Bassinet selectively rockable when mounted upon a support as well as being displaced therefrom
A bassinet is releasably mounted upon a support frame which is capable of being selectively rocked or locked against rocking and having locking casters which are releasable to selectively rollingly move the support frame. The bassinet when released from the support frame may be rocked by rocking members provided along the underside. Anti-rocking assemblies provided at opposite ends of each rocking member may be moved to and locked in an anti-rocking position to prevent rocking. Mounting members are provided along the underside of the bassinet and preferably joined to the rocking members releasably locking the bassinet into place upon the support frame.
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This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/474,275 filed on May 29, 2003 and Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 10/854,531 filed on May 26, 2004, which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to bassinets and more particularly to bassinets which are selectively rockable.
BACKGROUNDApplicant's co-pending application, Ser. No. 10/103,580 filed Mar. 21, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth, discloses a bassinet mounted upon a selectively rockable support. The support includes rockable caster assemblies that may be lowered and locked into place for rolling movement to any desired location. The caster assemblies are selectively lockable to prevent movement of the support and to prevent rocking.
The support with the bassinet mounted thereon may further be attached to an adult bed to convert the bassinet into a bedside sleeper. The bassinet of Applicant's earlier application, is not rockable when separated from its support. It is desired to provide a bassinet that is a separate, independent and rockable bassinet when separated from its support.
SUMMARYThe present invention provides an infant enclosure having an infant support of a size sufficient to accommodate and support an infant. The enclosure also having a support frame having rails for supporting the infant support. The infant support also having mounting brackets sized and positioned on one side of the infant support to be affixed to an associated one of the rails. The enclosure also having spaced apart rocking assemblies mounted to the same side as the mounting brackets.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURESThe present invention will be understood from a consideration of the accompanying figures in which like elements are designated by like numerals and wherein:
The caster assemblies and the mechanism for raising and lowering them as described in the aforementioned co-pending application, Ser. No. 10/103,580 are suitable for use in the present invention. However, other casters with locking and raising/lowering mechanism may be employed.
The housings 23-26 preferably extend beyond the ends of the arcuate tubular members to limit the degree to which the support frame may be tilted, thereby increasing the stability of the support frame.
The support frame has four uprights 27, 28, 29 and 30 that are preferably joined at their upper ends with the central portion CP to form inverted U-shaped members. Alternatively, as shown in
Each end 52c, 52d of rocking member 52 defines a hollow recess for respectively receiving a pivotally mounted anti-rocking assembly 53. Anti-rocking assembly 53 is comprised of a hollow rectangular shaped housing 53a having an open side. A pushbutton 53d having a substantially U-shaped cross section is slideably mounted within the opening of housing 53a. A spring (not shown) has one end thereof secured within the hollow interior of push button 53d and the opposite end thereof pressing against the interior surface of housing 53a when pushbutton 53d is mounted therein. Preferably, the spring is normally under compression. Pushbutton 53d has a pair of circular-shaped projections 53e-53f extending outwardly from side 53d-1 and a similar pair of projections 53g-53h extending outwardly from side 53d-2. Projections 53e and 53f are slideably received within a pair of elongated slots 53a-1 and 53a-2 provided in a sidewall of housing 53a and a similar pair of slots 53a-1 and 53a-2 in another sidewall of housing 53a. The projections in pushbutton 53d cooperate with the slots 53a-1 and 53a-2 to limit the range of movement of pushbutton 53d. A pin P or other suitable fastener extends through an opening (not shown) in the rear wall of housing 53a as well as extending through the openings 52e-52f provided in the sidewalls forming the recess 52d to pivotally mount the anti-rocking assembly within the rocking member 52.
The operation of the anti-rocking assembly 53 is as follows:
With the anti-rocking assembly in the erect position shown in
By pressing the button 53d inwardly by a distance sufficient to clear the notch 52g, the anti-rocking assemblies may be pivoted within the recess 52d, as shown in
If desired, a “half-rocking” condition may be achieved by folding the assemblies 53 on only one side.
