The present device relates to a chair for children, such as highchairs and booster seats. Particularly, the present device relates to a child's chair with adjustable components.
Highchairs and booster seats have been around for a very long time, with the primary purpose of providing a raised seating surface for babies, toddlers and small children. Initially, only the seat was raised to bring the child to the level of, for example, the dinner table. A removable eating tray soon became a useful attachment, making the improved highchair or booster a stand alone child feeding station and a “must-have” for every expecting household.
Typically, these chairs were a “one-size-fits-all” facility. A child could be fed away from the dinner table with little supervision and less disruption to the rest of the dining family. The eating tray could be removed for easy cleanup and an adjustable waist strap—much like a seat belt—became useful for keeping smaller children from intentionally or unintentionally slipping down out of the chair.
As children's chairs improved, softer, washable materials were used, corners were rounded, and other safety and convenience features were added. However, none of the known prior art chairs addresses each and every one of the problems resolved by the invention of this application. The present child's chair provides quick and convenient adjustability of several components, a simple design and operation, and is adaptive for multiple uses.
There is disclosed herein a number of embodiments of an improved chair which avoids the disadvantages of prior devices while affording additional structural and operating advantages.
In a first embodiment, a highchair for seating a child is described. The highchair comprises a seat having a bottom support and a back support, the bottom support including a fixed center post extending there from, a frame attached to and supporting the seat at a height, the bottom support of the seat being adjustable between a plurality of fixed positions channels on the frame, and a tray detachably coupled only to the center post of the seat.
In a second embodiment, the highchair includes a seat having a bottom support and a back support, the bottom support including a fixed center post extending there from, a frame attached to and supporting the seat at a height, and a tray having a locking mechanism on a bottom surface for adjustably coupling at a position to the center post of the seat, wherein the position, including removal of the tray, on the center post is adjustable via manipulation of a single release mechanism fixed to the tray and coupled to the locking mechanism.
A third embodiment of the disclosed highchair includes a seat having a bottom support and a back support, the bottom support including a fixed center post extending there from, a frame comprising a plurality of fixed seat position channels and a plurality of fixed footrest position channels, wherein the frame supports the bottom support in a first seat position channel and a footrest is a first footrest position channel and the bottom support of the seat and the footrest are independently adjustable between the seat position channels and the footrest position channels, respectively, and a tray detachably coupled to the center post of the seat.
In a fourth embodiment, the highchair includes a seat having a bottom support and a back support, the bottom support including a fixed center post extending there from, a frame attached to and supporting the seat at a height, a harness for securing a child positioned in the seat, the harness being secured to the seat and adjustable for various sizes at a position adjacent a rear surface of the back support, and a tray detachably coupled to the center post of the seat.
In a fifth embodiment, the highchair comprises a seat having a bottom support and a back support, the bottom support including a fixed center post extending there from, a tray detachably coupled to the center post of the seat, a tray latching mechanism for connecting the tray to the center post and capable of movement between a first connecting position, a second connecting position and a release position, a frame supporting the seat at a first position and having a footrest supported at a second position on the frame, wherein the bottom support of the seat and the footrest are independently adjustable between a plurality of fixed seat position channels on the frame and a plurality of fixed footrest position channels on the frame, respectively, and a harness for securing a child positioned in the seat, the harness being secured to the seat and adjustable for various sizes at a position adjacent a rear surface of the back support.
Still, a sixth embodiment of the highchair comprises a seat having a bottom support and a back support, a frame supporting the seat at a first position and having a footrest supported at a second position on the frame, wherein the bottom support of the seat and the footrest are independently adjustable between a plurality of fixed seat position channels on the frame and a plurality of footrest position channels on the frame, respectively, a tray detachably coupled to the seat, a tray latching mechanism for connecting the tray to the seat and capable of movement between a first connecting position, a second connecting position and a release position, and a harness for securing a child positioned in the seat, the harness being secured to the seat and adjustable for various sizes at a position adjacent a rear surface of the back support.
In a seventh embodiment, a child seat is disclosed which comprises a seat having a bottom support and a back support, a frame having a plurality of fixed seat position channels each configured to retain the bottom support therein, wherein the bottom support of the seat is vertically adjustable relative to the back support via the seat position channels, and a seat latching mechanism for retaining the seat at any of the fixed seat position channels. In such an embodiment the seat latching mechanism comprises a slide bar positioned to intersect each of the fixed seat position channels and capable of movement along an axis between a lock position and a release position, wherein the seat is locked in a channel when the slide bar is at the lock position and the seat is removable from a channel when the slide bar is at the release position, and a button attached to an end of the slide bar and which moves along an axis, transverse to the axis of the slide bar, between a first and second position, wherein the slide bar is prevented from movement when the button is in the first position and is slidable between the slide bar lock and release positions when the button is in the second position.
In still another embodiment, a chair comprises a seat having a bottom support and a back support, a frame supporting the seat, a tray detachably coupled to the seat, and a tray latching mechanism for connecting the tray at a latching point to one of either the seat and the frame and the latching mechanism being adjustable between three settings. The three settings of the tray latching mechanism comprise a locked setting where the tray is secured at the latching point and prevented from movement, an adjust setting where the tray is secured and capable of sliding movement between a plurality of latching points, and a release setting where the tray is released from attachment. Preferably, the tray latching mechanism comprises an actuator for moving the latching mechanism between the three settings.
