GB2518501B

GB2518501B - Safety seat adjusting mechanism

Info

Publication number: GB2518501B
Application number: GB1412699.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Cui Zong-Wang
Original assignee: Wonderland Switzerland AG
Current assignee: Wonderland Switzerland AG
Priority date: 2013-07-19
Filing date: 2014-07-17
Publication date: 2019-08-14
Anticipated expiration: 2034-07-17
Also published as: GB2518501A; DE102014214032A1; CN104290622B; DE102014214032B4; GB201412699D0; CN104290622A

Description

Title

SAFETY SEAT ADJUSTING MECHANISM

Background of the Invention 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an adjusting mechanism,and more specifically, to a safety seat adjusting mechanismfor adjusting a position of a seat fixing device relative toa safety seat. 2. Description of the Prior Art

In general, a conventional safety seat has an adjustingmechanism disposed thereon for adjusting a seat fixing deviceto protrude from or retract back into a base of the safetyseat. When the seat fixing device needs to be adjusted, theadjusting mechanism could be used for releasing the seatfixing device so as to make the seat fixing device adjustable.When the seat fixing device has been adjusted to a targetposition, the adjusting mechanism could be used for lockingthe seat fixing device.

The seat fixing device has two ISOFIX connectors. The twoISOFIX connectors are located at two sides of the safety seatrespectively for inserting into ISOFIX ports on a car seat.Positions where the two ISOFIX connectors are inserted intothe two ISOFIX ports must be symmetrical to each other so asto make the safety seat receive force uniformly. In such amanner, connection reliability between the safety seat andthe car seat could be improved. From the aforesaid reasons,the adjusting mechanism is designed to have two sliding rodsslidably disposed at two sides of the base. Front ends of thetwo sliding rods are connected to an adjusting rodrespectively and the seat fixing device is connected to theadjusting rod for achieving the purpose that the two ISOFIXconnectors could protrude from or retract back into the basesynchronously. Since the two sliding rods need to be unlocked respectively when the seat fixing device needs to be adjustedand the two sliding rods need to be locked respectively whenthe seat fixing device has been adjusted to a target position,it may cause a user much inconvenience in operating theadjusting mechanism.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide an adjustingmechanism for synchronously locking and releasing two slidingrods to solve the aforesaid problems.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides a safety seat adjustingmechanism for adjusting a seat fixing device to protrude fromor retract back into a base of a safety seat. The seat fixingdevice is connected to an adjusting rod of the safety seat.The safety seat adjusting mechanism includes a frame, anoperating member, two sliding rods, two linkage rods, alinkage unit, and two lock members. The frame is fixed to thebase. The two sliding rods are symmetrically disposed at twosides of the frame and slidably connected to the frame. Anend of each sliding rod is fixed to the adjusting rod. At leasttwo lock holes are formed on the two sliding rods respectivelyalong a sliding direction of the two sliding rods. The twolinkage rods are disposed with tips opposite to each other.The linkage unit is connected to one end of each linkage rod.The other end of at least one of the two linkage rods isconnected to the operating member. The two lock members areconnected to the two linkage rods respectively. Each lockmember is used for selectively engaging with one of thecorresponding lock holes. When the operating member isoperated to drive the linkage unit, the two linkage rods movesynchronously relative to the frame with linkage of thelinkage unit so as to drive each lock member to disengage fromthe corresponding lock hole synchronously.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the artafter reading the following detailed description of thepreferred embodiment that is illustrated in the variousfigures and drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a diagram of a base having a seat fixing deviceand a safety seat adjusting mechanism disposed thereonaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram of the safety seat adjusting mechanismin FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an enlarged diagram of an "A" portion in FIG.2 . FIG. 4 is an exploded diagram of the safety seat adjustingmechanism in FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a diagram of the safety seat adjusting mechanismin FIG. 2 being locked. FIG. 6 is an enlarged diagram of a "B" portion in FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a diagram of the safety seat adjusting mechanismin FIG. 2 being released. FIG. 8 is an enlarged diagram of a "C" portion in FIG. 7.Detailed Description

Detailed description for embodiments of the presentinvention is provided according to the following figures.

