GB2489259A

GB2489259A - Device with extendable arms for attaching an infant seat to a separate structure.

Info

Publication number: GB2489259A
Application number: GB1104856.8A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Venables
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-03-23
Filing date: 2011-03-23
Publication date: 2012-09-26
Also published as: GB201104856D0

Abstract

A means 1 for attaching an infant seat 2, such as a vehicle safety seat, to a separate structure via a plurality of extendable arms 3, 5 is provided. The separate structure may comprise a supermarket shopping trolley. The arms 3, 5 may be fully retracted and are preferably mounted on a rack and pinion. The arms may have distal clasp fittings 51, 52. The means may be incorporated into an adaptor for a seat, into the seat itself or into a trolley.

Description

t V.' INTELLECTUAL ..* PROPERTY OFFICE Application No. GB 1104856.8 RTIVI Date:17 May 2012 The following terms are registered trademarks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document:

ISOIFIX

Intellectual Properly Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk

PATENT APPLICAJION

OF

LN VENABLES

FOR

MEANS FOR ATTACI-IING AN INFANT SEAl

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a means for attaching an infant seat to a separate structure, more particularly to a supermarket trolley.

Backqpund Increasingly it is important to meet strict safety standards of governmental legislation and parental or carer concern in a variety of situations for children. In particular infant seats are of particular interest to both carers and legislation.

Seats for use in cars put a child in the right position to allow the adult seat belt straps to restrain both the seat and the child. Generally slots in the car seat guide the adult seat belt straps around the child.

Legislation requires that all infants and children below a certain size need to have special seats in vehicles. Children above a certain size instead are required to use booster seats which raise the child high enough for their carer to use an adult seat belt around the child.

ISOFIX stands for "International Standards Organisation FIX" and is a standard for installing child seats into cars and is intended to make fitting child seats quick and simple. Similar systems include LATCH ("Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children") in the United States and LUAS ("Lower Universal Anchorage System") or Canfix in Canada. Yet more systems have also been called the "Universal Child Safety Seat System" or UCSSS.

Supermarket shopping trolleys on the other hand have no international safety seat configuration, and generally have a simple foldable region in their basket that may be deployed to allow a child to sit in the trolley near the trolley handle. These seats however are not very comfortable and provide little back support or general safety.

Also, in times of increasing concern over the activities if unknown and known third parties in relation to children, and in relation to active children, it is relatively easy for a child to be removed from such a seat as there is no belting.

With the increasing predominance of out of town supermarkets transfers between a vehicle and supermarket are frequent. For a child to be put into a trolley seat it will need to be awake or at least will be woken on transfer from the vehicle seat to the trolley seat.

Prior Art

Granted United Kingdom patent GB 9 017 803 (SEDLACK) discloses an infant carrier for secure attachment to a shopping cart comprising: A seating section including a bottom portion, a back portion disposed at an angle to said bottom portion, and side portions disposed adjacent to and substantially perpendicular to said back portion and said bottom portion; rear side extensions generally parallel to said side portions and including a rear surface having an opening formed therein; and lock means for attaching said seating section to the shopping cart formed in said rear side extensions, said lock means comprising a resilient cantilever member extending into and movable within said opening when said carrier is positioned on said shopping cart, said lock means being formed integrally with said rear surface at a lower end of said opening.

United States patent application US 5 385 387 KAIN discloses a child carrier comprising seat means having a seat base including a foot end, head end, a back and side walls; a transverse channel having an upper and lower end extending upwardly within said head end of said seat base; spring biased latching means extending through said back of said seat means and into said channel, said latching means being below the upper end of said channel; said channel being adapted to fit over an upper forward transverse rod of an inner basket of a shopping cart with said latching means being adapted to pass over and fit under the transverse rod; a base geometrically configured so as to mate with the bottom of said seat means, said base having a substantially flat bottom surface, a head end, foot end, and side walls; a frame having first and second ends movably mounted within said base and being configured at said first end so as to mate with and move with said spring biased latching means; hook means pivotally mounted within said base; means for securing said second end of said frame to said hook means; second spring means for biasing said frame in a direction so as to maintain said hook means in a substantially upwardly extending position; means on the bottom of said seat means configured so as to mate with said hook means when said seat means is placed on said base; whereby movement of said latching means in one direction moves said frame so as to overcome the bias of said second spring means and rotate said hook means to a position so as to permit removal of said seat means from said base.

United States patent application US 4 861 105 (MERTEN et al) discloses an infant car seat that is mountable on a cart of the type having a rear end wall and a spaced child back support wall having an upper crossbar comprising: a car seat frame having a rear end portion supportable by the upper crossbar of the cart; and said end-portion including a pair of spaced side walls, each side wall having a notch for receiving the crossbar; and pivotally movable latch member having a hook at one end thereof, and spring means for urging the hook into latching engagement with the crossbar for releasably latching the car seat to the cart, wherein the car seat frame has a curved bottom to allow the car seat frame to be rocked, the infant car seat further having means for preventing rocking movement of the car seat frame, and wherein the rocking preventing means comprises a pivotal support member pivotally mounted between said side walls and movable between a retracted position to allow rocking, and an extended position to prevent rocking and means for holding said support member in said extended position.

Further developments in the field of supermarket infant seats have led to simple plastic moulded seats similar to the car seats being provided at the handle for smaller infants.

In contrast however the present invention provides a solution to the joint problems of lack of good seating for infants in supermarket trolleys and the problem of the lack of easy transference from a vehicle to a supermarket of an infant; additionally providing a comfortable solution for the infant, that in turn may avoid its waking or distress on transference.

