Patent Application
20070067907
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a baby crib, more particularly to a baby crib including a top frame unit that can be disassembled.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
The top frame unit 13 includes four angled couplers 131 and four top frame rods 132. Each of the couplers 131 is mounted on top of a respective one of the support rods 12. Each of the top frame rods 132 has opposite ends connected pivotally to an adjacent pair of the couplers 131, and includes a pair of rod segments 133 interconnected pivotally by a pivot joint 134. Therefore, each of the top frame rods 132 is foldable at the respective pivot joint 134. Each of the pivot joints 134 has a lock control unit 135 associated operably therewith to prevent undesired folding of the corresponding top frame rod 132, thereby enhancing stability of the baby crib 1.
However, when the conventional baby crib 1 is folded, the folded top frame rods 132 take up a lot of space. In particular, since the pivot joints 134 have a relatively complicated structure, they are bulky and prevent the support rods 12 from being brought close to each other when the conventional baby crib 1 is folded. As a result, high packaging and transport costs are incurred even when the conventional baby crib 1 is folded. Moreover, the inclusion of the lock control units 135 in the pivot joints 134 increases the complexity and manufacturing costs of the pivot joints 134.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a baby crib that can overcome the aforesaid drawbacks associated with the prior art.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a baby crib comprises a bottom frame unit, a top frame unit, and a plurality of upright support rods that interconnect the bottom frame unit and the top frame unit. The top frame unit includes a plurality of three-way couplers and a plurality of top frame rods.
Each of the couplers includes a root part and first, second and third tube parts that extend in different directions from the root part. The root part is formed with a cap-receiving recess that is in spatial communication with the first tube part. The third tube part is sleeved on a respective one of the upright support rods.
Each of the top frame rods includes a rod body that has opposite first and second rod ends, and an anchor cap that is mounted on the first rod-end of the rod body. Each of the top frame rods is extended removably through the first tube part of one of the couplers such that the anchor cap thereof is disposed removably in the cap-receiving recess, and such that the second rod end of the rod body is extendible removably into the second tube part of another one of the couplers.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a top frame unit is adapted for connection to a plurality of upright support rods of a baby crib, and comprises a plurality of three-way couplers and a plurality of top frame rods.
Each of the couplers includes a root part and first, second and third tube parts that extend in different directions from the root part. The root part is formed with a cap-receiving recess that is in spatial communication with the first tube part. The third tube part is adapted to be sleeved on a respective one of the upright support rods.
Each of the top frame rods includes a rod body that has opposite first and second rod ends, and an anchor cap that is mounted on the first rod end of the rod body. Each of the top frame rods is extended removably through the first tube part of one of the couplers such that the anchor cap thereof is disposed removably in the cap-receiving recess, and such that the second rod end of the rod body is extendible removably into the second tube part of another one of the couplers.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the present invention is described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying preferred embodiments, it should be noted herein that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure.
Referring to
In this embodiment, the top frame unit 3 includes four three-way couplers 32 and four top frame rods 31.
Each of the couplers 32 includes a root part 320 and first, second and third tube parts 321, 322, 323 that extend in mutually orthogonal directions from the root part 320. The root part 320 is formed with a cap-receiving recess 324 that is in spatial communication with the first tube part 321. The third tube part 323 is sleeved on and may be fixed to a respective one of the upright support rods 22.
Each of the top frame rods 31 includes a rod body 313 that has opposite first and second rod ends 311, 312, and an anchor cap 314 that is mounted fixedly on the first rod end 311 of the rod body 313, such as by riveting. Each of the top frame rods 31 is extended removably through the first tube part 321 of one of the couplers 32 such that the anchor cap 314 thereof is disposed removably in the cap-receiving recess 324 in said one of the couplers 32, and such that the second rod end 312 of the rod body 313 is extendible removably into the second tube part 322 of another one of the couplers 32.
In this embodiment, the rod body 313 of each of the top frame rods 31 is a tubular body, and each of the top frame rods 31 further includes a positioning unit 33 for retaining releasably the rod body 313 on the first tube part 321 of said one of the couplers 32. Preferably, the rod body 313 of each of the top frame rods 31 is formed with a radial hole 315 that is spaced apart from the anchor cap 314, and the positioning unit 33 includes a U-shaped resilient arm 331 disposed in the rod body 313, and a stop button 332 mounted on one end of the resilient arm 331 and extending through the radial hole 315 in the rod body 313 to arrest undesired removal of the rod body 313 from the first tube part 321 of said one of the couplers 32.
