Adjustable headrest for juvenile vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10875426-B2
Application number	US-201816142729-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2018
Priority date	Sep 26, 2017
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

A child restraint includes a seat bottom and a seat back. The seat back includes a backrest and an adjustable headrest that is mounted for up-and-down movement on the backrest by a caregiver.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A child restraint comprising
a seat bottom,
a seat back including a backrest arranged to extend upwardly from the seat bottom and an adjustable headrest mounted for up-and-down movement on the backrest between a lowered position located at a first distance from the seat bottom and a raised position located at a relatively higher second distance from the seat bottom to accommodate and seat children of different sizes, and
a headrest-height controller mounted on the adjustable headrest for up-and-down movement with the adjustable headrest relative to the backrest, the headrest-height controller includes a headrest lock arranged to move relative to the seat bottom to engage and disengage the backrest to control up-and-down movement of the adjustable headrest between the lowered and raised positions, a mover activator including an activation handle mounted on the adjustable headrest for up-and-down movement relative to the adjustable headrest and the backrest, and a headrest-lock mover arranged to move the headrest lock relative to the backrest to disengage the backrest to free the adjustable headrest to move up and down relative to the backrest in response to upward movement of the activation handle relative to the backrest and away from the seat bottom and to engage the backrest to retain the headrest in a selected one of the lowered and raised positions in response to downward movement of the adjustable headrest relative to the backrest and toward the seat bottom upon arrival of the adjustable headrest at such a selected one of the lowered and raised positions and during downward movement of the activation handle relative to the backrest,
wherein the backrest is formed to include a lower set of opposing first and second blocker-receiver sockets located at a first height above the seat bottom to align with the lowered position of the adjustable headrest and an upper set of first and second opposing blocker-receiver sockets located at a relatively higher second height above the seat bottom to align with the raised position of the adjustable headrest and
wherein the headrest lock includes a first headrest-motion blocker that is constrained to move laterally relative to the adjustable headrest
to extend into the first blocker-receiver socket of the lower set to engage the backrest in response to application of an outward movement-inducing force applied to the first headrest-motion blocker by the headrest-lock mover when the adjustable headrest is located in the lower position and the activation handle is moved downwardly relative to the backrest and toward the seat bottom and
to withdraw from the first blocker-receiver socket of the lower set to disengage the backrest in response to application of an inward movement-inducing force applied to the first headrest-motion blocker by the headrest-lock mover when the adjustable headrest is located in the lower position and the activation handle is moved upwardly relative to the backrest and away from the seat bottom to establish a headrest-unlocking mode of the headrest-height controller.

2. The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the headrest-lock mover includes one driver-engagement rack coupled to the activation handle, another driver-engagement rack coupled to the first headrest-motion blocker, and a rotary driver mounted for rotation relative to the backrest to convert motion of the activation handle relative to the backrest into motion of the first headrest-motion blocker relative to the backrest owing to meshing engagement of teeth in the rotary driver with the driver-engagement racks to cause the outward and inward movement-inducing forces to be applied to the first headrest-motion blocker in response to movement of the activation handle relative to the backrest.

3. The child restraint of claim 2 , wherein the mover activator of the headrest-height controller further includes a return spring that is coupled to each of the activation handle and the backrest and biased normally and yieldably to urge the activation handle to move downwardly relative to the backrest and toward the seat bottom to rotate the rotary driver included in the headrest-lock mover owing to meshing engagement of teeth in the driver-engagement rack coupled to the activation handle and teeth in the rotary driver so that rotation of the rotary driver moves the first headrest-motion blocker relative to the backrest to extend into the first blocker-receiver socket of the lower set owing to meshing engagement of the teeth in the rotary driver and of teeth in the driver-engagement rack coupled to the first headrest-motion blocker as the rotary driver rotates relative to the backrest.

4. The child restraint of claim 3 , wherein the headrest lock further includes a second headrest-motion blocker that is constrained to move laterally relative to the adjustable headrest and laterally away from the first headrest-motion blocker
to extend into the second blocker-receiver socket of the lower set to engage the backrest in response to application of an outward movement-inducing force applied to the second headrest-motion blocker by the headrest-lock mover when the adjustable headrest is located in the lower position and the activation handle is moved downwardly relative to the backrest and toward the seat bottom to establish a headrest-locking mode of the headrest-height controller and
to withdraw from the second blocker-receiver socket of the lower set to disengage the backrest in response to application of an inward movement-inducing force applied to the second headrest-motion blocker by the headrest-lock mover when the adjustable headrest is located in the lower position and the activation handle is moved upwardly relative to the backrest and away from the seat bottom to establish a headrest-unlocking mode of the headrest-height controller.

5. The child restraint of claim 4 , wherein the headrest-lock mover further includes one auxiliary driver-engagement rack coupled to the activation handle, another auxiliary driver-engagement rack coupled to the second headrest-motion blocker, and the rotary driver is mounted for rotation relative to the backrest to convert motion of the activation handle relative to the backrest into motion of the second headrest-motion blocker relative to the backrest owing to meshing engagement of teeth in the rotary driver with the auxiliary engagement racks to cause outward and inward movement-inducing forces to be applied to the second headrest-motion blocker in response to movement of the activation handle relative to the backrest.

6. The child restraint of claim 5 , wherein the rotary driver comprises a first motion-transfer gear that is mounted on the backrest for rotation about a first axis of rotation and a second motion-transfer gear that is mounted for rotation about a second axis of rotation that lies in spaced-apart parallel relation to the first axis of rotation, the first motion-transfer gear includes teeth that mesh with teeth included in the driver-engagement racks that are coupled to the activation handle and to the first headrest-motion blocker during rotation of the first motion-transfer gear about the first axis of rotation, and the second motion-transfer gear includes teeth that mesh with teeth included in the auxiliary driver-engagement racks that are coupled to the activation handle and to the second headrest-motion blocker during rotation of the second motion-transfer gear about the second axis of rotation.

7. The child restraint of claim 6 , wherein the first motion-transfer gear is mounted on a first axle coupled to the backrest to rotate in a clockwise direction and the second motion-transfer gear is mounted on a separate second axle coupled to the backrest to rotate in a counterclockwise direction when the fi

Assignees

• Dorel Juvenile Group Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Jason H
• Lin Mei-Hui
• Coakley Devin J
• Mason Grant M

Classifications

• B60N2/812

  characterised by their locking devices · CPC title

• B60N2/2851 Primary

  provided with head-rests · CPC title

• B60N2/815

  Release mechanisms, e.g. buttons · CPC title

• B60N2/829

  characterised by their adjusting mechanisms, e.g. electric motors · CPC title