Patent Application
20240324793
This application relates generally to sleeps sack garments for young children.
Parents often place their young children in sleep sacks, which provide the warmth and comfort of a blanket while reducing the associated risk of suffocation. Though conventional sleep sacks have been designed with slits to provide access to the crotch buckle in child safety car seats, this design is not allowed by car-seat manufactures and is disapproved by child passenger safety experts due to safety concerns. Since conventional sleep sacks are not designed to be used safely in child safety car seats, parents either need to dress their children in extra layers or use blankets to keep their children warm in the car. Dressing children in extra layers can present safety issues if the extra layers prevent the harness buckles from being secured tightly. Using blankets is undesirable due to the potential suffocation risks and the ability for the blanket to fall off the child.
In addition, young children often fall asleep while cars are in motion. Parents may want a child that is asleep in a child safety car seat to be able to continue sleeping or napping in his/her crib while wearing a conventional sleep sack to reduce suffocation risks. However, this would require the parent to place and secure the sleeping child into the conventional sleep sack and risk waking the child.
Example embodiments described herein have innovative features, no single one of which is indispensable or solely responsible for their desirable attributes. The following description and drawings set forth certain illustrative implementations of the disclosure in detail, which are indicative of several exemplary ways in which the various principles of the disclosure may be carried out. The illustrative examples, however, are not exhaustive of the many possible embodiments of the disclosure. Without limiting the scope of the claims, some of the advantageous features will now be summarized. Other objects, advantages and novel features of the disclosure will be set forth in the following detailed description of the disclosure when considered in conjunction with the drawings, which are intended to illustrate, not limit, the invention.
An aspect of the invention is directed to a garment configured for use with a child safety car seat, comprising a sleep sack having a front side, a back side, an upper portion, a lower portion, a neck opening, and first and second arm openings, wherein: the upper portion is configured to cover a child's torso, the upper portion including the neck opening and the first and second arm openings, the lower portion includes first and second leg sacks that fully enclose the child's respective legs, the front side is configured to cover the child's anterior side, and the back side is configured to cover the child's posterior side. The garment further comprises a longitudinal zipper attached to the sleep sack, the longitudinal zipper extending along at least a portion of the upper portion of the front side, the bottom portion of the front side, and the bottom portion of the back side.
In one or more embodiments, the longitudinal zipper is attached along a center of the front side of the sleep slack. In one or more embodiments, the longitudinal zipper extends from the neck opening on the front side to a bottom of the upper portion of the back side. In one or more embodiments, the bottom of the upper portion is approximately aligned with the child's waist.
In one or more embodiments, the sleep sack has a car-seat configuration in which the longitudinal zipper is open along the bottom portion of the front and back sides to expose a groin buckle when the child is sitting in the child safety car seat. In one or more embodiments, the longitudinal zipper is closed along the at least a portion of the upper portion of the front side when the sleep sack is in the car-seat configuration. In one or more embodiments, the longitudinal zipper includes first and second sets of teeth, the first set of teeth is attached to (a) the first leg sack on the front and back sides and (b) the upper portion of the front side, and the second set of teeth is attached to (a) the second leg sack on the front and back sides and (b) the upper portion of the front side, whereby when the sleep sack is in the car-seat configuration, the child's legs can separate while remaining fully enclosed by the first and second leg sacks, respectively.
In one or more embodiments, the sleep sack has a closed configuration in which the longitudinal zipper is fully closed, the closed configuration for when the child is not secured in the car seat. In one or more embodiments, the sleep sack has an open configuration in which the longitudinal zipper is fully opened to remove the child from the sleep sack and/or place the child in the sleep sack.
In one or more embodiments, the longitudinal zipper is configured to close from the upper portion of the front side towards the bottom portion of the front side. In one or more embodiments, the upper portion of the sleep sack is configured as a vest where the first and second arm opening are approximately aligned with the child's shoulders. In one or more embodiments, the sleep sack has long sleeves where the first and second arm openings are approximately aligned with the child's wrists.
Another aspect of the invention is directed to a garment configured for use with a child safety car seat, comprising a sleep sack having a front side, a back side, an upper portion, a lower portion, a neck opening, and first and second arm openings, wherein: the upper portion is configured to cover a child's torso, the upper portion including the neck opening and the first and second arm openings, the upper portion includes shoulder openings that allow the child to be removed from the sleep sack and/or to be placed into the sleep sack, the lower portion includes first and second leg sacks that fully enclose the child's respective legs, the front side is configured to cover the child's anterior side, and the back side is configured to cover the child's posterior side. The garment further comprises a longitudinal zipper attached to the sleep sack, the longitudinal zipper extending along the bottom portion of the front side and the bottom portion of the back side.
In one or more embodiments, the garment further comprises shoulder fasteners that close and open the shoulder openings. In one or more embodiments, the sleep sack has a car-seat configuration in which the longitudinal zipper is open along the bottom portion of the front and back sides to expose a groin buckle when the child is sitting in the child safety car seat. In one or more embodiments, the longitudinal zipper includes first and second sets of teeth, the first set of teeth is attached to (a) the first leg sack on the front and back sides and (b) the upper portion of the front side, and the second set of teeth is attached to (a) the second leg sack on the front and back sides and (b) the upper portion of the front side, whereby when the sleep sack is in the car-seat configuration, the child's legs can separate while remaining fully enclosed by the first and second leg sacks, respectively.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the concepts disclosed herein, reference is made to the detailed description of preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings.
