GB2495619A

GB2495619A - Infant safety seat

Info

Publication number: GB2495619A
Application number: GB1218069.1A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Xiao-Long Mo
Original assignee: BP Childrens Products HK Co Ltd
Current assignee: BP Childrens Products HK Co Ltd
Priority date: 2011-10-13
Filing date: 2012-10-09
Publication date: 2013-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2032-10-09
Also published as: DE102012020119A1; CN202319976U; DE102012020119B4; TW201315623A; GB201218069D0; GB2495619B; TWI501887B

Abstract

An infant safety seat includes a base and a carrier. The base includes a base body, a front swing arm 22, a rear swing arm 24, and a pull link 26. Each of the front and rear swing arms is pivotally connected to the base body and includes a hook portion 22a, 24a. The hooking directions of the two hook portion are opposite. The pull link is connected to the front and rear swing arms respectively, such that when the pull link moves, the swinging directions of the front and rear swing arms are opposite. When the carrier is engaged onto the base, the hook portions hook two cross bars of the carrier respectively. Therefore, when an instantaneous impact occurs, the crossbars will not disengage from the hook portions simultaneously because of the opposite hooking directions of the hook portions, so as to improve the engagement reliability of the carrier with the base.

Description

T it I e

INFANT SAFETY SEAT

Background of the Tnvention

1. Field ofT the Inven tIor)

The invention relates to a safety seat, and especially relates to an infant safety seat of detachable design.

2. Descriction of the Prior Art

tO Infant safety seat is a kind of seat device for infant to be safely seated inside a car. The infant safety seat is used by adjusting the seat in coordination with seat belt, so as to provide the infant safe and comfortable seating condition.

In general, the infant safety seat includes a carrier, a base, and a supporting device. The base is fixed on a seat of a car.

The carrier is connected to and fixed on the base by a connection mechanism. The supporting device is supported on a supporting surface (e.g. usually the ground in front of the backseat of the car) by its supporting foot. The supporting foot is conducive to avoiding the infant safety seat from moving toward the driving direction of the car, so that the fixity of the infant safety seat is more stable to improve the safety of the infant seated in the infant safety seat during the travel by the car.

Current connection mechanisms used for connecting the carrier and the base mostly have problems of structural complexity, inconvenient operation of detachment and installation, and poor fixity after installation. Besides, vibration is hardly avoided when the car is running. If there is no cushion device installed inside the supporting device, the infant in the infant safety seat may feet uncomfortable because of vibration and impact. Furthermore, when the infant safety seat is subjected to an instantaneous impact, the connection mechanism may be released so that the carrier may be disengaged from the base, leading to danger to the infant.

Summary cf the invention

An objective of the invention is to provide an infant safety seat of simple structure, convenient operation, firm engagement, and comfortable seating for infant, for overcoming the problems of the infant safety seat in the prior art.

The infant safety seat of the invention includes a base and a carrier. The base includes a base body, a front swing arm, a rear swing arm, and a pull link. The front swing arm and the rear swing arm are respectively pivotally connected to the base body. The front swing arm includes a front hook portion. The rear swing arm includes a rear hook porticn. A hooking direction of the front hook portion is opposite to a honking direction of the rear hook portion. The pull link is connected to the front swing arm and the rear swing arm respectively. When the pull link moves to drive the front swing arm and the rear swing arm to swing, a swinging direction of the front swing arm is opposite to a swinging direction of the rear swing arm. The carrier includes a main body and two cross bars disposed at a bottom of the main body. When the carrier is engaged onto the base, the front hook portion and the rear hook portion hook the two cross bar respectively.

Such structure design makes the carrier capable of being connected to the base firmly. When the carrier is required to be detached from the base, the pull link is pulled first to drive the front swing arm and the rear swing arm to rotate simultaneously, so as to disengage the front hook portion and the rear hook portion from the two cross bars respectively.