These and other embodiment and aspects of the invention may be understood more readily from the following description and the appended drawings.
For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the subject matter sought to be protected, there are illustrated in the accompanying drawings embodiments thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection with the following description, the subject matter sought to be protected, its construction and operation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and appreciated.
While this invention of this application is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the referenced appended drawings and will herein be described in detail, a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to embodiments illustrated.
Referring to
Frame
Referring to
Additional stability is provided to the frame 20 by a footrest 27 which is also positioned between the two V-shaped members 21 just above the front frame support 24. The footrest 27 is similar in appearance to the front support 24, but is distinguishable in that it may be adjusted along the height of the frame 20.
While four (4) footrest position channels 28 are shown in the embodiment of
Of course, the footrest 27 may be fixed to the V-shaped members 21 much as the front support 24 is fixed within the frame 20.
At the top of the frame 20, a chair side panel 70 is attached to each of the V-shaped members 21. The side panels 70 are preferably fixed to the members 21 by screws or bolts. The side panels 70 are relevant to the use and operation of the seat 60 which is discussed in greater detail below.
Seat
Referring to
As shown in
Referring to
The seat position channels 64 preferably have a sideways “T” cross-section designed to accept, retain and guide a T-track 74, which is attached to each side of the bottom support 61, as shown. The seat T-track 74 includes a small v-notch 75 and may be entered into a desired channel 64 at the front end 76 of the chair side panel 70 and then guided to a terminal end 77 of the seat position channel 64 proximate the back end of the side panel 70. A taper on the leading end of the T-track 74 helps guide insertion into a desired seat position channel 64.
The seat position channels 64 extend such that the rear-most end of each channel 64 terminates progressively forward moving top to bottom of the panel 70. The result of this channel feature is that the bottom support 61 will move forward of the back support 62 as the bottom support 61 is lowered. This feature is directed to accommodating larger children as it intentionally moves the bottom support 61 forward to adjust to a longer upper leg with continued mid to upper back support.
To lock the bottom support 61 into one of the channels 64, a slide bar 78 operates within the slide bar channel 73 of at least one of the side panels 70. Preferably, the slide bar 78, as illustrated in
As shown in
Referring to
Referring back to
Center Post
Referring to
A first benefit of the center post 100 is that of a safety device, holding a child seated in the chair 10 from slipping forward off of the bottom support 61. The post 100 is preferably centered across the bottom support 61 to allow a child to straddle the post 100 when seated. The center post 100, however, is not intended to be the exclusive support for children and should be used in conjunction with other safety measures.
The center post 100 also provides a single harness attachment point 102. The harness attachment point 102 is created using a harness strap 104 which extends from a slot 106 in the base of the center post 100. The resulting harness 120, of course, is another safety feature which is used in many child seats. A suitable harness buckle 122, depending on the type of safety harness used—e.g., a two-point harness or a three-point harness—is attached to the extending end of the strap (i.e., the free end outside of the post). Removing the center post 100 may render the remaining harness straps unusable.
Still another feature of the center post 100 is that it provides exclusive attachment for the tray 90. Referring to
Tray
Referring to
The handle 96 is capable of moving between three positions: locked, adjust, and release. In the “locked” position, shown in
Referring back to the center post 100 drawings and description, the tray 90 is positioned on the center post 100 by aligning with the center post channel 98. With the handle 96 in the “release” position, the tray 90 can be properly placed into contact with the top of the post 100. Then, as the handle 96 is allowed to move, via, for example, a spring bias (not shown), to the “adjust” position, the tray 90 is secured to the post 100 by the pins 99 simultaneously moving to enter the retention channel 92. Further release of the handle 96 by the user moves the pins 99 to the “locked” position. In this position, the pins 99 enter one of the tray position notches 93, preventing the tray 90 from further movement in the guide 91. To move the tray 90 to a new position notch 93 the handle 96 need only be moved to the “adjust” position, where the pins 99 will be locked into the retention channel 92 but not within a particular position notch 93. When the pins 99 are locked in the retention channel 92, the tray 90 can only be moved laterally but cannot be removed from the center post 100. This is all achieved, of course, with the use of a single hand by the user.
In order to help guide the tray 90, two additional guides 110 can be formed on the underside of the tray 90, as shown. These additional guides 110 mate with the upper portions of the bottom support 61. The guides 110 help prevent the tray from being twisted on the post 100 which might cause damage to the tray locking feature described, including the pins 99, and decrease effectiveness.
Harness
For clarity of other drawing figures, the harness 120 is not illustrated in most views. However, it is understood that such embodiments could include the use of a harness as described below.
A preferred harness 120 of the disclosed highchair 10 is a five-point contact system, as shown in
Referring to
The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only and not as a limitation. While particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the broader aspects of applicants' contribution. The actual scope of the protection sought is intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper perspective based on the prior art.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20110062753 A1 | Mar 2011 | US |