Chairs and seats – Supplemental seat
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-04
2001-11-27
Brown, Peter R. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Supplemental seat
C297S256100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06322143
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular child safety seat placed on a seat of a car and fixed to the seat of the car with a waist belt included in a seat belt provided on the seat for holding a juvenile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Following the recently increasing requirement for improvement in safety of automobiles, a vehicular child safety seat has been developed as an apparatus for attaining safety for a newborn, an infant, a child or a schoolchild (generically referred to as a juvenile) riding in a car.
FIG. 8
shows an example of a conventional vehicular child safety seat
1
. The vehicular child safety seat
1
is employed for providing a high seat surface for a juvenile having a short trunk fastening a seat belt including a shoulder belt so that the shoulder belt does not hang on the face of the juvenile, and generally put on the market in the name of “booster”. This type of vehicular child safety seat
1
is fixed to a seat (hereinafter referred to as “car seat”) of a car with a waist belt included in the seat belt provided on the car.
The vehicular child safety seat
1
includes a seat surface
11
and side walls
12
. Each side wall
12
has a waist belt engaging portion
13
and a shoulder belt engaging portion
14
.
FIG. 9
shows the vehicular child safety seat
1
in use. The vehicular child safety seat
1
is placed on a car seat
2
for supporting a juvenile
3
from below with the seat surface
11
. A waist belt
5
partially forming a seat belt provided on the car is extended over the vehicular child safety seat
1
. The waist belt
5
is introduced into a notch of one of the side walls
12
through slits
15
and engaged with the waist belt engaging portion
13
. A tongue plate
6
provided on the forward end of the waist belt
5
is connected with a buckle
7
for completely fastening the seat belt and simultaneously fixing the vehicular child safety seat
1
and the juvenile
3
to the car seat
2
.
The shoulder belt
4
extending over the juvenile
3
obliquely from above is passed through one of the slits
15
and engaged with the shoulder belt engaging portion
14
provided on the side wall
12
. The seat surface
11
of the vehicular child safety seat
1
is positioned higher than the seat surface of the car seat
2
, and hence the shoulder belt
4
can be correctly extended over the shoulders of the juvenile
3
without hanging on the face of the juvenile
3
having a short trunk.
The size of the body of the juvenile
3
using the vehicular child safety seat
1
depends on the individual variation or the age of the juvenile
3
. In the conventional vehicular child safety seat
1
, however, the vertical position for extending the waist belt
5
is set constant in response to that of the waist belt engaging portion
13
. The vertical position of the waist belt engaging portion
13
partially forming the fixed side wall
12
cannot be changed. When the juvenile
3
is of large build, therefore, the waist belt
5
may disadvantageously press the abdominal region.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the aforementioned problem, and an object thereof is to provide a vehicular child safety seat capable of changing the vertical position for extending a waist belt in response to the size of the body of a juvenile using the vehicular child safety seat.
In order to attain the aforementioned object, a vehicular child safety seat according to an aspect of the present invention, fixed to a seat of a car with a waist belt provided on the car for holding a juvenile, comprises a base portion supporting the juvenile from below, a waist belt engaging portion located on a side of the base portion to be displaceable along the vertical direction with respect to the base portion and a locking means fixing the vertical position of the waist belt engaging portion.
The waist belt engaging portion can be displaced and the vertical position thereof can be fixed by the locking means due to employment of the aforementioned structure, whereby the vertical position of the waist belt can be adjusted in response to the figure of the juvenile.
According to the present invention, the aforementioned waist belt engaging portion is preferably provided on a movable member provided to be displaceable with respect to the aforementioned base portion, and the aforementioned locking means fixes the aforementioned movable member with respect to the aforementioned base portion.
The vertical position of the waist belt engaging portion can be adjusted by displacing the movable member due to employment of the aforementioned structure, whereby the vehicular child safety seat is easy to handle.
According to the present invention, an engaging portion for engaging the aforementioned base portion and the aforementioned movable member with each other is preferably provided on at least one of the base portion and the aforementioned movable member stepwise along the vertical direction.
The vertical position of the movable member can be changed stepwise due to employment of the aforementioned structure, so that the vertical position of the waist belt engaging portion can also be changed stepwise.
According to the present invention, a projection provided on one of the aforementioned base portion and the aforementioned movable member can preferably be engaged with a receiving portion provided on the other one of the aforementioned base portion and the aforementioned movable member in the aforementioned engaging portion.
The projection may simply be engaged with the receiving portion for deciding the vertical position of the waist belt engaging portion due to employment of the aforementioned structure, whereby engagement is simplified.
According to the present invention, the aforementioned base portion preferably includes a toothed groove connecting a plurality of the aforementioned receiving portions with each other through a groove on a side surface, the aforementioned movable member includes the aforementioned projection, and the aforementioned projection is displaceable along the vertical direction and the horizontal direction with respect to the aforementioned toothed groove.
The vertical position of the waist belt engaging portion can be adjusted by moving the projection in the toothed groove due to employment of the aforementioned structure, whereby the vehicular child safety seat is easy to handle.
According to the present invention, the aforementioned movable member is preferably coupled to the aforementioned base portion through an axis to be rotatable.
The vertical position of the waist belt can be adjusted by rotating the movable member due to employment of the aforementioned structure, whereby the operation is simplified for readily adjusting the vertical position of the waist belt.
According to the present invention, the aforementioned locking preferably includes a rotatable switch portion coupled to the aforementioned base portion and a switch engaging portion provided on the aforementioned movable member and engageable with the switch portion, and when the aforementioned projection disengages from the aforementioned receiving portion due to horizontal displacement of the aforementioned movable member, the aforementioned switch engaging portion simultaneously engages with the aforementioned switch portion for restricting relative rotational motion of the aforementioned switch portion the aforementioned movable member for rendering the aforementioned movable member rotatable about the center of rotation of the aforementioned switch portion.
When the projection disengages from the receiving portion, the movable member is rotatable integrally with the switch portion due to employment of the aforementioned structure. When the projection engages with the receiving portion, the movable member not engaging with the switch portion is not rotatable but reliably fixed.
According to the present invention, horizontal displacement of the aforementioned movable member can preferably be restricted by cha
Inoue Keiji
Kassai Kenzou
Aprica Kassai Kabushikikaisha
Brown Peter R.
Fasse W. F.
Fasse W. G.
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