The base loses the constraint on the carrier. Then, the carrier can freely depart from the base. The whole operation is simple and convenient. Furthermore, the hooking directions of the front hook portion and the rear hook portion are reverse, so when the infant safety seat is subjected to an instantaneous impact, the two cross bars will not disengage from the hook portions simultaneously, so as to improve the engagement reliability of the carrier with the base.

In an embodiment, a middle portion of the front swing arm is pivotally connected to a front portion of the base body.

tO A bottom portion of the rear swing arm is pivotally connected to a rear portion of the base body. A top portion of the front swing arm bends frontward to form the front hook portion. A top portion of the rear swing arm bends rearward to form the rear hook portion. The pull link is connected to a bottom portion of the front swing arm and a middle portion of the rear swing arm respectively. Further, the base body has two limitation recesses. The front swing arm and the rear swing arm are exposed out of the two limitation recesses respectively. r.Jhen the carrier is engaged onto the base, the two cross bars get in the two limitation recesses. In practice, the base body includes an upper casing and a lower casing joined with the upper casing. The two limitation recesses are formed on the upper casing. The front swing arm, the rear swing arm, and the pull link are disposed in the lower casing.

In an embodiment, the base includes another front swing arm and another rear swing arm. The pull link includes a link body, a first driving rod, and a second driving rod. The first driving rod and the second driving rod are connected to a front end and a rear end of the link body respectively. The bottom portions of the two front swing arms are connected to two ends of the first driving rod respectively. The middle portions of the two rear swing arms are connected to two ends of the second driving rod respectively. Further, the base includes a first extension spring and a seoond extension spring. Two ends of the first extension spring are connected to the base body and the first driving rod respectively. Two ends of the seoond extension spring are conneoted to the base body and the second driving rod respectively.

In an embodiment, the base inoludes a reinforcement tube.

The reinforcement tube is fixed in the base body. The front swing arm and the rear swing arm are respectively pivotally tO connected to the base body through the reinforcement tube.

In an embodiment, the base includes a manipulation link, disposed at a front portion of the base body. A front portion of the manipulation link forms a manipulation handle. A middle portion of the manipulation link is pivotally connected to the base body. A backside portion of the manipulation link slants downward to be pivotally connected to the pull link.

Further, the base includes a reset extension spring. Two ends of the reset extension spring are connected to the base body and the pull link respectively.

In an embodiment, the carrier includes a cross bar fixture.

The cross bar is fixed at the bottom of the main body by the cross bar fixture.

In an embodiment, the infant safety seat further includes a supporting device, connected to a bottom front portion of the base body. Therein, the supporting device includes a supporting foot, a supporting rod, and a cushion block. The supporting foot has an accommodating cavity. An end of the supporting rod is inserted into the accommodating cavity and is riveted to the supporting foot by a rivet. The end has two through slots -The rivet passes through the through slots such that the supporting rod is confined to move relative to the supporting foot. The cushion block is disposed in the accommodating cavity and between the end and the supporting foot. Further, the supporting device can includes a soft pad, disposed on a bottom surface of the supporting foot.

compare with the prior art, the base of the invention pivotally connects at least one set of swing arms thereon (including one front swing arm and one rear swing arm) that are connected by the pull link. Thereby, after the set of swing tO arms hook the cross bars of the carrier, a user can manipulate the pull link to drive the set of swing arms to swing to disengage from the cross bars. Therefore, the invention can perform the fixing or detachment of the carrier with the base, the operation of which is simple, and can provide enough engagement strength for the carrier and the base. Furthermore, in practice, the cushion block is disposed in the supporting device connected to the front end of the base. By the buffer effect of the cushion block, impact and vibration to the base through the supporting device can be reduced, so as to enhance the comfort of infant's seating.

lhese and other ohj ectire.s of the present iriventi on Wi ii no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill rL the art after reading the following *detailed description of the preferrea embodiment that-. Is illustrated i nthe various figures and drawings

Brief Description of the Drawings

FTG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a child safety seat of an embodiment according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a carrier of the child safety seat in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the carrier in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a base of the

S

child safety seat in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an interior view of the base in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a supporting device of the child safety seat in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a part of the supporting device in FIG. 6.

