Beds – Crib
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-03
2002-07-16
Lavinder, Jack (Department: 3628)
Beds
Crib
C005S093200, C005S097000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06418575
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a combination of a baby playpen and a baby bassinet, and more particularly to a baby playpen-bassinet combination in which a baby bassinet is safely and stably suspended from the top of a baby playpen by a simple and inexpensive mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of baby playpen-bassinet combinations are currently available on the market. These baby playpen-bassinet combinations are different from one another mainly in the mechanism by which the baby bassinet is mounted onto the baby playpen.
FIG. 1
shows a prior art combination of a baby playpen
30
and a baby bassinet
40
. The baby playpen
30
includes an upper frame
31
, a bottom frame
32
, a supporting frame
33
and a fabric body
35
. The upper frame
31
are provided with four corner blocks
34
at four corners thereof. The supporting frame
33
connects corresponding corners of the upper frame
31
and the bottom frame
32
by being fixed to the corner blocks
34
. The fabric body
35
is supported by the upper frame
31
and the supporting frame
33
so as to surround the periphery of the playpen
30
and cover the bottom frame
32
. The baby bassinet
40
is formed by stitching a fabric
41
. The four corners of the bassinet
40
are cut away for mating with the corner blocks
34
of the playpen
30
. A number of hooks
42
are arranged along the top edge of the bassinet
40
. By hanging the hooks
42
of the bassinet
40
on the upper frame
31
of the playpen
30
, the bassinet
40
can be suspended from the top edge of the playpen
30
so that the bottom of the bassinet
40
is received within the playpen
30
.
With the bassinet
40
having the structure described above, since the hooks
42
have to be sufficiently strong in order to prevent from breakage during the use thereof, the hooks
42
are usually formed from plastic steel material which is relatively expensive. In addition, since the relatively rigid hooks
42
are connected with the much softer fabric
41
, after the bassinet
40
is used for a certain period of time, the fabric
41
often tears in the vicinity of the hooks
42
, resulting in safety problems.
In view of the above, there exits a need for a baby playpen-bassinet combination in which a baby bassinet is safely and stably suspended from the top of a baby playpen by a mechanism which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a baby playpen-bassinet combination in which a baby bassinet is safely and stably mounted onto the top of a baby playpen by simple and inexpensive means.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a baby playpen-bassinet combination comprising a playpen including an upper frame, a supporting frame, a bottom frame and a fabric body, and a bassinet detachably mounted onto the upper frame of the playpen and including a main body, two suspension sleeve, two extension portions, two supporting rods and a bottom plate. The upper frame includes two horizontal longitudinal rods parallel to each other, two horizontal lateral rods parallel to each other and perpendicular to the two longitudinal rods and four corner blocks. Each of the four corner blocks is fixedly connecting one of the two longitudinal rods and one of the two lateral rods and provided with a vertical hole. The supporting frame is fixedly connected to the four corner blocks of the upper frame. The bottom frame is fixedly connected to the supporting frame. The fabric body wraps around the two longitudinal rods, the two lateral rods and the supporting frame so as to form a peripheral surface of the playpen and covers the bottom frame. The peripheral surface includes two lateral outer fabric sides extending downwards from the two lateral rods, respectively, and provided with first connecting means, respectively. The main body of the bassinet is received within a space defined by the two longitudinal rods and the two lateral rods of the playpen. The main body includes two longitudinal sides parallel to each other, two lateral sides parallel to each other and perpendicular to the two longitudinal dies and a bottom. The two suspension sleeves are connected to the two longitudinal sides of the main body so as to extend longitudinally, respectively. The two extension portions are connected to the two lateral sides of the main body so as to extend therefrom, respectively, and provided with second connecting means engageable with the first connecting means of the playpen, respectively. The two extension portions extend around the two lateral rods of the playpen, respectively, so as to be fixedly connected to the two lateral outer fabric sides of the peripheral surface of the playpen, respectively, through engagement between the first and second connecting means. Each of the two supporting rods has two substantially perpendicularly bent end portions. The two supporting rods pass through the two suspension sleeves, respectively, so that the two end portions of each of the two supporting rods are protruded outside of the sleeve to be respectively inserted into the vertical holes of two of the corner blocks fixedly connected at two ends of the longitudinal rod of the playpen, so that each supporting rod is supported on two corner blocks. The bottom plate is placed on the bottom of the main body.
Preferably, the corner blocks are formed from plastic or metal material and the supporting rods are formed from metal material such as iron.
The above and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3438069 (1969-04-01), Long
patent: 5163191 (1992-11-01), Chan
patent: 5553336 (1996-09-01), Mariol
patent: 5778465 (1998-07-01), Myers
patent: 5845349 (1998-12-01), Tharalson et al.
patent: 5991944 (1999-11-01), Yang
patent: 6058528 (2000-05-01), Yang
patent: 0419034 (1991-03-01), None
patent: 2337698 (1999-12-01), None
Conley Fredrick
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
LandOfFree
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