The present invention relates generally to a frame for an infant swing and, more particularly, to a hanger mount structure that provides convenient utilization while ensuring that the electric motor is operable to transmit torque to the hanger members to affect reciprocal movement thereof.
Baby swings are used extensively by infant caregivers to soothe and to comfort the children. An infant swing consists primarily of a seat that securely holds the infant in a position elevated off the floor and a frame apparatus that supports the seat and allows the seat to move in a reciprocal manner, typically in a forward and rearward direction though some infant seats provide a side to side swinging motion.
The first infant swings consisted of a seat suspended from a frame that was formed with a support structure that extended over top of the infant and was supported by transversely opposed support legs that hold the overhead support structure in the elevated position. This overhead support structure restricted access to the child positioned in the seat as the support structure presented a physical barrier directly above the child. Such an infant swing can be seen in U.S. Design Patent No. D345,777, issued on Apr. 4, 1994, to Daniel Pinch, et al. Not only is the overhead support structure a barrier to accessing the child in the swing from above the child, but the support structure also presented a barrier to viewing the infant.
As a solution to the barrier presented by the overhead support structure, the “open top” infant swing was developed. As can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,033, issued to Louis Kohus and James Mariol on Apr. 18, 1989, the overhead structural support has been eliminated to provide an open access to the child in the seat from above. However, the child can be capable of grasping either of the transversely opposing support legs, particularly as the child is swinging back and forth between the support legs. Contact between the swinging child and one of the support legs can result in injury to the child. Furthermore, the child can potentially grab one of the support legs and pull his or herself forwardly to become dislodged from the seat, particularly if the child has not been properly secured within the seat by a safety harness.
The aforementioned open top infant swing evolved in a manner to eliminate the frame structure, i.e. the support legs, positioned forwardly of the swinging seat to provide an “open side” swing frame configuration for an infant swing. Such an open side infant swing can be found in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,033, issued to Kohus and Mariol on Apr. 18, 1989. In the Kohus and Mariol patent, the infant swing is provided with both an open top and an open side structural configuration to provide the capability of viewing and accessing the child within the seat from substantially any position forwardly of the seat.
The swinging motion of most baby swings commercially available is similar to that of a pendulum that pivots from above and to the sides of the seat. Although this swinging motion can be maintained by a mechanical spring-operated swing mechanism, the swinging motion in most modern infant swings is maintained, typically, by a small electric motor located adjacent one of the seat pivots supported by the frame structure. The power for this electric motor is typically an array of dry cell batteries located within the same plastic housing as the electric motor. Examples of battery operated motors to affect the swinging motion of the infant seat from a frame support can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,113, issued to Daniel Mitchell, et al on Jun. 11, 1996, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,545, issued to Daniel Pinch, et al on Nov. 10, 1998.
Most current commercial infant swings utilize an assembly that involves inserting a hanger tube into a receptacle, which is incorporated as an integral part of the pivot member for the swing. A mechanical fastener, such as a screw, bolt and nut, or spring-loaded button, is then used to retain the hanger tube in the receptacle. Such an attachment apparatus requires that the consumer verify that the fasteners are correctly installed during assembly, which is often difficult due to strategic alignment of holes in the hanger tube with corresponding holes in the receptacle. Proper installation of such attachment devices is essential as the swing seat can come loose from the pivot member and fall. Disassembly of the swing seat from the frame assembly can also present a burdensome operation as these fasteners must be removed and stored so that the fasteners can be reused later when the swing is re-assembled.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a mounting apparatus for the seat assembly of a child swing that can provide an intuitive and effective operation in assembly and disassembly of the swing.
It is an object of this invention to provide a hanger mount attachment apparatus for an infant swing that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a feature of this invention that the hanger tubes are formed with a mating configuration to the configuration of the receptacle on the swing pivot member.
It is another feature of this invention that the mating configurations of the hanger tube and the frame supported receptacle are formed with a rounded top portion and a wedge-shaped shape.
