Chairs and seats – Body or occupant restraint or confinement – Safety belt or harness; e.g. – lap belt or shoulder harness
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-14
2002-04-30
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Body or occupant restraint or confinement
Safety belt or harness; e.g., lap belt or shoulder harness
C297S250100, C297S410000, C297S467000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06378950
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a child car seat to be incorporated into a seat of an automobile, and a head rest for the child car seat and, more particularly, to a child car seat having shoulder straps and a head rest, in which the position of the shoulder straps and the height of the head rest can be easily adjusted according to the size of a child to be seated on the child car seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
A child car seat is used to secure safety for a child when carrying the child in an automobile. As shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
, a child car seat
1
, for instance, has a child car seat body
50
having a seat back A and a seat cushion B formed integrally with the seat back A, and a base
51
united integrally with the child car seat body
50
. The base
51
is set on a seat of an automobile.
A crotch strap
52
is extended from a front central part of the seat cushion B and a buckle
55
is fixed to the crotch strap
52
. Each of two belts
54
has a first end portion fixed to the seat cushion B and a second end portion passed through a shoulder belt slot
53
formed in the seat back A and extending on the back surface of the seat back A. The belts
54
are provided with tongues
56
that can be detachably joined to the buckle
55
.
The second end portions of the belts
54
are fastened to a belt adjusting plate
57
on the back surface of the seat back A. A free end of a length adjusting belt
58
pulled out from a retractor is fastened to the belt adjusting plate
57
. The retractor is placed inside a lower portion of the seat back A. The length adjusting belt
58
is extended outside the seat back A through a belt outlet
59
.
A headrest
60
for firmly supporting the child's head is installed on an upper portion of the set back A so as to be vertically movable for height adjustment. Head supports
60
a
are fixedly attached to the opposite side ends of the headrest
60
to prevent the child's head from lateral sway.
As shown in
FIG. 14
, the base
51
or the child car seat body
50
is fastened directly to a seat of an automobile with a seat belt
61
of the automobile. The child is seated on the seat cushion B of the child car seat body
50
with the child's head placed between the belts
54
, the child's shoulders fastened with the belts
54
and the child's legs stretched forward on the opposite sides of the crotch strap
52
.
The shoulder belt slots
53
are formed in a plurality of pairs (three pairs in the child car seat shown in FIGS.
13
and
14
). The pairs of shoulder belt slots
53
are arranged longitudinally. The upper pair of shoulder belt slots
53
is used for a larger child so that the child's shoulders are held down in an optimum mode.
In the conventional child car seat
1
, the plurality of pairs of shoulder belt slots
53
are formed in a longitudinal arrangement in an upper portion of the back surface of the child car seat body
50
, and one of the pairs of shoulder belt slots
53
is selected according to the child's build, and the shoulder belts are passed through the selected pair of shoulder belts lots
53
. Accordingly, the conventional child car seat
1
requires troublesome work for the adjustment of the height of the shoulder belts, the height of the shoulder belts can be adjusted only in a stepwise adjusting method (three steps in the child car seat shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
) and hence it is impossible to achieve optimum adjustment of the child car seat according to the child's build.
Although the headrest
60
can be vertically moved, head supports
60
a
are fixed to the headrest
60
. Consequently, the child's head of a small width cannot be snugly fitted between the head supports
60
a
and the child's head cannot be securely held at three points by the head supports
60
a
and the headrest
60
.
The interval between the crotch strap
52
and the seat back A cannot be adjusted. Therefore, the crotch belt
52
cannot be uniformly and securely applied to the abdomen and the chest of a child of a comparatively small build, and the crotch belt
52
exerts pressure on the abdomen of a child of a large build and makes the child feel cramped.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of such problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a child car seat that does not require selection of holes for shoulder belts, enables stepless headrest height adjustment and the angular position of head supports, and has an abdominal support that can be moved toward the headrest, and a headrest for the child car seat.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a headrest to be mounted on a child car seat body included in a child car seat for supporting a child thereon has an upper part for supporting the child's head, a middle part provided with shoulder belt slots through which a pair of shoulder belts fastening the child's shoulders are passed, and a lower part mounted on the child car seat body so as to be vertically movable for adjusting the height of the headrest.
According to a second aspect of the present invention a child car seat for supporting a child thereon has a child car seat body, a headrest mounted on the child car seat body so as to be movable for vertical position adjustment to hold the child's head, and a vertical position adjusting means associated with the child car seat body and the headrest.
The headrest can be moved in a nearly stepless mode for vertical position adjustment by a simple means, so that troublesome work for selecting suitable shoulder belt slots and passing shoulder belts through the shoulder belt slots can be omitted.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, the headrest has an upper part for supporting the child's head, a middle part provided with shoulder belt slots through which a pair of shoulder belts fastening the child's shoulders are passed, and a lower part mounted on the child car seat body.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, a groove is formed in the lower part of the headrest, the vertical position adjusting means includes a headrest support rail held on the child car seat body and supporting the lower part of the headrest for sliding movement, a rotating member rotatably supported on the headrest support rail and provided with a boss fitted in the groove of the lower part of the headrest, and a locking mechanism capable of locking and releasing the rotating member.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, the locking mechanism includes a polygonal member connected to a central portion of the rotating member, and a locking member provided with a through hole for releasably receiving the polygonal member therein.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, the vertical position adjusting means includes a pair of locking members supported on the headrest so as to be movable toward and away from the child car seat body, and a biasing member interposed between the pair of locking members so as to bias the pair of locking members away from each other and to cause the, pair of locking members to be frictionally engaged with the child car seat body.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, the pair of locking members have operating parts projecting outward from the child car seat body, respectively, and the biasing member can be compressed by the operating parts.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, the headrest has a headrest body and a pair of head supports rotatably provided on the opposite sides of the headrest body.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, an angular position adjusting means is provided to be associated with the pair of head supports and the child car seat body so as to rotate the pair of head supports for adjusting an angular position of the pair of head supports when the headrest is moved vertically.
In the child car seat according to the present invention, t
Takamizu Nobuaki
Washizuka Mitsuru
Yamazaki Kojiro
Combi Corporation
Cuomo Peter M.
Edell Joseph
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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