Car seat with adjustable harness

[0002] The present invention is directed to a car seat, and more particularly, to a car seat with an adjustable harness.

[0003] Car seats are widely used to secure children or infants in a vehicle. Such car seats are typically secured to the vehicle by one or more vehicle belts, and the car seat includes a harness to secure the occupant in the car seat. The harness may be vertically adjustable to accommodate growth of the occupant, differently-sized occupants, bulky clothing of the occupant, etc.

[0004] In many existing car seats, the height-adjusting mechanism is accessible only from the back side of the car seat. Accordingly, in order to adjust the height of the harness of such a car seat, the car seat first must be uncoupled from the vehicle to expose the back side of the car seat. The harness height can then be adjusted and the car seat re-attached to the vehicle. However, it can be inconvenient and time consuming to couple and uncouple the car seat to the vehicle each time it is desired to adjust the height of the harness.

[0005] The present invention is a car seat having adjustable shoulder harnesses including a body having a seat pan and a seat back, the seat back having a front side and a back side. The car seat includes a pair of shoulder harnesses shaped and located to fit over the shoulder of an occupant located on the body. Each shoulder harness is movable relative to the seat pan to raise or lower the height of the shoulder harnesses. The car seat further includes a locking mechanism for locking each shoulder harness in place to set the height of each shoulder harness relative to the seat pan, wherein the locking mechanism can be accessed from the front side of the seat back.

[0006] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

[0007] FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of one embodiment of the car seat of the present invention;

[0008] FIG. 1A is a front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 1 with the harnesses unbuckled;

[0009] FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 1 with the cushion and cover pivoted open;

[0010] FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 1A, with the shoulder harnesses, lap belts, cushioned covering and back cushion removed;

[0011] FIG. 4 is a detail front perspective view of the carriage of the car seat of FIG. 3, with the loops and extension straps removed;

[0012] FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the carriage of FIG. 4;

[0013] FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the carriage of FIG. 5;

[0014] FIG. 7 is a rear perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 3, with the loops and extension straps removed;

[0015] FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 7, with the tabs of the carriage retracted;

[0016] FIG. 9 is a rear perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 8, with the carriage moved to an upper position;

[0017] FIG. 9A is a rear view of the car seat of FIG. 9, with the cover in its closed position and the carriage receiving a pair of belts therethrough;

[0018] FIG. 9B is a front detail perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 9A;

[0019] FIG. 10 is a front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 9A;

[0020] FIG. 11 is a front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 9, with the cover and a base mounted to the seat;

[0021] FIG. 12 is a front perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the car seat of the present invention, with the outer cushioned covering and outer skin of the car seat removed;

[0022] FIG. 13 is a front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 12, with the cover removed;

[0023] FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of the carriage of the car seat of FIG. 13;

[0024] FIG. 15 is a rear perspective view of the carriage of FIG. 14;

[0025] FIG. 16 is a rear perspective view of another embodiment of a carriage;

[0026] FIG. 17 is a detail front perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 13;

[0027] FIG. 18 is a rear detail perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 13; and

[0028] FIG. 19 is a rear perspective view of the car seat of FIG. 18, with the carriage removed.

[0029] As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 1A, the present invention is a car seat 10 having a body 9 including a base 11, a seat pan 12 and a seat back 14. The seat back 14 has a front side 16 and a back side 18 and is shaped and located to support an occupant such as a child or infant. The back side 18 includes a back support surface 17 upon which the back of an occupant rests. The car seat 10 includes a shell 20 (FIG. 3) made of a relatively rigid material, such as plastic, the seat shell 20 primarily defining the seat pan 12 and seat back 14. The car seat 10 includes a soft cushioned covering 21 (FIGS. 1, 1A and 2) located over the shell 20 to provide a soft outer surface to the car seat 10.

[0030] The car seat 10 includes a restraint system 22 including a pair of shoulder harnesses 24, 26 shaped and located to fit over the shoulder of an occupant of the car seat 10. In the illustrated embodiment, each shoulder harness 24, 26 extends through the front side 16 of the seat back 14 and is looped around a tongue or latch 28, 30. Each tongue or latch 28, 30 is shaped to be releasably received in a buckle 32 (see FIGS. 1 and 1A). The buckle 32 is coupled to the seat pan 12 by a buckle belt 29.

