Patents Assigned to Graco Children's Products Inc.
  • Patent number: 11260779
    Abstract: A rotatable child safety seat can include a seat shell for receiving a child therein, a rotating pedestal, and a seat base. The pedestal and seat shell can rotate with respect to the seat base. The pedestal can include a locking pin and the seat base can include a multitude of pin receiving apertures that allow a user to rotate the seat shell and pedestal in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction at a number of different angles or positions. The child safety seat can also include two separate seat belt/LATCH tether pathways. One seat belt/LATCH tether pathway can be provided on the seat back of the seat shell and can be used when the child safety seat is in a forward-facing configuration and the other seat belt/LATCH tether pathway can be provided in the seat base and used when in a rearward-facing configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: Graco Children's Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Brunick, Thomas Jake Mitchell, Andrew Phillip Kitchens, David Hotard
  • Patent number: 11147402
    Abstract: A drinking container is provided that can include a lid member and a cup member. The lid member can include a base member and a spout extending up from the base member. The spout can provide a fluid passageway from outside the drinking container to the volume of the cup member so that a child may drink liquid contained within the cup member. When the lid member is removably coupled to the cup member, two or more seals are created around the circumference of the drinking container between the lid member and the cup member to decrease the likelihood of leakage from between the cup member and the lid member when the lid is coupled to the cup member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS INC.
    Inventors: Richard Rubin, Elliot Cohen
  • Publication number: 20210274945
    Abstract: A child containment system has a child containment structure with a bottom and a perimeter wall surrounding the bottom. A bassinet has an infant support surface and a surrounding wall around the infant support surface. The bassinet can be mounted to the child containment structure with the infant support surface elevated above the bottom of the child containment structure. An infant support unit can have a frame, a bed supported by the frame, and legs that extend from one end infant support unit to the distal second end. The infant support unit is configured for use in a first operational mode in which the infant support unit at least partially positioned within the child containment structure with the bed overlying the bassinet's infant support surface, and with a portion of the legs contacting the bassinet's infant support surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2021
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Applicant: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS INC.
    Inventors: John (Jason) C. Arnold, IV, Brandon Burkholder, Annette Stella, Matthew Rivera
  • Patent number: 11064815
    Abstract: A child safety seat, such as a car seat, booster seat, stroller seat, or high chair, can include a crotch buckle positioner that provides adjustability for the harness system as the child grows. The seat can include a seat bottom, a seat back, a harness system, and a crotch belt positioner. Crotch belt webbing, including a buckle, can extend up through a portion of the crotch belt positioner and is adjusted by the crotch belt positioner. The crotch belt positioner can be adjusted into multiple positions along the seat bottom. Adjusting the crotch belt positioner from a first position to a second position can adjust at least one of the length of the crotch belt webbing that extends about the top surface of the seat bottom and the position that the relational position that the crotch belt webbing extends up through crotch belt positioner with respect to the seat bottom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventor: Joseph Christopher Webb
  • Publication number: 20210161306
    Abstract: The convertible child high-chair and step stool can include a frame having a front leg stand and a rear leg stand. A height adjustment mechanism can be coupled to the front leg stand or the rear leg stand and can be adjustable along the vertical axis of the front leg stand or the rear leg stand from a raised position to a lowered position. The apparatus can also include a booster seat and removable platform step. In the raised position, the booster seat can be coupled to the height adjustment mechanism to provide a high chair. In the lowered position, the booster seat can be removed and the removable platform step can be coupled to the height adjustment mechanism and the frame to provide a step stool. The apparatus can also include wheel assemblies coupled to the frame that limit the potential for tip hazards in the step stool configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2021
    Publication date: June 3, 2021
    Applicant: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Emil Dziak, Connie Yuanfang Gu, Shahnaz Selena Kasam, Ming Cheng Hsu, Chiyuan Chen
  • Patent number: 11013345
    Abstract: A child containment system has a child containment structure with a bottom and a perimeter wall surrounding the bottom. A bassinet has an infant support surface and a surrounding wall around the infant support surface. The bassinet can be mounted to the child containment structure with the infant support surface elevated above the bottom of the child containment structure. An infant support unit can have a frame, a bed supported by the frame, and legs that extend from one end of the infant support unit to the distal second end. The infant support unit is configured for use in a first operational mode in which the infant support unit at least partially positioned within the child containment structure with the bed overlying the bassinet's infant support surface, and with a portion of the legs contacting the bassinet's infant support surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS INC.
