Aspects and examples of the present disclosure are directed generally to a child enclosure, for example, a play pen, play yard, or crib, generally referred to herein as a play yard, and to mechanisms and methods for removably securing a mattress to the floor of the play yard.
In accordance with an aspect, there is provided a child play yard. The play yard comprises a frame, a floor coupled to a lower portion of the frame, and a mattress configured to be removably coupled to the floor. The mattress includes a lower side to which is coupled a clip assembly including a base and a leg pivotally coupled to the base. The leg includes a detent extending therefrom. The floor includes a retention assembly having a first aperture through which the leg of the clip assembly passes and a second aperture through which the detent passes when the mattress is coupled to the floor.
In some embodiments, the base of the clip assembly is secured to the lower side of the mattress by one or stitching, sewing, or an adhesive.
In some embodiments, the clip assembly further includes raised side walls extending upward from the base and apertures defined in the raised side walls, the apertures configured to retain a pin that pivotally couples the leg to the base. The clip assembly may further include a loop portion extending rearward and upward from the raised side walls. The clip assembly may further include a raised plateau extending upward from the base. The clip assembly may further include a cavity having a rounded bottom defined between the raised side walls, a front wall of the loop portion, and a rear of the raised plateau. The raised plateau and leg may define a cavity in which a portion of the retention assembly is retained when the mattress is coupled to the floor. The portion of the retention assembly may be defined between the first aperture and the second aperture. The leg may include a rounded proximal end pivotally coupled to the base within the cavity.
In some embodiments, the clip assembly further includes a detent retention aperture defined in the base in which the detent is disposed when the mattress is coupled to the floor.
In some embodiments, the retention assembly is secured to the floor by one of stitching, sewing, or an adhesive.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of removably securing a mattress to a floor of a play yard. The method comprises placing the mattress on the floor of the play yard, passing a leg of a clip assembly through a first aperture in a retention assembly coupled to the floor of the play yard from an upper side of the floor to a lower side of the floor, passing a detent coupled to the leg of the clip assembly through a second aperture in the retention assembly from the lower side of the floor to the upper side of the floor by rotating the leg of the clip assembly relative to the base assembly, and removably securing the detent in a detent retention aperture defined in the base.
In some embodiments, securing the mattress to the floor of the play yard includes securing a first end of the mattress to the floor of the play yard with a plurality of clip assemblies and associated retention assemblies. Securing the mattress to the floor of the play yard may further include securing a second end of the mattress opposite to the first end of the mattress to the floor of the play yard with a second plurality of clip assemblies and associated retention assemblies.
In some embodiments, securing the mattress to the floor of the play yard includes trapping a portion of the retention assembly defined between the first aperture and the second aperture between a lower side of the clip and a raised plateau extending upward from the base.
In some embodiments, removably securing the detent in the detent retention aperture includes applying a force to a handle portion of the leg.
In some embodiments, the method of further comprises removing the mattress from the play yard, rolling the mattress into a closed configuration, and securing the mattress in the closed configuration by coupling a loop portion of the clip assembly to a loop portion of a second clip assembly coupled to the mattress with a fastener.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a child play yard. The play yard comprises a frame, a floor coupled to a lower portion of the frame, and a mattress configured to be removably coupled to the floor, the mattress including a lower side to which is coupled a clip including a base and legs extending from the base, the clip configured to removably retain a frame member of the play yard.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a child play yard. The play yard comprises a frame, a floor coupled to a lower portion of the frame, a mattress configured to be removably coupled to the floor, the mattress including a lower side to which is coupled one or more extrusions, and one or more extrusion receiving clips mounted to frame members of a frame of the play yard and configured to releasably retain a corresponding extrusion.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a child play yard. The play yard comprises a frame, a floor coupled to a lower portion of the frame, a mattress configured to be removably coupled to the floor, the mattress including a lower side to which is coupled a turn lock assembly including a locking detent, and a turn lock retention assembly coupled to the floor of the play yard including an aperture through which the locking detent may pass when in an unlocked rotational position, but through which the locking detent may not pass when in a locked rotational position.
The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In the drawings:
The disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The disclosure is capable of other examples and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional terms.
Parents or caregivers of young children may place the children in an enclosure, referred to herein as a play yard, that provides for the children to play with toys or rest while preventing the children from wandering and potentially injuring themselves. A play yard may include a frame that supports a lower floor, for example, a mattress or other soft surface, and upright legs and cross rails that support an enclosing material, for example, a fabric or mesh. In various implementations the frame may lock in an open position during use and include a mechanism to unlock the frame to allow it to be folded into a small form factor for transport or storage. One example of a play yard is illustrated generally at 10 in
The frame 100 further includes lower cross bars, referred to as lower fourbar tops 120 and lower fourbar bottoms 125 having distal ends 120A, 125A pivotally coupled to lower corner linkage covers 130. The lower fourbar tops 120 may include flattened middle portions 122 that may be used to support a mattress 20 in the play yard 10. Proximal ends of the lower fourbar tops 120 and lower fourbar bottoms 125 are pivotally coupled to a hub 135 that is disposed generally centrally in a bottom portion of the frame 100. As discussed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/862,036, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, the hub 135 includes a mechanism for maintaining the lower fourbar tops 120 and lower fourbar bottoms 125 in a horizontal orientation when the frame is locked, but allows for the lower fourbar tops 120 and lower fourbar bottoms 125 to rotate about pivot points within the hub 135 and the lower corner linkage covers 130 when the frame 100 is unlocked to allow the frame 100 to be folded.
