GB2315011A - Harness attachable by straps to the back of a seat and to an existing seat belt - Google Patents

Abstract

A harness for use in conjunction with a seat belt comprises two seat straps 10, 12 for securing the harness to a seat and two shoulder straps 14, 16 attached to the seat straps for supporting a passenger and for securing the harness to the seat safety belt. Each seat strap has hook and loop fastening strips 24, 26 by which the seat strap may be fastened either to itself around the seat or to fastening strips on the seat back. The distal end of each shoulder strap may be passed around a seat safety belt and fastened to itself by pressing fastening strips 18, 20 together.

Description

SUPPORT HARNESS The invention relates to a support harness and in particular to a harness for supporting a passenger during travel, for example on an aeroplane, or on any other form of transport which uses similar type seating with individual backs, and which is used in conjunction with the passenger's seat safety belt. Such harnesses are often used to support children or adult passengers with disabilities.

One known harness is fastened at the back of the seat using a single strap which is secured using a safety belt buckle. The harness also comprises two shoulder straps, each of which have two parts, an upper part and a lower part. The upper part of each shoulder strap is attached to the seat strap and has at its other end part of a safety belt buckle, that is the main buckle part or the tang of a safety belt buckle. The lower part of each shoulder strap has the other part of the safety belt buckle at one end and at its other end a loop through which the actual seat safety belt is threaded. The two parts of each of the shoulder straps are then attached together by the safety belt buckle. The passenger is buckled into the harness by a further safety belt buckle at the front. However, this type of harness is very cumbersome, heavy and, if the seat has a table which nestles in its back (for use by a person in the seat behind), makes it very difficult or impossible to store the needed table away once the harness has been fastened to the seat. A large amount of material is needed to make the harness and the buckles are bulky and expensive.

Moreover, the size of the harness cannot be adjusted. Other known seat harnesses comprise a complicated arrangement of straps and fasteners which are difficult to put on and take off. This leads to the problem that the passenger to whom the harness is being fitted may become embarrassed due to all the fuss being created. Moreover, since it is difficult to take off it may cause delay in the case of an emergency.

The present invention is defined in the appendant claims to which reference should now be made.

A preferred embodiment of the invention, which is described in more detail below with references to the drawings, takes the form of a support harness which comprises fabric fastenings rather than bulky fastenings such as safety seat buckles. The harness is therefore comfortable and also has a large degree of adjustment.

The preferred harness has the advantage of being light and compact to store, and this is of particular relevance when the harness is used on an aeroplane. The harness does not interfere with the stowage of any table in the back of the seat because the seat straps are secured using fabric fastenings which can fit behind a table, even when it is in its stowed position.

Furthermore, the preferred harness is very simple to fit and to undo. This means that the fuss of fitting the harness is minimal, and that taking off the harness will not cause any delay if there is an emergency.

The preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a front view of a harness embodying the invention laid flat; Figure 2 shows a front view of the harness of Figure 1 in use on an aeroplane seat; Figure 3 shows a side view of the harness in use on an aeroplane seat; and Figure 4 shows a front view of the harness in its working position attached to an aeroplane seat.

Referring to Figure 1, the harness 8 comprises two seat straps 10, 12 and two shoulder straps 14, 16. The shoulder straps are for supporting a passenger and for securing the harness to the seat safety belt. The seat straps are for securing the harness to the seat.

The right and left shoulder straps 14, 16 are attached at one end to the centre of a first one of the seat straps 10 with their ends laying side by side. The shoulder straps 14, 16 are arranged with a small angle between them, so that they form a V-shape. The shoulder straps 14, 16 are attached to the second seat strap 12 approximately 24 cm along their length and about 5 cm apart, so that the seat straps 10, 12 are spaced apart by about 24 cm and are substantially parallel. The first seat strap 10 to which the ends of the shoulder straps 14, 16 are attached thus forms the lower seat strap, and the second seat strap 12 is the upper seat strap. The straps are symmetrically arranged about a vertical centre line.

The seat and shoulder straps have strips of fabric fasteners of hook-and-loop type construction, such as of Velcro (Registered Trade Mark), by which the harness 8 is fastened in place.

Near the distal end of each of the shoulder straps 14, 16 two adjacent strips of fastening material 18, 20 are arranged on the rear side of the straps 14, 16 (shown by dotted lines in Figure 1). The two strips 18, 20 are arranged end-on and longitudinally along each shoulder strap 14, 16. The strip 18 nearest to the end of each strap 14, 16 comprises fastening loops (or eyes), and the other strip 20 on each shoulder strap 14, 16 comprises fastening hooks. At the distal end of each shoulder strap an orange pull tab 22 is attached.

