Patent Application
20090127902
This invention relates to a child's car seat which may be used with or without an internal harness system, and, more specifically, a means to store an internal harness system of a child's car seat when the car seat is being used without the harness system.
Children's car seats are well known and are used in combination with an auto seat belt to restrain children traveling in automobiles. Two types of car seats commonly used are belted car seats and booster car seats.
Belted car seats are secured to an automobile seat with an automobile seat belt, combination lap/shoulder belt system, or a supplemental LATCH (an acronym which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) belt attaching to special anchor points in an automobile. Belted car seats have an internal harness system that retains the child into the seat, generally a 5-point system with a crotch belt, left and right lap belt sections and left and right shoulder belt sections joined at a central buckle. Most internal harness systems also have a harness tie to locate the shoulder belt portions on the child's shoulders. They are typically used for children weighing between 22 and 40 or 65 pounds.
Booster car seats use only the combination automobile lap/shoulder systems passing in front of the child and booster seat to restrain the child. They are typically used for children weighing 30 to 80 or 100 pounds.
Some newer children's car seats are combination belted car seats and booster car seats. These seats are used with the internal harness until the child is over a specified maximum weight and then they are used as booster car seats.
In the past, it was necessary to remove the internal harness system when converting from use as a belted car seat to a booster car seat because the harness system buckles and harness tie would make uncomfortable seating for any occupant. It is easily seen that removing a multi-component harness system is inconvenient. But, more importantly, storing it apart from the car seat can lead to lost parts and misuse of the seat. Reinstallation can lead to improper installation, further misuse and inconvenience.
This invention makes using a car seat which converts from a belted seat to a booster seat and then back to a belted seat easier and safer by describing a means to store the harness system on the car seat such that no components need to be removed and no uncomfortable disruptions of the seating surface occur.
This invention is a child's car seat with a seating surface, a backrest surface and side surfaces. It also has a belt path through which an automobile seat belt (not shown) or a LATCH belt (not shown) may be threaded to secure the car seat to an automobile seat. It further has a 5-point harness system with a crotch belt with an attached buckle body, a combination left lap and shoulder belt with a sliding latch plate, a combination right lap and shoulder belt with a sliding latch plate, and various other components to add to utility or comfort, e.g., cup holders and arm rests. The seat is also equipped with a soft pad for comfort (not shown).
The crotch belt emerges from an opening in the seating surface. The combination lap/shoulder belts also emerge from openings in the seating surface, pass through sliding latch plates which removeably connect to the crotch strap buckle, and then pass through openings in the seat back. A harness tie is secured to the shoulder belts above the sliding latch plates and may be separable into left and right halves by a fastening means.
The invention utilizes an additional opening in the seating surface near to and in front of or optionally behind the crotch belt. This opening is sized to allow passage of the crotch strap buckle through the opening for storage, thereby minimizing the disruption of the essentially horizontal seating surface to the elevation of the thickness of the crotch belt when the crotch strap buckle is so stored. In addition, there are angled “U”-shaped slotted openings on both the left and right sides of the seating area near to and between each of the seat openings from which the lap belts emerge. Each of these openings is preferably angled at about 45 degrees, although both larger and smaller angles are envisioned to be within the scope of the invention. Each “U”-shaped slotted opening results in an attached central tongue. Additional “U”-shaped slotted openings are located near a rounded junction of the seat and back surfaces and generally between the first angled slotted openings and the second slotted openings in the seat back through which the shoulder belts pass.
To store the 5-point harness, one disconnects the sliding latch plates from the crotch strap buckle and feeds the buckle body through the opening in the seating surface in front of (or optionally behind) the crotch strap. Thus the crotch strap belt lies essentially flat on the seating surface and presents only a minimal deviation (limited to the thickness of the crotch strap) from the surface thereby maximizing seating comfort as the crotch strap buckle is stored beneath the seating surface.
Next, the sliding latch plates on the respective left and right lap/shoulder belts are slid downward and into their respective openings in the seat through which the lap belt emerges. They are thus stored beneath the seating surface.
One lap belt (e.g., the left lap belt) is threaded into the nearest side of the angled and slotted “U”-shaped opening and under the attached tongue. It is then folded over the attached tongue and fed under the attached tongue of the additional slotted “U”-shaped opening and travels onward. The right lap belt is similarly stored.
