Baby Carrier Rocker
An improved portable baby carrier rocking system in which allows almost all existing car seat carriers, baby carriers and baby bassinets to be attached to it. This baby carrier rocker mounts underneath the baby carrier and attaches to it by a simple strap. This baby carrier rocker can be battery operated or powered by an external power supply. It has different rocking speed settings and it will rock any bottom shaped carrier profile from flat to curved. An electric motor drives an offset link in which raises and lowers four supporting arms underneath the baby carrier, thus rocking the carrier back and forth from its center pivoting position. This baby carrier rocker has extendable and retractable legs in which flips out for greater rocker stability. Its novel compact size makes this rocker easily transportable and can be used in small confined areas like in restaurants, camping tents, in crowded rooms, areas etc.
This application is a non-provisional application of Applicant's provisional application Ser. No. 61/401,408 filed on 13 Aug. 2010.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTIONExisting baby swings and rockers today have several problems in which limits their usage or accessibility. They are either large in size in which makes them difficult to carry, occupies too much floor area, or they cannot suite most existing car seat carriers, baby carriers, or baby bassinets. The basic swing is a very useful and important device for babies and is used in almost every baby's household. The problem today is being able to bring this rocking action to a tight location like at a restaurant, in a camping tent or trailer or in a tight public area. Also to have it small in size in order to be able to carry it on you in a small bag, thus leaving your arms free. Most rocking or swinging apparatus are large in size and many do not accept all types and styles of existing car seat and baby carriers. This is also a problem due to many families owning more than one type of baby carrier. Also today portable baby bassinets are becoming more popular and there are few existing methods for rocking them with a portable device.
Some existing so called “portable” swings or rockers are designed the same as the original larger common swings, but made smaller. Some of these designs do fold partly, but normally very little. Commonly the two swing side frames fold together. All these folding swings normally do not accept third party baby carriers or bassinets. They either do have a built in one, in which is big and balky, or they can only accept their own brand name type. U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,205 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,966 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,862 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,994 B1.
There have been a few other types of rockers such as ones that have a movable platform in which one end is fixed and the other end moves up and down. This does not produce a “rocking” affect as you're only lifting one end up and down. To achieve a true rocking motion, both ends should move up and down opposite to each other. U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,806 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,949 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,731 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,680 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,080.
Another existing system is by gliding a flat surface horizontal to the floor, thus a back and forth motion. Again, this is not a “rocking” motion as with this novel invention here.
This new novel idea, rocks the baby seat carrier or bassinet from underneath, pivoting around a centre point, at the centre of the baby carrier, rocking it equally in both directions in an up and down motion.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or by modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, the after mentioned problems and difficulties are obviated by the present invention. This is a novel baby carrier rocker in witch all types of baby carriers and bassinets attach to the top of it and it will rock it back and forth at different predetermined speeds. It is small in size, easily portable, and is stable due to its folding and retractable legs.
Therefore it's among the primary objectives of this invention to be mounted underneath and to accept existing car seats, baby carriers and most portable baby bassinets.
A second object of this invention is to be physically as small in size as possible for easily carried and transported. Also to occupy the least amount as space when operating in small or restricted space areas.
A third objective of this present invention is to have its legs and attachments easily foldable without the use of any tools and/or the removal of any pieces.
A forth objective of this invention is for there to be no adjustments necessary to adapt for different baby carrier styles and configurations.
A fifth object of this rocking device is to maintain a minimum baby carrier height above the rocking surface.
A sixth object is to rock the baby carrier from its centre position and not from just one end, thus creating a natural up and down rocking motion.
Another objective is for this rocking device to accept all types of carrier bottom profiles, regardless if its curved or straight in nature.
Still another objective of this invention is not to have any overhead obstructions above the carrier in order to have full access and maximum visibility of the baby.
A last objective is to have several predetermined rocking speed settings and to be able to accept rechargeable batteries or regular batteries and/or from an external plug in power supply or from a car battery system.
The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, with respect to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
Both the LH. 9 Arms and the RH. Arms 8, swivel around the center axis of the arm pins 11. These arms 8 and 9 are locked into place by a clamp block 12 located in between them. The clamp block 12 is slid upwards by placing the tip of your finger inside of the notch 51, thus allowing the arms 8 and 9 to rotate around the arm pin 11. Then the clamp block 12 is pressed back down against the rocker plate 27, thus binding the arms 8 and 9 into position. Each arm 8 and 9 does have a rubber grip pad 10 adhered to the top of them. These grip pads 10 will come into contact with the baby seat carrier 15 as shown in
The rocker plate 27, pivots around the two rocker pin 24. This rocking action raises and lowers both ends of the rocker plate 27, as shown by the rocker angle 45.
This rocking action will in turn also rock the notched out baby carrier 43 back and fourth. Under the frame 1, there is a clearance 46, in which only the two front legs 3 and the side legs 5 do make contact with the supporting surface 47. This clearance 46 allows the supporting surface 47 to be uneven, or not perfectly flat. Also this clearance 46 ensures that both the front legs 3 and side legs 5 are in contact with the supporting surface 47 for maximum stability. Both ends of the straps 13 are rigidly fixed to the rocker plate 27 through the strap slot 50.
