Carrier II.
The present invention relates to a carrying harness, primarily designed for carrying a small child against the carrier's chest and stomach.
The purpose of the present invention is to show an improved carrying harness for small children. Depending on how the harness is employed, improvements may be achieved with regard to the management of the harness upon putting it on and placing the child in it as well as with regard to both the carrier and the child's comfort.
A carrying harness according to the invention comprises a fastening harness that is strapped fast to the carrier as well as a front piece that is fixed to the fastening harness. The fastening harness and the front piece each have a strap system that are also jointly referred to as the strap system. The front piece with strap system that supports and holds up the carried child, is fixed to the fastening harness at several points by means of separate clasps or similar that can easily be released individually. This facilitates the use of the carrying harness both with regard to putting on and upon putting the child in it. The bearing pressure on the carrying harness is borne entirely by the harness by means of this strap system. A further advantage of the arrangement according to the invention is that the size of the front piece is controllable through the system being adjustable and the fact that the tab projecting from the front piece can lie against the carrier's chest, between the carrier and the child.
An arrangement in accordance with the invention and the forms of execution of this possess the characterising properties that are shown by the patent claims.
The invention shall be described in detail below in connection with the example of a preferred form of execution as shown in the attached drawings.
Figure 1 shows in diagram form a person wearing a carrying harness.
Figure 2 shows the fastening harness.
Figure 3 shows a lumbar plate to the fastening harness.
Figure 4 shows a front piece to the carrying harness.
Figure 5 shows a back plate and straps to the front piece.
The fastening harness comprises a waist strap with a right and left part 1A, 1 B, two shoulder straps 2, 3 as well as a back piece or lumbar plate 4. On the shoulder straps there are the fastenings 5, 6 for the front piece's middle part and fastenings 7, 8 for the front piece's head support part. The shape of the front piece 23 is shown in greater detail by figure 4 that shows the front piece's head support part 25 and the fastening arrangements comprising parts 35, 36 of the head support clasp. The lock and clasp are so formed that they can be simply fastened and released by one hand. The front piece's lower part 24 rests on the tightening strap 36 and the seat strap 38 that, in turn, is connected with the clasp 9. It is thereby possible for the user to take hold of the clasp without this being made difficult or prevented by the front piece. This can be fastened and released from the clasp to the required extent in order to make the use of the carrying harness as simple as possible even when a child is to be put in, or taken out, of the carrying harness.
The carrying harness also comprises two plates of stiff material, preferably a plastic material. One of the plates, designated a lumbar plate, is positioned on the carrier's back and the other plate, designated the back plate, is placed in the front piece behind the carried child's back. Both of the plates are, upon the carrying harness being used, wholly or partly covered by textile material.
The back part or lumbar plate 23 is primarily formed as an upside down T. In the outer end of each of the two lower legs there are holes 1 , 20 or other suitable means arranged in order to fasten the two waist strap parts 1A, 1 B, possibly with a means of adjustment. In a similar manner holes 21 , 22 or corresponding means are arranged at the lumbar plate's upper part in which the shoulders straps 2, 3 can be kept freely adjustable. In other executions the lumbar plate can be divided up into an upper and a lower part that are separate or connected to each other in a suitable manner.
The fastening harness has, preferably, a large number of adjustment possibilities as will be seen from the following. The harness's waist strap has two parts, 1A and 1 B that are fastened to the lumbar plate's lower part. Each part of the waist strap possesses the means 10, 11 for adjusting the length in the form of a clasp or similar whereby each strap part can be further divided into two parts at the adjustment position. The length adjustment can also be arranged at the fitting on the lumbar plate. The shoulder straps 2, 3 are fixed on the waist strap's forward part close to the protruding strap parts 14, 15. From here the shoulder straps extend to the lumbar plate's upper part where they are passed through their respective holes 21 , 22, (or one joint corresponding hole) which is somewhat diagonal in relation to the lumbar plate's vertical middle axis, and in which the shoulder straps can be freely adjusted. The shoulder straps are then bent back to the side from which they came out and are fastened to the same respective waist strap part. This can be seen in figure 3 with arrows 2A, 2B
and 3A, 3B which correspond to the respective shoulder straps. The shoulder straps can also have the means 12, 13 for adjustment of their length. These means are appropriately of the same execution as the waist strap's adjustment means and can also be placed at the straps' end-points. The fastening is preferably formed at this so that it can be tightened up, i.e. the straps' length can be reduced through pulling in the strap or tie parts at the adjustment means. Through both ends of each of the shoulder straps being fastened to the same waist strap and thereby on the same side of the carrier, the effect of the tightening is not transferred to the one side or the other side, as is the case with crossing straps. The lumbar plate thus provides an advantageous distribution of the load and a simple adjustment of the fastening harness.
The front piece 23 has a lower part 24 that rests on the seat strap 38 and theforward tightening strap 37. The seat strap 38 is firmly connected with the clasp 9 or a part in relation to this that can be secured and released. The front piece also has side parts 28, 29 as well as a head support part 25 with fastening strap 26, 27 that can constitute integral parts of the head support part and connect to the outer clasps 35, 36. In the front piece there is also a back plate 30 inserted that is connected to the side clasps 33, 34 while two straps 31 , 32 that extend in an outwards direction towards the side parts 28, 29 and, via the clasps 33, 34, are fixed to the fastening harness's clasp 5, 6. These straps are also fitted with clasps or other means of length adjustment whereby the size of the space intended for the carried child can be adjusted. A similar adjustment opportunity is also to be found at the head support in the connection to/from this protruding strap (not shown on the drawings). Yet another possibility for adapting the carrying harness to the child that is to be carried is that the seat strap 38, that the front piece's lower part rests on, is connected to the back plate 30 by means of a strap 37 or similar, the length of which can be adjusted. The entire load factor from the carried
child is absorbed by the strap system, in which the lumbar plate and the back plate are also included, so that the textile material, especially in the front part 23, is left devoid of any load. This gives rise to a more exact positioning of the carrying harness as the effect of the elasticity and flexibility of the textile material is largely devoid of impact on this situation. The textile material's function of making the carrying harness comfortable for the child and carrier is thereby improved.
Within the framework of the invention concept other variations of the execution are also possible. The strap in the head support can form part of the harness system and be connected with the seat strap. The back plate can also be reduced in size and be possibly replaced by the seat strap, alternatively via the tightening strap, being directly connected with the laterally-directed tightening straps.
Component list
1 Waist strap
2, 3 Shoulder strap
4 Lumbar plate
5, 6, 7, 8 Clasp
9 Clasp
10, 11 Adjustment
12, 13 Adjustment
14, 15 Strap ends with fastening parts
16 Middle part of lumbar plate
17 Lower part
18 Upper part 19, 20 HoIe 21 , 22 HoIe
23 Front part
24 Lower part of front piece
25 Head support part 26, 27 Strap
28, 29 Side part 30 Back plate 31 , 32 Tightening strap 33, 34 Clasp 35, 36 Clasp
37 Tightening strap
38 Seat strap