Finally, the harness tie is slid up or down on the shoulder belt until it is positioned over the recessed auto belt path. If desired, the harness tie may be separated into its two halves if so provided to allow a straighter path for the shoulder belts.
Like the crotch belt, the combination lap/shoulder belts lie on the surfaces of the seating surface and back surface and make no significant protrusion above the surface so as to maximize comfort to an occupant. All hard sliding latch plates are beneath the seating surface and pose no comfort issue and the harness tie is over a recess and also poses no comfort issue.
Thus, the 5-point harness is stored on the car seat without removal of any components and the car seat may now be used as a booster car seat. When it is desired to reconvert to a belted car seat, e.g., for a younger sibling or other second user, the process is simply reversed.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to produce a car seat which can interconvert between a seat which may be used with or without an internal harness system in which a storage capacity exists beneath the seating surface which accommodates the buckle and latch plates of the internal harness system.
It is another object of the invention to illustrate a car seat in which the internal harness system is capable of being stored in a manner which minimizes any horizontal deviation above the plane of the seating surface, any such deviation being limited to the thickness of the belt of the harness system.
It is yet another object of this invention to allow easy storage of an internal harness of a belted car seat when using the car seat as a booster car seat.
It is still yet another object of this invention to allow said storage with no removal of components.
It is a further object of this invention to make internal belt storage completely and easily reversible.
It is a still further objective of this invention to maintain a smooth seating surface when an internal harness system is stored integrally within a car seat.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicate similar parts, reference numerals using the designations “a” or “b” referring to mirror image components, and with further reference to the appended claims.
Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention only and not for purposes of limiting the same, the figures show a harness storage system for a child's car seat, as well as other inventions.
Looking now at
Car seat 10 is equipped with harness system 40 with crotch strap 42 which has attached buckle body 44. Crotch strap 42 emerges from and is secured beneath opening 45 in seating surface 12. Harness system 40 further has left and right lap belt portions 46a, 46b, connected left and right shoulder belt portions 48a, 48b, and left and right sliding latch plates 50a, 50b which are removeably secured to buckle body 44. Shoulder belt portions 48a, 48b may be equipped with harness tie 52 which may be one-piece or separable into left and right halves. Shoulder belt portions 48a, 48b pass through and are secured behind shoulder belt openings 54a, 54b in backrest surface 14. Lap belt portions 46a, 46b pass through and are secured behind left and right lap belt openings 50a and 50b.
In one embodiment illustrated in
Car seat 10 may be used as a belted car seat as described above and as shown in
Car seat 10 may also be used as a booster car seat by not using harness system 40 and by routing automobile lap belt (not shown) across booster belt recesses 90a and 90b and auto shoulder belt through shoulder belt recess 92a or 92b (illustrated in
When harness system 40 is not used, it may be stored internally on car seat 10 without removal or disassembly as depicted in
It can be seen that harness assembly 40 is stored internally on car seat 10 with no removal of components and with no hardware resting on seating surface 12 or backrest surface 14 thus maintaining a comfortable seating surface. It can also be seen that the storage is easily reversible and that no components have been removed or disconnected from their normal attachments, except, of course, the normal disengagement of the latch plates 50 from attached buckle 44.
As illustrated in the preferred embodiment of this invention, left and right U-shaped slots 82a, 82b for left and right lap belt portions 46a, 46b are preferably shown as angled with respect to a center longitudinal axis through a middle of car seat 10. The angle can range from 0° (i.e., parallel) to 90° (normal to the axis), more preferably from 20° to 70°, still more preferably from 30° to 60°, and most preferably from 40° to 50°. Similarly, left and right transverse slotted openings 86a, 86b, for left and right shoulder belts 48a, 48b, are preferably normal to the central longitudinal axis, i.e., 90°, although the invention is not limited to such. However, the range of angularity is more limited than that for left and right U-shaped slots 82a, 82b and more typically ranges from 20° to 90°, more preferably from 45° to 90°, and most preferably 90°. It is recognized in this art, that when angle measurements are provided, that the degree of precision in either the manufacture or in the measurement thereof is approximate to within about 5°.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness and understanding; but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed. Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention is by way of example, and the scope of the invention is not limited to the exact details shown or described. This invention has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments thereof, including the respective best modes for carrying out each embodiment. It shall be understood that these illustrations are by way of example and not by way of limitation.
