GB2202433A

GB2202433A - Tiltable safety sat for infants

Info

Publication number: GB2202433A
Application number: GB08806748A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Juichiro Takada
Original assignee: Takata Corp
Current assignee: Takata Corp
Priority date: 1987-03-25
Filing date: 1988-03-22
Publication date: 1988-09-28
Also published as: GB8806748D0; KR960012611B1; FR2612852A1; KR880010943A; DE3809968A1; DE8804020U1; JPS63235137A

Description

9 a Tiltable Safety Seat for Infants 7 2,te-'0243i The present invention

relates to infant safety seats for vehicles and. more particularly, to an infant safety seat which may be selectively tilted to and locked at various inclinations to accommodate different positions of the infant during use.

Infant safety seats for automobiles and other vehicles have been widely used for years. Typically, these prior seats have included a molded plastic seat body that is secured to the vehicle seat by the permanently installed seat belts provided for adults.

Once secured. the infant seat remained in a fixed position, normally the sitting position, and was either not usable in any other position. such as the sleeping position. at all or only by bodily repositioning the entire infant seat. In the first case, the prior infant seats simply did not afford the comfort of reclining or sleeping positions, and required the parent to leave the infant in the sitting position even though resting or asleep or to forego the safety of the infant seat and remove the child therefrom during rest or sleep periods.

In the second case. such as the seat disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 3,794, 379 for example, the position of the infant seat could be changed only be unfastening and refastening the vehicular seat belts and bodily repositioning the infant seat. This was not only inconvenient for the parento but was also disruptive to the infant. Furthermore, such prior art seats as were usable in different positions typically provided only two alternative positions of the seat, sleeping or sitting, as illustrated, for example, in Figures 2 and

3r respectively, of the '379 patent.1 f 1 An object of the present invention is to provide an infant safety seat that may be selectively tilted to and locked at various positions of user including sitting and sleeping, with only minimal effort and with little or no disturbance to the infant.

The foregoing object is attainedi according to the invention, by an improvement in an infant safety seat for a vehicle which includes a seat body adapted to be secured to the vehicle seat by the regular vehicular seat belts, a base for supporting the seat body on the vehicle seat, and a restraining harness for securing an infant within the seat, wherein the seat body is supported on the seat base for relative movement therebetween in the longitudinal direction of the seat, so as to permit movement of the seat body to a number of different use positions, and wherein a releasable locking mechanism is provided to selectively secure the seat body in the desired use position. The seat body is readily movable between different use positions by selectively disengaging the iocking mechanism and then reengaging it to secure the seat in the new position. There is no need to bodily move the entire seat. including the seat base, or to remove the infant from the seat in order to change the use position. Rather, the seat is easily moved to the desired position by simply releasing the locking device and tilting the seat body.

In a preferred embodiment, a pair of curved slide members or surfaces are carried by or formed on the seat body and a coacting pair of curve guide rails are carried by or formed on the seat base. The guide rails, and preferably also the slide members or surfaces, extend longitudinally of the seat, so that the seat may readily be moved to different use positions by sliding the seat body longitudinally of the seat base. To facilitate locating and locking the seat body in desired use positions, provision is preferably made along the 1 d f - length of the guide rails or slide members to define predetermined relative longitudinal positions therebetween which correspond to the desired use positions of the seat# e.g., sitting. reclining. sleeping. etc. In one embodiment, such provision is in the form of one or more rollers carried by the seat body which register with and engage longitudinally spaced indentations in the guide rails when the seat body is in the predetermined different use positions.

The releasable locking mechanism suitably comprises a manually-operable mechanism which operates, when engaged, to lock the seat body to the seat base at the different use positions. In a preferred embodiment, the locking mechanism includes a plurality of longitudinally spaced holes in one or both of the slide members on the seat body and a lock pin and control lever assembly mounted on the seat body. When the seat body is at a predetermined position relative to the seat base, as defined for example by the aforementioned roller-detent structure on the seat body and base, the hole or holes in the seat body will be in registry with a corresponding lock pin or pins on the seat base, whereupon the control lever may be operated to engage the pins in the holes to secure the seat body against relative longitudinal movement. When it is desired to move the seat body to a different use position, the control lever is simply operated to extract the pins from the holes and the seat body is once again free to move longitudinally of the seat base.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the following description of exemplary embodimentsi taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an exploded pictorial view of one embodiment of the tiltable infant safety seat of the invention; 1 Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. 1, showing the seat body in two different use positions; Fig. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line A-A on the left and along the line B-B on the right in Fig. 2. looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C in Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the releasable locking mechanism of the invention; Fig. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the slide members. guide rails, and positioning and locking structure of the invention; and is Fig. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the releasable locking structure of the inventionp with certain parts not shown for greater clarity.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1. the infant safety seat includes a seat body 1 and a seat base 2 for supporting the seat body on the seat of a vehicle. The infant seat is secured on the vehicle seat by inserting the permanently-installed vehicular seat belts (not shown) into the openings 3 or 4 of the body 1. The seat body is preferably comprised of fiberreinforced molded plastic covered by an elastic foamed rubber layerl as is known in the art.

