Chairs and seats – Supplemental seat – Adjustable to plural operative positions
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-06
2001-10-09
Barfield, Anthony D. (Department: 3624)
Chairs and seats
Supplemental seat
Adjustable to plural operative positions
C297S250100, C297S256160
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299249
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a vehicle seat for a child generally referred to as a child seat and, in particular, to a child seat which can be set at a desired angle regardless of the angles of a vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
when loading a baby or a little child into a vehicle, sometimes a child Seat is used in order to secure the safety of the baby or child in an emergency such as when applying the brake suddenly. While child seats vary widely in structure, description will be given below of an example of them.
Generally, a child seat
111
, as shown in
FIG. 23
, includes a seat main body
113
in which a baby or a little child
112
is seated, a receiver base
114
which supports the seat main body
113
in such a manner that the seat main body
113
can be rotated freely between a forward facing position and a backward facing position with respect to the advancing direction of the vehicle or the angle of the seat main body
113
can be adjusted freely (that is, the seat main body
113
can be reclined freely), and the like. And, when fixing the child seat
111
to a vehicle seat
115
, receiver base
114
is fixed to the vehicle seat
115
by a vehicle seat belt (not shown) or the like.
Especially, for a baby underdeveloped in body, the child seat is mounted backward with respect to the vehicle advancing direction before it is used, in order to hold the baby body through the whole of the back of the baby. On the other hand, for a child developed in body to a certain degree, the child seat is mounted forward with respect to the vehicle advancing direction in order to hold the body of the child through the lower back, abdomen, breast of the child body while the child is seated.
By the way, there is a safety standard for the child seat
111
and, in compliance with the safety standard, a. collision test is conducted o the child seat
111
under the condition of a test seat having a o at surface elevation angle of 3°, as shown in
FIG. 23
(its forward facing position) and in
FIG. 25
(its backward facing position).
Thus, the angle of the seat main body
113
of the child seat
111
(which includes its inherent angle a and a proper reclining angle b) is set in consideration of the safety and comfort of the little child
112
under the above-mentioned safety standard of the a test seat having a seat surface elevation angle of 3°.
However, the elevation angles of the vehicle seats
115
actually on the market are not always set at the angle of 3° in all vehicles but, as shown in
FIG. 24
, there are found many vehicles in which the vehicle seats thereof are set about at 15°; that is, in fact, the elevation angles of the vehicle seats vary widely. Thus, in
FIG. 23
showing the vehicle seat having an elevation angle of 3°, when an operator is going to set the reclining angle for the angle a and thus to use the child seat
111
in the most-raised position, in actual use, an shown in
FIG. 24
, the child seat
111
lies on its back side by an excess angle corresponding to the increased angle of the elevation angle of the vehicle seat, that is, by 12°. On the other hand, in
FIG. 23
showing the vehicle seat having an elevation angle of 3°, when the operator is going to set the reclining angle for the angle b and thus to use the child seat
111
in the most-lowered position, in the vehicle seat having an elevation angle of 15° shown in
FIG. 24
, the child seat
111
lies on its back side further by 12°, that is, by the increased angle of the elevation angle of the vehicle seat, with the result that the child seat
111
lies on its back side far beyond the reclining angle b that is set as the most proper angle when the child
111
seat is designed.
In this manner, in the conventional child seat, even if the proper reclining range or angle b is taken into consideration when the child seat is designed, actually, in many cases, the comfort of the child seat cannot be secured.
The above fact also applies similarly to a case shown in
FIG. 25
in which the child seat
111
is set backward with respect to the advancing direction of the vehicle. That is, in
FIG. 25
showing a vehicle seat having an elevation angle of 3°, normally, the angle of the child seat is set with some room, in particular, for an angle of the order of 50° in the range of the safety standard (the safety standard angle ranges from the vertical direction to an angle of 60°), because a baby who cannot yet hold its head up should be laid down as deep as possible. However, if the child seat
111
is used when the vehicle seat
115
has an elevation angle 15° as shown in
FIG. 25
, in fact, the child seat
111
is raised up by an angle of 12° corresponding to an increase in the elevation angle although the operator is going to use the child seat
111
in its most-lowered position, which brings the child seat
111
to a state not desirable for the baby who cannot hold its head up.
On the other hand, in the conventional child seats, there are found child seats structured such that the reclining angle thereof can be adjusted in a wide range and, if such child seat is used, it is truly possible to absorb the elevation angle difference between the child seat and vehicle seat. But, when such child seat capable of adjusting the reclining angle in a wide range is used, if the child seat is used backward with respect to the vehicle advancing direction, then, each time the reclining angle is changed, there arises the need to confirm whether the reclining angle after changed is in the range of the safety standard or not, which is troublesome or inconvenient. In addition to this, if the operator should fail to confirm this, not only the comfort of the baby is disturbed but also, when the child seat is lied on its back side beyond the angle of 60° from the vertical direction, in sudden braking or in a collision, there is a danger that the baby can be flown out from the child seat because the reclining angle is not proper.
Also, as means which, each time the reclining angle is changed, confirms whether the angle after changed is in the range of the safety standard or not, there is disclosed a vehicle seat level display device Unexamined in Japanese Patent Publication Hei. 8-20250(PCT/US 91/06419), which displays whether a child seat is set in a proper position or not.
However, since the vehicle seat level display device is not able to make angle adjustments between the child seat and the vehicle seat onto which the child seat is to be mounted, similarly to the previously described case, there arises the need to confirm the angles of the child seat and vehicle seat each time the child seat is mounted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims at eliminating the drawbacks found in the above-mentioned conventional child seats and devices.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a child seat which not only can make angle adjustments between a child seat and a vehicle seat to which the child seat is to be mounted, regardless of the elevation angle of the vehicle a seat, but also can view the adjusting angles visually.
In attaining the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a child seat of a reclining type or a non-reclining types which is composed of only a seat main body or a seat main body and a receive base for receiving the seat main body thereon, and also which is to be Bet on a vehicle seat, provided by a set angle adjusting mechanism for adjusting the set angle of the seat main body with respect to said vehicle seat.
Also, according to the present invention in the above-mentioned child seat, the set angle adjusting mechanism is disposed in the contact portion of the seat main body where the seat main body is to be contacted with the vehicle seat.
Further, according to the present invention in above-mentioned child seat, the set angle adjusting mechanism is interposed between the seat main body and receive base and/or is disposed in the contact portion of the receive base where the receive base in to be co
Barfield Anthony D.
Combi Corporation
McGuireWoods LLP
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