Child restraint

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12472852-B2
Application number	US-202318512753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2023
Priority date	Nov 17, 2022
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A child restraint comprising an outer seat-support shell adapted to rest on a vehicle seat and to be secured to the vehicle seat for transportation in a vehicle and an inner juvenile seat coupled to the outer seat-support shell. The inner juvenile seat is configured to provide a child-receiving space sized to receive a child therein.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A child restraint comprising
an outer seat-support shell adapted to rest on a vehicle seat and to be secured to the vehicle seat for transportation in a vehicle, the outer seat-support shell formed to include a seat receiving space and including a shell bottom and a shell back coupled to the shell bottom, and an inner juvenile seat at least partially received in the seat receiving space and configured to provide a child-receiving space sized to receive a child therein, the inner juvenile seat is coupled to the outer seat-support shell so as to be supported in spaced apart relation to the vehicle seat and configured to move relative to the outer seat-support shell to change a recline orientation of the inner juvenile seat relative to the outer seat-support shell from a first recline orientation when the juvenile seat is arranged in a forward-facing arrangement and a second recline orientation when the juvenile seat is arranged in a rearward-facing arrangement, wherein the shell back includes a fixed back frame coupled to the shell bottom and a juvenile-seat brace coupled to an upper end of the fixed back frame for pivotable movement about horizontal pivot axis between a first seat-support position in which an upper end of the juvenile seat brace is spaced apart from the juvenile seat when the juvenile seat is arranged in the forward-facing arrangement, and a second seat-support position in which an upper end of the juvenile-seat brace engages the juvenile seat when the juvenile seat is arranged in the rearward-facing arrangement.

2 . The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the shell back has a first length when the juvenile-seat brace is in the first seat-support position and the shell back has a second length, less than the first length, when the juvenile-seat brace is in the second seat-support position.

3 . The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the juvenile seat includes a seat bottom and a seat back arranged to extend upwardly away from the seat bottom, and wherein the seat back is formed to include a brace seat which receives the juvenile-seat brace in the second seat-support position.

4 . The child restraint of claim 3 , wherein the brace seat is a notch.

5 . The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the juvenile-seat brace includes a top frame beam, a pair of side frame beams coupled to opposing lateral ends of the top frame beam, and a hinge lock coupled to a lower end of at least one of the side frame beams and to an upper end of the fixed back frame to block selectively movement of the juvenile-seat brace about the horizontal pivot axis.

6 . The child restraint of claim 5 , wherein the hinge lock includes a first hinge lock coupled between the fixed back frame and a first side frame beam included in the pair of side frame beams and a second hinge lock coupled between the fixed back frame and a second side frame beam included in the pair of side frame beams opposite the first side frame beam.

7 . The child restraint of claim 6 , wherein each of the hinge locks includes a lock housing at least partially defining an interior hinge space, a lock plate fixed to the fixed back frame, and a lock release unit arranged to lie within the interior hinge space and movable with the top frame beam and the pair of side beams and configured to engage the lock plate to block movement of the juvenile-seat brace about the horizontal pivot axis.

8 . The child restraint of claim 7 , wherein the lock release unit includes a release button arranged to lie at least partially outside of the interior hinge space, a lock-release plate coupled to the release button and spaced apart from the lock plate axially along the horizontal pivot axis, and at least one lock pin coupled to the lock-release plate and arranged to engage the lock plate to block movement of the juvenile-seat brace about the horizontal pivot axis.

9 . The child restraint of claim 8 , wherein the at least one lock pin is arranged to extend into a first opening formed in the lock plate when the juvenile seat brace is in the first seat support position to block rotation about the horizontal pivot axis and the at least one lock pin is arranged to extend into a second opening formed in the lock plate spaced circumferentially from the first opening about the horizontal pivot axis to block rotation about the horizontal pivot axis.

10 . A child restraint comprising:
an outer seat-support shell adapted to rest on a vehicle seat and to be secured to the vehicle seat for transportation in a vehicle, the outer seat-support shell providing a seat receiving space, an inner juvenile seat at least partially received in the seat receiving space and configured to provide a child-receiving space sized to receive a child therein, the inner juvenile seat is coupled to the outer seat-support shell so as to be supported in spaced apart relation to the vehicle seat and configured to move relative to the outer seat-support shell to change a recline orientation of the inner juvenile seat relative to the outer seat-support shell, and a plurality of anchors configured to couple the inner juvenile seat to the seat-support shell, and the seat-support shell is formed to include a plurality of guide slots and a plurality of recline openings which receive the plurality of seat anchors and allow the inner juvenile seat to recline relative to the seat-support shell, wherein the seat-support shell includes a shell bottom and a shell back arranged to extend upwardly away from the shell bottom, and the inner juvenile seat includes a seat bottom coupled to the shell bottom and a seat back coupled to the shell back, and wherein the plurality of anchors includes a first seat anchor extending between and interconnecting the shell back and the seat back, a second seat anchor extending between and interconnecting the shell bottom and the seat bottom, and a third seat anchor located between the first and second seat anchors and extending between and interconnecting the seat-support shell and the inner juvenile seat, wherein the first seat anchor is arranged to lie in a first pair of guide slots formed in opposing lateral sides of the shell back, the second seat anchor is arranged to lie in opposing recline apertures formed in the shell bottom, and the third seat anchor is arranged to lie in a second pair of guide slots formed in side rails of the seat-support shell between the first pair of guide slots and the plurality of recline openings.

11 . The child restraint of claim 10 , wherein the second seat anchor includes retractable pins movable relative to the inner juvenile seat by a recline actuator handle mounted on a front end of the juvenile seat between a first position in which the retractable pins extend into one of the plurality of recline openings to block movement of the inner juvenile seat relative to the seat-support shell and a second position after the recline actuator handle has been pulled forward by a user in which the retractable pins are withdrawn from the recline openings and the inner juvenile seat is free to change recline orientations relative to the seat-support shell.

12 . The child restraint of claim 11 , wherein the first and third seat anchors are slidable through their respective guide slots when the second seat anchor 102 is in the second position to change the recline orientation of the inner juvenile seat relative to the seat-support shell.

13 . The child restraint of claim 12 , wherein the second pair of guide slots includes a forward-facing recline segment and a rearward-facing recline segment, and the third seat anchor is located in the forward-facing recline segments whe

Assignees

• Dorel Juvenile Group Inc

Inventors

• Nakhla Said S

Classifications

• B60N2/2857

  characterised by the peculiar orientation of the child (B60N2/2869 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/2821 Primary

  having a seat and a base part · CPC title

• B60N2/2827

  part of the base being supported by the seat sub-frame (B60N2/2893 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/2869

  rotatable about a vertical axis · CPC title

• B60N2/2812

  for securing the child to the child seat · CPC title