Reclining Mechanism for Baby Carriage

This invention relates to the reclining mechanisms of baby carriages, and more particularly to a reclining mechanism utilizing a seating sheet laid on a baby carriage.

A baby carriage, especially a so-called "baby buggy" which is so designed that the angle of inclination of the seat or the back can be changed, have been well known for some time. In a conventional baby carriage, the baby carriage body and the frame rod assembly on which the back sheet is laid are provided separately, so that the reclination is adjusted by inclining the frame rod assembly. Because of this, the baby carriage is intricate in construction, relatively large in weight, and high in manufacturing cost.

An object of this invention is to provide a reclining mechanism for a baby carriage, which is simple in construction and in which the adjusting means for reclining are considerably simple.

Another object of this invention is to provide a reclining mechanism for a baby carriage which is lightweight and convenient to carry, and which can also be manufactured at low cost.

Briefly, these and other objects are achieved by a carriage wherein a seating sheet is suspended between a pair of side frames, the seat portion of the seating sheet being tightly strung across the side frames and the back portion of the seating sheet having a lower part which is coupled across the side frames and a tapered upper part which is adjustably suspended from the carriage handle. The adjustable suspension is carried out by means of a two-part loop clip, with one part suspended in a fixed position from the handle and the other adjustably secured to the upper part of the back portion after the latter passes through the first part.

One embodiment of this invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a baby carriage with a reclining mechanism according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing the essential components of the reclining mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the essential components shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a loop clip employed in the invention.

A baby carriage generally indicated by reference character a has in large part a conventional construction including a pair of side frames which are coupled together with cross members (not shown). Each of the side frames is made up of a front leg rod 1, a rear leg rod 2, an arm rod 3 and a hand rod 4, as shown in FIG. 1. A seating sheet 5 has a portion 51 on which a baby sits (hereinafter referred to as "a seat portion 51", when applicable). Both sides of the seat portion 51 are fixedly secured to seat rods 6, and both sides of the lower half of the back portion 52 are fixedly secured to a pair of side frames extending from the hand rods 4. The upper part of the back portion 52 in inserted into a loop clip 7 to adjust the length of the upper part. The loop clip 7 is made up of a stationary loop 71 and a slidable loop 72. The stationary loop 71 is fixedly secured to a supporting band 73 suspended from the assembly of hand rods 4 (hereinafter referred to as "a hand rod assembly" when applicable). The stationary loop 71 is provided with an aperture through which the top end of the back portion 52 extends. The top end of the back portion 52 extends about the slidable loop 72 and passes back through the aperture as best seen in FIG. 3. The slidable loop 72 is larger than the aperture in the stationary loop through which the top end of the back portion 52 passes as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 4. Thus, the slidable loop 72 cannot pass through the aperture in the stationary loop 71 and the top end of the back portion 52 will be clamped in adjusted position between the stationary loop 71 and the slidable loop 72. The loop clip 7 has a knob 74 for operating the slidable loop 72. The knob or lever 74 may be tilted from the solid line portion to the phantom line portion in FIG. 3 to release the end of the back portion 52 for adjustment about loop 72. The lever 74, loop 72 and loop 71 are all held loosely together by a common shaft 75. It is desirable that the width of the back portion 52 is gradually decreased towards the top end. Furthermore, it is desirable that the top end portion of the back portion 52 is folded in two as shown in FIG. 3, so that it may not come off the stationary loop 71 and the slidable loop 72.

With the reclining mechanism of this invention constructed as described above, when the upper part of the back portion 52 of the seating sheet 5, which has been inserted into the loop clip 7, is pulled as in the case of pulling a belt tied around the waist, the back portion 52 is raised substantially along the hand rods 4. On the other hand, if the slidable loop 72 of the loop clip 7 is loosened to release the upper half of the back portion 52 to thereby move the locking position of the upper part, then the inclination angle of the back portion 52 is increased accordingly. Thus, the baby can be readily allowed to recline on the baby carriage. That is, the baby carriage with the reclining mechanism according to this invention, unlike that having the conventional reclining mechanism, is advantageous in that it is completely unnecessary to carry out a troublesome operation wherein the frame rods or the links supporting the frame rods must be stretched. With the mechanism according to the present invention, it is only necessary to lift up on the knob 74.

Furthermore, according to this invention, the reclining mechanism is so designed that the reclining operation can be achieved by changing the locking position of the seating sheet 5, more specifically the locking position of the back portion 52 at which the latter 52 is locked to the loop clip 7. Therefore, continuous adjustment of the reclining angle is possible. This is another significant advantage of this invention.