Strips of fastening material 24 and 26 are attached to each end of the two seat straps 10, 12. A strip 26 comprising fastening loops is attached to one end on the rear side of the seat strap 10, 12 and a strip 24 comprising fastening hooks is attached to the other end on the front side of the strap 10, 12. Pull tabs 22 are also attached on the front side of each seat strap 10, 12 at the end to which the strip of fastening loops 26 is attached.

The straps 10, 12, 14, 16 of the harness 8 are made of aircraft standard webbing material, such as that used as standard for seat safety belts.

Figures 2 to 4 illustrate how the harness 8 is fitted to a seat 28 having a movable table 30 which may be stowed in its back, such as a seat on an aeroplane. First the table 30 is released and moved away from the back of the seat. Then the harness 8 is positioned in the seat 28 with its front side facing forwards, and the ends of the two seat straps 10, 12 are moved behind the seat 28. The two seat straps are then secured, with the first seat strap 10 lower down the seat than the second seat strap 12, by pressing the strip 26 of fastening loops on one end of each strap onto the strip 24 of fastening hooks on the other end of the same strap.

Next the passenger sits in the seat 28 and the seat safety belt 34 is fastened. Then the shoulder straps 14, 16 are passed over the passenger's shoulders, and behind and under the fastened safety belt 34. The shoulder straps 14, 16 are then looped back upwards onto themselves and secured by pressing, on each shoulder strap, the loop fastening strip 18 onto the hook fastening strip 20. The exact position in which the loop fastening strip 18 overlaps the hook fastening strip 20 will depend on the size of the passenger, and how tightly the harness is done up. However, the strips 18, 20 of fastening material are long enough to allow for a large variation of the size of the passenger and still ensure that a secure fastening between the two strips 18, 20 is achieved. If a secure fastening cannot be achieved the position of the seat straps 10, 12 on the seat can be adjusted by moving one or both of them up or down the seat to provide the correct securing arrangement.

The table 30 may then be returned to its stowage position and the harness straps are checked and, if necessary, tightened to ensure that the passenger is sufficiently supported.

To remove the harness quickly, the four tabs 22 are pulled. These tabs are preferably in a bright colour such as orange, and are marked with the word "PULL" to show clearly how the harness is undone.

The harness 8 is preferably stored in its own pouch along with a procedure card which explains how to fit the harness.

While the safety harness has been described here in relation to an aircraft seat, it can be used on any seat which has an individual back.

In an alternative embodiment each seat strap may have at one of its ends two strips of fabric fastening material, with one strip comprising fastening hooks and the other comprising fastening loops in a similar manner to the shoulder straps described above. In this case, each seat strap has a loop attached at its other end. To secure the harness to the seat the end of the seat strap to which the fabric fastening strips are attached is passed through the loop and then turned back on itself.

The two strips of fastening material are then pressed together to form a secure fastening.

Furthermore, the strips of fastening hooks and loops may be interchanged, so that in place of the strips of fastening loops shown in Figure 1 there are strips of fastening hooks, and in place of the strips of fastening hooks there are strips of fastening loops. Also the fastening strips on the shoulder straps may be attached on the front side of the shoulder straps rather than the rear side. In this case, the shoulder straps would have to be looped under the seat safety belt from the front of the seat safety belt and then moved up underneath themselves.

In a further embodiment of the invention the seat may have on its back one or more strips of fastening material to which the seat straps may be secured.

The support harness 8 described is comfortable and light as it does not include any bulky or heavy fastenings such as safety seat buckles. The harness is also very small when folded up. Moreover, the harness does not interfere with the stowage of any table in the back of the seat. The harness also has the advantage that it is very simple to fit and to undo. This means that the fuss made when fitting the harness is minimal, and that the harness will not cause any delay if there is an emergency.

The invention thus provides a support harness for children or disabled passengers, which is simple to fit and take off and which allows a large degree of adjustment without the need for any extra buckles. The harness also has the advantages of being light, comfortable, and cheap to produce.

Claims (6)

1. A support harness for use in conjunction with a seat safety belt, the harness comprising two seat straps for securing the harness to a seat and two shoulder straps attached to the seat straps for supporting a passenger and for securing the harness to the seat safety belt, each seat strap having at least one fabric fastening strip by which the seat strap may be fastened around the seat, and each shoulder strap having a pair of fabric fastening strips on one of its sides near to the distal end so that the distal end may be passed through a seat safety belt and fastened by pressing the fastening strips together to form a secure fastening, thereby securing the harness to the seat safety belt.

2. A support harness as claimed in claim 1 in which each seat strap comprises a pair of fabric fastening strips which when pressed together form a secure fastening.

3. A support harness as claimed in claim 1 or 2 further comprising a pull tab at the end of each shoulder strap.

4. A support harness as claimed in any preceding claim in which the fabric fastening strips are of hook-and-loop type construction.

5. A support harness as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a pull tab at one end of each seat strap.

6. A support harness substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.