Child restraint system
AssigneeIndiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc.
InventorDonald C. Boyle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A child restraint system comprises a retractor attached to a child seat. A restraint harness is coupled at one end to the automatic retractor and is releasably attached at another end to a buckle attached to the child seat. The retractor is normally biased to tighten the harness but will yield to an opposite force sufficient to overcome the normal bias. The harness may be further tightened by actuating a manual adjustment device. The restraint harness may be any suitable restraint harness including a three-point, four-point, or five-point restraint.
Claims20
An occupant restraint system comprising:
- a child seat;
- a restraint harness having a retraction portion,
- a retractor carried by the child seat and receiving therein the retraction portion of the restraint harness, the retractor normally biased in a retracting direction to automatically draw the retraction portion of the restraint harness into the retractor to tighten the restraint harness against an occupant of the child seat, and
- a tensioning member extending through an exterior portion of the child seat and coupled to the retractor and manually actuatable to further tighten the restraint harness against the occupant of the child seat.
An occupant restraint system comprising:
- a support body,
- an automatic retractor assembly mounted to the support body,
- a restraint harness comprising a restraining member having one end mounted to a tongue configured to releasably and lockingly engage a buckle attached to the support body, and an opposite end mounted to the automatic retractor assembly,
- a bias member normally urging the automatic retractor assembly in a retracting direction to take up slack in the restraining member but yieldable to allow pay-out of the restraining member in a pay-out direction generally opposite to the retracting direction, and
- a manual tensioning member extending through an exterior portion of the support body and actuatable to incrementally retract the restraining member within the automatic retractor assembly.
An occupant restraint system configured for use in a vehicle, the occupant restraint system comprising:
- a child seat having a support body configured to receive an occupant, the support body comprising a seat back and a seat bottom,
- a restraint harness for restraining the occupant of the child seat, the restraint harness defining opposing ends,
- a retracting device carried by the seat, the retraction device comprising a frame, a ratchet wheel movably mounted to the frame and including a plurality of spaced apart teeth pairs wherein one of the opposing ends of the restraint harness is received about the ratchet wheel, the ratchet wheel defining a longitudinal axis,
- a stop member biased to engage any of the plurality of teeth and movable away from the teeth to allow the ratchet wheel to move freely about the longitudinal axis in order to adjust the fit of the restraint harness about the occupant, and
- a tensioning mechanism comprising a shaft extending through an exterior portion of the child seat and coupled to the ratchet wheel and an actuation piece mounted to the shaft, wherein turning the actuation piece moves the ratchet wheel sufficiently to overcome the bias of the stop member and incrementally tighten the restraint harness about the occupant.
A method of restraining an occupant in a child seat comprising the steps of:
- providing a child seat having an automatic locking retractor mounted thereto,
- unlocking the retractor to allow the retractor to automatically move in a retracting direction to tighten a restraint harness connected at one end to the retractor and releasably connectable at another end to the seat, and
- manually actuating a tensioning member extending through an exterior portion of the child seat and coupled to the retractor to further tighten the restraint harness.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.