Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6651594
-
Patent Number
6,651,594
-
Date Filed
Monday, January 6, 200321 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, November 25, 200321 years ago
-
Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 119 770
- 119 769
- 119 857
- 002 311
- 002 312
- 002 313
- 002 314
- 002 321
- 002 44
- 434 283
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
An adult/child restraint harness (10) including an adult harness unit (11) and a child restraint harness (12) connected together by a tether unit (13) wherein, the adult harness unit (11) includes a chest harness member (20) and the child harness unit (12) includes a chest harness member (20) and the child harness unit (12) includes a full body harness member (40) having a pair of adjustable length leg strap members (51) each provided with an adjustable leg encircling strap (54) for pre-positioning the child's legs in a protective position relative to the child's chest so that the child's legs are the first to absorb the impact from an accident.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of restraint harness arrangements in general and in particular to a dual adult/child restraint harness arrangement.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,435,272; 4,028,742; 5,183, 007; 5,052, 704; and, 4,560,097, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse dual harness arrangements that are specifically designed to accommodate an adult and a child on a motorcycle, bicycle or personal water craft.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical adult/child restraint harness that not only provides a secure connection between the adult and the child, but which also incorporates a full body harness that will virtually insure that the child will remain within the confines of the harness regardless of the impact forces that are exerted against the adult/child restraint harness arrangement.
Unfortunately the prior art constructions are almost universally remiss in addressing the need for a full body restraint when it comes to the safety of the child which can lead to potentially fatal consequences.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need among parents with small children for a new and improved adult/child restraint harness that focuses on providing the child with a full body harness that may be adjusted so as to maintain the child in a position wherein the child's legs are maintained in close proximity to their chest to absorb a substantial portion of an impact generated by a fall; and the provision of such an arrangement is the stated objective of the present invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly stated, the adult/child restraint harness that forms the basis of the present invention comprises in general an adult harness unit, a child harness unit and a tether unit for operatively connecting the adult harness unit to the child harness unit.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, the adult harness unit comprises a chest harness member having front and rear pairs of slidable D-rings and a unique tensioning strap arrangement disposed between the rear portions of the shoulder straps that are adjustably connected to the waist encircling strap that completes the chest harness member.
In addition, the child harness unit comprises a full body harness member having a unique leg strap restraint system as well as a single pair of slidable D-rings which are freely moveable between a pair of upper torso cross-straps wherein the rear cross-strap contains the same tensioning arrangement as is incorporated into the adult chest harness member; and, wherein the leg strap restraint system allows the adult to pre-position the child's legs in a defensive position in front of the child's chest to minimize impact to the child's chest in the event of an accident.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other attributes of the invention will become more clear upon a thorough study of the following description of the best mode for carrying out the invention, particularly when reviewed in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of the adult/child restraint harness in use on a personal water craft;
FIG. 2
is an isolated front perspective view of the adult harness unit;
FIG. 3
is an isolated front perspective view of the child harness unit;
FIG. 3
is a rear perspective view of the child harness unit;
FIG. 4
is a rear perspective view of the adult harness unit; and,
FIG. 5
is an exploded perspective view of the adult harness unit; the child harness unit and the dual tether unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As can be seen by reference to the drawings, and in particular to
FIGS. 1 and 5
, the adult/child restraint harness arrangement that forms the basis of the present invention is designated generally by the reference number
10
. The harness arrangement
10
comprises in general an adult harness unit
11
, a child harness unit
12
and a tether unit
13
. These units will now be described in seriatim fashion.
As can best be seen by reference to
FIGS. 2
,
4
, and
5
, the adult harness unit
11
comprises a chest harness member
20
which includes a waist encircling strap
21
having a fixed length segment
22
and an adjustable length segment
23
provided with a bayonet style closure element
24
or other suitable cooperating fastener arrangement.
In addition, the chest harness member
20
includes a pair of shoulder straps
25
each having a fixed length segment
26
and an adjustable length segment
27
wherein the bottom ends of each of the segments
26
27
are fixedly secured to the waist encircling strap
21
in a well recognized manner.
Furthermore, the upper portion of the fixed length segments
26
are doubled over to receive a pair of slidable front D-rings
28
and a pair of slidable rear D-rings
29
separated from one another by a pair of slidable shoulder pads
30
; wherein the free end of the fixed length segments
26
are provided with clasp elements
31
which are adapted to captively receive the free end of the adjustable length segments
27
in a well recognized manner.
As can be best be appreciated by reference to
FIGS. 4 and 5
, the chest harness member
20
further includes an elasticized tensioning rear cross strap
32
that extends across the lower portion of the adult back between the fixed length shoulder strap segments
26
to both limit the downward travel of the pair of slidable rear D-rings
29
and to insure that the chest harness member
20
has a snug fit on the upper torso of an adult
100
. Turning now to
FIGS. 3 and 5
, it can be seen that the child harness unit
12
comprises a full body harness member
40
including a waist encircling strap
41
having a fixed length segment
42
and an adjustable length segment
43
the free ends of which are provided with a bayonet style closure element
44
or other suitable cooperating fastener arrangement.
