Child vehicle seat with child-restraint harness adjustment mechanism

A child-restraint seat comprising

• a seat shell including a bottom seat portion,
• a child-restraint harness coupled to the seat shell, and
• a harness-control panel formed to include a belt-receiving opening receiving a shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness, the harness-control panel being mounted on the seat shell for up and down movement relative to the seat shell to raise and lower the shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness with respect to the bottom seat portion to harness small-sized children and large-sized children in a restrained position in the seat shell, the seat shell further including a back support portion positioned to lie at an angle to the bottom seat portion and further comprising means coupled to the back support portion for moving the harness-control panel up and down relative to the bottom seat portion,
• moving means including panel height locators coupled to the back support portion at different elevations above the bottom seat portion and means coupled to the harness-control panel for engaging a selected one of the panel height locators to establish a selected elevation of the harness-control panel and the shoulder belt portions of the child-restraint harness received in the belt-receiving opening formed in the harness-control panel above the bottom seat portion, wherein the back support portion is formed to include an opening therein and the harness-control panel includes a back plate formed to include the belt-receiving opening and at least one support arm coupled to the back plate and to the engaging means and arranged to extend through the opening formed in the back support portion.

A child-restraint seat comprising

• a seat back formed to include first and second slanted channels aligned in spaced-apart diverging relation,
• a harness-control plate including a back plate formed to include a first slot communicating with the first slanted channel and a second slot communicating with the second slanted channel,
• a child-restraint harness including a first shoulder belt passing through the first slot and slanted channel and a second shoulder belt passing through the second slot and slanted channel, and
• means for moving the harness-control plate up and down relative to the seat back to move the first and second shoulder belts passing through the first and second slots in the first and second slanted channels up and down relative to the seat back to accommodate small-sized and large-sized children, the seat back being positioned to lie between the harness-control plate and the moving means.

A child-restraint seat comprising

• a seat back formed to include first and second slanted channels aligned in spaced-apart diverging relation,
• a harness-control plate including a back plate formed to include a first slot communicating with the first slanted channel and a second slot communicating with the second slanted channel,
• a child-restraint harness including a first shoulder belt passing through the first slot and slanted channel and a second shoulder belt passing through the second slot and slanted channel,
• means for moving the harness-control plate up and down relative to the seat back to move the first and second shoulder belts passing through the first and second slots in the first and second slanted channels up and down relative to the seat back to accommodate small-sized and large-sized children, the moving means including a belt support bar arranged to lie behind the seat back with the seat back located between the harness-control plate and the belt support bar and wherein the first and second shoulder belts exit the first and second slanted channels to engage the belt support bar,
• wherein the seat back is formed to include a guide slot, the harness-control panel further including a support arm coupled to the back plate and to a spring coupled to the belt support bar to move therewith and arranged to pass through the guide slot formed in the seat back,
• wherein the seat back further includes at least two position locator slots oriented to receive the belt support bar therein and the moving means includes at least one spring arranged to urge the belt support bar into one of the position locator slots upon movement of the belt support bar to lie in confronting relation therewith, and
• bar release means for selectively moving the belt support bar against the at least one spring to disengage the one of the position locator slots to enable a user to move the belt support bar up and down relative to the seat back, thereby moving the harness-control panel and the first and second shoulder belts up and down relative to the seat back.

A child-restraint seat comprising

• a seat back formed to include first and second slanted channels aligned in spaced-apart diverging relation and formed to include a guide slot,
• a harness-control plate including a back plate formed to include a first slot communicating with the first slanted channel and a second slot communicating with the second slanted channel, the harness-control plate including a support arm appended to the back plate and extending therefrom through the guide slot,
• a child-restraint harness including a first shoulder belt passing through the first slot and slanted channel and a second shoulder belt passing through the second slot and slanted channel,
• an anchor member coupled to the seat back and formed to include at least two panel height locators, and
• a panel-adjustment assembly coupled to the support arm and including a locking member that is movable relative to the support arm between a first position engaging one of the at least two panel height locators to prevent the harness-control plate from moving relative to the seat back and a second position disengaged from the at least two panel height locators to allow the harness-control plate to move up and down relative to the seat back to move the first and second shoulder belts passing through the first and second slots and passing through the slanted channels up and down relative to the seat back to accommodate small-sized and large-sized children.