    Inventors: John (Jason) C. Arnold, IV, Brandon Burkholder, Annette Stella, Matthew Rivera
  • Publication number: 20210070201
    Abstract: A rotatable child safety seat can include a seat shell for receiving a child therein, a rotating pedestal, and a seat base. The pedestal and seat shell can rotate with respect to the seat base. The pedestal can include a locking pin and the seat base can include a multitude of pin receiving apertures that allow a user to rotate the seat shell and pedestal in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction at a number of different angles or positions. The child safety seat can also include two separate seat belt/LATCH tether pathways. One seat belt/LATCH tether pathway can be provided on the seat back of the seat shell and can be used when the child safety seat is in a forward-facing configuration and the other seat belt/LATCH tether pathway can be provided in the seat base and used when in a rearward-facing configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Applicant: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Brunick, Thomas Jake Mitchell, Andrew Phillip Kitchens, David Hotard
  • Patent number: 10932588
    Abstract: The convertible child high-chair and step stool can include a frame having a front leg stand and a rear leg stand. A height adjustment mechanism can be coupled to the front leg stand or the rear leg stand and can be adjustable along the vertical axis of the front leg stand or the rear leg stand from a raised position to a lowered position. The apparatus can also include a booster seat and removable platform step. In the raised position, the booster seat can be coupled to the height adjustment mechanism to provide a high chair. In the lowered position, the booster seat can be removed and the removable platform step can be coupled to the height adjustment mechanism and the frame to provide a step stool. The apparatus can also include wheel assemblies coupled to the frame that limit the potential for tip hazards in the step stool configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Emil Dziak, Connie Yuanfang Gu, Shahnaz Selena Kasam, Ming Cheng Hsu, Chiyuan Chen
  • Patent number: 10854120
    Abstract: A children's product, such as a playard, can be adjustable from a collapsed configuration to an expanded or use configuration. Marketing displays may be beneficial for selling children's product. These marketing displays may be integrally formed or fixedly coupled to the children's product prior to shipment to the retailer to assist the retailer in marketing the product. The marketing display can be made from materials that resist wrinkling so that the marketing display can be collapsed and shipped with the children's product and then expanded and displayed at the retailer. By integrally forming or fixedly coupling the marketing display into the children's product, the display will not be lost, adding the display to the product will not be forgotten, and/or the display will be properly positioned when the product is adjusted to the expanded configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Kristen Mahan, Laura Holman, Jessica Kattula
  • Patent number: 10829012
    Abstract: A rotatable child safety seat can include a seat shell for receiving a child therein, a rotating pedestal, and a seat base. The pedestal and seat shell can rotate with respect to the seat base. The pedestal can include a locking pin and the seat base can include a multitude of pin receiving apertures that allow a user to rotate the seat shell and pedestal in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction at a number of different angles or positions. The child safety seat can also include two separate seat belt/LATCH tether pathways. One seat belt/LATCH tether pathway can be provided on the seat back of the seat shell and can be used when the child safety seat is in a forward-facing configuration and the other seat belt/LATCH tether pathway can be provided in the seat base and used when in a rearward-facing configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Brunick, Thomas Jake Mitchell, Andrew Phillip Kitchens, David Hotard
  • Patent number: 10829011
    Abstract: An anchor belt retractor system can be provided with a booster seat. The booster seat can include a booster seat base and optionally a seat back. The booster seat base can include a cavity or housing within which the anchor belt retractor system is housed. The anchor belt retractor system can include at least one spool or drum about which webbing can be wound. The system can also include a first anchor webbing having a first end coupled to the spool and a second end coupled to an anchor latch. The system can also include a second anchor webbing having a first end coupled to the spool and a second end coupled to a second anchor latch. The spool or drum can be spring-biased to take up any slack in the first and second anchor webbings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Laurence Campbell, Andrew Phillip Kitchens