The seat further includes a restraining harness or seat belt unit 5 for safely and securely restraining the infant within the seat body 1. The harness 5, which may be of the type more fully described in U. S. Patent No. 4,342,483, includes two shoulder belts 6, an abdomen pad 7, a quick-disconnect buckle 8, and a retractor 9 mounted on the bottom face or the back face of the seat body 1. The buckle 8 is located in a notch in the body and coacts with a tongue (not shown) protruding from the _z 9 -S1 lower end of the pad 7 to secure the harness 5 in position during use. The shoulder belts 6 pass through openings 10' in the rear wall of the seat body, are merged into or coupled to a single belt, and are wound on the retractor 9. In the event of an emergency, the retractor locks to secure the restraining harness in place. Reference may be made to the aforementioned U. S. Patent No. 4p342,483 for a more detailed description of the structure and operation of the restraining harness 5. The pertinent portions of the '483 patent are hereby incorporated by reference.

As shown in Figs. 1-4, the seat base 2 carries on the upper surface thereof a pair of guide rails 11 and guide faces 17. which extend longitudinally of the seat and are arcuate in longitudinal cross section. Although the rails 11 and faces 17 are depicted in Figs. 1-4 as integrally formed with the upper wall of the seat base 2, they may be formed as separate members and fastened to the base 2 by screws or in any other suitable manner.

A pair of slide members 13 having lower slide surfaces 14 are carried by or formed on the lower wall of the seat body 1. The slide members 13 and surfaces 14 are also preferably arcuate in longitudinal cross section to correspond to the guide rails 11 and guide faces 17. The slide members 13 and surfaces 14 likewise may be integrally molded with the body 1 or they may be formed separately and attached to the body 1, as shown in Fig. 3. As is also shown in Fig. 3, the slide members 13 fit within the open tops of the channel- shaped guide rails 11, so that the slide surfaces 14 rest on the guide surfaces 17 on the seat base 2.

By sliding the members 13 along the guide rails 11, the seat body 1 may be tilted to the desired inclination for use. This is illustrated in Fig. 2, where the solid-line orientation of the seat body 1 provides an upright. sitting position of the seat and the dashed line provides a reclined, resting or sleeping position. If desired. the body 1 might be tilted to still other X positions. Stops (not shown) may be provided at or adjacent the front and rear ends of the slide members 13 to abut the ends of the rails 11 and limit the range over which the seat body 1 may be tilted. Although the slide members 13 are preferably longer than the guide rails 11, so as to extend therebeyond as shown in Fig. -20 this is not necessary. Also, the slide members may take other forms, such as short blocks.

To facilitate use of the infant seat, provision is preferably made to define predetermined relative positions between the seat body 1 and the seat base 2 which correspond to the different use positions of the seat. In the embodiment of Figs. 2-4, such provision is in the form of one or more rollers 15 that are rotatably mounted on the slide members 13 and a plurality of longitudinally-spaced indentations 18 formed in the guide faces 17 of the seat base 2. Alternatively, the roller.s 15 could be mounted on the guide rails 11 and the indentations 18 provided in the slide surfaces 14.

As best seen in Figs. 3, 4 and 6, the rollers 15 are mounted within oversize transverse bores 32 in the slide members 13, so that they are free to move into and out of the indentations 18 as the slide members 13 are moved longitudinally along the guide rails 11. Springs 33 (see Fig. 6) may be provided to bias the rollers 15 towards the guide surfaces 17 to insure entry of the rollers into the indentations 18.

Preferably, the rollers 15 and indentations 18 are so located relative to the slide members 13.and the guide faces 17 and to one another that the registry of the roller or rollers 15 with the different indentations 18 corresponds to the different use positions of the seat. The seat may thus easily be moved into each use position by feel. without necessitating careful attention by the parent.

The use of positive position-defining structure such as the rollers 15 and indentations 18 also facilitates the proper registry and engagement of the i 11 Z 4 1 1 is locking mechanism for securing the seat against unintended movement out of a given use position. In the embodiment of Figs. 1-4. the means for releasably locking the seat in position includes a plurality of longitudinally-spaced transverse holes 16 in the inside wall of each of the slide members 13. The holes 16 are adapted to receive the lock pins 19 of the locking mechanism 12. With this arrangement, there will be one set of holes 16. one hole in each slide member 13, for each use position of the seat. Correct alignment of the holes 16 and pins 19 at each use position is assured by registry of the rollers 15 and indentations 18. as aforementioned. Although shown in Figs. 1-4 as being in the slide members 13, the locking holes 16 may be located in other parts if desired. For example, Fig. 6 illustrates an embodiment in which the holes 16 are formed in a separate member or members 34 integral with or attached to the seat body 1.

