Chairs and seats – Plural related seats – Coupled side-by-side
Patent
1998-03-06
1999-12-07
Barfield, Anthony D.
Chairs and seats
Plural related seats
Coupled side-by-side
2972501, 29725616, A47C 108, A47C 1500
Patent
active
059970855
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a children's safety seat and is particularly concerned to provide a seat that can conveniently be fitted into and removed from a motor vehicle as required to enable more than one child to be safely accommodated.
Childs' safety seats are well known and usually comprise an individual child's seat which can be removably connected into a suitably anchored restraining harness on the back seat, or, in some instances, the front seat, of a motor car. Such seats are useful for children weighing up to about 30 kg and so are usually for children up to about 8 years of age.
Problems arise when it is necessary to cater for more than one child. Although it is quite possible to arrange for two separate safety seats to be releasably anchored on the rear seat of a car, it is difficult to cater for three children and virtually impossible for four. Moreover, the fitting of anchorages for a multiplicity of safety seats is time-consuming and expensive and the purchase and physical handling of a number of seats expensive and inconvenient.
It is an object of the invention to provide a safety seat that is suitable for more than one child and that is more convenient than current arrangements to deal with more than one child.
Accordingly in one aspect the invention provides a children's safety seat to be securely and releasably attached to anchorage points in a motor vehicle when positioned on an existing seat of the vehicle, the safety seat having a back portion and a base portion, those portions being sub-divided to provide a plurality of individual seats and the seat having integral means to enable it to be anchored in position.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the seat is designed to extend for substantially the full width of the vehicle seat on which it is to be positioned. Thus, it may be of a length to completely fill the width of the rear seat of a motor car. It may be specifically designed to fit the full width of a particular make and model of car.
Such a full width children's seat may conveniently be sub-divided to provide four individual child's seats in the one integral seat. Alternately, it may be sub-divided to form three slightly larger seats for children or two or three children's seats and one adult seat.
Preferably the seat is integrally-moulded of plastics material to form a sufficiently strong and rigid integral back and base portion with integrally-formed sub-divisions in the form of protrusions on the back and/or base portions to define the individual seats.
The anchorage means may be suitably positioned holes or slots moulded into the seat to receive anchorage straps for attachment to secure anchorages on the vehicle in a conventional manner.
Alternatively the seat may be a welded metal frame having the back and base portions and welded subdividers. Suitable anchorage holes and slots may then be drilled in the desired locations.
The seat may carry suitable padding and decorative covering material together with individual harnesses for each child's seat portion, as is conventional.
The seat may be provided with front supporting legs, e.g. two legs, one at each front corner. These legs are preferably adjustable for width and height so as to be applicable to a variety of vehicles and they may bear down, for example, on the inner sills of the vehicle to provide additional rigidity and support.
It is not necessary that the seat be designed to fit onto the back seat of a car. It may, if desired, be designed to fit onto the front passenger seat, in which case it will normally be of a length to provide seats for two children, i.e. it will have one set of sub-dividers.
It is a requirement of law in certain countries that very young children must sit in a rearward facing seat. For example, in the United Kingdom, children up to 9 kg. in weight (approximately up to 10 months) must be seated in a rearward facing seat as their necks are insufficiently strong to support their heads in the event of a frontal collision of the vehicle in which they are travelling. In Sweden, children up to 4 y
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patent: 5033761 (1991-07-01), Kelly
patent: 5496091 (1996-03-01), Karl et al.
patent: 5518293 (1996-05-01), Cory et al.
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