Also pivotally coupled to the hub 135 are a pair of stabilizer legs 140. The stabilizer legs 140 help to keep the play yard from tipping over when the stabilizer legs 140 are in their extended position. The stabilizer legs 140 may also rotate about pivot points within the hub 135 when the frame 100 is unlocked to allow the frame 100 to be folded.
Fabric 15 may be disposed on the frame 100 to form walls of the play yard as illustrated in
It has been found desirable to provide a mechanism to secure the mattress 20 of a play yard 10 to the floor 15A of the play yard 10. This helps prevent a child within the play yard 10 from pulling up a portion of the mattress 20 and becoming trapped under the mattress 20 or becoming caught on a strap or other feature that may be present on an underside of the mattress 20. The mattress 20 is also desirably removable from the play yard 10 to provide for the frame 100 to more easily fold closed for storage or transportation.
One example of a mechanism to removably secure the mattress 20 of a play yard 10 to the floor of the play yard 10 is illustrated in
Details of the clip assembly 200 are illustrated in an isometric view, an exploded view, and a cross-sectional view in
The leg 260 includes a rounded proximal end 265 that, in use, is disposed within the cavity 240 in the base portion 205. An aperture 270 passes through the rounded proximal end 265 of the leg 260. The pin 285 passes through the apertures 230 in the raised side walls 220 of the base portion 205 and through the aperture 270 in the proximal end 265 of the leg 260 to pivotally secure the proximal end 265 of the leg 260 in the cavity 240 and, more generally, to pivotally secure the leg 260 to the base portion 205. A distal end of the leg 260 forms a handle 275 that, in use, may be pushed or pulled on by a user to open or close the clip assembly 200. A detent 280 extends downward from a lower surface of leg 260 at or proximate to a base of the handle 275. In use, the detent 280 releasably snaps into the detent retention aperture 235 in the base portion 205 to hold the clip assembly 200 in a closed position. In the closed position, a cavity 290 is defined between a lower surface of the leg 260 and an upper surface of the raised plateau 215 of the base portion 205. As described in further detail below, a portion of the retention assembly 300 may be retained in the cavity 290 to releasably secure the clip assembly 200 and mattress 20 to the retention assembly 300 and floor 15A of the play yard 10. A user may pull on the handle 275 to pull the detent 280 out of engagement with the detent retention aperture 235 to open the clip assembly 200.
One or more, for example, four or six or more clip assemblies 200 may be secured to a lower side of a mattress 20 for a play yard.
The clip assemblies 200 may be secured to the mattress 20 by, for example, stitching or sewing the clip assemblies to the lower surface 20A of the mattress 20. The bottom portions 210 of the base portions 205 of the clip assemblies may be sufficiently thin and formed of a material that provides for stitching or threads to pass through the bottom portions 210 to stitch or sew the clip assemblies 200 to the mattress 20. In other embodiments an adhesive, for example, epoxy or plastic cement may be utilized to secure the clip assemblies 200 to the mattress 20. In further embodiments, the clip assemblies 200 may be secured to the mattress 20 by plastic welding or other forms of securing articles to one another known in the art.
The clip assemblies 200 may be formed of any material or materials suitable for performing their desired functions. In some embodiments, the base portion 205, leg 260, and pin 285 may be molded from an engineering plastic, for example, nylon or polyvinylchloride. In other embodiments, the pin 285 may be formed of a metal, for example, stainless steel.
An example of a retention assembly 300 is illustrated in
Attachment of the clip assemblies 200 to the retention assemblies 300 and of the mattress 20 to the floor 15A of the play yard 10 is illustrated in
Attachment of the clip assemblies 200 to the retention assemblies 300 and of the mattress 20 to the floor 15A of the play yard 10 is illustrated generally in
A more detailed illustration of passing the leg 260 of a clip assembly 200 pass through the first aperture 310 in a retention assembly 300 is illustrated in
To detach the mattress 20 from the floor 15A of the play yard 10, one would perform the steps used to attach the mattress 20 from the floor 15A of the play yard 10 in reverse order. One would pull on the handles 275 of the legs 260 of the clip assemblies 200 to pull the detents 280 out of the detent retention apertures 235 in the base portions 205 and though the apertures 315 in the retention assemblies 300 and free the central retention regions 320 of the retention assemblies 300 from the clip assemblies 200. One would then lift the mattress 20 from the floor 15A of the play yard 10 with the open legs 260 of the clip assemblies 200 passing through the apertures 310 in the retention assemblies 300. Once the mattress 20 is free of the floor 15A of the play yard 10 it can be folded up, for example, around the collapsed frame 100 of the play yard 10 for storage or transport. As illustrated in
In another example, a mattress of a play yard may be removably secured to the frame of the play yard with one or more clips. As illustrated in
In another example, a mattress of a play yard may be removably secured to the frame of the play yard with one or more extrusions coupled to a lower surface of the mattress that removably couple to one or more respective extrusion receiving clips mounted to one or more frame members, for example, the lower fourbar tops 120 of the play yard frame 100.
In another example, a mattress of a play yard may be removably secured to the frame of the play yard with a turn lock assembly and corresponding turn lock retention assembly.
Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of this disclosure, it is to be appreciated that various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are by way of example only.
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