This disclosure relates generally to child care products, and, more particularly, to high chairs and methods to use high chairs.
Small children are typically placed into high chairs that secure and support the child when, for example, the child is being fed. Such high chairs typically include a seat attached to a frame and a tray attached to either the seat or the frame. The seats in conventional high chairs are typically fixed in one position so that the seat is elevated above a floor to a level that is convenient for an adult to feed the child from the adult's sitting position. At times it would be convenient for a parent or other caretaker to adjust the position of the seat on a high chair. Prior attempts at creating adjustable chairs have focused on making the height of the seat variable with respect to the floor.
Conventional high chairs also include trays that can be affixed and removed from the front of the seat. The trays provide a serving surface for providing the child with food, drinks and other items such as eating utensils and/or toys. In addition, the trays may include a tray insert that can be easily removed to clean spills that end up on the tray.
More specifically,
To move the seat 102 with respect to the tray 104, the first actuator 122 and the second actuator 126 are depressed against the force of a spring 129 (see
As noted above, the connectors 124, 128 and the actuators 122, 126 are substantially identical, thus, there is a side pin 130 associated with each of the first and second actuators 122, 126. With the side pins 130 disengaged from holes 120, the first and second slidable connectors 124, 128 may be moved along the first and second posts 114, 116, respectively to a desired position. Movement of the first and second slidable connectors 124, 128 along the first and second posts 114, 116 changes the distance between the seat 102 and the tray 104. The first and second slidable connectors 124, 128 may be moved to a lower position on the first and second side posts 114, 116 to fit a larger and/or older child in the high chair 100, and the first and second slidable connectors 124, 128 may be moved to a higher position on the first and second side posts 114, 116 to fit a smaller and/or younger child in the high chair 100.
Furthermore, as the first and second slidable connectors 124, 128 move along the first and second side posts 114, 116, the seat 102 moves along the crotch post 118. In some examples, the crotch post 118 may telescope. When the seat 102 is in a desired position with respect to the tray 104, the first and second actuators 122, 126 are released such that the pins 130 move under the influence of their respective springs 129 and engage with respective ones of the plurality indentations or holes 120 to fix the seat 102 at a distance below the tray 104. In the example of
In an alternative example shown in
Referring back to
As shown in
The illustrated example includes an upholstered the headrest 108. The headrest 108 also includes padding to form a cushion or pillow. Alternatively, the headrest 108 may be un-upholstered and/or may be upholstered together with the seat 102. Also, in some examples, the headrest 108 may not include foldable wings.
In the illustrated example high chair 100 as shown in
In the example of
The seat pan 138 of the illustrated example high chair comprises a slick polyurethane foam seat. The seat pan 138 is molded as a unitary structure and forms a slick, spill resistant, surface during the molding process. The seat pan 138 is easy to clean and is soft to the touch.
In the illustrated example, the height of the seat back 112 is adjustable. As shown in
As shown in
The top tray 150 of the illustrated example is laterally adjustable or slidable with respect to the base tray 148. Consequently, the top tray 150 is laterally adjustable with respect to the seat back 112. Therefore, the top tray 150 may be adjusted to accommodate children of varying sizes and/or to provide additional room that may be needed, for example, to remove a child occupying the high chair 100. To adjust the top tray 150 with respect to the base tray 148, a tray actuator 152 is activated. In the illustrated example, the tray actuator 152 is a push button, but any suitable actuating device may alternatively be used. The tray actuator 152 is depressed to disengage the top tray 150 from the base tray 148. The example top tray 150 includes one or more cables or tethers 154 (see
The tray 104 of the illustrated example also includes a removable insert or liner (not shown) that can be removed for cleaning. Furthermore, the entire top tray 150 may be completely removed from the base tray 148 to, for example, place the top tray 150 and the insert in a dishwasher for cleaning.
As shown in
To moveably cantilever the seat 102 and tray 106 assembly from the frame 106, the first side post 114 is coupled to a third slidable connector 172, and the second side post 116 is coupled to a fourth slidable connector 174. In the illustrated example, the third and fourth slidable connectors 172, 174 are coupled to the front legs 160. However, in other examples, the third and fourth slidable connectors 172, 174 may be coupled to the rear legs 162. Each of the third slidable connector 172 and the fourth slidable connector 174 of the illustrated example includes a height actuator 176. A cross-section of the fourth slidably connector 174 and the height actuator 176 is shown in
To move the seat 102 and the tray 104 with respect to the frame 106, the height actuator(s) 176 are depressed against the force of a bias spring 177 to cause a locking pin 179 to disengage a corresponding one of the plurality of holes 178. The height actuator(s) 176 may operate in a similar manner as the first and second actuators 122, 126 described above. Thus, after the third and fourth slidable connectors 172, 174 are moved to a desired position to adjust the overall height of the seat 102 relative to the floor or other support surface, the height actuator(s) 176 are discharged to engage or reengaged the pin 179 with a corresponding one of the plurality of holes 178 to thereby fix the seat 102 and tray 104 at a position on the frame 106 with respect to a ground or floor upon which the high chair 100 is placed. Four height adjustment positions are shown in the illustrated example. However, any number of height adjustment positions may be included. In addition, the distance of travel between each height adjustment and the overall entire range of travel may be any suitable distance. In the illustrated example, each height adjustment position is one inch from an adjacent height adjustment, and the overall range of travel is ten inches.
As shown in
The joints 180, 182 are substantially identical or mirror images of each other. Thus, in the interest of brevity, only one joint 182 will be described. An exploded view of the joint 182 is shown in
In the illustrated example, the seat 102 has a large number of reclined positions over approximately 32.5° of rotation. The maximum angle of recline for the seat back of the illustrated example is approximately 43°±5°. However, other numbers of positions, other ranges of rotation and/or other maximum angles of recline would likewise be appropriate.
The example high chair 100 also includes a slot 200 in the seat pan 138 as shown in
As shown in
The illustrated example high chair 100 includes a restraint or harness 210, as shown in
In an alternative example a three point harness that acts like a five point harness is provided. This harness (referred to as a pseudo 5-point harness) includes three solid points and two soft points of attachment. The three solid points are the fixed connections between the belts of the harness and the seat 102 of the high chair 100 at the seat back 112 with the D-rings and the crotch post 118. Thus, two of the fixed points are located above the shoulders of the child. The third fixed point is located at the crotch post 118. A Y-shaped connector is included in the pseudo 5-point harness. The Y-shaped connector has a latch on the bottom of the Y that secures into a latch fixed to the crotch post 118. The wings of the Y-shaped connector are positioned and dimensioned to resiliently engage opposite side walls of the slick foam seat 102 to form two friction fit locks—one on each side of the child, thereby forming the two soft attachment points noted above. The two soft points are friction fit points.
Returning to the example of
Although certain example methods and apparatus have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/883,277, entitled “High Chairs and Methods to Use High Chairs,” filed on Jan. 3, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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