  • Patent number: 10800297
    Abstract: A child apparatus can include one or more shells/frames upon which a child can sit or lie. All or a portion of each shell/frame can be covered in soft goods. The soft goods component can include one or more channels or tunnels provided along all or a portion of a perimeter of the soft goods component. One or more stiffening members can be inserted into the one or more channels or tunnels. The shell/frame can include one or more cavities for receiving a portion of the stiffening member therein to couple the soft goods component to the shell/frame. Alternatively, the shell/frame can include soft goods retaining tabs along a back or side of the shell/frame, and the elongated stiffening member can be inserted between each soft goods retaining tab and the back or side of the shell/frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Kelly Runk, Maureen Tobin, Brittany Hassler, William Conway, Nicholas James Lombardi, Taylor Daniel Genoway
  • Patent number: 10710478
    Abstract: A rotatable child safety seat can include a seat base configured to rest on a vehicle seat and a seat shell for receiving a child therein. The seat shell can rotate with respect to the seat base and with a rotation axis offset from a center of the longitudinal axis of the seat base. The seat base can include a seat belt lock-off system for maintaining positioning of the automobile seat belt with respect to the seat base and for adding tension into the automobile seat belt. The child safety seat can include two separate seat belt/LATCH belt pathways. One seat belt/LATCH belt pathway can be provided along the seat back of the seat shell and used when the child safety seat is in a forward-facing configuration and the other seat belt/LATCH belt pathway can be provided in the seat base and used when in a rearward-facing configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Nicholas Henry Reaves, Taylor Daniel Genoway, Thomas Jake Mitchell
  • Patent number: 10562419
    Abstract: A child's booster seat is provided and can include a booster seat base and seat back. The booster seat base can be collapsed or folded from an in-use configuration to a collapsed configuration to improve portability of the booster seat base. The booster seat base can include multiple seating surface panels that are rotatably coupled to one another to allow the booster seat base to be collapsed from an in-use width to a collapsed width that is less than the in-use width. The booster seat base can also be coupled and decoupled from the booster seat back. The booster seat base can include tab members that can be inserted into tab receiving cavities of the booster seat back. Adjustment of the booster seat base from the in-use configuration to the collapsed configuration can also facilitate removal of the tab members from the tab receiving cavities of the booster seat back.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Graco Children's Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Taylor Daniel Genoway, Nicholas Henry Reaves, Joonho Na, Andrew Phillip Kitchens, Joshua William Gazaway, Matthew Alan Morgenstern
  • Publication number: 20200008587
    Abstract: A child safety seat, such as a car seat, booster seat, stroller seat, or high chair, can include a crotch buckle positioner that provides adjustability for the harness system as the child grows. The seat can include a seat bottom, a seat back, a harness system, and a crotch belt positioner. Crotch belt webbing, including a buckle, can extend up through a portion of the crotch belt positioner and is adjusted by the crotch belt positioner. The crotch belt positioner can be adjusted into multiple positions along the seat bottom. Adjusting the crotch belt positioner from a first position to a second position can adjust at least one of the length of the crotch belt webbing that extends about the top surface of the seat bottom and the position that the relational position that the crotch belt webbing extends up through crotch belt positioner with respect to the seat bottom.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2019
    Publication date: January 9, 2020
    Applicant: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventor: Joseph Christopher Webb
  • Patent number: 10518671
