Patent Application
20220204068
This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/537,317 filed on Aug. 9, 2019, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference thereto.
The present invention relates to infant carriers widely employed for carrying and protection of infants and young children. More particularly, it relates to an air filtering cover adapted for engagement with conventional rigid infant carriers which filters the air communicated to the infant in the carrier to filter air pollution and inhibit the passage of pathogens through the cover.
In a majority of industrialized countries, infants and small children are transported in substantially rigid infant carriers. Such infant carriers have become common for holding infants and small children while riding in vehicles. Further, it has become a common occurrence for parents and care givers of infants and small children, to carry them to various destinations while they are secured within the infant carrier. Additionally, many parents and care givers of infants and small children use the infant carriers as chairs or holders for infants and small children, such as in restaurants, grocery stores and the like.
While being transported within a cavity in these carriers, the infants and toddlers occupying them are exposed to the world and the atmosphere surrounding them. During such transport they breathe and make contact with the air in the local area where they are visiting or being transported. Unfortunately, the air in many locales and buildings, which the carrier-held infants and small children are exposed to, frequently may have pollutants as well as germs and pathogens to which the infant is also exposed during travel to and through various venues. As such, parents and care givers may expose their infants and children, who they assume are protected within the carrier, to unseen hazards from air pollution and airborne pathogens.
The device herein disclosed is adapted for biased engagement with such infant carriers to form a cover over the internal cavity of the infant carrier occupied by the infant or small child. So engaged, the device features a flexible wall having a filtration element therein. The replaceable filtration element is adapted to prevent communication of air pollutants and particulate as well as many pathogens through the cover, thereby protecting the housed infant or child in the carrier from exposure to such.
The forgoing examples of infant and child carriers and the limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. The disclosed examples and background do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various other limitations of the related art of protective infant carriers are known, or such will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.
The device and system herein disclosed and described provides a solution to the shortcomings in prior art of child carrier covers employed to cover an occupant of infant carriers used to carry small children.
In all modes of the cover device herein, it has a fabric body which is preferably configured about substantially all of a perimeter edge sidewall to stretch and form a biased contact, which engages and forms a seal around the exterior surface of a conventional hard sided child carrier. An opening, sized to stretch and slide over the exterior of the child carrier in addition, is surrounded by elastic material which will provide a biased engagement to a lower edge of the child carrier in addition to the elastic woven or knitted fabric material which upon cessation of stretching will contract and form a biased contact on and around the child carrier and form a contoured contact against the different surface areas thereof. By elastic material herein is meant that the woven or knitted fabric forming the body is formed of or includes elastic yarn or fibers such as LYCRA, SPANDEX, or Elastane, which will stretch and subsequently retract. This allows the user to slide the body of the device over a conventional hard sided child carrier through an opening positioned on a bottom of the body, and then allow the elastic fabric to contract. This contraction causes the sidewall of the body of the device to contract and form a biased contact against the sides of the child carrier, even into any recesses and contours of that surface, thereby forming a circumferential seal around the sides of the child carrier.
The device has a body with a pocket positioned in a front wall at a top frontal area. This interior pocket is formed with two sidewalls and has an interior which is accessible through a pocket opening formed in one of the two sidewalls. An air filter, such as a polymeric filter element formed from polymeric expanded foam or non woven polymeric filaments or similar filtration material, is configured in a size substantially equal to the dimensions of the formed pocket in the body, or preferably, at least in a size which will wrap around a contact line with the perimeter edge of the interior area of the child carrier.
This polymeric filter is replaceable over time to renew the filtering and anti-pathogenic qualities thereof. The polymeric material forming the filter element may be impregnated with one or a plurality of anti-pathogenic materials such as carbon, silver or silver ions, nickel or nickel ions, aluminum ions and other materials. Further, the filter element is preferably at least formed to have passages between 1.5 and 4.5 microns, such that air passing through the filter element must travel through these passages where upon particulate and pathogens are removed.
In all modes of the device herein, it is preferable that easy access to the carrying handle for the child carrier be provided and maintained with the cover device engaged. In configuring the cover device to engage with or over the carrying handle, it is preferable that it also include a means to allow the user to view the occupant which also provides a means to easily grasp a handle on the carrier. This easy access to the carrying handle is especially preferred, where the sidewall fabric is opaque or decorative woven fabric. While such fabric blocks the view of the handle and into the carrier, it also provides the occupant shade. It is preferred, with such occupant-viewing or handle openings, that a filtering cover flap be positioned thereover, to prevent unfiltered air passage through the cover device.