[0031] The restraint system 22 further includes a pair of lap belts 34, 36, each lap belt 34, 36 being coupled to one of the tongues 28, 30. The restraint system 22 may be coupled to a belt tensioning mechanism (not shown) that may include a pair of opposed activation knobs 38 that can be rotated to add or decrease tension in the restraint system 22. Other belt tensioning mechanisms, such as a gripping mechanism that frictionally grips a portion of the belts in a well-known manner, may also be used.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 3, the seat back 14 includes an opening 70 in its front side 16, and a cover 90 (FIGS. 2 and 11) that can be removably received in the opening 70. The seat back 14 includes a pair of outer supports 72, 74 located on or adjacent to the outer edges of the opening 70, and a generally vertically-extending support bar 76 located in the center of the opening 70. The opening 70 can be nearly any opening of any size or shape in the seat back 14 that provides a non-continuous surface to the seat back 14. The support bar 76 defines a pair of slots 78, 80 in the opening 70, the slots 78, 80 being located on opposite sides of the support bar 76. As best shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, each outer support 72, 74 includes a set of vertically spaced grooves 82, 84, 86 formed therein. The grooves 82, 84, 86 of each support 72, 74 are horizontally aligned; that is, each groove 82, 84, 86 on support 72 corresponds to, or is located at the same height as, a groove on the support 74.

[0033] As shown in FIGS. 2, 9B and 11, the cover 90 can be removably received in the opening 70 and includes a plurality of generally laterally extending slots 92, 94, 96 to receive the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 at different heights therethrough. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the car seat 10 may also include a back cushion 89 located on the cover 90, the back cushion 89 including a plurality of generally laterally extending slots 91, 93, 95 to receive the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 therethrough.

[0034] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the car seat 10 or restraint system 22 may include a carriage 40 which receives the upper end of each shoulder harness 24, 26 therein. The carriage 40 (FIGS. 5 and 6) includes a pair of opposed openings 42, 44, or mouths, each of which receives one of the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 therethrough. Alternately, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 9B, the car seat 10 may include a pair of loops 83, and each loop 83 may be coupled to an extension strap 85 that extends through the mouths 42, 44. In this case each shoulder harness 24, 26 can be coupled to, or slidingly passed through, one of the loops 83, and the extension strap 85 can extend through the slots 92, 94, 96 of the cover 90, and the slots 91, 93, 95 of the back cushion 80. However, in this case and for the purposes of this application the extension straps 85 that are coupled to the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 may be considered to be part of the associated shoulder belt 24, 26. For example, each shoulder harness 24, 26 may include the extension strap 85, a loop 83, and a loop portion 15 that constitutes the majority of the shoulder harness 24, 26 and is shaped to fit over the torso of an occupant and is looped around the loop 83

[0035] In the illustrated embodiment, each shoulder harness 24, 26 or extension strap 85 is coupled to a retaining clip 41, 43 (not shown in FIGS. 6-9; see FIGS. 9A and 16) located on the back side of the carriage 40 to couple the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 to the carriage 40. In the illustrated embodiment, the retaining clips 41, 43 are loosely held within the carriage 40, and the retaining clips 41, 43 are larger than the mouths 42, 44 to prevent the retaining clips 41, 43 from being pulled through the mouths 42, 44 of the carriage 40. The carriage 40 may include a pair of locking clips 46 (one of which is shown in FIG. 6; two of which are shown in FIG. 9A) that fit over a pair of locking tabs 63 to maintain the retaining clips 41, 43 in the carriage 40. However, the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 may be coupled to the carriage 40 in nearly any known manner, such as directly attaching the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 to the carriage 40.

[0036] The shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 need not be coupled to the carriage 40. Instead, the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 may be slidably passed through the openings 42, 44, extend along the back side 18 of the seat back 14, and extend below the seat pan 12 to a belt tensioning mechanism in a well-known manner. Thus, it should be understood that the harness height adjustment mechanism of the present invention may be used with a wide variety of car seats having a wide variety of shapes and arrangement of harnesses beyond those specifically illustrated herein. For example, the harness height adjustment mechanism may be used with nearly any car seat where it is desired to adjust the height of the belts or harnesses.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 5, the carriage 40 may include a pair of outwardly-extending flanges 50, 52, each flange defining a channel 54, 56. The carriage 40 includes a central groove 58 on its front surface. The carriage 40 further includes a pair of protrusions 60, 62, each protrusion being slidably mounted to the body of the carriage 40 such that the protrusions 60, 62 are each individually slidable in the horizontal direction of FIG. 5. Each protrusion 60, 62 includes a gripping portion 68, 69 that extends generally perpendicular to the body of the protrusions 60, 62. The carriage 40 further includes a pair of springs 64, 66. Each spring 64, 66 is located between the body of the carriage 40 and one of the protrusions 60, 62 to spring bias the protrusions 60, 62 outwardly.