Sumrna!y of the Invention According to the present invention there is provided a means of attaching an infant seat to a separate structure including a plurality of extendable arms.

In some embodiments the means may be housed within a seat, in some an adaptor, whereas in others it may be within a detachable portion of the seat or seat harness, such as within an ISOFIX base.

In preferred embodiments the means is located to the underside of a seat in use.

Particular embodiments may be at the underside of a booster seat or infant safety seat.

In preferred embodiments the means is provided in an adaptor that may be introduced between existing seats and bases, ideally to be left in place on the seat where the base is left in place in a vehicle.

In such preferred embodiments the means therefore is included in the adaptor that is placed in use between the base and seat. This adaptor may enable conversion of existing seats. Ideally in use the base may be carried separately to the trolley and attached previous to the trolley, with the seat attached to the adaptor subsequently.

The arms are disposed to provide support for a seat upon a wire shopping trolley or the like, so accordingly the arms and/or their fixings to the seat are well supported and robust in construction. The arms are ideally provided in plastics having an internal core of metal ensuring structural strength in order to withstand an infant's weight.

Three or four arms are typically provided to a seat or seat base comprising to the rear, front and sides of the seat or base. These arms typically extend outwards, and may be retracted into the seat or base fully, such that the seat or base may be used in the fashion of an ordinary infant car seat or base.

Clip or snap fit closure at full retraction may be included to prevent unwanted movement of the arms when retracted fully.

Ideally in ordinary usage the arms are extended out to fit over the sides of a supermarket trolley and clasp over them. The user therefore may easily transfer a safety seat from a vehicle to a trolley without unduly disturbing the infant.

Preferably therefore the means is contained within the seat or adapted seat, so that the seat may be detached from a base, said base being left in the vehicle.

However further embodiments may include adaptors that are attached first to the supermarket trolley, including the means, and adapted to provide ISOFIX or other fixing system common to safety seats. In such a fashion the user may detach the seat from the ISOFIX base in the vehicle and carry the seat to the trolley, which trolley provides an ISOFIX adaptor or may have an ISOFIX adaptor attached, said adaptor including the means.

The invention has been described by way of examples only and it will be appreciated that variation may be made to the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the scope of invention.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realised that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable moddications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Brief Description of Figures

Figure 1 shows a seat, attached to an adaptor incorporating the means; Figure 2 shows an isometric view of the adaptor; Figure 3 shows a reverse view of the adaptor; Figure 4 shows a side view of the adaptor; Figure 5 shows a front view of the seat and adaptor; And Figure 6 shows an isometric view of the adaptor with arms extended.

Detailed Description of Figures

The pictured embodiments feature the means incorporated into an adaptor 1, onto which a generic car seat 2 is fixed in use.

Further embodiments of the means may be incorporated into standard safety seats in a manner that eliminates the need for a separate adaptor.

Both forms of the embodiment of the invention allow the carer or user to transfer an entire safety seat from their vehicle to the trolley, thereby ensuring that the infant is correctly and safely belted in place by the belting arrangement from the vehicle.

Shopping trolleys are not all a standard size; therefore in preferred embodiments a rack and pinion extension mechanism is used to allow adjustment to fit onto the top edge of most trolleys.

The arms in the pictured embodiment are retractable into the adaptor, with side arms 3 having a release button 4, which may function to release the arms 3 for extension or more generally for movement.

Front arms 5 retract into the adaptor, having a similar release button 6.

Some embodiments may include arms that include a screw thread, wherein said arm may be twisted to secure its extension length. Such an arrangement may allow the arms to be passed through the wire sides of the trolley, perhaps in order to secure the means lower in trolleys, so as to avoid the possibilities of overbalancing and tipping.

The pictured embodiment of the extension mechanism uses a ratchet to lock the arms in place, allowing the arms to be pushed in, but not pulled out unless a release button is pressed.

Additionally in the preferred embodiments the arms are provided with clasp endings (51, 52) so as to ensure that a typical wire frame of a trolley is encircled and the arm is held in place if its length is correctly adjusted.

One or more of the arms may additionally be divided so as to pass about the wire frame. For example ends may include multipartite fingers, disposed to accept trolley frame The pictured adaptor I is envisaged to fit in between a seat 2 as pictured and ISOFIX base (not pictured) and can be removed if not needed by operating a button typically located to the rear side.

A release handle (not shown) may be located on the rear of the seat 2. Pulling the handle will typically release the chair or seat from both the ISOFIX or trolley adapter I, depending on to which it is currently fixed.

In use the pictured seat connects to the trolley in two places; firstly, the side arms 3 are located onto the trolley sides in order to support the rear of the seat. In order for this to be effective it is envisaged that preferred embodiments locate these arms to the rear of the means, or seat in use, so as to prevent the seat tipping backwards, and/or freeing the front arm from the trolley.

Secondly, the front arm, or in some embodiments arms, is/are hooked over the front bars of the trolley, to stop it from sliding back and forth.

Some embodiments of the means may include a plurality of arms on each side, so as to prevent pitch or yaw.

The arms are all then clamped in as tight as possible for the safest fit.

Clamping of (he front arm to the front of the trolley fully secures the seat.

Claims

Claims 1. A means of attaching an infant seat to a separate structure including a plurality of extendable arms.
2. A means according to claim 1 for attaching a seat to a trolley.
3. A means according to claims 1cr 2 wherein the arms may be fully retracted.
4. A means according to claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein the arms are mounted on a rack and pinion.
5. A means according to claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the arms provide distal clasp fittings.
6. An adaptor for a seat incorporating a means according to any preceding claim.
7. A seat incorporating a means according to any preceding claim.
8. A trolley incorporating a means according to any preceding claim.