The anti-rocking assemblies are moved from the collapsed position to the extended position by applying a downward force (such as finger pressure) in the region R as shown in
An alternative anti-rocking assembly is shown in
Rocking members 52 and 54 are each further provided with a pair of mounting members for releasably mounting the bassinet to the support frame. These members are, in one embodiment, identical in design and function. For purposes of simplicity, one such pair of mounting members will be described. Rocking member 52 shown in
Brackets B1 and B2, for example, are mounted upon cross-piece 37 by placing the open ends of the U-shaped brackets above cross piece 37 as shown in
As an alternative to the mounting brackets described hereinabove, one set of the mounting brackets may be aligned so that their arms extend horizontally and so that the center piece C is integrally joined to the rocker member. The rocker member having these horizontally oriented arms is then mounted first by tilting the support board 52 by an amount sufficient to align the open ends of the brackets having the horizontally aligned arms with the cross rail, such as cross rail 37. When these brackets are snapped into place, the support board may then be swung downwardly using the connected end as a pivot to lock the vertically aligned arms of the remaining rocker member with the remaining cross rail 38.
As a further alternative, a pair of spaced mounting brackets B1′ and B2′ may be pivotally mounted to one of the rocker members. The brackets in the remaining rocker member, which may be similar to the brackets described hereinabove, are integrally joined to the rocker arm and have either horizontally or vertically extending sidewalls. These brackets are mounted first to one of the cross rails and the support board is then swung downwardly using the mounting cross rail of pivot, whereupon the pivotally mounted brackets swing to a vertical position to lock the bassinet to the support frame.
The underside of board 51 is further provided with two pairs of mounting brackets B1 and B2 having bifurcated arms which extend in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of board 51 and are configured in a manner similar to those shown in
A bracket 64 is provided with an elongated recess 64a having a curved bottom which conforms to the shape of tubular member 37. A locking member 65 is pivotally mounted to bracket 64 by a suitable pivot pin and is movable between a locking position shown in
The bassinet 50 is mounted in a manner similar to that described hereinabove, namely the brackets B1 and B2 are aligned with cross-piece 38 and snap-fitted thereto. The bassinet is then swung down to a position where it receives cross rail 37 within groove 64a. The locking arm 65 is then rotated from the open position through a quarter turn to cooperate with recess 64a to embrace tubular member 37.
When the bassinet 50 of
When it is desired to use the bassinet without the rocking feature, the rocker members 60 and 62 are swung to their fold-down positions shown in
It should be understood that the infant receiving portion may take any desired form so long it has a bottom or support board, such as a board 51 shown in
Claims
1. An infant enclosure, comprising:
- an infant support of a size sufficient to accommodate and support an infant;
- a support frame having spaced apart cross rails for supporting said infant support;
- said infant support having mounting brackets sized and positioned on a side of said infant support to be affixed to an associated one of said rails; and
- spaced apart rocking assemblies mounted on the same side of said infant support as the mounting brackets; and
- end portions of said rocking assemblies each having retractable anti-rocking assemblies movable between an extended state and a collapsed state; and
- said extended state preventing said infant support from being rocked and said collapsed state enabling the infant support to rock.
2. An infant enclosure, comprising:
- an infant support of a size sufficient to accommodate and support an infant;
- a support frame having spaced apart cross rails for supporting said infant support;
- said infant support having mounting brackets sized and positioned on a side of said infant support to be affixed to an associated one of said rails; and
- spaced apart rocking assemblies mounted on the same side of said infant support as the mounting brackets; and
- the rocking assemblies are swingably mounted upon said infant support and swingable between an extended, upright state and a folded down, collapsed state.
3. The infant enclosure of claim 1 wherein the end portions of the rocking members are each provided with a recess for pivotally mounting an anti-rocking member and to receive the anti-rocking member when in the collapsed position.
4. The infant enclosure of claim 3 wherein each anti-rocking assembly includes a spring-biased pushbutton urged toward a side wall of its associated recess;
- said sidewall having a slot for receiving a portion of said pushbutton when the anti-rocking assembly is in the extended position thereby maintaining the anti-rocking assembly in the extended position.
5. The infant enclosure of claim 4 wherein said pushbutton is telescopingly mounted within a cooperating housing enabling the pushbutton to be depressed to clear said slot enabling the pivotally mounted anti rocking assembly to be pivoted to the collapsed position.
