US560148A - Baby-jumper - Google Patents

Description

J. E. RING. BABYJUMPER.

(No Model.)

Patented May 12 ATTORNEYS.

ANDREW HVGRIHAM, PHGTOLWHQWASHXNGIQNJ C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ELBERT RING, OF CHATHAM, NE YORK.

BABY-JUM PER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,148, dated May 12, 1896. Appli ion file September 13, 1895. Serial No. 562,388. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN ELBERT RING, of Chatham, in the county of Columbia and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Cradle and Support, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in cradles and supports therefor; and the object of the invention is to provide a spring-support for cradles adapted to be applied to a floor or the tread of a stoop, porch, or other horizontal or substantiallyhorizontal surface, and, furthermore, to provide a cradle adapted to be suspended from the aforesaid springsupport, whereby whenever a child placed in the cradle makes the slightest movement the springsupport will act to give the cradle not only a vertical but also a side movement in any direction.

A further object of this invention is to provide for a reinforcement of the spring-support for the cradle when necessary, and to construct both the cradle and the support in an exceedingly simple, durable, and economic manner.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved cradle and its support. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the cradle. Fig. 3 is also a plan view of the cradle, illustrating it as of oblong shape. Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation of the main support for the cradle. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the auxiliary or reinforcing support, and Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the main support for the cradle.

In carrying out the invention the cradle comprises a frame A and a body 13. The frame consists, preferably, of fourbars or rails 10, which bars or rails are arranged to cross one another to form substantially a rectangular structure, and the rails are pivotally connected by bolts 11 or their equivalents, and ordinarily these bolts are provided with suitable nuts which fit tight enough to prevent unscrewing; but the nuts are not drawn up tight enough to render the frame rigid. Consequently it can be instantly collapsed, if desired.

The body B of the cradle is preferably made of fabric or a like material and in strips, the strips being connected with each other in any approved manner and tacked or otherwise secured to the inner faces of the rails of the frame. Four ropes or cords 12 are attached to the frame, being preferably secured to the outer extremities of two opposing or parallel bars or rails of the frame, the ropes or cords being connected in any approved manner over the center of the cradle, and where the cords or ropes meet a ring 13 or its equivalent is secured thereto.

The support C for the cradle preferably consists of a pole 14, made of hickory or other resilient material. The pole is preferably made to taper, and at what may be termed its heel or wider end a bracket 15 is firmly secured, provided with an eyelet 16, as shown in Fig. 6, and the bracket is preferably of angular construction, one of its members being parallel with the pole and the other standing at an angle thereto. A foot 17 which may be in the nature of a block, is secured to the under face of the pole near the heel and is at an angle to the said face, as shown best in Figs. 1 and 4; and, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 6, the bottom portion of the foot is considerably wider than its upper portion, being adapted to rest upon a surface to which the pole may be attached, and the foot serves as a fulcrum for the pole.

At the upper end of the pole a hook 18 is provided, as shown in Fig. 1, adapted to receive the ring 13, connected with the ropes of the cradle, and in operation an angular pin 19, or equivalent device, is driven in the surface upon which the pole is to rest, and the pin is made to pass through the eyelet 16 in the bracket at the heel of the pole, the foot 17 resting upon the said surface, as shown in Fig. 1. Therefore, when the cradle is attached to the upper end of the pole, at every movement of the occupant the cradle will be given a vertical movement back and forth as well as a side movement, owing to the springing of the supporting-pole 14.

The pole 14, which is the principal support,

will be calculated to sustain a predetermined weight. In the event a heavier child than originally provided for should be placed in the cradle the main spring-support must be reinforced to a greater or a less degree, and to that end an auxiliary support is provided, also made of a resilient material, preferably of the same material as that of the pole let. This auxiliary support is likewise made tapering, and its wider end is entered in a pocket 21, secured to the inner face of the main support near its heel, yet above its fulcrum or foot 17, and at a predetermined distance from the upper end of the main support a rack 22 is secured upon its under face, adapted to receive in the notches thereof the upper end of the auxiliary or reinforcing support, and according to the extent to which the auxiliary 0r reinforcing strip or support is bent will the main support be stiffened.

It is evident that a device of the above character and construction may be readily transported from place to place and set up in any room or upon a step, porch, or other substantially horizontal surface. A pillow 23 is preferably placed in one corner of the body of the cradle for the comfort of the occupant; and I desire it to be understood that while the cradle is preferably constructed as illustrated it may be otherwise formed.

As the four ropes 12 are of equal length from the ring to the corners of the frame,

they hold the frame in a rectangular form. In order to make the frame oblong, as shown in Fig. 3, the ropes at two opposite corners are simply shortened by looping them over the corners of the frame to which they are fastened.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of a pole of spring material provided with a fastening device at its heel, a fixed fulcrum adjacent to the heel, a pocket located upon the under face of the pole above its fixed fulcrum, a rack also placed upon the under face of the pole near its upper end, and an auxiliary spring-support, having one of its ends removably placed in the said pocket and its opposite end engaged with the said rack, asand for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of a flexible rod capable of bending throughout its length, aresilient supporting-brace having one end fixedly connected with the flexible rod and incapable of movement thereon, and means for ad justably fixing the remaining end of the brace to the rod, substantially as described.

JOHN ELBERT RING.

\Vitnesses OLIVER P. STEvEs, CAROLINE B. RING.

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