As shown in FIG. 1, a base 100 of a safety seat has acontaining space 100a for containing a seat fixing device 200.A safety seat adjusting mechanism 300 of the present inventionis disposed in the base 100. The seat fixing device 200 isdriven by the safety seat adjusting mechanism 300 to protrudefrom or retract back into the containing space 100a.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the safety seat adjustingmechanism 300 includes a frame 310, two operating members 320,two sliding rods 330, an adjusting rod 340, two lock members 350, two linkage rods 360, a linkage unit 370, an elastic member380, and two sliding bases 390. The frame 310 is fixed to thebase 100. The sliding rods 330 are slidably connected to theframe 310, and each sliding rod 330 has a plurality of lockholes 331 formed thereon along a sliding direction of thesliding rod 330 (as shown in FIG. 4). The lock member 350 isengaged with one of the lock holes 331 to limit sliding ofeach sliding rod 330 relative to the frame 310. The twooperating members 320 are operably connected to the frame 310 .Each operating member 320 is used for driving thecorresponding lock member 350 to disengage from thecorresponding lock hole 331, so as to make the correspondingsliding rod 330 slidable relative to the frame 310 to drivethe seat fixing device 200 to protrude from or retract backinto the containing space 100a.

As shown in FIG. 4, two sides of the frame 310 have a slidingslot 311 formed therein respectively for allowing thecorresponding sliding rod 330 to slide therein. Each of thetwo parallel sliding rods 330 is disposed through thecorresponding sliding slot 331 and is slidable relative tothe frame 310. One end of each sliding rod 330 slides toprotrude from the base 100 and is fixed to the adjusting rod340. To be more specific, the two sliding rods 330 are fixedto two ends of the adjusting rod 340 respectively. The seatfixing device 200 is fixed to the adjusting rod 340. Eachsliding rod 330 has the plurality of lock holes 331 formedthereon along a sliding direction of each sliding rod 330.When the sliding rod 330 extends outwardly a maximum lengthrelative to the base 100 and the seat fixing device 200protrudes from the containing space 100a, the lock member 350could be engaged with a first lock hole 331a located at a rearend of the sliding rod 330. When the sliding rod 330 retractsinward to make the seat fixing device 200 contained in the containing space 100a, the lock member 350 could be engagedwith a second lock hole 331b located at a front end of thesliding rod 330. The lock member 350 is engaged with one ofthe lock holes 331 (e.g. the first lock hole 331a or the secondlock hole 331b) to limit sliding of the sliding rod 330 relativeto the frame 310.

Two side walls of the frame 310 have a pocket hole 312 formedthereon respectively. The two linkage rods 360 opposite toeach other pass through the pocket holes 312 respectively.A top end of each linkage rod 360, which is relatively closeto the opposite linkage rod 360, is pivotally connected tothe linkage unit 370, and an outer end of each linkage rod360, which is relatively away from the opposite linkage rod360, has the corresponding operating member 320 fixed thereon.Each linkage rod 360 is connected to the corresponding lockmember 350. Via operating any one of the operating members320, linkage of the two linkage rods 360 could be performedfor driving each lock member 350 to disengage from thecorresponding lock hole 331 synchronously. In anotherembodiment, the present invention could also adopt the designin which only one linkage rod 360 has the operating member320 fixed thereon. Furthermore, the frame 310 further has aguide tube 314. Two ends of the guide tube 314 are communicatedwith the pocket holes 312 respectively. Each linkage rod 360is disposed through the guide tube 314 and passes through thepocket hole 312 . Each operating member 320 is located outsidethe corresponding side wall of the frame 310 and is connectedto the outer end of the corresponding linkage rod 360.

The two lock members 350 are disposed with tips oppositeto each other. A top end of each lock member 350, which isrelatively close to the opposite lock member 350, is connectedto the corresponding sliding base 390. Each sliding base 390 has a positioning hole 391 facing the opposite lock member350. Two inner walls of the frame 310 have a through hole 313formed thereon respectively. An outer end of each lock member350, which is relatively away from the opposite lock member350, passes through the corresponding through hole 313 andis engaged with the corresponding lock hole 331. The elasticmember 380 is connected between the two sliding bases 390,and two ends of the elastic member 380 are contained in thetwo positioning holes 391 respectively, so as to make eachlock member 350 have the tendency to engage with thecorresponding lock hole 331. The elastic member 380 could bea spring.

