Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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W096/22907 PCT/GB9610013
PUSHCHAIRS
This invention relates to pushchairs. The term
4 "pushchair" is intended to be construed widely to cover
carriages for infants and young children which comprise a
frame, wheels and a seat or cradle arrangement i~l which
the child or infant sits of lies. These may also
variously be known as strollers, buggies or baby
carriages.
Traditionally, new born and very young babies
were transported in a pram for the first few months of
life and then in a separate pushchair in which the growing
child could sit upright. Recently, however, the demand
has grown for child carriages which can be used both for
the new born and for the older child, thus offering more
flexibility and economy. In order to achieve this,
pushchairs are commonly available which have a seat unit
which can move from a substantially lying down position
for a new born to a sitting pbsition for an older child.
In all pushchairs up to now, this movement has been
achieved by moving the rear of the seat backwards to
increase the angle between it and the seat base, or by
pivoting the seat around a generally central transverse
axis.
As a child gets older and begins to become
proficient at walking, he will tend to use the pushchair
less and at this stage siblings may arrive who can then be
accommodated in the pushchair. The older child of, say
two to three years, will, however, not be able to walk for
great distances without getting tired and therefore
British patent application no 9301497.5 describes a
pushchair in which a rear mounted platform is provided
upon which an older child may stand whilst a younger child
sits in the seat or cradle portion. A problem with this
~ sort of pushchair is that it is not easy to accommodate a
moveable seat since the conventional movement mechanism,
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involving a generally backwards movement of the back rest
portion, obstructs access to the platform and thereby does
not allow an additional child to stand on a platform.
It is an object of the present invention to
provide an improved movement mechanism for a pushchair
seat. The invention is applicable particularly to
pushchairs of the type having a rear platform but not
exclusively and may be advantageously applied to any type
of pushchair.
According to the present invention there is
provided a pushchair having a frame and a seat moveable
relative to the frame, the front end of the seat being
arranged to move generally forwardly and upwardly from a
sitting-up to a lying back position, with respect to the
frame.
Preferably, the seat is adapted to pivot about
an axis at or towards the topmost part of the seat.
By the 'front end' is meant the end of the seat
which is towards the normal direction of movement of the
pushchair. A child will normally sit facing this
direction but could alternatively sit or be facing
rearwards, particularly for new born or very young
infants.
Embodiments of the invention will now be
described, by way of example only, with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 shows schematically a side view of a
pushchair in a sitting-up position;
Figure 2 shows the pushchair of Figure 1 when
the seat is moved to an intermediate position;
Figure 3 shows the pushchair of Figure 1 when
the seat is moved to the furthest extent of its lie back
position;
Figure 4 shows a schematic underplan view of the
pushchair;
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Figure 5 shows a pushchair having an alternative
movement mechanism;
Figure 6 shows part of the mechanism for
achieving movement of the chair of Figure 5;
Figure 7 shows the mechanism in its extended
position;
Figure 8 shows the mechanism when released from
its extended position; and
Figure 9 shows a partial underplan view of the
seat of Figure 5 showing the underside of the seat and
movement/lock mechanism.
Figures 1 to 4 show schematically a version of a
pushchair according to the present invention in which
generally upward and forward movement is achieved by
virtue of a telesco~ic extension mechanism. Figure 1
shows a pushchair having a frame structure 1 and wheels 2
in conventional fashion. A seat 3 is mounted upon the
frame and a rearwardly mounted platform 4 is provided
which enables a child to stand upon the platform whilst an
additional child sits in the seat. The seat is attached,
at its top end to the frame at a transverse bar 5.
Note that the lie back (lying back) position
does not necessarily imply that the angle between the back
rest and base of the seat of the chair varies. It merely
implies that the angle of the back rest is increased
relative to the vertical.
One way of achieving upwards and forwards
movement is by virtue of a telescoping effect from a fixed
point on the frame. This is shown in Figures 2 and 3
where a relatively small diameter rod 6 is pivotally
attached at 7 to the cross member 8 of the frame. Frame
member 8 generally has an elbow in it. Rod 6 is adapted
to axially slide within a larger diameter hollow rod 7
which is affixed to the base of the seat 3. The seat can
thereby be pivoted about point 5 so that rod 6
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telescopically slides within outer rod 7 to move the front
portion 9 of the seat upwards and forwards into a desired
position. Figures 2 and 3 show one method of securing the t
seat in a desired position comprising a longitudinal
groove 10 in outer rod 7 and a pin 11 protruding from rod
6 and through the groove. This may be provided with a
screw thread for example and an external nut or other
member be screwed on when the seat is in a desired
position to securely hold the pin in that desired position
and thereby the seat.
The embodiment shown in Figures 2 and 3 is a
crude one and a better version is shown in Figure 4 in
which two rods 6 are shown, at either side of the
pushchair and the outer rod 7 is a U-shaped tubular frame
forming the support for the seat base itself. Rods 6 can
slide longitudinally within tube 7. Tube 7 may be
provided with one or more internal pins (not shown) which
are urged by a spring or other resilient means into a
position where they extend radially inwards. Rods 6 are
provided with a plurality of holes 12 and the pin can
extend into anyone of these to lock the mechanism into any
desired position. Release buttons 13 are provided which
act upon the or each pin so that by depressing the lower
part of each button 13 the pin is retracted from a hole,
against and spring urging force and by releasing this the
pin is urged radially inwards again. Thus, to alter the
seat position the adjuster buttons 13 are depressed, rod 7
and thereby the seat base is moved to its desired position
and the lever is released from allowing the pin to fall
into the nearest appropriate hole 12. Clearly, both
adjuster buttons 13 and their associated pins must be
actuated to move the seat simultaneously. Mechanisms may
be provided which are linked both adjuster buttons so that
by a single adjustment both buttons are depressed
simultaneously.