6. The infant enclosure of claim 5 wherein said pushbutton is an elongated member having a longitudinal axis wherein, when the cooperating housing is pivoted to the collapsed position, the longitudinal axis of the pushbutton is transverse to said slot and wherein rotation of the cooperating housing to the extended position moves the longitudinal axis of the pushbutton into alignment with the slot enabling the pushbutton to be snap-fitted into the slot.
7. The infant enclosure of claim 4 wherein each pushbutton has guide pins on opposing sidewalls and each housing has guide slots on opposing sidewalls receiving associated ones of the guide pins to limit movement of the pushbutton within a given range.
8. An infant support adapted to be removably engaged to a supporting frame comprising:
- at least one mounting bracket to removably engage the supporting frame; and
- a pair of rocking assemblies mounted on an underside of said infant support in spaced apart fashion, said rocking assemblies each having an arcuate convex central portion, said assemblies being movable between a first position enabling the support to rock and a second position preventing rocking of the support;
- said rocking assemblies each having a pair of retractable anti-rocking assemblies arranged at ends of said rocking assemblies and movable between an extended state and a collapsed state, respectively corresponding to said first and second positions; and
- said extended state preventing said infant support from being rocked and said collapsed state enabling the infant support to rocked.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein end portions of said rocking assemblies each having retractable anti-rocking assemblies movable between an extended state and a collapsed state respectively corresponding to said first and second positions; and
- said extended state preventing said infant support from being rocked and said collapsed state enabling the infant support to rock.
10. The infant support of claim 8 wherein end portions of said rocking assemblies are each provided with a recess for pivotally mounting an anti-rocking assembly and to receive the anti-rocking assembly when in the collapsed position.
11. The infant support of claim 10 wherein each anti-rocking assembly includes a spring-biased pushbutton urged toward a side wall of its associated recess;
- said sidewall having a slot for receiving a portion of said pushbutton when the anti-rocking assembly is in the extended position thereby maintaining the anti-rocking assembly in the extended position.
12. The infant support of claim 11 wherein said pushbutton is telescopingly mounted within a cooperating housing enabling the pushbutton to be depressed to clear said slot enabling the pivotally mounted anti rocking assembly to be pivoted to the collapsed position.
13. The infant support of claim 12 wherein said pushbutton is an elongated member having a longitudinal axis wherein, when the cooperating housing is pivoted to the collapsed position, the longitudinal axis of the pushbutton is transverse to said slot and wherein rotation of the cooperating housing to the extended position moves the longitudinal axis of the pushbutton into alignment with the slot enabling the pushbutton to be snap fitted into the slot.
14. The infant support of claim 12 wherein each pushbutton has guide pins on opposing sidewalls and each housing has guide slots on opposing sidewalls each receiving associated ones of said guide pins to limit movement of the pushbutton within a given range.
15. A selectively rockable infant enclosure adapted to be removably mounted on a supporting frame comprising:
- means for removably mounting said enclosure on the supporting frame;
- an infant support platform having an infant support side and an opposite side; and,
- spaced apart rockable assemblies mounted on said opposite side of said infant support platform, each of said rockable assemblies having an arcuate portion which engages a support surface for rocking and a means for selectively preventing the arcuate portion from rocking engagement with the support surface; and
- said means for selectively preventing the arcuate portion from rocking engagement with said support surface are stops located adjacent to said arcuate portions.
16. A selectively rockable infant enclosure adapted to be removably mounted on a supporting frame comprising:
- means for removably mounting said enclosure on the supporting frame;
- an infant support platform having an infant support side and an opposite side; and,
- spaced apart rockable assemblies mounted on said opposite side of said infant support platform, each of said rockable assemblies having an arcuate portion which engages a support surface for rocking and a means for selectively preventing the arcuate portion from rocking engagement with the support surface; and
- means for mounting said enclosure on a supporting frame.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 26, 2007
Publication Date: Sep 13, 2007
Applicant: Simplicity, Inc. (Reading, PA)
Inventors: Kenneth Waldman (Reading, PA), Jerome Drobinski (Reading, PA)
Application Number: 11/728,507
International Classification: A47D 9/02 (20060101);