GB2243076A - Child's safety seat - Google Patents

Abstract

A child's safety seat 10 is incorporated in an existing motor vehicle adult seat assembly, especially a rear seat assembly 12 having a back portion 14 and a seat portion 16. A recess 18 is provided in the back portion 14, which recess is normally filled by a hinged portion 20. This is hingedly attached to a bar 24 which is disposed laterally of the seat assembly 12. The hinged portion 20 can be lowered so as to rest on or be supported by the horizontal seat portion 16 with an upper surface 22 of the hinged portion exposed. The recess 18 and the upper surface 22 form a safety seat for a child which is raised with respect to normal seat heights so as to permit use of conventionally situated seat belts. <IMAGE>

Description

CHILD'S SAFETY SEAT This invention relates to a child's safety seat for use in a car, minibus, coach, aircraft or other similar vehicle.

It is known to provide safety seats for children travelling in cars or similar vehicles. Such seats are commonly a bucket-type seat which is adapted to be secured to the car's existing seat. The provision of an extra seat is necessary because of the difference in height and build of a child compared to that of an adult for which the original seat was designed.

Thus, the anchor points for seat belts or other restraining belts will normally be too high to provide effective securement and retention of a child within a seat. Furthermore, children will often want to see clearly from a window of a vehicle and this is not always possible given the average height of vehicle seats with respect to the lower level of the window. This will often lead to the child moving around in order to obtain a better view and consequent safety problems in the event of an accident. Thus, the addition of a child's seat is effective to raise the child with respect to the window line and permit a better view from a seated position within the vehicle.

It will be appreciated that one of the problems with providing an extra seat is the time consuming and labour requiring job of removing the seat when it is not required and replacing it when it is. This requirement is further complicated by the fact that the seats are usually required to be fairly rigidly attached to the existing seat structure in order that the child's seat does not become detached therefrom in the event of an accident and provide an additional injury risk. It will be understood that the seat will usually need to be removed from time to time in order that the existing seat may easily accommodate adults or luggage in place of children.

It is an object of the present invention therefore to provide a child's safety seat which is easy to use whilst fulfilling the required safety aspects of nonmovable attachment and child retention.

With this object in view the present invention provides a child's safety seat in which the safety seat is retractably housed in a motor vehicle's seat assembly.

In a first aspect of the invention a child's safety seat comprises a seat assembly for a motor vehicle having a lower substantially horizontal portion and an upper substantially vertical back portion, said back portion including at least one hinged part thereof being hingedly mounted with respect to the back portion such that it may be hingedly displaced from a substantially vertical position to a substantially horizontal position when it rests on the lower horizontal portion of the seat assembly to form a safety seat. The hinged part is preferably of sufficient dimensions to support a seated child and to raise the child's line of vision sufficient to be able to see from the vehicle's window.

It will be appreciated that the safety seat according to this first aspect of the invention is pivotally mounted in the back of an existing seat assembly in the manner of a pulldown armrest. When the safety seat is pulled down from its normal closed position a recess or cavity will be formed in the seat back which will then form the back of the child's seat.

The raising of the child's line of vision will also be effective to raise the child's body to a position where it can be effectively secured by existing front or rear seat belt arrangements.

In a preferable modification of the invention seat restraint belts are provided attached to the motor vehicle's seat assembly within a cavity formed therein by displacement of the hinged part.

Preferably a locking or retaining device is provided operative to secure the hinged part in its lowered configuration such that the seat thus formed is stable under external forces and rigidly held in place. This will ensure that the seat will not tend to fold up or be loosened by an impact on the vehicle.

The hinged part may be attached to the seat assembly by any convenient hinge means, for example, a ball and socket type arrangement, a simple flexible textile hinge or advantageously be hinged around a rod passing through the seat assembly and arranged laterally of the vehicle's body.

In an alternative aspect of the invention a child's safety seat includes a seat assembly for a motor vehicle comprising a substantially vertical back portion and a substantially horizontal seat portion, the seat portion having disposed therein a raisable child's safety seat part, said seat part being provided with locking means operable to hold the seat part in a raised position with respect to the horizontal seat portion of the seat assembly.

Preferrably the locking means is a spring loaded ratchet arrangement. This ratchet arrangement may be controlled by a lever located below the seat or alternatively by a mechanism arranged to displace the seat part upwardly by the action of a spring released by a downward force on the seat part.

It will be appreciated that either of the aspects of this invention may be applied to existing seat assemblies in cars, minibuses, coaches or aircraft and to either rear seats or front seats wherever room is available to accommodate a safety seat according to the invention.

