Patent Application
20210046967
A mobile base that provides transportation for a child in a car seat outside of a motor vehicle.
Convertible carriers for infants and small children that can be used in an automobile and outside an automobile have been known for several decades. Some, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,574,743; 4,537,414; 4,570,956; 5,234,224; and 7,624,954 have two parts—a wheeled platform and a seat that can be removed from the wheeled platform and used in an automobile. The handles may be part of the wheeled frame, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,570,956 and 5,234,224, or attached to the seat used in a car, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,574,743; 4,537,414; and D298,019. In either case, the handles either telescope (and may also rotate) or, in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,224, are hinged at the base of the frame for more compact storage in an automobile. In addition, there are adjustable scissor legs in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,234,224 and 7,624,954 (which also has four vertical legs) to raise the frame that holds the car seat off the ground for stroller use.
Alternatively, the car seat/stroller may be a single piece with wheels that retract or rotate and handle(s) that telescope inward when used as a car seat. Examples of such single-piece car-seat/strollers can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,241; 4,632,409; 4,762,331; 4,852,894; 4,874,182; 4,878,680; 5,149,113; 6,296,259; and 7,311,353. The stroller/car seat in U.S. Pat. No. 2,435,733 has collapsible handles and a hinged frame by which a pair of wheels are moved from below the seat when used as a stroller to alongside the seat in a car. Instead of retracting the wheels, the stroller U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,711 has four wheels that are longitudinally separated and are moved close together via a hinge near the middle of the seatback when used as a car seat. Both of these hinged frames leave the child much higher than in a conventional car seat.
Another variation is to mount a wheeled seat in a separate base when used in an automobile, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,938,915; 7,540,507; 4,828,281; and 9,260,039. The first two can only be used by a short-legged infant, as the wheels extend little, if at all, when used as a stroller, while the last two have extendable legs that raise the child well off the ground, like the separate wheeled platforms in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,234,224 and 7,624,954.
An aspect is to provide a wheeled base of simple design usable with at least one widely available car seat to provide a mobile base for a child's car seat, so that the car seat can be rolled away from a motor vehicle with the child in the car seat.
Another aspect is to provide a wheeled base for a car seat that can be easily adjusted in height without changes to wheelbase.
A further aspect is to use different colors, textures or other indicators for each of the selectable heights to make it easier for a user to select a height that is comfortable for their use.
A mobile base for a removable automotive child seat includes upper and lower platforms, each having top and bottom surfaces with at least one wheel mounted on the bottom surface of the lower platform. At least one adjustable telescoping pillar is affixed substantially perpendicular to the top surface of the lower platform and the bottom surface of the upper platform.
In an embodiment, a single adjustable telescoping pillar is affixed to the upper and lower platforms. In an embodiment in which the upper and lower platforms have a flat and solid top surface with substantially identical triangular shapes, the single adjustable telescoping pillar is affixed at the centroid of the triangular shapes.
In an embodiment, there are at least three wheels on the bottom surface of the lower platform with at least one of the three wheels pivotable about an axis substantially perpendicular to the lower platform. In the embodiment in which the upper and lower platforms have substantially identical triangular shapes, three wheels are mounted near the corners of the lower triangular shape which has rounded corners.
In an embodiment, at least one engagement structure is mounted on the top surface of the upper platform to engage with a matching structure on the bottom of the removable automotive child seat to securely attach the mobile base with the child seat.
In an embodiment, the telescoping pillar has longitudinally spaced openings of substantially identical size and shape on at least one side. As one example, the openings are circular and a sphere, disposed inside each pillar, is forced towards an outer surface of the pillar by a spring.
In an embodiment, different indicators surround each of the longitudinally spaced openings. The indicators may use different colors, textures and/or symbols.
These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
An embodiment of a mobile base 10 is illustrated in
At least one adjustable telescoping pillar 24 is affixed substantially perpendicular to the top surface 14 of the lower platform 12 and, as illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment, the top surface 34 of the upper platform 28 has an engagement structure 36 for securing an automotive child seat 37 that is schematically illustrated in
Alternative securing devices (not illustrated) could be used, such as belts or hooks (not shown) for an automotive child seat that does not have a securing mechanism that engages with the engagement structure 36. Such alternative securing devices may be permanently or removably mounted on the mobile base 10, or may use structural features, optionally including the engagement structure 36, to hold the alternative securing devices in place on the mobile base 10.
In the illustrated embodiment, the telescoping pillar 24 has longitudinally spaced openings 38 of substantially identical size and shape on opposing sides; however, the openings 38 may be provided on only a single side of the pillar 24, such as the left side illustrated in
As illustrated in
A description has been provided with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 358 F3d 870, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
