Chairs and seats – Body or occupant restraint or confinement – Safety belt or harness; e.g. – lap belt or shoulder harness
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-12
2001-06-19
Cranmer, Laurie K. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Body or occupant restraint or confinement
Safety belt or harness; e.g., lap belt or shoulder harness
C297S467000, C297S485000, C297S288000, C297S005000, C297S027000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247755
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a harness and, more particularly, to a restraint harness for a child carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Restraint harnesses for children are generally known in the art. In particular, harnesses which restrain about a midsection are known and are often used in conjunction with child carriers to restrain a child during transport or otherwise for providing a means for securely retaining a child in a seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,065 to Meeker discloses a combination harness and coverlet for infant seats. Meeker's harness consists of a front portion with restraining midriff straps in contact with the seat occupant and side strap portions releasable secured by fasteners positioned on the rear face of the child seat. Meeker's harness suffers from the drawback that the parent must reach behind the seat to disengage the harness and requires one to remove the entire harness when a portion becomes soiled from use. Thus, Meeker's harness does not provide a convenient means for disengaging the harness and requires the entire harness assembly to be removed when a parent wishes to remove the portion of the harness in contact with the child.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,397 to Reid discloses an adult restraint harness consisting of an elongated body panel and lower torso panel with adjustable straps secured at the rear of the seat. Like Meeker, Reid suffers from the drawback that one has to reach behind the seat to disengage the harness and thus does not provide a convenient means for disengaging/engaging the harness nor providing the convenience of removing only that portion of the harness which comes into contact with a seat occupant.
Known harness restraints suffer from two additional disadvantages related to the operation and location of the harness adjustment. First, when a harness adjustment is located on the front, or seating side of the seat, a child is apt to tamper with the adjustment, thereby loosening the harness and allowing the child to escape. Secondly, harnesses that use threaded webbing fasteners to adjust a harness size can easily be improperly re-threaded when, for example, a parent removes and then re-attaches soft goods to the seat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A child harness preferably includes both a means for adjusting the harness for various waist (or midsection) sizes while at the same time providing a comfortable seating/lying area that is relatively free of strap adjustment buckles or other obstructing harness restraint members, which cause discomfort for the child, especially when the child moves about in the child carrier. It is also preferred to have a harness which is separable: a portion in contact with the child and a portion fixed to the support structure. This feature offers the advantage of allowing a parent to conveniently attach/remove the portion of the harness in contact with the child (e.g., for purposes of washing a soiled seating surface) without having to disconnect the entire harness. Finally, it is desirable to have a convenient means for securing and disengaging the harness by providing, for example, fasteners accessible from the front face of the supporting surface. Known harnesses, however, will typically contain one of the above features, but not all of the above features. Thus, there is a need for a harness which offers all of the above advantages of convenience and yet provides a comfortable seating/lying area for the child.
The invention is generally directed to an child restraint harness which substantially obviates all of the limitations of the prior art in child harness restraints.
An aspect of the invention is directed to a harness including a supporting member attached to the portion of the supporting surface that comes into contact with the child occupant and a securing member fixed to the rear face of the supporting surface.
In another aspect of the invention, a fastening means for the harness is accessible from the front face of the supporting surface and the adjustment means for the harness is positioned on the rear face of the supporting surface. By providing the adjustment means on the rear face of the supporting surface and yet making the harness fasteners accessible from the front face of the supporting surface, the harness is both conveniently accessible and provides a comfortable seating or sleeping area for the child. In addition, by placing the adjustment means on the rear face, the child cannot tamper with the adjustment. Furthermore, it is expected that by placing the adjustment portion of the harness on the rear face, there will be little, if any, inconvenience since a parent will usually only need to adjust the harness once and will thereafter only require access to the fasteners.
In another aspect of the invention, fastening ends of the portion of the harness fixed to the rear face are shortened or lengthened to adjust the waist size of the harness, thus providing an inexpensive, safe and effective means for adjusting a harness. The adjustment means for the harness avoids the drawbacks of harnesses which use webbing threaded through buckles to secure and adjust harnesses. For most harnesses, if the webbing is not properly threaded through the buckle, the loaded webbing can slip. The present harness overcomes this problem by providing a harness adjustment which does not use a webbing threaded through a buckle. Furthermore, by placing the harness adjustment on the rear face of the supporting surface, a child cannot tamper with the harness adjustment.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the following description, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the invention concerns a harness restraint adaptable for use in a child carrier that includes a supporting surface with front and rear faces. The present invention includes: first and second harness members, the first member being releasably attachable to the front face of the supporting surface, the second member being fixedly secured to the rear face; the first and second members are releasably attachable to each other by fasteners disposed on the front face and the harness size is adjusted by an adjustment means disposed on the rear face; and the harness features an adjustment means that includes shortening the lengths of the fastening ends of the second member.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.
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Canna John S.
VonFelten Kenneth
Wilkins Julia M.
Cranmer Laurie K.
Lewis Morgan
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