GB2494897A - Adaptor to mount a standard infant car seat upon a standard supermarket trolley - Google Patents

Abstract

The adaptor comprises two pairs of mutually pivoted limbs 3 which have notches 13 at their bottom extremities to engage horizontal side rungs 14 of such a trolley; the limbs, at their upper ends 6 engage with a standard infant car seat 9, enabling it to be safely and easily mounted on the trolley. Neither the trolley nor the car seat need to be modified, the device is self-aligning and self-securing without tools or adjustment, and can be applied to a broad range of trolley sizes and styles.

Description

Adaptor to mount a standard infant car seat upon a standard supermarket trolley.

Shopping in a supermarket with an infant can be made much easier by not having to take the infant out of their car seat. This is especially true if the infant has fallen asleep, as often happens on a car journey to the supermarket.

With many modern infant car seats, it is possible to remove the infant and the seat together from the car, without disturbing the infant. These car seats are intended to mount onto a chassis to form a travel system, or basic perambulator. The invention allows the same transfer onto any standard supermarket trolley or shopping cart.

The prior art includes the following offerings, and the problems with each are explained.

Bucket seats for infants, generaHy mounted only on large trolleys, require that the infant be disturbed to be placed in the seat, and the seats themselves are uncomfortable and generally wrongly sized. The safety straps can be awkward to adjust. They are also excellent vehicles for transmitting germs, since they have many infants using them, and are not cleaned between uses. The solid plastic bucket seat offers no cushioning against the knocks and vibrations which are transmitted through the stiff trolley, directly to the infant.

Trolleys which offer a high-level wire tray for a car seat to be placed upon are generally very large and unwieldy, and the car seat is placed so high that it is not only physically very difficult to safely lift the car seat into place, but it also obscures the view of the front of the trolley. The straps provided to hold the car seat cannot be ideal for every type of car seat on the market.

Overall there is a high chance of a dangerous combination of factors.

These two types of troliey are avaiiable only in larger supermarkets, on a first-come, first-served basis, and may be a long way from where the caregiver finds a parking space. This means the infant must be either left alone while the caregiver finds a trolley, or carried through the car park, with no certainty that the trolley, once ocated, will be of a suitable type.

So, often, a car seat is placed inside the trolley basket, which is not only unsafe, because the infant is amongst the items being purchased, but also unsatisfactory, because so much useful space is taken up by the car seat.

A number of published patents attempt to solve the problems described above, but they each either require a new type of trolley, a new type of car seat, or extensive modifications to each, which render the original function of each severely limited. Or they re-invent the bucket seat concept, which maintains the limitations as described above. Finally, none of the prior art allows a wide range of different trolley sizes and constructions to be used as the need dictates.

An example of each broad category of prior art is listed hereunder: DE4202428 (1992) EBERLEIN HERBERT -modifies the trolley GB2111826 (1983) EVANS JOHN FREDERICK -is an alternative style of bucket seat, with similar limitations U54324430 (1982) DIMAS JR HERMAN, DIMAS JANICE E -requires the infant to be seated upright, and to be transferred into this position ES2067409 (1995) CEBADER NUNEZ JOSE MANUEL -modifies the car seat and requires a child carrier already to be present in the trolley US4BG1 105 (1989) MERTEN BARRON C, MORTON KENNETH P -is a brand new style of car seat, and requires a child carrier already to be present in the trolley The invention presented herein overcomes these difficulties by proposing a simple mechanical adaptor to support the infant car seat on a standard trolley. The proposed self-adjusting pivot and restraint mechanisms allow almost any trolley to be used. By interfacing the horizontal rungs of the trolley to existing features on the car seat, a secure and versatile arrangement is achieved.

The invention allows the infant to use their own car seat, which will be comfortable, hygienic, correctly adjusted and may already have the sleeping infant in place. Furthermore, the infant does not need to be disturbed in order for the invention to be assembled or used, meaning that the entire shopping experience may be undertaken with a single caregiver and a sleeping infant.

Since no modification is required to the trolley or the car seat, the caregiver has free choice over the size and weight of trolley that is appropriate to their need, including the smaller, lighter trolleys. The caregiver is able to select a trolley which is adjacent to their car parking place. This makes a spontaneous shopping trip far more practical.

The invention allows the car seat to be positioned anywhere along the length of the trolley, and the final height can be adjusted, so that access to the useable volume of the shopping trolley basket is maximised. The reclining angle of the car seat can be adjusted by selecting different horizontal rungs of the trolley on which to engage each end of the invention.

The invention can be packed flat so it is efficient to transport and small enough to be permanently carried in the boot of the car, and can then be assembled quickly by hand.

Following assembly, the device is self adjusting, in that it requires no clips, screws, bolts or straps in order to be secured to the trolley. The invention is kept engaged with the trolley rung by the combined weight of the car seat and infant, it being translated into outward force on the structure of the trolley.

Furthermore, the invention is able to be used without a trolley, to hold a car seat off the ground in wet or draughty conditions, where there are pets, or where it is preferable for the infant to be at the same level as seated adults, without balancing the car seat precariously on

a table or chair.