[0038] The carriage 40 is slidably mounted to the seat back 14 (see, e.g., FIGS. 3 and 7) such that the support bar 76 is located in the central groove 58 of the carriage 40, and the outer supports 72, 74 of the seat back 14 are received in the channels 54, 56 of the carriage to slidably couple the carriage 40 to the seat back 14. In this manner, the carriage 40 can move up and down in the opening 70, and the support bar 76 and outer supports 72, 74 guide the sliding motion of the carriage 40. Each mouth 42, 44 of the carriage is located in one of the slots 78, 80. The carriage 40 is completely received in the seat back 14; that is, the seat back 14 includes a thickness, and the carriage 40 has a thickness less than the thickness of the seat back 14 such that the carriage 40 can be received in the opening 70 without protruding from the front side 16 or back side 18 of the seat back 14.

[0039] The car seat 10 includes a locking mechanism 100 for coupling the carriage 40 to the seat back 14, and the locking mechanism 100 is located behind the back support surface 17. Each protrusion 60, 62 is movable between an extended position (FIG. 7) and a retracted position (FIG. 8). As shown in FIG. 7, when the locking system 100 is in its extended position the outer ends of each protrusion 60, 62 extends beyond the inner edges of the outer supports 72, 74 and are received in one of the grooves 82, 84, 86 to couple the carriage 40 to the seat back 14. In other words, the interference between the protrusions 60, 62 and the outer supports 72, 74 blocks any sliding motion of the carriage 40 when the protrusions 60, 62 are received in the grooves.

[0040] In order to adjust the height of the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 from their position in FIG. 7 (that is, the height at which the harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 intersect the seat back 14 of the car seat 10), the back cushion 89 is first removed or pivoted out of the way. Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the cover 90 is then removed or pivoted out of the way to expose the opening 70 and the carriage 40. Next, the gripping portions 68, 69 of the protrusions 60, 62 are gripped by a user, and pulled towards the support bar 76. As the protrusions 60, 62 are slid towards the support bar 76, the springs 64, 66 are compressed, and the protrusions 60, 62 are pulled out of the grooves 82 in the outer supports 72, 74 as the protrusions 60, 62 are moved to their retracted position (see FIG. 8).

[0041] At this point, the carriage 40 can be moved vertically to another position wherein the protrusions 60, 62 can be received in one of the set of grooves 84, 86. As the carriage 40 is slid vertically, the support bar 76 and outer supports 72, 74 guide the sliding motion of the carriage 40. Once the carriage 40 is located in the desired position, the user can release the gripping portions 68, 69, and the springs 64, 66 urge the protrusions 60, 62 outwardly such that the outer ends of the protrusions 60, 62 are received in the grooves 86 on the outer supports 72, 74. Once the protrusions 60, 62 are received in the grooves 86, the carriage 40 is locked in place and cannot be moved vertically relative to the seat pan 12 or seat back 14. Thus, because the mouths 42, 44 of the carriage 40 have been moved, the height of the harnesses 24, 26 has also been adjusted (see FIGS. 9B and 10). The carriage 40 is also movable to a middle position wherein the protrusions 60, 62 are received in grooves 84. Thus, any number of grooves may be provided in the outer supports 72, 74 at a variety of heights to provide a plurality of heights at which the carriage 40 can be located.

[0042] Instead of gripping the protrusions 60, 62 during the entire sliding movement of the carriage 40, after retracting the protrusions 60, 62 and moving the carriage 40 vertically sufficiently such that the protrusions 60, 62 are not aligned with any of the grooves 82, 84, 86, the user may release the protrusions 60, 62. Once released, the protrusions 60, 62 will engage the sides of the outer supports 72, 74. When the carriage 40 is moved into one of its discreet locking position, the protrusions 60, 62 will become aligned with one of the grooves 82, 84, 86 and will “snap” into one of the set of grooves 82, 84, 86. Each of the grooves 82, 84, 86 may include a guide portion 87 to guide the protrusions 60, 62 into the grooves 82, 84, 86 when the carriage 40 is moved upwardly in this manner.

[0043] After the carriage is moved to the desired height and locked in place, the cover 90 is then re-attached to the seat back 14 such that the cover 90 is received in the opening 70 (see FIGS. 9A, 9B and 11), and the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 are threaded through the slots 92 of the cover 90. Finally, the back cushion 89 is returned to its position shown in FIG. 1, and the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 are received through the set of slots 91 of the cushion 89. At this point, the height of the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 has been adjusted and the car seat 10 can be used in standard fashion.

