Infant holder for vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9579996-B2
Application number	US-201213427684-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2012
Priority date	Mar 22, 2011
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

A child restraint includes a juvenile seat and a child-restraint harness coupled to the juvenile seat. The child-restraint harness includes at least two shoulder belts.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A child restraint comprising
a juvenile seat adapted to be installed facing rearwardly on a passenger seat of a vehicle, the juvenile seat including a seat bottom and a seat back arranged to extend upwardly from the seat bottom, wherein a forwardly facing surface of the seat back and an upwardly facing surface of the seat bottom cooperate to define therebetween an included juvenile recline angle having a first angular measure to support a juvenile seated on the upwardly facing surface and leaning backward against the forwardly facing surface,
an infant holder including an infant-support shell configured to removably nest on the upwardly facing surface of the seat bottom and the forwardly facing surface of the seat back in a basin formed by the seat bottom and seat back, wherein the infant-support shell includes a seat pad at rest on the upwardly facing surface of the seat bottom and a backrest arranged to extend upwardly from the seat pad and along the forwardly facing surface of the seat back and wherein a forwardly facing surface of the backrest and an upwardly facing surface of the seat pad cooperate to define therebetween an included infant recline angle having a second angular measure that is greater than the first angular measure of the included juvenile recline angle between the forwardly facing surface of the seat back and the upwardly facing surface of the seat bottom to provide means for supporting an infant in a reclined supine position in the infant-support shell while the infant-support shell is at rest on the seat bottom and the seat back to establish a recline orientation selected for an infant that is different than a more upright orientation associated with a juvenile seated on the seat bottom of the juvenile seat after removal of the infant-support shell from a nested position in the basin,
a child-restraint harness comprising first and second shoulder belts, the backrest of the infant-support shell includes a first E-shaped shoulder-belt slot for receiving the first shoulder belt through the backrest and a second E-shaped shoulder-belt slot for receiving the second shoulder belt through the backrest and means coupled to the juvenile seat for raising and lowering the first and second shoulder belts relative to the seat bottom without hindrance when the infant-support shell is nested in the basin formed by the seat bottom and the seat back, and
wherein each time the infant-support shell nests on the seat bottom and the seat back of the juvenile seat the infant-support shell and juvenile seat are at the same angle with respect to each other.

2. The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the child-restraint harness is coupled to the juvenile seat and configured to provide means for restraining a child seated on the seat bottom and for restraining a child seated on the seat pad when the infant-support shell is at rest on the seat bottom in the nested position in the basin.

3. The child restraint of claim 2 ,
further comprising a headrest mounted for up-and-down movement relative to the seat back and wherein the child-restraint harness includes the first and second shoulder belts coupled to the headrest to move therewith relative to a juvenile seated on the seat bottom and to an infant reclined in a supine position on the seat pad and the backrest of the infant-support shell to provide means for raising and lowering the first and second shoulder belts relative to the seat bottom during up-and-down movement of the headrest on the seat back without hindrance when the infant-support shell is nested in the basin formed by the seat bottom and the seat back, and
wherein the vertical portions of the first and second E-shaped shoulder-belt slots being located so that the horizontal portions of the first and second E-shaped shoulder-belt slots extend inwardly toward the center of backrest.

4. The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the first shoulder-belt E-shaped slot includes generally horizontal spaced-apart low, middle, and high channels and a generally vertical travel channel interconnecting the low, middle, and high channels of the first shoulder-belt slot to provide means for allowing the first shoulder belt to be moved between the low, middle, and high channels of the first shoulder-belt slot while the infant-support shell remains in the nested position in the seat basin without removal of the first shoulder belt from the first shoulder-belt slot and the second shoulder-belt E-shaped slot includes generally horizontal spaced-apart low, middle, and high channels and a generally vertical travel channel interconnecting the low, middle, and high channels of the second shoulder-belt slot to provide means for allowing the second shoulder belt to be moved between the low, middle, and high channels of the second shoulder-belt slot while the infant-support shell remains in the nested position in the seat basin without removal of the second shoulder belt from the second shoulder-belt slot.

5. The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the child-restraint harness further includes a crotch belt, a first thigh belt, and a second thigh belt and the seat pad of the infant-support shell is formed to include a centered crotch-belt slot receiving the crotch belt therein, a first thigh-belt channel leading to a first thigh-belt slot receiving the first thigh belt therein, and a second thigh-belt channel leading to a first thigh-belt slot receiving the second thigh-belt therein.

6. The child restraint of claim 3 , wherein the headrest includes a harness-control panel formed to include a first belt-receiving slot receiving the first shoulder belt therein and a second belt-receiving slot receiving the second shoulder belt therein and the headrest further includes a plate mount coupled to the harness-control panel and arranged to extend downwardly toward the upwardly facing surface of the seat bottom and to lie between the forwardly facing surface of the seat back and the backrest of the infant-support shell and to move therebetween during up-and-down movement of the headrest relative to the seat bottom.

7. The child restraint of claim 6 , wherein the first shoulder-belt E-shaped slot includes generally horizontal spaced-apart low, middle, and high channels and a generally vertical travel channel interconnecting the low, middle, and high channels of the first shoulder-belt slot to provide means for allowing the first shoulder belt to be moved between the low, middle, and high channels of the first shoulder-belt slot while the infant-support shell remains in the nested position in the seat basin without removal of the first shoulder belt from the first shoulder-belt slot and the second shoulder-belt E-shaped slot includes generally horizontal spaced-apart low, middle, and high channels and a generally vertical travel channel interconnecting the low, middle, and high channels of the second shoulder-belt slot to provide means for allowing the second shoulder belt to be moved between the low, middle, and high channels of the second shoulder-belt slot while the infant-support shell remains in the nested position in the seat basin without removal of the second shoulder belt from the second shoulder-belt slot.

8. The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the second angular measure of the included infant recline angle is more than 5° greater than the first angular measure of the included juvenile recline angle.

9. The child restraint of claim 8 , wherein the second angular measure of the included infant recline angle is about 10° greater than the first angular measure of the included juvenile recline angle.

10. The child restraint of claim 8 , wherein the first angular measure of the included juvenile recline angle is about 35° a

Assignees

• Gaudreau Jr Paul D
• Amirault David
• Dorel Juvenile Group Inc

Inventors

• Gaudreau Jr Paul D
• Amirault David

Classifications

• B60N2/2872 Primary

  provided with side rests · CPC title

• B60N2/2881

  Upholstery, padded or cushioned members therefor · CPC title

• B60N2/2863

  backward facing · CPC title

• B60N2/2851

  provided with head-rests · CPC title

• B60N2/2812

  for securing the child to the child seat · CPC title