part 41 is more or less rectilinear and is arranged to extend more or less at right angles with respect to the upper part 40.

The arrangement of the upper part 40 of a rectilinear from and lying in the vertical longitudinal plane of the upright member 9 allows, all other things being equal, the position of the slider 28 to be higher for the open-out state of the push-chair, without however raising the position of the central pivot 25. In turn, this allows more transverse rigidity to be given to the push-chair because of the increase in the distance between the articulations of the two arms 24 on each upright member, without increasing the obstruction of the space between the upright members by the arms 24.

The transverse locking of the push-chair can be assured by a pair of pivoted arms 29, of which the arms 29a and 29b are articulated on the pivots 26 and are themselves coupled together about a pivot which carries a knob 31 for gripping and operating.

According to a second improvement of the present invention, the upper section 9a of each upright member 9 carries, above the associated slider 28, a stop 42 suitable for co-operating with this slider during unfolding, and starting from an intermediate position to couple the unfolding movement of each side chassis assembly 6 in the longitudinal sense with the transverse unfolding of the pushchair by deformation of the rear cross linkage 21 and of the lower cross linkage 7.

As can be seen on Figure 2, for the opened-out position of the push-chair, the sliders 28 press against the stops 32, spaced from the stops 42.

At the beginning of the re-folding movement, the articulations 26 and 27 move further apart, which causes, simultaneously with the longitudinal refolding of each side chassis assembly 6, the transverse re-folding of the push-chain When the push-chair is in the folded state, each upright member 9 is at its maximum extension, the sliders 28 being spaced away from the stops 42. At the beginning of the opening-out movement, each upright member 9 contracts without, nevertheless, there being any deformation of the cross linkages 7 and 21. For an intermediate position of the telescoping, stops 42 come into contact with the sliders 28 and, from this moment, the sliders 28 are displaced together with the upper sections 9a of the upright members 9. At the end of the opening-out movement, that is to say, from the position of maximum contraction of the upright members, the sliders 28 leave the stops 42 for complete opening of the cross linkages 7 and 21 until locked by the hinged arms 29.

Thus, according to the invention, during the opening-out of the push-chair, the unfolding in the plane of each side chassis assembly 6 is coupled with the transverse unfolding of the overall chassis 1.

Naturally the invention is not limited to the exact construction described above, and there could be conceived variations of the described construction which still fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A child's push-chair of the kind described, wherein the upper part of each arm of the rear transverse strut linkage, which upper part is articulated on the associated slider for sliding displacement on the upper section of the corresponding upright member, is of substantially rectilinear form, and, in the unfolded position of the pushchair, extends downwardly from its articulation to the slider and lies substantially in the longitudinal plane of the corresponding upright member.

2. A push-chair according to claim 1, wherein the upper substantially rectilinear upper part of each arm of the rear cross linkage is contiguous with an intermediate part extending from the rectilinear part to the central articulation of the two arms of the linkage, while an intermediate part is substantially rectilinear and extends substantially at a right angle with respect to the upper part.

3. A push-chair according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the upper section of each upright member carries, above the respective slider, a stop able to co-operate with the slider when the push-chair is unfolded from an intermediate position, to couple the unfolding movement of each side chassis assembly in the longitudinal sense with the sideways unfolding of the push-chair by deformation of at least the rear transverse strut linkage.

4. A push-chair of the kind described wherein the upper section of each upright member carries, above the respective slider, a stop able to co-operate with the slider when the push-chair is unfolded from an intermediate position, to couple the unfolding movement of each side chassis assembly in the longitudinal sense with the side-ways unfolding of the push-chair by deformation of at least the rear transverse strut linkage.

5. A push-chair according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the stop is arranged to co-operate with the slider up to the position of maximum telescopic contraction of the upright member, the slider then leaving the stop for the maximum opening movement and the locking of the rear transverse strut linkage.

6. A push-chair of the kind described and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.