    Abstract: A car seat may include a seat shell configured for supporting a child thereon, a base supporting the seat shell, and a support frame positioned at least partially within the seat shell and/or the base and configured to manage energy during a crash event. The support frame may include a first frame portion and a second frame portion attached to the first frame portion. The first frame portion may include a first side support and a second side support spaced apart from one another, and the second frame portion may include a first side support and a second side support spaced apart from one another. A stiffness of each of the first side support and the second side support of the second frame portion may be different than a stiffness of each of the first side support and the second side support of the first frame portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Graco Children's Products Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Jake Mitchell, Daniel Brunick, Nicholas Lombardi, William Conway
  • Patent number: 10470585
    Abstract: An adjustable mode child rocker can be adjusted to provide a number of different swinging/rocking motions to a child positioned within the rocker. The child rocker can include a seat assembly that can include a seat upon which a child can sit. The child rocker can also include a trolley assembly that is directly or indirectly attached to the seat assembly and can include multiple wheels near the bottom of the trolley assembly. The child rocker can also include at least one stationary track and at least one adjustable track for the wheels to move along to provide the different rocking/swinging motions to the seat assembly. The adjustable track(s) is adjustable from at least a first position to a second position to change the distance between the troughs of the respective stationary and adjustable tracks along a longitudinal axis of the child rocker and thereby changing the rocking/swinging motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS INC.
    Inventors: Chad Brandon Robbins, Brian S. Kelly, Ryan William Nottage, Lauren Pusey, Andrew Liu, Nicholas E. Papageorge
  • Publication number: 20190231087
    Abstract: The convertible child high-chair and step stool can include a frame having a front leg stand and a rear leg stand. A height adjustment mechanism can be coupled to the front leg stand or the rear leg stand and can be adjustable along the vertical axis of the front leg stand or the rear leg stand from a raised position to a lowered position. The apparatus can also include a booster seat and removable platform step. In the raised position, the booster seat can be coupled to the height adjustment mechanism to provide a high chair. In the lowered position, the booster seat can be removed and the removable platform step can be coupled to the height adjustment mechanism and the frame to provide a step stool. The apparatus can also include wheel assemblies coupled to the frame that limit the potential for tip hazards in the step stool configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Emil Dziak, Connie Yuanfang Gu, Shahnaz Selena Kasam, Ming Cheng Hsu, Chiyuan Chen
  • Publication number: 20190168643
    Abstract: A child apparatus can include one or more shells/frames upon which a child can sit or lie. All or a portion of each shell/frame can be covered in soft goods. The soft goods component can include one or more channels or tunnels provided along all or a portion of a perimeter of the soft goods component. One or more stiffening members can be inserted into the one or more channels or tunnels. The shell/frame can include one or more cavities for receiving a portion of the stiffening member therein to couple the soft goods component to the shell/frame. Alternatively, the shell/frame can include soft goods retaining tabs along a back or side of the shell/frame, and the elongated stiffening member can be inserted between each soft goods retaining tab and the back or side of the shell/frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Applicant: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventors: Kelly Runk, Maureen Tobin, Brittany Hassler, William Conway, Nicholas James Lombardi, Taylor Daniel Genoway
  • Patent number: 10258761
    Abstract: A children's soothing device, such as a motorized swing, a motorized glider, a motorized rocker, a motorized bouncer, a playard, a crib, a car seat, a stroller, an infant carrier, or a bassinet, can include one or more speakers, one or more vibrating motors or solenoids, and one or more light attractions or lights for soothing a child. The children's soothing device can include a control system for storing and reading sound and other data files to output music or other sounds through the speakers and to activate and deactivate the vibrating motors in a synchronized pattern with the sound or music. The children's soother device can also evaluate the sound and other data files to synchronize the activation, deactivation, and/or change of state of the light attraction or lights with the sound/music and the vibrating motors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: GRACO CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS INC.
    Inventor: Bart A. Smudde