In addition to the holes 16 and pins 19. the releasable locking mechanism 12 includes a manually operable lever 20 for selectively engaging and disengaging the pins 19. The lock pins 19 are guided for transverse movement (in the direction of arrow 24 in Fig. 3) by transverse bores in a pair of U-shaped guide blocks 21 carried by the seat base 2 and transversely extending slots 22 and 23 in the upper wall of the seat base 2 (see Figs. 1 and 3). The inner ends of the lock pins 19 are slidably received within oblique slots 25 in the control lever 20 (see Fig. 5). Springs 26 connected to the seat base 2 bias the lock pins outwardly towards the slide members 13. i.e., towards the locked position, while a spring 29 connected to the seat base 2 urges the control lever to the rear, which also corresponds to the locked position of the mechanism 12. A longitudinal slot 27 in the lever 20 receives a pin 28 carried by the bottom wall of the base 2 (Fig. 4) for permitting guided longitudinal movement of the lever 20.

When the control lever 20 is pulled forward (in the direction of the arrow 31 in Figs. 4 and 5), the oblique slots 25 cam the lock pins 19 inwardly and out of engagement with the holes 16 in the slide members 13.

This frees the seat body 1 for longitudinal movement relative to the seat base 2 by sliding the members 13 along the guide rails 11. Once the desired new use position is reached, as indicated by the engagement of the rollers 15 with the indentations 18, the lever 20 is released and, under the action of spring 29. returns to the rearward or lqcked position shown in Fig. 5. Upon rearward movement of the lever 20, the springs 26 and slots 25 force the lock pins 19 into engagement with the new set of holes 16 opposite the pins, thereby locking the seat in its new position. A finger opening 30 is provided at the front of the lever 20 to facilitate its use.

Fig. 7 depicts another embodiment of the locking mechanism, wherein the lock pins 19 are mounted for rotation between an unlocked position shown in dashed lines to a locked position sown in solid lines. where the pins engage slots 35 in the lower edge of the member 34 carried by the seat body 1. In this embodiment, the pins 19 are preferably biased in the direction of the arrow 36 by springs (not shown) and are moved to the unlocked position by operation of the control lever (not shown). In still another form of locking mechanism, the seat may be secured in position by a clamping device which grips the slide members 13 or member 34 from both sides.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated by reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many variations and modifications thereof may be made without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed. All such variations and modificationsi therefore, are intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1 f 1

Claims

Claims is An infant safety seat for vehicles including a seat body adapted

to be secured to the vehicle seat by the vehicular seat belts# a restraining harness for restraining an infant within the seat body, and a base to support the seat body on the vehicular seat characterized by means carried in part by the seat body and in part by the seat base for supporting the seat body on the seat base for longitudinal relative movement therebetween to provide different inclinations of the seat body corresponding to different use positions of the seat, and means for releasably locking the seat body to the seat base to secure the seat body in said different inclinations.

2. An infant safety seat according to claim 1 and further characterized in that the means for supporting the seat body on the seat base comprises means, carried by one of the seat body and the seat base, defining a pair of curved slide members and means. carried by the other of the seat body and the seat base. defining a pair of longitudinally extending curved guide rails, said curved slide members coacting with said curved guide rails to support the seat body on the seat base for relative longitudinal movement therebetween.

An infant safety seat according to claim 2 and further characterized by means carried by at least one said slide member defining means and said guide rail defining means for defining different relative longitudinal positions between the seat body and the seat base, corresponding to different inclinations of the seat. at which the seat body is 6.

may be releasably secured by said releasable locking means.

An infant safety seat according to claim 3 and further characterized in that the longitudinal position defining means comprises at least one roller rotatably mounted on one of the slide member defining means and the guide rail defining means and.a plurality of longitudinally spaced indentations for receipt of said roller member carried by the other ofsaid slide member defining means and said guide rail defining means.

5. An infant safety seat according to claim 4 and further characterized in that the longitudinal position defining means includes means for resiliently biasing said at least one roller member towards the other of said slide member defining means and said guide rail defining means to facilitate engagement of said roller member with said indentations.

An infant safety seat according to claim 1 and further characterized in that the releasable locking means comprises means carried by the seat body for defining a plurality of longitudinallyspaced holes, at least one lock pin movably mounted on the seat base for selective engagement with said holes, and control means for enabling a user to selectively disengage and engage said lock pin with said holes to permit movement of the seat body to different inclinations relative to the seat base and thereafter to secure the seat body to the seat base to lock the seat at such different inclinations.

Pnbliahed 19M at The Patent Office, S House, 68171 HolboM London WC1R 4TP. F copies may be obtained from The Patent Office, -7