The cover device can be configured to form biased contact of the sidewalls against the surface of the child carrier and then to drape over the top of the conventional handle of such infant carriers. In a particularly preferred mode, it may include one or a plurality of connecting straps which will hold the body of the device elevated above the infant but underneath the exposed handle. Alternatively and especially preferred for the positioning of the handle for carrying, the body of the cover can have a rear flap which connects to a front portion, such that a biased contact with the handle is formed. Such is preferred to allow for easy grasping of the handle to carry and transport the infant holder and occupant thereof, but still provide privacy and/or shade and a calming blocked view to the infant or child occupant such as for napping.
With respect to the above description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the gate or barrier disclosed and described herein in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The barrier or gate invention herein described and shown is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other air filtering devices adapted for infant carrier engagement, and for carrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
As used in the claims to describe the various inventive aspects and embodiments, “comprising” means including, but not limited to, whatever follows the word “comprising”. Thus, use of the term “comprising” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present. By “consisting of” is meant including, and limited to, whatever follows the phrase “consisting of”. Thus, the phrase “consisting of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, and that no other elements may be present. By “consisting essentially of” is meant including any elements listed after the phrase, and limited to other elements that do not interfere with or contribute to the activity or action specified in the disclosure for the listed elements. Thus, the phrase “consisting essentially of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present depending upon whether or not they affect the activity or action of the listed elements. Further, where employed the term “substantially” unless otherwise specifically defined, is meant plus or minus five percent.
It is an object of this invention to provide a fabric cover for a child carrier having an air filtering device adapted for removable engagement to a plurality of such infant carriers.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a air filtering device wherein an elastic sidewall of the body thereof, forms a circumferential biased contact against the sides of the child carrier which depends into the contours of that side surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a removably engageable air filtering device, which is configured with a replaceable filtration media so as to allow for replacement thereof as needed.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the disclosed infant carrier engageable air filtration device herein, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements described in this specification and hereinafter described in the following detailed description, which fully discloses the invention, but should not be considered as placing limitations thereon.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate some, but not the only or exclusive examples of embodiments and/or features of the infant carrier engageable air filtration device herein. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative of the invention herein, rather than limiting in any fashion.
In the drawings:
In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms of direction or position, refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only, and such are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the device has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation.
Now referring to drawings in
The fabric forming the body 16, or at least the sidewall 19 thereof, as noted, is preferably elastic and will cause the body sidewall 19 to form to the contours of the sidewall 17 of the infant carrier 12 and form a contact against it and eliminate any gaps in the formed circumferential seal which is most important to keep out particulate.
In the mode of the device 10 of
In a mode of the device 10 with shorter sidewalls 19, the contact line 13 will be at or adjacent an upper edge of the carrier sidewall 17 on the exterior side of the carrier 12, where the carrier sidewall 17 surrounds and defines the interior cavity 18. However, this may vary depending on the shape of the carrier 12. With the elastic 14 at or adjacent the perimeter edge of the body 16 and contracting to bias the sidewall 19 of the body 16 against the exterior surface of the carrier sidewall 17, the circumferential seal around the exterior of the carrier 12 is also formed along this contact line 13.
As shown, the cover device 10 is formed of a body 16 having a pocket 26 within the top wall 23 which is formed of a first sidewall 22 or sidewall portion which is opposite a second sidewall 24 or sidewall portion. The pocket 26 (
Elastic 14 is preferably engaged to the perimeter edge of the body 16 of the cover device 10 which surrounds the opening 27 through which the carrier 12 is passed, as it is positioned within the interior cavity 18, to put the body 16 in a mounted position, such as in
The first sidewall 22 and opposing second sidewall 24, on the opposite side of the formed pocket 26, are preferably formed of woven or non woven material having openings between the yarn or fibers forming the material. Shown herein is one preferred mesh material having mesh openings 30 therein which is porous and easily passes air therethrough. However, the material forming one or both of the first sidewall 22 and second sidewall 24 forming the sides of the pocket 26 may be woven fabric having mesh openings 30 between the yarn or threads in the weave or knit, with decorative patterns thereon and opaque in that it would block the view into and out of the interior cavity 18 and the carrier and provide shade.
The filter element 20, when inserted into the pocket 26, filters the air which is communicated to the interior cavity 18. Thus, with the body 16 of the device 10 in an engaged position upon the carrier 12, air follows a flow path which communicates through the mesh openings 30 in the first sidewall 22, then through said air passages in the filter element 20, and finally through the openings in the fabric forming the second sidewall 24, before that airflow reaches the interior cavity 18 and the carrier and any occupant therein. The air following this defined flowpath is, thus, filtered by both the mesh openings 30 and especially by the air passages 32 of the filter element 20, before reaching the occupant in the interior cavity 18.