Detailed Description

Please refer to FIGS. 1 through 7. FIG. 1 is a schematic tO diagram illustrating an infant safety seat of an embodiment according to the invention. The infant safety seat includes a carrier 1, a base 2, and a supporting device 4. The carrier 1 is detachably disposed on the base 2. The supporting device 4 is installed at the front end of the base 2, so that the fixing of the infant safety seat in a oar is more stable.

As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the base 2 includes a base body 20, two sets of swing arms, a pull link 26, and a manipulation link 28. The base body 20 includes an upper casing 202 and a lower casing 204 joined with the upper casing 202.

The lower casing 204 includes a reinforcement tube 2042. Each set of swing arms includes a front swing arm 22 and a rear swing arm 24. In practice, the invention can be implemented with only one set of swing arms or more sets of swing arms; however, the invention is not limited thereto. A top portion of the front swing arm 22 bends frontward to form a front hook portion 22a. A middle portion of the front swing arm 22 is pivotally connected to the reinforcement tube 2042 of the lower casing 204 at pivot 2042a to be disposed at a front portion of the base body 20. A top portion of the rear swing arm 24 bends backward to form a rear hook portion 24a. A bottom portion of the rear swing arm 24 is pivotaliy connected to the reinforcement tube 2042 of the lower casing 204 at pivot 2042b to be disposed at a rear portion of the base body 20.

Therein, a hooking direction of the front hook portion 22a is oc'posite to a hooking direction of the rear hook portion 24a. In the embodiment, the hooking direction is the opening direction of the hook profile. The base body 20 has two limitation recesses 2022 formed on the upper casing 202 for each set of swing arms. The front swing arm 22 and the rear swing arm 24 are exposed out of the limitation recesses 2022 respectively.

tO The pull link 26 is movably disposed on the lower casing 204 of the base body 20. The pull link 26 includes a tirik body 260, a first driving rod 262, and a second driving rod 264.

The first driving rod 262 and the second driving rod 264 are connected to a front end and a rear end of the link body 260 respectively. Bottom portions of the two front swing arms 22 are connected to two ends of the first driving rod 262 respectively. Middle portions of the two rear swing arms 24 are connected to two ends of the second driving rod 264 respectively. That is, the pivot 2042a between the two front swing arms 22 and the reinforcement tube 2042 of the base body are located above the connections points of the two front swing arms 22 with the first driving rod 262; the pivot 2042b between the two rear swing arms 24 and the reinforcement tube 2042 of thebasebody20 are lccatedbelowtheccnnectionpoints of the two rear swing arms 24 with the second driving rod 264.

Therefore, when the pull link 26 moves to drive the front swing arm 22 and the rear swing arm 24 to swing, a swinging direction of the front swing arm 22 is opposite to a swinging direction of the rear swing arm 24. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, whenthepull llnk26moves towardthe front of the lowercasing 204, the front swing arm 22 swIngs counterclockwise, and the rear swing arm 24 swings clockwise. The manipulation link 28 Is disposed at the front portion of the base body 20. A front portion of the manipulation link 28 forms a manipulation handle 282, exposed out of the front end of the base body 20.

A middle portion of the manipulation link 28 is pivotally oonnected to the base body 20. A backside portion of the manipulation link 28 slants downward to be pivotally oonneoted to the pull link 26. Tn practice, a user can pull the manipulation handle 282 so as to rotate the manipulation link 28 to move the pull link 26 forward, so that the front hook portion 22a of the front swing arm 22 and the rear hook portion 24a of the rear swing arm 24 are driven to swing backward and tO forward respectively.