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A wedge may be used, mounted on the underside of
the seat or on the frame for example, with one or more
push rods acted on by the wedge so that relative movement
of the wedge and rod(s) causes the rods to move laterally,
s forcing them into and out of engagement with a lock
mechanism.
It will be appreciated that many other
mechanisms employing generally telescopic principles from
a fixed pivot point on the frame may be used.
Figure 5 shows an alternative type of movement
in which, instead of pivoting with respect to the frame, a
member connected to the seat slides with respect to the
frame. Again, many variations on sliding mechanisms may
be used. In the figure, a member 14 which is attached to
the seat portion is slidably attached to frame member 8
and can slide from the position shown in solid lines to
the lie back position 14' shown in dashed lines.
If desired, combinations of telescoping and
sliding movement can be used. For example, cooperating
rods may slide a certain distance then telescope~
Figures 6 to 9 show a mechanism for locking and
locking a sliding seat movement mechanism. Figures 6 to 8
represent generally a cross-sectional view through A-A of
Figure 9 which is a view of the underside of a pushchair
seat and associated lock/unlock mechanism. A U-shaped
tubular pushchair base support frame 14 is pivotally
mounted to a bracket 15 which is arranged to slide on
frame member 8 of the pushchair. Numeral 16 designates a
frame member supporting the back rest part of pushchair
seat and which is mounted at one end to frame 14 and at
its other end to a transverse support rod 15 forming a
pivot at the top end of the seat with the frame. Also
pivotally mounted to bracket 15 is a lock member 17 which
- is pivotally mounted at a pivot 18 towards its top.
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Locking member 17 is formed with a cut-out l9 forming a
slot having a reduced neck portion extending inwards to a
wider portion, towards its lower surface and an extension
20 forming a manually depressable knob. Knob 20 may be
omitted if desired. A spring 21 is mounted between the
lock member 17 and seat frame 40. The mounting point of
the spring on member 17 is preferably slightly above the
opening of slots 19.
A U-shaped locking rod 22 is supported
underneath the seat and is attached at its free ends to
each of the locking members 17, preferably just above the
pivot point 18. As shown more clearly in Figure 9,
release rod 22 is held loosely by brackets 23 underneath
the seat and may be pulled manually towards the front of
the seat. A pair of nipples 24 are mounted on the frame 8
of the pushchair, towards the front thereof and extending
towards each other. Alternatively, these may be
lengthened to provide a cross-bar as shown at 25 on Figure
9 and this may conveniently be used as one of the supports
for a basket for the pushchair (eg a shopping basket) as
is commonly provided. The nipples or cross-bar are
designed to interlock with slot 19 of the locking member
when the is in its lie back position.
As shown in Figure 9, the seat frame 14 may be
narrowed slightly towards its front end. This may be
useful in certain folding pushchair designs in order to
allow the seat properly to fold down without being
obstructed by the frame of the pushchair.
Figure 6 shows the mechanism when the seat is in
its upright, sitting position. In order to move the seat
to its lie back or new born position bracket 15 has to be
slid forwardly with respect to frame 8. This can be
achieved by pulling on frame member 14. It should be
noted that regulations generally require that there be at
least a minimum spacing between rods on pushchairs to
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avoid entrapment of fingers and this is why rod 14 is
shown as being spaced, via the bracket, from rod 8.
Typically, this spacing may 12 mm or greater. As bracket
15, and thereby locking member 17, is moved forwardly (ie
to the left in the figure) member 14 and thereby member 22
and the seat base tends to increase in angle as the other
end of member 16 is pivoted and this increased angle is
shown in Figure 7. Note that bracket 15 is not shown in
Figures 7 and 8 for clarity. The locking member is moved
forwards until it is obstructed by nipples or rod 24.
Since frame 17 is free to pivot about point 18, it can
lock against nipple 24 by virtue of the nipple extending
into slots 19. The slot is designed such that when in the
position shown in Figure 7, the frame member, and thereby
the bracket and the seat cannot be moved backwards unless
the frame is deliberately pivoted away. Thus, the seat
automatically locks into its forward most (lie back/new
born) position.
In order to disengage the seat and move it back
into its upright position, release rod 22 can be pulled
forward. This pulls on the top part of frame 17 which
causes the lower part of the frame to move in the opposite
direction, thus freeing the slot from nipples 24.
Alternatively, the knob portions 20 may be manually
depressed in some embodiments but this clearly requires
both knobs to be depressed simultaneously whereas the
mechanism of rod 22 requires only one action to
simultaneously release both locking members. When release
rod 22 has been pulled and lock member 17 has been
released from the nipple the pushchair base may then be
moved back and slid into its upright position again.
Spring 21 urges frame member 17 into its position where it
can again be locked into nipple 24 when desired since the
spring is expanded by pulling upon rod 22 and tends to
urge the locking member back again.
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The embodiment of Figures 6 to 9 only has two
positions for the seat, fully upright and fully lie back.
It is possible to have intermediate positions by arranging
for extra spring loaded or otherwise retractable nipples
to be provided on the frame or on the locking member.
These may be provided in pairs for example so that one of
the pair extends into the locking member while the other
lies to the side of the locking member. The free member
can then be depressed and this is linked to the captive
member so that also depresses to free the mechanism. Many
other methods of achieving intermediate positions will be
apparent.
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