The mesh fabric forming the first sidewall 22 and second sidewall 24, preferably, is knitted or woven or non woven fabric formed in a manner to maintain the spacing and size of the mesh openings 30 to maximize airflow therethrough. One preferred fabric with these characteristics is a polymeric coated mesh such as that sold by Phifer Incorporated, which is formed of vinyl coated fiberglass or polyester in an 18×14 or 18×16 weave. Such material, being vinyl coated, has been found to fix the size of the openings between threads forming it which maintains the openings 30 in their maximum size no matter the position or bend or fold of the material. This insures a maximum airflow through the openings 30 in the first sidewall 22, through the filter element 20, and then through the openings 30 in the second sidewall 24 to the occupant of the interior cavity 18 and the carrier 12 therein. Such a fabric, with fixed mesh openings 30, is preferred for the sidewalls forming the pocket 26.
However, as noted, in many cases, it is more desirable to employ a woven or non woven plain or decorative print fabric with mesh openings 30 between yarns. Such will provide shade and a blocked view into and out of the carrier 12. This configuration aids in shading the occupant and provides a calm space for napping. Such will work well as long as the openings between yarns or threads forming the woven or knitted fabric, will allow air passage therethrough.
Shown in
While the pocket 26 is shown in
Further, it is anticipated that different fabric may be employed about a perimeter area of the body 16 which may prevent air passage therethrough, such as vinyl or sealed rip-stop material or the elastic material noted as used in the mode of the device of
In one current preferred mode of the device 10, the filter element 20 is formed of woven or non woven polymeric material, such as polymeric expanded foam or elongated polymeric filter fibers placed, in fixed engagements to each other in a manner to maintain an opening size of air passages 32 communicating through the filter element 20. Currently, a preferred air passage 32 diameter of passages communicating through the filter element 20, is substantially 1.5 to 0.4 microns. This size range was found to work best in experimentation and is preferred in order to capture or render harmless the maximum amount of bugs, pollen, particulate, and pathogens in the air. Such is available in both expanded polymeric foam material filters and non woven polymeric fiber material filters and the like.
Additionally preferred is the employing filter material forming the expanded foam or fibers defining the filter element 20, which is impregnated with or includes one or a combination of anti-pathogenic materials from a group of anti-pathogenic materials including silver ions, nickel ions, and activated carbon. Such can be added to the polymeric mix of material employed for forming either a foam filter or a fiber material filter during manufacture. These anti-pathogenic materials act to kill germs and viruses and other pathogens which may be in the air which communicate through the passages 32 of the filter element 20, when the filter is operatively engaged within the pocket 26.
Depicted in
Additionally shown in
Depicted in
A particularly preferred mode of the cover device 10 herein is shown in
Currently the handle connector 44 in
This engagement to the handle 40 also maintains the aperture 34 shown with a transparent flexible window 35 which allows viewing of the occupant when the fabric forming the body 16 is decorative or opaque. As noted, other connectors 44 such as C-clips, magnets, releasable adhesive, cooperative fasteners such as snaps 50, or such connectors 44 as would occur to those skilled in the art are anticipated within the scope of this patent.
In
Shown in
Also in this mode of the device 10, the sidewall 19 of the body 16 is formed of woven or knitted or similar material which has yarn or threads which are elastic. This is especially preferred in that it significantly increases the area of the formed circumferential seal against the carrier sidewall 17 from the contact line 13, noted above, of about an inch in width, to a contact area of the sidewall 19 against the carrier sidewall 17 which is much wider in that substantially the entire area of the sidewall 19 which is adjacent to the carrier sidewall 17, contacts against the carrier sidewall 17. Additionally, the elastic fabric forming the sidewall 19, once the carrier 12 is in the interior cavity of the body 16, will form a circumferential biased contact of the sidewall 19 against the carrier sidewall 17, which is between 2-10 inches in width and which will also form to the biased engagement with the contours of the carrier sidewall 17 and any recesses or projections thereon, for a much better seal.
Also shown in
In
Finally, as shown in
It should be noted than any of the different depicted and described configurations and components of the infant carrier engageable filter device herein can be employed with any other configuration or component shown and described as part of the device herein. Additionally, while the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular embodiments thereof and steps in the method of production, a latitude of modifications, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosures, it will be appreciated that in some instance some features, or configurations, of the invention could be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. All such changes, alternations and modifications as would occur to those skilled in the art are considered to be within the scope of this invention as broadly defined in the appended claims.
Further, the purpose of any abstract of this specification is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. Any such abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting, as to the scope of the invention in any way.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16537317 | Aug 2019 | US |
| Child | 17694584 | US |