A further aspect of the invention provides a car seat assembly including a part thereof which is adaptable to provide a child's safety seat whose lower surface is raised with respect to a substantially horizontal portion of the car seat assembly.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides a child's safety seat which is formed integrally with the vehicle's seat assembly and thus can be easily stowed out of sight and out of the way when not required for use by a child. In this way the provision of a child's safety seat will not interefere with the normal functioning of a car or other vehicle.

The invention will be described further by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1, a first embodiment of the invention is shown according to the first aspect of the invention which provides a child's safety seat 10 formed integrally with, for example, a car rear seat assembly 12. As is commonly known, the car rear seat assembly 12 comprises a backrest portion 14 which is usually substantially vertical although it may be slightly inclined or adjustable depending on the type or position of the seat involved and a lower seat portion 16 which is substantially horizontal and on which a person using the seat assembly is actually seated. In normal construction the backrest portion 14 and the seat portion 16 will be constructed of a resilient material to provide a flexible support and will be covered by a fabric or textile covering to provide a hard wearing exterior surface.

According to this first aspect of the invention a recess 18 is provided in the backrest portion 14. Into this recess is fitted a child seat part 20 which is hinged at its lower edge such that it may be removed from the recess 18 and supported on the seat portion 16 of the seat assembly 12.

The hinged seat part 20 is preferably shaped so as to provide a seat-like upper surface 22 on which a child (not shown) may be seated. Preferably the height of the seat part 20 above the seat portion 16 is such that a child sat thereon will be raised to the level of an adjacent window (not shown) so that he or she may look outside without having to alter their position. Furthermore the height of the seat part 20 is such that the child is raised to a height sufficient to be effectively retained by existing seat belt arrangements (not shown) which would normally be too high to be effective.

The seat part 20 is preferably hinged by way of a cylindrical metal bar 24 arranged laterally of the motor vehicle's seat assembly 12. In an advantageous modification of this arrangement the bar 24 is secured to the vehicle's side walls immediately adjacent to either end of the seat assembly 12. This will, of course, only be possible where the seat assembly is a rear seat and there are no adjacent door panels.

Alternatively the seat part 20 may be pivoted by way of a ball and socket type joint or simply by way of a textile or other flexible material hinge. Where existing seat belts are not engageable with a child seated in the child's safety seat 10 it may be advantageous to provide a secondary seat belt arrangement specifically for the child's seat 10. In such an instance the secondary seat belt arrangement may be preferably stowed in the recess such that it is secured when not in use.

Turning now to Fig.2 a child's seat assembly according to the second aspect of the invention is illustrated as would be arranged in a front or single seat type assembly. In such an arrangement the seat comprises a substantially vertical backrest portion 30 and a substantially horizontal seat rest portion 32.

The substantially horizontal seat rest portion 32 accommodates a child seat part 34 which is mounted on a spring loaded ratchet mechanism (not shown). This mechanism is operative to raise the seat part 34 above the level of seat portion 32 when operated and is provided with locking means operative to retain the seat part 34 in a raised configuration when so desired. Such locking means may be either released by way of the ratched mechanism itself in response to a sharp pressure applied to the seat part 34 or by way of a lever (not shown) located below the seat.

The invention is not confined to the foregoing details and variations may be made thereto.

Claims (10)

1. A child's safety seat in which the safety seat is retractably housed in a motor vehicle's seat assembly.

2. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 1 which comprises a seat assembly for a motor vehicle having a lower substantially horizontal portion and an upper substantially vertical back portion, said back portion including at least one hinged part thereof being hingedly mounted with respect to the back portion such that it may be hingedly displaced from a substantially vertical position to a substantially horizontal position where it rests on the lower horizontal portion of the seat assembly to form a safety seat.

3. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which seat restraint belts are provided attached to the motor vehicle's seat assembly within a cavity formed therein by displacement of the hinged part.

4. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 in which a locking or retaining device is provided which is operative to secure the hinged part in its lowered configuration such that the seat thus formed is rigidly held in place.

5. A child's safety seat as claimed in any precedeing claim in which the hinged part is attached to the motor vehicle seat assembly by engagement around a rod passing through the seat assembly and arranged laterally of the vehicle's body.

6. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 1 which comprises a seat assembly for a motor vehicle having a substantially vertical back portion and a substantially horizontal seat portion, the seat portion having disposed therein a raisable child's safety seat part, said seat part being provided with locking means which are operable to hold the seat part in a raised position with respect to the horizontal seat portion of the seat assembly.

7. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 6 in which the locking means is a spring loaded ratchet arrangement.

8. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 7 in which the ratchet arrangement is controlled by a lever located below the seat.

9. A child's safety seat as claimed in claim 7 in which the ratchet arrangement is operated by a mechanism arranged to displace the seat part upwardly by the action of a spring released by a downward force on the seat part.

10. A child's safety seat substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.