In addition, the waist encircling strap
41
is further provided with a pair of fixed length shoulder straps
45
each provided with a slidable shoulder pad
46
and an oversized slidable D-ring
47
whose forward and rearward movement on the individual fixed length shoulder straps
45
are limited by an elasticized tensioning rear cross-strap
48
and an adjustable length chest cross strap
49
the free ends of which are provided with a conventional fastener
50
so that the upper portion of the full body harness
40
captively engages the upper torso of a child in a well recognized manner.
Turning now to
FIG. 5
, it can be seen that the full body harness member
40
further includes a pair of adjustable length leg straps
51
fixedly secured on their upper ends to the waist encircling strap
41
and having a slidable clasp element
52
provided on their lower ends forming loops
53
that are adapted to receive a pair of adjustable length leg encircling straps
54
the free ends of which are provided with cooperating fasteners
55
.
At this juncture, it should be noted that by employing adjustable length leg straps
51
, an adult can custom fit the full body harness member
40
such that the child's knees can be drawn upwardly toward their chest as depicted in
FIG. 3
, so that in the event that both the adult and child are ejected from a personal water craft
300
or the like, the protective positioning of the child's legs will lessen any impact to the child's chest when they land in the water.
Turning now to
FIGS. 1 and 5
, it can be seen that the tether unit
13
comprises a pair of elongated adjustable length tether members
60
60
the opposite ends of which are provided with a pair of snap ring elements
61
62
adapted to engage the floating D-rings
47
on the full body harness member
40
and either the front
28
or rear
29
pair of D-rings on the chest harness member
20
, depending on whether the child
200
is intended to be positioned in front of or behind the adult
100
on the vehicle
300
.
Although only an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.
Having thereby described the subject matter of the present invention, it should be apparent that many substitutions, modifications, and variations of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that the invention as taught and described herein is only to be limited to the extent of the breadth and scope of the appended claims.
Claims
- 1. An adult/child restraint harness comprisingan adult harness unit including a chest harness member having a first pair of shoulder straps attached on their opposite ends to a first waist encircling strap a child harness unit including a full body harness member having a second pair of shoulder straps attached on their opposite ends to a second waist encircling strap means associated with said full body harness member for captively engaging a selected portion of the child's legs and positioning the child's legs proximate their chest; and, a tether unit including at least one adjustable length tether member adapted to be operatively connected between the adult harness unit and the child harness unit.
- 2. The restraint harness as in claim 1; wherein, at least one of said first and second pairs of shoulder straps are provided with a rear cross-strap.
- 3. The restraint harness as in claim 2; wherein, at least one of said first and second pairs of shoulder straps is provided with a front cross-strap.
- 4. The restraint harness as in claim 2; wherein, both the first and second pairs of shoulder straps are provided with a rear cross-strap.
- 5. The restraint harness as in claim 4; wherein, said rear cross-straps are elasticized.
- 6. The restraint harness as in claim 4; wherein, at least one of said first and second pairs of shoulder straps is provided with a front cross-strap.
- 7. The restraint harness as in claim 4; wherein, of said first and second pairs of shoulder straps are provided with D-rings.
- 8. The restraint harness as in claim 7; wherein, the tether unit includes a pair of tether members adapted to be selectively connected to the D-rings on the first and second pairs of shoulder straps.
- 9. The restraint harness as in claim 1; wherein, the first and second pairs of shoulder straps are each provided with a pair of shoulder pads.
- 10. The restraint harness as in claim 5; wherein, at least one pair of D-rings is dimensioned to slidably receive shoulder pads on a selected one of the first and second shoulder straps.
- 11. The restraint harness as in claim 10; wherein, the first pair of shoulder straps is provided with a front pair of D-rings and a rear pair of D-rings.
- 12. The restraint harness as in claim 11; wherein, the front and rear pair of D-rings are slidably disposed one the first pair of shoulder straps.
- 13. The restraint harness as in claim 12; wherein, the pair of shoulder pads on the first pair of shoulder straps limits the movement of the front and rear pairs of D-rings relative to the first pair of shoulder straps.
- 14. The restraint harness as in claim 13; the wherein, said means for captively engaging and selectively positioning child's legs comprises:a pair of adjustable length leg straps wherein the upper ends of the leg straps are connected to the second waist encircling strap and each of the lower ends of the leg straps are operatively associated with an adjustable length leg strap.
- 15. The restraint harness as in claim 1; wherein, at least one of said first and second pairs of shoulder straps is provided with a front cross-strap.
- 16. The restraint harness as in claim 8; wherein, the first and second pairs of shoulder straps are each provided with a pair of shoulder pads.
- 17. The restraint harness as in claim 1; the wherein, said means for captively engaging and selectively positioning child's legs comprises:a pair of adjustable length leg straps wherein the upper ends of the leg straps are connected to the second waist encircling strap and each of the lower ends of the leg straps are operatively associated with an adjustable length leg strap.
US Referenced Citations (22)