GB2389059A

GB2389059A - Combined baby bouncer/walking apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2389059A
Application number: GB0312440A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anette Windross
Original assignee: STEP N BOUNCE Ltd
Current assignee: STEP N BOUNCE Ltd
Priority date: 2002-05-31
Filing date: 2003-05-30
Publication date: 2003-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2023-05-30
Also published as: GB2389059B; GB0212746D0; GB0312440D0

Abstract

A combined baby bouncer/walking aid apparatus comprises a harness 1 for securing to a child, a supporting bar 17 and at least two straps 22, 23 adapted to connect the supporting bar 17 to the harness, the supporting bar 17 and the length of the straps is such as to enable an adult to suspend the weight of a child with its feet just on the ground to assist the child in walking. The apparatus further includes an elongated resilient member 55, one end of which is adapted to be connected to the harness 1 and the other end is adapted to be connected to a clamp 44-48 by which the resilient member 55 and harness 1 can be suspended from a fixed mounting point.

Description

COMBINED BABY BOUNCER/WALKING APPARATUS

The present invention relates to a combined baby bouncer/walking apparatus which is readily adaptable between the two modes of operation.

Baby bouncers are a well-established apparatus for amusing young babies and to help strengthen their leg muscles, particularly prior to them learning to walk. The conventional baby bouncer consists of a seat in which the baby sits, somewhat in the manner of a traditional breeches buoy, which is suspended from a fixed mounting through an elongated resilient rubber spring to enable the baby to use the resilience to bounce up and down. Typically, the bouncer includes a clamp which in a domestic situation is adapted to clamp on both sides of a wall over a doorway and to be supported by the architrave of the doorway.

It is also known to have reins which are clipped to a harness fastened on the upper part of a young person who can walk, to stop them wandering off or dashing into the road. These reins are essentially a safety constraint.

The present invention seeks to provide an apparatus which can not only function as a baby bouncer but also as a walking aid for young babies learning to walk.

According to the present invention there is provided a combined baby bouncer/walking aid apparatus, comprising a harness for securing to a child, a supporting bar and at least two straps adapted to connect the supporting bar to the harness, the supporting bar and the length of the straps is such as to enable an adult to suspend the weight of a child with its feet just on the ground to assist the child in walking, the apparatus further including an elongated resilient member, one end of which is adapted to be connected to the harness and the other end is adapted to be connected to a clamp by which the resilient member and harness can be suspended from a fixed mounting.

The resilient member is, preferably, connected to the clamp through a non-

resilient strap, the length of which is adjustable to enable the harness to be positioned at the correct position above the ground for the size of child concerned. Preferably, the supporting bar comprises a tubular member having a grip at its mid-point by which the bar can be held manually. The grip may be formed of a moulded plastics material and may also incorporate an opening by which the resilient member is securable to the bar.

In a preferred embodiment, the bar carries a sleeve on each of its ends the sleeves each incorporating a loop adapted to receive a strap or clip fastener of the harness. Typically, the apparatus will be used by babies of between three months and 18 months, providing the baby can hold its head up.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures I A - 1 D show a harness for a baby walking aid, Figures 2A and 2B show a harness for a baby bouncer, Figures 3A and 3B show details of the means for suspending the baby bouncer from a fixed mounting, and, Figures 4A and 4B show a modified embodiment of the invention.

Referring now to Figures 1A-1D, there is shown a harness 1 for a walking aid for a young child who is Just on the point of learning to walk, typically between the ages of nine months and 18 months. The harness I consists of a waist band 2 in the fonn of a belt having a buckle 3 at the front. Two leg bands 4, 5 adapted to fit around the upper part of the leg adjacent the crotch are connected to the waist band 2 at the rear by straps 6, 7, as shown in Figure I D. The size of the leg bands 4, 5 is adjustable by means of buckles 8, 9 of known type. A shoulder harness 10 is also attached to the waist band 2 and consists of two straps I 1, 12 secured to the front of the waist band 2 which extend

over the shoulders and cross-over at the back, being held together by a sliding clip 13, as shown in Figure I C, where they are secured to the rear of the waist band 2. The length ofthe shoulder straps 11, 12 is adjustable by means of sliding buckles 14, 15 in a known way. A transverse safety strap 16 extends between the two shoulder straps 11, 12 across the front to ensure that the shoulder straps do not slip off the shoulders of the child. The apparatus includes a supporting bar 17 having a handgrip 18 of moulded plastics material at its midpoint and, on each of its ends, engaging members consisting of tubular sleeves 18, 19 fastened to the ends of the supporting bar and each having a loop 20, 21, to each of which a supporting strap 22, 23 can be snap fastened by means of a spring clip 24, 25. As shown in Figure I A and I B. the two supporting straps 22,23 are adapted to the clipped onto the supporting bar and at their other ends carry another spring clip 26, 27 by which they are adapted to be snap fastened on a respective loop 28, 29 on respective sleeves 28a and 29a which are slidably located on the shoulder straps 11, 12 of the harness. Thus, regardless of the adjustment of the shoulder straps to accommodate children of different sizes, it is possible to ensure that the supporting straps are located on top of the child's shoulders by sliding the sleeves into this position.