Each sliding base 390 is fixed to the corresponding linkagerod 360. By operating any one of the operating members 320,the linkage unit 370 could accordingly drive the two linkagerods 360 to approach each other, so as to drive the two slidingbases 390 and the two lock members 350 to synchronouslyapproach each other. When the two sliding bases 390 approacheach other, the elastic member 380 could be compressed andeach lock member 350 could move inward to disengage from thecorresponding lock hole 331, so that each sliding rod 330 couldbe slidable in the corresponding sliding slot 311. To be morespecific, a movement direction of each linkage rod 360, amovement direction of each sliding base 390, and a movementdirection of each lock member 350 are parallel to each other,and are all perpendicular to a sliding direction of eachsliding rod 330 in the sliding slot 311.

As shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 6, and FIG. 8, the linkage unit370 includes four linkage members 371. The four linkagemembers 371 are pivoted mutually to form a parallelogramstructure. Pivot ends 371a, 371b respectively correspondingto a first pair of opposite angles of the parallelogram structure are disposed longitudinally, and pivot ends 371c,371d respectively corresponding to a second pair of oppositeangles of the parallelogram structure are disposedtransversely. The pivot end 371b is pivotally connected tothe frame 310, but not limited thereto, meaning that thepresent invention could also adopt the design in which thepivot end 371a is pivotally connected to the frame 310. Inthis embodiment, the two linkage members 371, which aresymmetrical relative to a diagonal line corresponding thefirst pair of opposite angles, are pivotally connected to eachother to cooperatively form the pivot end 371a or the pivotend 371b and are pivotally connected to the two linkage rods360 respectively. Middle sections of the aforesaid two linkagemembers 371 are pivotally connected to the other two linkagemembers 371 to cooperatively form the pivot end 371c and thepivot end 371d. In another embodiment, the present inventioncould also adopt the design in which the linkage unit 370 ispivotally connected to the two linkage rods 360 via the pivotend 371c and the pivot end 371d. In practical application,the linkage unit 370 could be pivotally connected to the twolinkage rods 360 via guide pins. Guide slots 314a are formedon the guide tube 314 corresponding to positions where thelinkage unit 370 is pivotally connected to the two linkagerods 360 respectively. The guide slots 314a could be formedalong a sliding direction of each guide pin. Each guide pinis disposed through the corresponding guide slot 314a, andtwo ends of each guide pin are pivotally connected to thecorresponding linkage rod 360 and the linkage unit 370respectively. More detailed description for the adjustingprocess of the safety seat adjusting mechanism 300 is providedas follows according to FIGS. 1-8.

In the initial state, the seat fixing device 200 retractsback into the containing space 100a. Via elastic driving of the elastic member 380, the two lock members 350 are engagedwith the second lock holes 331b respectively (as shown in FIG.5 and FIG. 6). When the safety seat needs to be assembled,any one of the two operating members 320 could be pressed topush the linkage members 371, so as to make the pivot ends371c, 371d approach each other and make the pivot ends 371a,371b away from each other. Accordingly, the two linkage rods360 could move inward to drive the two lock members 350 todisengage from the second lock holes 331b respectively (atthis time, the elastic member 380 is compressed) . In such amanner, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the sliding rods 330could slide in the sliding slots 311 respectively to drivethe seat fixing device 200 to protrude from the containingspace 100a. When the seat fixing device 200 has extended anappropriate length relative to the base 100, the operatingmember 320 could be released so that elastic force providedby the compressed elastic member 380 could drive the two lockmembers 350 to move outward. At this time, forward and backwardmovement of the sliding rods 330 in the sliding slots 311 couldbe performed for fine adjustment until the two lock members350 are engaged with the lock holes 331 respectively (as shownin FIG. 5 and FIG. 6).