It is an advantage of this invention that the mated hanger tube and frame mounted receptacle are effective in transmitting torque from the pivot member connected to the electric motor powering the reciprocal movement of the seat assembly.
It is yet another feature of this invention that the configurations of the hanger tube and the frame-mounted receptacle incorporate a mating quick disconnect device to allow the selectively detachable connection of the hanger tubes to the frame-mounted receptacle.
It is another advantage of this invention that the mounting of the hanger tubes onto the frame-mounted receptacle is intuitive to the consumer and easily utilized.
It is still another advantage of this invention that the hanger tubes are mounted to the frame assembly simply by sliding the hanger tubes onto the pivot member receptacle to affect a secure attachment thereof.
It is yet another advantage of this invention that no fastener is required to affect a secure connection of the hanger tubes to the driven mechanism of the swing seat motor.
It is still another feature of this invention that the wedge shape of the attachment configurations provide a positive stop with respect to the interengagement of the hanger tubes and the frame-mounted receptacle.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a mounting apparatus for the connection of the hanger tubes of a swing seat assembly onto the pivot member of a reciprocal drive mechanism for swinging the seat assembly, which is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, carefree of maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing an attachment apparatus for establishing a quick connection of the hanger tubes for a child's swing seat assembly to the pivot member of a drive mechanism powering the reciprocal movement of the seat assembly. The shape of the mating attachment members, including a rounded upper portion and linear side portions, provides an intuitive and effective mounting apparatus for a swing seat assembly that can be accomplished simply by sliding the hanger tubes over or into the mating receptacles. A quick disconnect device engages automatically and provides a secure connection between the hanger tube and the receptacle. Removal of the seat assembly requires only a release of the quick disconnect device and a lifting of the seat assembly from the frame apparatus. In one embodiment the linear side portions are angled into a wedge-shape to ensure proper seating and driving connection to transmit torque to the hanger tubes.
The advantages of this invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed disclosure of the invention, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, an infant swing having a frame apparatus incorporating the principles of the instant invention can best be seen. The infant swing 10, as can best be seen in
Referring now to
A corresponding pair of curved front legs 17 is positioned forwardly of the rear legs 15 in fore-and-aft alignment therewith to extend rearwardly and upwardly from a front support position to intersect with the corresponding rear legs 17 at a central point thereof. Each of the rear legs 15 has mounted thereon at the central point thereof a mounting housing 18, 30 for the connection of the corresponding front leg 17 by a quick connect mechanism 19 that enables the front legs 17 to be detachably connected to the rear legs 17. The curvature of the front legs 17 is concave upwardly and forwardly so that the front legs 17 also do not provide any substantial structure beneath the hanger housings 27, 28. The mating curvatures of the rear legs 15 and the front legs 17 establish an open side configuration of the frame assembly 12 with respect to access to a seat assembly 20 hanging from the hanger housings 27, 28.
The front legs 17 are interconnected by a molded front cross brace 14, which preferably has a curved configuration to correlate with the curved front and rear legs 17, 15, and provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance. Similarly, the transversely opposing rear legs 15 are also interconnected by a rear cross brace member 13 to provide a stable support for the suspended seat assembly 20 to resist the forces associated with the fore-and-aft swinging of an infant positioned in the seat assembly 20. The curvature of the molded front cross brace 14 eliminates the conventional tubular structural member that is positioned between the front legs. The rearwardly curved shape enables the caregiver to approach the seat assembly 20 for insertion or removal of the child from the seat member 22 without interfering with or tripping over the front cross brace found on conventional infant swings.