The length of the supporting straps 22, 23 is adjustable by means of sliding buckles 30, 31. Referring now to Figures 2A and 2B, there is shown the variations to the harness when it is in bouncer mode. In this mode, the basic harness 1 is the same as shown in the embodiment of Figure 1. The waist band 2 includes four loops around its periphery to provide two, 32, 33 at Me Wont and two 34, 35 at the back. In this mode, the waist band 2 is connected to the supporting bar 17 by two support straps 36, 37 which have snap fasteners 38 at each end for engaging in respective loops in the waist band 2. The support straps 36, 37 also each carry a further snap fastener, 36a and 36b respectively, by which the straps can be secured to the loops 20, 21 on the support bar 17, with one end fastened to a loop 32 or 33 on the front of the waist band 2 and the other end on a loop 34 or 35 respectively at the rear. As shown in Figure 2A, the effective length of

( the support straps 36, 37 may be adjustable by means of sliding buckles 39, but in the embodiment shown in Figure 2B, no means of adjustment is provided.

The centre of the support bar 17 carries a combined grip 40 for manual use and an opening 41 through which a snap fastening 42 (see Figure 3A) of a resilient suspension device can be attached. The suspension device 43 will now be described with reference to Figure 3A and Figure 3B. the device includes a caliper arrangement having two C-shaped arms 44, 45 pivotally connected together at their lower ends about axis 46 and at their other ends each arm carries a clamping face 47, 48 formed by the end of the arm being at 90 degrees to the length of the ann. The ends carry a protective sleeve 49, 50 providing an abutment face which abuts against a corresponding abutment face on the other arm in the at-rest position as shown. The two arms 44, 45 are biased towards each other by a coil tension spring 51.

A suspension link 52 is also pivotally connected to the two arms 44, 45 and carries a strap 53, the length of which is adjustable by means of a sliding buckle 54. At its lower end, the strap 53 is connected to an elongated resilient element 55 which has at its dower end the snap or clip fastener 42 by which the suspension link 52 can be connected to the supporting bar 17 of the harness. In operation, in a domestic situation, the most popular place for suspending the apparatus win in the bouncer mode is in a doorway or similar opening. The two C-shaped arms 44, 45 are clamped to the wall above the door opening where they rest on the architrave and are held in positioned by the coil spring 51. The protective sleeves 49 50 serve to prevent damage to the wall decoration and the architrave.

Figures 4A and 4B show an alternative embodiment of the harness in which the leg bands 4, 5 are re-placed by a crotch piece 56 formed of a textile material. A rear end of the crotch piece 56 is fastened to the rear of the waist band 2 by stitching and has at its front end 57 a central member 58 of a buckle 59 which secures the front end 60 of the crotch piece 56 to the waist band 2 and also forms the buckle for securing the ends of the waist band 2 together.

( The central member 58 of the buckle 59 is formed of a moulded plastics material and has opposed openings 61, 62 each of which is adapted to receive a male coupling member 63 (only one of which is shown) on a respective end 64, 65 of the waist band 2.

The central member 58 has a bar element 66 to which the front end 57 of the crotch piece is secured by being wrapped around the bar element 66 and stitched in place.

Figure 4B shows a cross-sectiona1 view of the buckle central member 58. It can be seen that adjacent each opening 61, 62 there are opposed, inwardly inclined, ramp surfaces 67 terminating in a shoulder 68.

The male member 63 on each end of the waist band 2 has a pair of spaced linearly extending resilient fingers 69 each having on their outer sides an inwardly extending ramp surface 70 adapted to engage with a respective one of the ramp surfaces in the central member. The ends of the ramp surfaces remote from the outer ends of the fingers terminate in an inwardly extending shoulder 71 so that when the male member 63 is inserted in the opening, the two fingers 69 are resiliently pushed together by the action of the co-operating ramp surfaces 67, 10 until the shoulders 71 on the male member fingers 69 pass the shoulders 68 in the central member 58. The fingers 69 spring out again under their inherent resilient bias so that the shoulders 68, 71 overlap to latch the male member 63 and hence the associated end of the waist band 2 in the central member S8. When both male members are clipped into the central member 5X the two ends of the waist band and the crotch piece 56 are secured around the child to support the child in the harness.

This arrangement provides an easier way of placing a child in the harness, particularly if they are wearing shoes or Wellington boots which are sometimes awkward to fit through the leg bands 4, 5 of the first embodiment. In the embodiment of Figures 4A and 4B, the harness is simply slipped over the child's head, the crotch piece 56 is pulled up between its legs and the male coupling members on the ends of the waist band are clipped into the central member 58 secured to the front end of the crotch piece.

Claims

1. A combined baby bouncer/walking aid apparatus, comprising a harness for securing to a child, a supporting bar and at least two straps adapted to connect the supporting bar to the harness, the supporting bar and the length of the straps is such as to enable an adult to suspend the weight of a child with its feet just on the ground to assist the child in walking, the apparatus farther including an elongated resilient member, one end of which is adapted to be connected to the harness and the other end is adapted to be connected to a clamp by which the resilient member and harness can be suspended from a fixed mounting point.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which the resilient member is connected to the clamp through a non-resilient strap, the length of which is adjustable to enable the harness to be positioned at the correct position above the ground for the size of child using the apparatus.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, in which the supporting bar comprising a tubular member having a grip at its mid-point by which the bar can be held manually.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the grip is fanned of a moulded plastics material.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the grip also incorporates an opening by which the resilient member is securable to the bar.

6. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claim, wherein the bar carries a sleeve on each of its ends, the sleeves each incorporating a loop adapted to receive a strap or clip fastener of the harness.

7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the harness includes a waist band and a crotch piece, with a buckle member having engaging elements on

( respective ends of the waist band, engageable in a co-operating buckle element on the crotch piece.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the engaging elements engage in the buckle element with a snap fastening action.

9. A combined baby bouncer/walking aid apparatus, substantially as described herein with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.