[0044] Because the opening 70 is located on the front side of the car seat 10, the height of the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 can be adjusted from the front side of the car seat. Thus, this feature provides easy access for a user to adjust the height of the shoulder harnesses 24, 26, and enables the height of the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 to be adjusted without uncoupling the car seat 10 from the vehicle. The carriage 40 has a height that is less than the height of the opening 70 so that the carriage 40 can have a full range of motion, and not protrude from the upper and lower edges of the car seat 10 when the carriage is located in its uppermost or lowermost position, respectively.

[0045] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 1A, the back cushion 89 may include a set of four tabs 19, 21, 23, 25, each tab being pivotable about a generally vertically extending hinge line 31. Each tab 19, 21, 23, 25 is pivotable about its associated hinge line 31 to an open position to provide a “window” to enable a user to thread the shoulder harnesses 24, 26 or extension straps 85 through the slots 91, 93, 95. For example, slot 91 is located between the tab 19 and the body of the back cushion 89, slot 93 is located between tab 19 and tab 21, and slot 95 is located between the tab 21 and the body of the back cushion 89.

[0046] An alternate embodiment of the carriage of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 12-18. In this embodiment, the carriage 99 is slidably mounted to the support bar 76 and outer supports 72, 74 in generally the same manner as the carriage 40 illustrated in FIGS. 3-11. However, in the embodiment of FIGS. 12-18, the locking mechanism 102 for locking the carriage 99 in place relative to the seat back 14 differs from the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the support bar 76 includes a plurality of vertically spaced grooves 107, 109, 110 formed on its back side (see FIG. 19). As shown in FIGS. 14-15, the carriage 99 includes a flexible tab 101 extending from the body of the carriage 99 from a hinge line 103. The tab 101 is generally “T”-shaped, and includes a pair of flats 106, 108 on either end of the tab 101, and a cross bar 112 located between the flats 106, 108. The cross bar 112 is shaped and biased to fit into one of the grooves 107, 109, 110 of the support bar 76. In this manner, when the cross bar 112 is received in one of the grooves 107, 109, 110, the carriage 99 is coupled to the seat back 14 and is blocked from being adjusted vertically.

[0047] The carriage 99 includes a pair of mouths 120, 122 for receiving the belts 22, 24 or extension straps 85 therethrough and a pair of sets of outwardly extending flanges 124, 126 that define a pair of channels 128, 130 for slidably receiving the outer supports 72, 74. The carriage 99 further includes a set of inner flanges 132 and guides 134 for receiving the support bar 76 therebetween. When the carriage 99 is mounted to the seat back 14, the outer supports 72, 74 are received in the channels 128, 130 and the support bar 76 is received between the flanges 132 and guides 134, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. The cross bar 112 is biased against the support bar 76 such that the cross bar 112 is biased into one of the grooves 107, 109, 110 when the carriage 99 is aligned with one of the grooves. When the cross bar 112 is received in one of the grooves 107, 109, 110, the carriage 99 is blocked from sliding along the seat back 14, as shown in FIG. 17.

[0048] When the carriage 99 is coupled to the seat back 14, the flats 106, 108 are located on opposite sides of the support bar 76 and each flat 106, 108 is located in one of the slots 78, 80. The flats 106, 108 provide a surface upon which a user can push to urge the cross bar 112 out of one of the grooves 107, 109, 110, thereby enabling the carriage 99 to slide vertically along the seat back. For example, a user may press on each of the flats 106, 108 to urge the flats rearwardly, which in turn pivots the flexible tab 101 about hinge line 103 and pulls the cross bar 112 out of the corresponding groove 107, 109, 110 in the support bar 76. The carriage 99 can then be slid along the side supports 72, 74 and support bar 76 to a different vertical location. The flats 106, 108 can then be released, and the cross bar 112 automatically returns to a position in which it is received in one of the grooves 107, 109, 110, or biased against the support bar 76

[0049] The tabs and slots disclosed herein for locking the carriages 40, 99 at various discrete vertical locations in the seat back 14 may be replaced with a wide variety of mechanisms for coupling the harness to the seat back without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, a variety of tabs, protrusions, pins, interference mechanisms, and the like may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the carriage 40, 99 of the present invention may be a two-part carriage wherein each part of the carriage receives a belt 22, 24 or extension strap 85 and is individually adjustable along the seat back. In this manner, each carriage, and thereby each shoulder harness, may be individually adjustable. For example, each carriage may include a pair of laterally-slidable protrusions that can be received in recesses in one of the outer support 72, 74 and the support bar 76, although a wide variety of other locking mechanism may also be used.

[0050] Having described the invention in detail and by reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be apparent that modifications and variations thereof are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.