A sleep sack is configured for use with a child safety car seat. The sleep sack includes a front side, a back side, an upper portion, and a lower portion. The lower portion includes a pair of leg sacks that fully enclose the child's respective legs. A longitudinal zipper is attached to upper portion of the front side, the bottom portion of the front side, and the bottom portion of the back side of the sleep sack. When the portion of the longitudinal zipper that extends along the bottom portion of the front and back sides is opened, the child's legs can separate and the crotch buckle in the child safety car seat can be accessed while the child's legs remain covered by the leg sacks.
A sleeping child wearing the sleep sack can be secured to or removed from the child safety car seat without disturbing the child.
The sleep sack 100 can be formed of fabric such as cotton, polyester, linen, fleece, rayon, and/or other fabric(s). The fabric of the sleep sack 100 can be a natural fabric, a synthetic fabric, and/or a synthetic blend. The sleep sack 100 includes a body 110 that defines and/or is formed into various features as described herein. The sleep sack 100 has an upper portion 120 and a lower portion 130. The upper portion 120 is configured and/or sized to cover the torso 14 (e.g., the pelvis, the abdomen, the chest, and the back) of the child 12. The lower portion 130 is configured and/or sized to cover the legs 16 of the child 12. The sleep sack 100 further includes a front side 141 and a back side 142. The front side 141 is configured to cover the anterior side of the child 12 (e.g., the front of the torso 14 and the front of the legs 16). The back side 142 is configured to cover the posterior side of the child 12 (e.g., the back of the torso 14 and the back of the legs 16).
The upper portion 120 includes or defines a neck opening 150 and first and second arm openings 161, 162. The neck opening 150 is configured and/or sized to receive and/or surround the neck 18 of the child 12. A collar 152 can be attached around the neck opening 150. The first and second arm openings 161, 162 are configured and/or sized to receive and/or surround the arms 20 of the child 12. In the embodiment illustrated in
The lower portion 130 includes first and second leg sacks 171, 172 that are configured to receive and fully enclose the respective legs 16 of the child 12. For example, the first (or left) leg sack 171 is configured to receive and fully enclose the left leg of the child 12. Similarly, the second (or right) leg sack 172 is configured to receive and fully enclose the right leg of the child 12. When the longitudinal zipper 200 is in a closed configuration (e.g., the longitudinal zipper 200 is fully closed), as illustrated in
On the front side 141 (
On the back side 142 of the sleep sack 100, the longitudinal zipper 200 extends (e.g., vertically extends) across the lower portion 130 and terminates at approximately (e.g., with 1-3 inches) the interface 125 of the upper and lower portions 120, 130. As such, on the back side 142 the longitudinal zipper 200 can terminate at the top 132 of the lower portion 130, at the bottom 122 of the upper portion 120, or at the interface 125 of the upper and lower portions 120, 130. The interface 125 is configured to cover and/or align with the waist of the child.
In an alternative embodiment, the longitudinal zipper 200 extends into only a portion of the upper portion 120, for example as illustrated in
In another embodiment, the longitudinal zipper 200 can terminate at approximately (e.g., with 1-3 inches) the interface 125 of the upper and lower portions 120, 130, for example as illustrated in
Returning to
The longitudinal zipper 200 includes first and second sets of teeth 211, 212 that are configured to interlock when the longitudinal zipper 200 is closed and to separate when the longitudinal zipper 200 is opened. On the front side 141, the first set of teeth 211 is attached to the upper portion 120 and to the front side 181 of the first leg sack 171. On the back side 142, the first set of teeth 211 is attached to the back side 182 of the first leg sack 171. On the front side 141, the second set of teeth 212 is attached to the upper portion 120 and to the front side 191 of the second leg sack 172. On the back side 142, the second set of teeth 212 is attached to the back side 192 of the second leg sack 172.
In the car-seat configuration, the opened longitudinal zipper 200 in the lower portion 130 of the front and back sides 141, 142 allows the child's legs in the first and second leg sacks 171, 172 to separate and provides access to a groin buckle in a car seat (e.g., a car seat having a five-point harness) without having to feed the groin buckle through the garment 10. Since the child's legs are in the first and second leg sacks 171, 172, the child's legs remain covered regardless of the position and/or closure state of the longitudinal zipper 200.
In this embodiment, the garment 10 has long sleeves 720 where the first and second arm openings 161, 162 are approximately aligned with (e.g., within about an inch of) the child's wrists 730.
The garment 10 is illustrated in the car-seat configuration where the groin buckle 716 is exposed. The groin buckle 716 does not pass through the garment 10. The opened longitudinal zipper 200 in the lower portion 130 of the front and back sides 141, 142 of the garment 10 allows the buckles of the shoulder and waist straps 712, 714 to be secured to or removed from the groin buckle 716. Thus, a sleeping child wearing the garment 10 can continue to wear the garment 10 when being placed into or removed from the child safety car seat 700.
The invention should not be considered limited to the particular embodiments described above, but rather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention as fairly set out in the attached claims. Various modifications, equivalent processes, as well as numerous structures to which the invention may be applicable, will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention is directed upon review of this disclosure. The claims are intended to cover such modifications and equivalents.
Also, as described, some aspects may be embodied as one or more methods. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.