While the positioning unit 33 of this embodiment includes one resilient arm 331 and one stop button 332, the positioning unit 33 may be modified to include two stop buttons 332 mounted on opposite ends of the resilient arm 331 for engaging corresponding holes 315 in the rod body 313, thereby further enhancing stability of the top frame unit 3.
In this embodiment, the bottom frame unit 21 is foldable, and is operable so as to bring the upright support rods 22 close to each other when the top frame rods 31 are removed from the couplers 32. Since the feature of this invention does not reside in the particular configuration of the bottom frame unit 21 and in the connection between the support rods 22 and the bottom frame unit 21, further details of the same are omitted herein for the sake of brevity.
To assemble the baby crib 2, the bottom frame unit 21 is first expanded, and the support rods 22 are operated to stand on a support surface. Subsequently, for each of the top frame rods 31, the stop button 332 is pressed to retract into the rod body 313. Then, the second rod end 312 of the rod body 313 is extended through the first tube part 321 of the corresponding coupler 32 via the cap-receiving recess 324 and into the second tube part 322 of an adjacent coupler 32 until the anchor cap 314 engages the cap-receiving recess 324. At this time, the stop button 332 is disposed adjacent to and outwardly of the first tube part 321 of the corresponding coupler 32, and is urged by the resilient arm 331 to extend out of the radial hole 315 in the rod body 313. As a result, the stop button 332 and the anchor cap 314 can cooperate to prevent undesired removal of the top frame rod 31 from the first tube part 321 of the corresponding coupler 32, thereby enhancing structural integrity of the top frame unit 3.
To fold and store the baby crib 2, for each of the top frame rods 31, the stop button 332 is pressed to retract into the rod body 313, and the top frame rod 31 is drawn to remove the same from the corresponding coupler 32. The bottom frame unit 21 is then folded to bring the upright support rods 22 close to each other for storage.
Since bulky pivots joints are not employed in the top frame unit 3, the structure of the top frame unit 3 is simplified to result in lower manufacturing costs. In addition, since the top frame rods 31 are removable from the couplers 32, the size of the baby crib 2 can be further reduced when folded to result in lower packaging and transport costs.
The second tubular part 317 has an end segment 3170 opposite to the second rod end 312, inserted removably into an adjacent end segment 3160 of the first tubular part 316, and formed with a first radial hole 319. The end segment 3160 of the first tubular part 316 is opposite to the first rod end 311. The first tubular part 316 is formed with a second radial hole 318 to be aligned with the first radial hole 319 in the second tubular part 317. The anchor cap 314 is connected to the first tubular part 316, and the radial hole 315 is formed in the first tubular part 316.
The coupling unit 310 includes a U-shaped resilient arm 3101 disposed in the end segment 3170 of the second tubular part 317, and a coupling button 3102 mounted on one end of the resilient arm 3101 and extending through the first radial hole 319 in the second tubular part 317 and into the second radial hole 318 in the first tubular part 316.
While the coupling unit 310 of this embodiment includes one resilient arm 3101 and one coupling button 3102, the coupling unit 310 may be modified to include two coupling buttons 3102 mounted on opposite ends of the resilient arm 3101 for engaging corresponding holes 319, 318 in the tubular parts 317, 316 of the rod body 313′, thereby further enhancing stability of the top frame rod 31.
When storing the top frame rods 31, the coupling button 3102 of each top frame rod 31 is pressed to retract into the second tube part 317 of the corresponding rod body 313′, and the first and second tube parts 316, 317 are pulled apart from each other. In view of the two-part configuration of each rod body 313′, the length of the top frame rods 31 can be reduced to result in lower packaging and transport costs.
In this embodiment, the first and second tube parts 321, 322 of each of the couplers 32 are mutually orthogonal, and the number of the couplers 32 is four, thereby resulting in a rectangular top frame unit 3. However, in practice, by altering the angle between the first and second tube parts 321, 322 of each of the couplers 32, and the number of the couplers 32 in the top frame unit 3, the actual shape of the top frame unit 3 can be varied as well.
In sum, the baby crib 2 of this invention has a relatively simple construction that is easy to assemble and disassemble. Hence, manufacturing costs can be reduced, and packaging and transport costs are also lower when compared with the conventional foldable baby crib due to the relatively small size of the disassembled top frame unit 3.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
