Patent Application
20070040420
This application claims priority of Application No. 094214064 filed in Taiwan on Aug. 17, 2006 under 35 U.S.C. ยง119, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to a foldable structure of highchair and, in particular, to a structure that is able to fix or fold a chair after expanding through a slidable folding sleeve.
Highchairs are usually used as a dining apparatus for children. The structures of the conventional highchair may be referred to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,435,620, 4,958,885, 5,509,719, 5,348,374, 5,507,550, 5,806,922, 5,829,826, 5,927,805, 5,951,102 and 6,010,184. The highchair structure generally consists of a chair portion and a leg portion that erects the highchair above the ground. The highchair is usually equipped with a food tray.
The common forms for the legs of the highchairs are generally categorized in a stationary form, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,922 and 5,927,805, or an expandable form, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,507,550 and 5,951,102, in which two of the legs are connected to the same location and the bottoms of the legs may be expanded at an angle for supporting the highchair above the ground, or an inclined form, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,509,719, 5,435,620 and 4,958,885, in which the legs include a first leg horizontally lying over the ground, and a second leg having a first end connected to the first leg and assuming an inclined angle with respect to the first leg. The leg that is horizontally laid over the ground may also be categorized into a stationary form (such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,719), an assembled form (such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,620) and a foldable form (such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,885), wherein the fixed form is unfoldable such that it will occupy a relatively large area in storage, the assembled form allows disassembly of the highchair in storage but is inconvenient as it requires repeated assembly and disassembly, and the foldable form allows easy folding operations upon drawing the first leg close to the second leg. However, the folding mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,885 is relatively complicated.
In order to resolve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a foldable structure of highchair. According to the present invention, a slidable folding sleeve is disposed at rear leg of the structure; the slidable folding sleeve has a locking block, which engages with locking portion of a linking rod arranged between the rear leg and a seat, so that the structure can be fixed after expanding by positioning effect resulted from the engagement. While folding the structure, user can move the folding sleeve to disengage the locking block from the locking portion of the linking rod, whereby the linking rod can drive the rear, front leg and the seat to rotate and draw close relatively.
Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
Shown in
Wherein the foldable supporter 2 comprises a front leg 21, a rear leg 22 and a receiving base 23, the front and rear legs 21, 22 are each configured to a U-like shape. In the present invention, the pivoting base 23 is connected to upper ends of the front and rear legs 21, 22, so that the front and rear legs 21, 22 can be expanded relatively in a fixed angle, and also pivotally connect to the seat 3; therefore, the front and rear legs 21, 22 can rotate according to the connecting place and draw close to each other. In the present invention, a transverse rod 211 is disposed between two sides of the front leg 21, and a slot 221 is disposed at the rear leg 22. In addition, the pivoting base 23 is pivoted to the connecting base 24, the tray is arranged on the connecting base 24, and a folding rod 25 is connected between the connecting base 24 and the front leg 21. While linking together by the folding rod 25, the structure 1 expands and the front leg 21 supports the tray 4; and when the structure 1 is folded, the folding rod 25 pulls the connecting base 24 by moving front leg 21 to fold the tray downwardly.
The seat 3 includes a seat portion 31 and a backrest 32, wherein the seat portion 31 is pivoted to backrest 32. In the present invention, a pivoting portion 33 is arranged at side of the seat portion 31 in order to pivot with the transverse rod 211 of the front leg 21. In addition, a back supporter 34 is pivoted between the backrest 32 and the pivoting base 23 as well as connects to a backrest-adjusting device 35, whereby the backrest adjusting device 35 of the backrest 32 can adjust rotational angle of the back supporter 34 and furthermore to control and support the inclination of the backrest 32.
Referring to
Said folding sleeve 6 comprising an operator 1 is arranged at the slot 221 of the rear leg 22. The folding sleeve 6 reciprocates within the slot 221 of the rear leg 22 by a flexible member. As shown in
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 094214064 | Aug 2005 | TW | national |