The seat assembly 20 includes a molded seat member 22 that is more particularly described in co-pending and commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/283,449, filed on Nov. 18, 2005, by Robert E. Haut, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The seat member 22 provides a support structure in which an infant can be placed and secured within the seat member 22 by conventional safety restraints (not shown) and permitted to reciprocally swing in a fore-and-aft direction. The seat member 22 is supported from the hanger housings 27, 28 by curved hangers 25 that connect with the seat member 22 and present a concave shape in a forward direction. As a result, the curvature of the hangers 25 contributes to the structure-free configuration beneath the hanger housings 27, 28, in addition to the mating curvatures of the front and rear legs 17, 15, to establish the open side configuration for access to the seat member 22.
As is best seen in
The transversely spaced hanger housings 27, 28 without any structural member interconnecting the upper distal ends of the rear legs 17 provides an open top configuration for the frame assembly 12, while the curved rear and front legs 15, 17, along with the curved hangers 25, provide an open side configuration for the frame assembly 12. Accordingly, the caregiver can access the child positioned in the seat member 22 from above, from in front, or from the side of the seat assembly 20 without interference from the frame assembly 12. These mating, curved shapes forming the frame assembly 12 establish an improved access, physically and visually, to the seat assembly 20 and any child positioned therein.
The assembly of the seat assembly 20 onto the frame apparatus 12 is accomplished through the use of hanger mounts 40, including a male attachment end 42 on the end of the hanger tube 25 and a female receptacle 47 attached to the pivot member 32 associated with the electric motor 29 extending outwardly through the hanger housing 28 to affect a reciprocal fore-and-aft motion to the seat assembly 20. The male attachment member 42 is formed with a rounded upper portion 43 and tapered side portions 44 to form a wedge-shaped configuration. Similarly, the female receptacle 47 is formed in a mating configuration to receive the male attachment end 42 within the formed slot 48. The tapered shape of the attachment components 42, 47 provide a positive engagement between the two components 42, 47 and effectively transfer torque from the drive motor 29 through the pivot member 32 into the hanger tube 25 to cause the fore-and-aft reciprocal movement of the seat assembly 20.
Preferably, a quick detach retention member 45 is preferably incorporated into the hanger mounts 40 to retain the male attachment end 42 within the female receptacle 45. The quick detach retention member 45 can take one of many forms, such as the ball 45 that is received within the attachment end 42, as is best depicted in
A second preferable form of the hanger mounts 50 can best be seen in
The preferred form of the retention member is a retention clip 53 formed at the bottom portion of the male receptacle 52 so that the retention clip 53 will engage the receiver 56 formed on the bottom portion of the attachment end 55 and affect a locking engagement therebetween. Disengagement of the seat assembly 20 from the receptacle 52 can be affected by first grasping the attachment ends 55 and flexing the retention clip receiver 56 to separate the retention clip 53 from the receiver 56. The attachment ends 55 can then be slid upwardly off the corresponding receptacles 52 and pulled away from the frame assembly 12.
The above descriptions of the first and second embodiments 40, 50 of the hanger mounts reflect the drive side of the frame assembly 12. Typically, the two hanger housings 27, 28 are arranged that one of the hanger housings 28 has the drive motor 29 positioned therein, while the other hanger housing 27 is a “dummy” housing supporting only a pivot member (not shown) to permit the reciprocal movement of the seat assembly 20. The opposing “dummy” hanger housing 27 is configured essentially identically to the motor housing 28 except that the pivot member (not shown) is not driven.
It will be understood that changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made by those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within the principles and scope of the invention. The foregoing description illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention; however, concepts, as based upon the description, may be employed in other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.
This application claims priority on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/631,462, filed on Nov. 29, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
D345777 | Pinch | Apr 1994 | S |
5525113 | Mitchell | Jun 1996 | A |
D392126 | Sack | Mar 1998 | S |
5833545 | Pinch | Nov 1998 | A |
6059667 | Pinch | May 2000 | A |
6386986 | Sonner et al. | May 2002 | B1 |
6471597 | Flannery et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6500072 | Myers | Dec 2002 | B1 |
6626766 | Hsia | Sep 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20060128486 A1 | Jun 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60631462 | Nov 2004 | US |