The speed of this rocking action is determined by its predetermined or variable speed setting of its switch 19. Also there is a current limiting device with in the circuit in order to safety cut the power to the motor 20 if this invention should get jammed or should tilt over for any reason.
This bassinet adaptor frame 35 will support the bottom of a typical bassinet 34. This bassinet adaptor frame 35 fits in-between and is supported by the four arms 8 and 9. The strap 13 is fixed to the strap slot 50 on both sides of the rocker plate 27. It passes underneath the bassinet adaptor frame 35, then upwards around the top of the bassinet 34. Then the cam buckle 28 connects both ends of the straps 13 firmly together. Any other type of connection could also be used here. By pulling the strap 13 tight, the bassinet 34 will be pressed downwards onto the top of the bassinet adaptor frame 35, and this frame 35 will then be pressed down tightly on to the top surface of the rubber grip pads 10 on each of the arms 8 and 9, thus rigidly fastening the bassinet 35 to the baby seat rocker. The end plate 44 is used to help prevent the bassinet 34 to slip or slide forward due to the rocking motion of the baby seat rocker.
Please note that here only two different methods of folding this bassinet frame are shown. Many other folding methods could be used, but the concept of a folding/collapsing bassinet frame for easy transport and storage, remains the same.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the above described preferred embodiments and alternate embodiments, it should be noted that various other embodiments and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the embodiments described herein and the drawings appended hereto are merely illustrative of the features of the invention and should not be construed to be the only variants thereof nor limited thereto.
Claims
1-8. (canceled)
9. A portable and collapsible baby car seat and baby carrier rocker comprising:
- a. of four retractable legs, in which can be extended outwards to lift the rocker if the ground and to increase the rocker stability, and these legs could fold inside bottom of the frame, thus preventing any need for further securing these legs in this position;
- b. of these legs being able to be pivoted and locked outwards, forwards, and 90 degrees from the rocking motion direction from the frame for increased stability and greater sideways support without the need of any tools or the removal of any parts;
- c. of four pivoting and folding arms in which can be extended and locked outwards 90 degrees from the rocker plate, and supports the bottom of different size and styles of baby car seat carriers, bassinets and baby carriers;
- d. of four support arms in which pivots around the arm pins without the use of tools and folds and locks inside of the rocker plate for transport;
- e. of four support arms in which it's ends are sloped to better match the bottom curve profile of a typical baby carrier, thus increasing the surface contact between the sloped bottom surface and baby carrier;
- f. of support arms in which could have non slip rubber or hook and loop grip pads on its sloped end surfaces in order to help prevent the rocking item from sliding off of these arms, hook and loop should also be attached to the bottom surface of the item being rocked for additional grip;
- g. of the support arms having sides on their outer edge in order to limit the sideways movement of the item being rocked acting as a positive stop;
- h. of a clamp block in which is lifted to physically lock and to act as a wedge in between the two opposite support arms in both the extended and retracted position without the use of tools.
10. A baby rocker comprising of
- a. a rocker plate in which pivots around its center and supports the four support arms;
- b. a rocker plate in which pivots, and rocks around the center of gravity of the object being rocked, thus reducing the power requirements of the motor and battery consumption;
- c. a rocking plate in which is connected by a motor and yoke near one end in which lifts and lower this rocker plate, thus rocking it back and forth;
- d. an electric motor in which is variable speed and can be stopped and started from any angle or position with in its rocking range that positively drives the rocker plate in both the up and downwards position by a yoke towards one end of the rocking plate;
- e. an electric motor in which will maintain a constant positive rocking speed regardless of any allowable rocking weight changes or with blankets added and which will stop turning if it stalls, or if the rocker should tilt or flip over;
- f. an adjustable quick release safety strap connected to each side of the rocker plate, and follows the same path of a typical car-seat seat-belt, and is also used for attaching a baby bassinet, and a front and back adjustable strap could be attached to the rocker plate in this same way although not shown here, this strap could be attached by a buckle, by hook and loop, or by any other common attachment method.
11. A baby rocker comprising of:
- a. a low profile frame in which maintains a low center of gravity of the item being rocked, as low to the ground as possible, thus increasing the rocking item stability and the baby safety;
- d. having the capability of stopping and locking the rocking motion at any position with in its rocking range, thus allowing different fixed seat angles to better facilitate feeding, sleeping the baby, and for playing etc.;
- e. a bassinet adapter frame in which attaches on top of the rocker plate support arms in its open position in which a baby bassinet, or any other type of baby carrier, stability and the baby safety;
- f. the same strap as in claim 10 attaching over the baby bassinet securing it to the bassinet adapter frame and to the four rocker support arms;
- g. a bassinet adapter frame with fixed end plates on both opposite ends, to help stop the bassinet from sliding forward or backwards during rocking, or yet another method is adjustable end plates in which are lockable, and could be extended or retracted in the forward and rear rocking position as required;
- h. a bassinet adapter frame that is hinged and can be folded onto itself for easy transport and storage, or another method of folding a bassinet adaptor frame is by having pivoting links in which folds into its self.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 1, 2011
Publication Date: Feb 16, 2012
Inventor: Robin Lapointe (Pierrefonds)
Application Number: 13/136,392