Child restraint system with posture fit mechanism
AssigneeBritax Child Safety, Inc.
InventorsQuentin G. Walsh, Mitchell L. Shellenberger, Brandon Hoover, Mark Matthew Messner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A child seat comprising: an outer shell supporting an inner shell therein, the inner shell and the outer shell together defining a child protection region within the seat; an adjustment mechanism disposed between the inner shell and the outer shell defining a trajectory of movement for the inner shell relative to the outer shell, wherein relative movement between the inner shell and the outer shell along the trajectory of movement adjusts a size and a shape of the child protection region of the seat.
Claims20
A child seat adjustment mechanism comprising:
- a latch having a pair of opposing latching pins mounted to an inner shell of a child seat via a release lever, each latching pin constrained to travel within a respective extension track of a pair of opposing extension tracks of an outer shell of the child seat in a first unlocked configuration;
- wherein each of the pair of extension tracks comprises a peripheral wall defining a trajectory of movement between the inner shell and the outer shell and a plurality of corresponding locking apertures for receiving and retaining the latching pins in a second locked configuration.
A method of adjusting a child protection region of a child safety seat formed between an outer shell and a moveable inner shell, comprising:
- unlocking a biased adjustment mechanism comprising a pair of latching pins releasing the seat from a compact configuration;
- sliding the inner shell along a pair of arcuate extension tracks to reposition the inner shell relative to the outer shell;
- aligning the latching pins with a pair of respective locking apertures of the arcuate extension tracks;
- and
- locking the inner shell against the outer shell in an extended configuration.
A child seat comprising:
- an outer shell supporting an inner shell therein, the inner shell and the outer shell together defining a child protection region within the seat;
- and
- an adjustment mechanism configured to move the inner shell relative to the outer shell;
- wherein the inner shell comprises a posture support surface;
- and
- wherein movement of the inner shell relative to the outer shell adjusts a size and a shape of the child protection region of the seat to transition the seat between a compact configuration and an extended configuration by adjusting a distance and an angular orientation of the posture support surface relative to the outer shell thereby shaping the child protection region to encourage the child to adopt a supine orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.