In summary, the safety seat adjusting mechanism 300includes the two linkage rods 360 opposite to each other andthe linkage unit 370 connected between the two linkage rods360. The two lock members 350 are also opposite to each other,and the elastic member 380 is connected between the two lockmembers 350. Accordingly, the two lock members 350 could bedriven by the elastic force provided from the elastic member380 to engage with the lock holes 331 respectively. When theseat fixing device 200 needs to be adjusted to protrude fromthe containing space 100a, any one of the two operating members320 could be operated to drive the corresponding linkage rod 360 to move synchronously with the other linkage rod 360 viathe linkage unit 370, so that the two lock members 350 couldbe disengaged from the lock holes 331 synchronously forreleasing the two sliding rods 330 . When the seat fixing device200 has extended an appropriate length relative to the base100, the operating member 320 could be released and then thetwo lock members 350 could be engaged with the lock holes 331again by the elastic force provided from the elastic member380 so as to lock the two sliding rods 330. The safety seatadjusting mechanism 300 of the present invention is easy tooperate and allows that a user could freely operate any oneof the operating members 320 to synchronously drive the twolock members 350 for releasing or locking the two sliding rods330, so as to greatly improve convenience of the safety seatin adjusting the seat fixing device 200.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method maybe made while retaining the teachings of the invention.Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed aslimited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Claims

Claims What is claimed is:

1. A safety seat adjusting mechanism for adjusting a seatfixing device to protrude from or retract back into a baseof a safety seat, the seat fixing device being connectedto an adjusting rod of the safety seat, the safety seatadjusting mechanism comprising: a frame fixed to the base; an operating member; two sliding rods symmetrically disposed at two sides ofthe frame and slidably connected to the frame, an endof each sliding rod being fixed to the adjusting rod,at least two lock holes being formed on the two slidingrods respectively along a sliding direction of the twosliding rods; two linkage rods disposed with tips opposite to each other;a linkage unit connected to an end of each linkage rod,the other end of at least one of the two linkage rodsbeing connected to the operating member; and two lock members connected to the two linkage rodsrespectively, each lock member being used forselectively engaging with one of the corresponding lockholes; wherein when the operating member is operated to drive thelinkage unit, the two linkage rods move synchronouslyrelative to the frame with linkage of the linkage unitso as to drive each lock member to disengage from thecorresponding lock hole synchronously.

2. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 1, whereinthe linkage unit comprises four linkage members, the fourlinkage members are pivoted mutually to form aparallelogram structure, two pivot ends respectivelycorresponding to a first pair of opposite angles of the parallelogram structure are disposed longitudinally, andtwo pivot ends respectively corresponding to a second pairof opposite angles of the parallelogram structure aredisposed transversely.

3. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 2, whereineach of the two pivot ends respectively corresponding tothe second pair of opposite angles of the parallelogramstructure is pivoted to an end of the corresponding linkagerod.

4. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 2, whereinthe two linkage members, which are symmetrical relativeto a diagonal line corresponding the first pair of oppositeangles, are pivotally connected to each other tocooperatively form one of the two pivot ends respectivelycorresponding to the first pair of opposite angles and arepivoted to the two linkage rods respectively, and middlesections of the two linkage members symmetrical relativeto the diagonal line are pivotally connected to the othertwo linkage members to cooperatively form the two pivotends corresponding to the second pair of opposite angles.

5. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 2, whereinone of the two pivot ends corresponding to the first pairof opposite angles is pivoted to the frame.

6. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 1, whereinthe safety seat adjusting mechanism further comprises anelastic member, the two lock members are disposed with tipsopposite to each other, and the elastic member is connectedbetween the two lock members.

7. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 6, wherein the safety seat adjusting mechanism further comprises twosliding bases, a top end of each lock member, which isrelatively close to the opposite lock member, is connectedto the corresponding sliding base, each sliding base hasa positioning hole facing the opposite lock member, andeach end of the elastic member is engaged with thecorresponding positioning hole.

8. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 7, whereinthe two sliding bases are connected to the two linkage rodsrespectively.

9. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 1, whereinthe two sliding rods are parallel to each other, and thetwo lock members are perpendicular to the two sliding rods.

10. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 1, whereina movement direction of each lock member is parallel toa movement direction of each linkage rod, and isperpendicular to a sliding direction of each sliding rod.

11. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 10, whereinthe frame has a guide tube perpendicular to the slidingdirection of each sliding rod, each linkage rod is disposedthrough the guide tube, and guide slots are formed on theguide tube respectively corresponding to positions wherethe linkage unit is pivotally connected to the two linkagerods .

12. The safety seat adjusting mechanism of claim 1, whereinthrough holes are formed on the frame respectivelycorresponding to the two lock members, and each lock memberpasses through the corresponding through hole and then isengaged with the corresponding lock hole.