In the embodiment, the base 2 also includes a reset extension spring 30a, a first extension spring 30b, and a second extension spring 30c. Two ends of the reset extension spring 30a are connected to the lower casing 204 of the base body 20 and the link body 260 respectively. Two ends of the first extension spring 30b are connected to the lower casing 204 of the base body 20 and the first driving rod 262 respectively. Two ends of the second extension spring 30c are connected to the lower casing 204 of the base body 20 and the second driving rod 264 respectively. In practice, the reset extension spring 30a, the first extension spring SOb, and the second extension spring 3Cc are disposed to be extended; however, the invention is not limited thereto. When the user pulls the manipulation link 28 upward such that the pull link 26 moves to drive the front swing arm 22 and the rear swing arm 24 to swing, the reset extension spring 30a, the first extension spring 30b, the second extension spring 30c are extended further to generate restoring force. Afterward, when the user releases the manipulation link 28, the restoring force can drive the pull link 26 together with the front swing arm 22 and the rear swing arm 24 to be reset.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the carrier 1 includes a

S

main body 10 and two cross bar 12 disposed at a bottom of the main body 10. In the embodiment, the carrier 1 includes cross bar fixtures 14 for fixing two ends of the cross bar 12 on the bottom of the main body 10; however, the invention is not limited thereto. When the carrier 1 is engaged onto the base 2, the two cross bars 12 get in the two limitation recesses 2022 of the base 2 respectively. The front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a perform constraint on the corresponding cross bars 12; that is, the front hook portion tO 22a and the rear hook portion 24a hook the two cross bars 12 respectively. The firm engagement of the carrier 1 with the base 2 is therefore realized. After the carrier 1 and the base 2 are engaged, because of the restoring effect of the reset extension spring 30a, the first extension spring 30b, and the second extension spring 30c, the front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a can keep in hooking the cross bars 12. Furthermore, when the carrier land the base 2 are subjected to an instantaneous impact, the front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a tend to vibrate or swing in the same direction. Because the hooking directions of the front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a are not the same, the cross bars 12 will not disengage from the front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a simultaneously, which can improve the engagement reliability of the carrier 1 with the base 2.

When the carrier 1 is required to depart from the base 2, the user can pull the manipulation handle 282 upward so as to rotate the manipulation link 28 to move the pull link 26 forward to drive the front hook portion 22a of the front swing arm 22 and the rear hook portion 24a of the rear swing arm 24 to swing backward and forward respectively, so that the front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a are disengaged from the cross bar 12. At this moment, the constraint effect by che base 2 on the carrier 1 disappears; then, the carrier 1 can freeiy depart from the base 2. Therefore, the operation of engagement and disengagement of the carrier 1 with the base 2 is simple and convenient. The front hook portion 22a and the rear hook portion 24a are designed to be with reverse hooking directions, which can effectively avoid an unexpectedly departing of the carrier 1 from the base 2 so as to improve the engagement reliability of the oarrier 1 with the base 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, FTG. 6, andFIG. 7, the supportingdevice 4 is connected to a bottom front portion of the base body 20 and includes a supporting foot 40, a supporting rod 42, and a cushion block 44. The supporting foot 40 has an accommodating cavity 402. An end 422 of the supporting rod 42 is inserted into the accommodating cavity 402 and is riveted to the supporting foot 40 by a rivet 46. The end 422 has two through slots 424 at two sides thereof. The rivet 46 passes through the through slots 424 such that the supporting rod 42 can be confined to move relative to the supporting foot 40. The cushion block 44 is disposed in the accommodating cavity 402 and between the end 422 and the supporting foot 40. Therefore, when the supporting foot 40 supported on a supporting surface (e.g. the ground in front of abackseat of the car) is subjected to an impact, the rivet 46 moves up and down in the through slots 424. That is, the supporting rod 42 moves up and down relative to the supporting foot 40. The cushion block 44 is compressed by the supporting rod 42, which can reduces the impact transferred to the base 2 and the carrier 1 through the supporting foot 40 and the supporting rod 42, so as to enhance the comfort of infant's seating. Furthermore, in the embodiment, the supporting device 4 includes a soft pad 48, disposed on a bottom surface of the supporting foot 40, sc as to increase the friction between the supporting foot 40 and the supporting surface to reduce sliding of the supporting foot 40 on the supporting surface, which is also conducive to improvement in the safety of the infant safety seat.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.

Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Claims

<claim-text>Claims anaL1scJammEc1 is: 1. An infant safety seat, comprising: a base comprising a base body, a front swing arm, a rear swing arm, and a pull link, the front swing arm and the rear swing arm being respectively pivotally connected to the base body, the front swing arm comprising a front hook portion, the rear swing arm comprising a rear hook portion, a hooking direction tO of the front hook portion being opposite to a hooking direction of the rear hook portion, the pull link being connected to The front swing arm and the rear swing arm respectively, when the pull link moves to drive the front swing arm and the rear swing arm to swing, a swinging direction of the front swing arm being opposite to a swinging direction of the rear swing arm; and a carrier comprising a main body and two cross bars disposed at a bottom of the main body, when the carrier is engaged onto the base, the front hook portion and the rear hook portion hooking the two cross bar respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. The infant safety seat of claim 1, wherein a middle portion of the front swing arm is pivotally connected to a front portion of the base body, a bottom portion of the rear swing arm is pivotally connected to a rear portion of the base body, a top portion of the front swing arm bends frontward to form the front hook portion, a top portion of the rear swing arm bends rearward to form the rear hook portion, and the pull link is connected to a bottom portion of the front swing arm and a middle portion of the rear swing arm respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. The infant safety seat of claim 1, wherein the base body has two limitation recesses, the front swing arm and the rear swing arm are exposed out of the two limitation recesses respectively, and when the carrier is engaged onto the base, the two cross bars get in the two limitation recesses respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. The infant safety seat of claim 3, wherein the base body comprises an upper casing and a lower casing joined with tO the upper casing, the two limitation recesses are formed on the upper casing, and the front swing arm, the rear swing arm, and the pull link are disposed in the lower casing.</claim-text> <claim-text>5. The infant safety seat of claim 2, wherein the base comprises another front swing arm and another rear swing arm, the pull link comprises a link body, a first driving rod, and a second driving rod, the first driving rod and the second driving rod are connected to a front end and a rear end of the link body respectively, the bottom portions of the two front swing arms are connected to two ends of the first driving rod respectively, and the middle portions of the two rear swing arms are connected to two ends of the second driving rod respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>6. The infant safety seat of claim 5, wherein the base comprises a first extension spring, and two ends of the first extension spring are connected to the base body and the first driving rod respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. The infant safety seat of claim 5, wherein the base comprises a second extension spring, and two ends of the second extension spring are connected to the base body and the second driving rod respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. The infant safety seat of claim 1, wherein the base body comprises a reinforcement tube, and the front swing arm and the rear swing arm are respectively pivotally connected to the base body through the reinforcement tube.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. The infant safety seat of claim 1, wherein the base comprises a manipulation link, disposed at a front portion of the base body, a front portion of the manipulation link forms a manipulation handle, a middle portion of the tO manipulation link is pivotally connected to the base body, and a backside portion of the manipulation fink slants downward to be pivotally connected to the pull link.</claim-text> <claim-text>10. The infant safety seat of claim 9, wherein the base comprises a reset extension spring, and two ends of the reset extension spring are connected to the base body and the pull link respectively.</claim-text> <claim-text>11. The infant safety seat of claim 1, wherein the carrier comprises a cross bar fixture, and the cross bar is fixed at the bottom of the main body by the cross bar fixture.</claim-text> <claim-text>12. The infant safety seat of claim 1, further comprising a supporting device, connected to a bottom front portion of the base body, wherein the supporting device comprises a supporting foot, a supporting rod, and a cushion block, the supporting foot has an accommodating cavity, an end of the supporting rod is inserted into the accommodating cavity, and the cushion block is disposed in the accommodating cavity and between the end and the supporting foot.</claim-text> <claim-text>13. The infant safety seat of claim 12, wherein the supporting device comprises a soft pad, disposed on a bottom surface of the supporting foot.</claim-text>