The invention herein is a principle that is not specific to a brand of car seat or type of shopping trolley. It allows almost any trolley to be used because it is self-adjusting to give a sturdy and secure anchorage to the trolley, regardless of dimensions.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the drawings: Figure 1: View of the invention mounted on a supermarket trolley with the infant car seat being placed onto it.

Figure 2: Two versions of the primary limb of the invention, for engaging with car seats with male and female features respectively.

Figure 3: View of the bracing strut, showing the equivalent notches in the primary limbs and the strut.

Figure 4: View of an alternative arrangement of the invention in the trolley, which reclines the car seat for comfort.

Figure 5: Cutaway detail showing the pin and groove method of maintaining the invention in a position to hold the car seat off the ground.

Figure 6: The hoop method of maintaining the invention in a position to hold the car seat off the ground.

The invention comprises four limb parts (1, 2, 3, 4), preferably constructed from a machined flat sheet material, or compression moulded, and arranged into two pairs, with the limbs of each pair joined at a pivot point (5) to form two symmetrical bipedal limb assemblies. The pivot component may be a binding post.

Two of the limb parts (1, 2) have features shaped either as a receptacle (6) or a tongue (7), or some other profile as required, so as to snugly receive the equivalent mating features (8) from a third party infant car seat (9), as would more usually be used to attach the car seat to a wheeled chassis to form a travel system. A carry cot presenting the same features, as is commonly supplied with travel systems, may also be used.

The same limb parts (1, 2), also have a notch (10) to allow a transverse bracing strut (11), which has equivalent notches (12), to fit closely to the limb part, thereby bracing the limbs, aligning them, and providing the correct spacing between the bipedal limb assemblies as to correctly receive the particular car seat. The bracing strut can be easily removed without a tool to allow the invention to be disassembled and stored flat.

The four limb parts each have a notch in their extremity (13) which allows the limb to engage with any substantially horizontal side rung of a standard supermarket trolley (14). The horizontal rung may equally be the rim of the trolley (14), or any of the other horizonta rungs below it (15), allowing the final height of the car seat to be adjusted. One side of the invention may be engaged with one rung, while the other side is engaged with a different rung (16), the attitude of the car seat (9) thereby being adjustable for the comfort of the infant.

The invention is prevented from moving along the length of the supermarket trolley by the vertical wires of the trolley situated immediately before (17) and after (18) each limb. The combined weight of the infant and car seat acts so as to push the limb notches into tighter engagement with the rungs, making the device self-securing.

A feature is provided that allows the invention to be used to keep an infant car seat off the ground, when not used with a supermarket trolley. This feature prevents the angle of the limbs of the invention from openng beyond a set point, without needing the horizontal side rungs of the trolley to restrain them, and may comprise a pin (19) on each of two limb parts (1, 2) and a groove (20) on each of the other two limb parts (3, 4), whereby the pin runs within the groove until the extremity of the groove is reached, at which point the angle of the limbs are prevented from further opening. Alternatively, a hoop of rubber, webbing or similar (21) may be looped around the notches in the extremities of the limbs (13), whereby the limbs are prevented from further opening.

Claims (1)

1. <claim-text>Claims 1. A device with two bipedal assemblies, each formed of two limbs, pivoted together, whose outer extremities have longitudinal notches to engage with and abut against a substantially horizontal side rung of a standard unmodified supermarket trolley, such that the two bipedal assemblies are supported transversely by the tension within the aforementioned rung, and with features at the upper edge of the pivot point of each bipedal assembly for the engagement of an unmodified third party infant car seat of the style as would otherwise engage with a wheeled chassis to form a perambulator or travel system.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. A device as claimed in Claim 1 which includes a rigid lateral brace which closely slots into two of the limb pieces (one on each bipedal assembly) for the purpose of correctly spacing the bipedal assemblies in order to readily accept the aforementioned infant car seat without further adjustment.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. A device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 whose lateral brace also provides extra stability and strength to the device before and after the infant car seat is mounted to it.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. A device as claimed in Claim I and Claim 2 which is maintained securely in place upon a supermarket trolley by the outward force on the longitudinal notches of each limb engaged with the horizontal rung, imparted by the transmission of the weight of the infant and car seat thereto.</claim-text> <claim-text>5. A device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 which, by being rigidly aligned only on two of its four limbs by the aforementioned lateral brace, is able to rest with all four aforementioned notches abutting firmly and evenly against the aforementioned rung of the supermarket trolley, largely regardless of the width, tapering and angle from the horizontal of the rung, making the device suitable for stable introduction to standard supermarket trolleys of various sizes and shapes without any adjustment by the user.</claim-text> <claim-text>6. A device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 which is constructed so as to allow a small degree of material flexing in all directions, to provide the child in the infant car seat some dampening of shocks and vibration otherwise transmitted through the trolley's rigid wheels and frame to the car seat.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. A device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 which has a secondary retaining mechanism such that the device can be rested wholly on the ground, not engaged with any object, and yet remain in a pivoted state, allowing the device to be used alternatively to maintain an infant car seat in vertical separation from the ground.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. A device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 which is constructed so as to permit push-fit assembly, and disassembly by hand only, and may be packed flat for transportation and storage.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. A device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 which may be used with any suitable means of baby conveyance with appropriate mating features, which is more usually engaged with a travel system, such as a carry cot designed to mount on a wheeled chassis to become a perambulator.</claim-text>