INFANT SEAT ADAPTER

Abstract

A seat adapter for facilitating the use of playground equipment by infants. The seat adapter comprises: a back member; an infant holding portion attached to the back member at a lower location, a left side location and a right side location thereby defining openings for the infant's legs and torso; and upper fasteners and at least one of lower fasteners and mid-way fasteners for attaching the seat adapter to, and over, the piece of playground equipment. The seat adapter is particularly useful for use by young infants.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an infant holding device, in particular an infant seat adapter suitable for attaching to common playground equipment to facilitate use by an infant.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Infants commonly enjoy being rocked in a swing and much equipment for this activity exists for indoor use, typically requiring a support framework to hold the equipment up off the floor. However, playground equipment, for example, seesaws, swings, carousels, and the like, is generally not designed to suit infants, particularly young infants.

Japanese patent application no. 2000-247112 (publication no. JP2002028376; Mihoshi) discloses a stretching cloth with bands attachable to a common playground swing to prevent a baby or toddler from falling off the swing. The stretchy cloth is placed from the belly through the crotch to the back and fastened with shoulder bands. Another band on the stretchy cloth is fixed on the handrail of the swing and a further band is fixed on the seat of the swing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an infant seat adapter for removably attaching to a piece of equipment and carrying/holding the infant in the adapter. The infant seat adapter is particularly suitable for use with playground equipment and the like, however other uses may become apparent to a user and the description herein is not intended to imply a limitation to any particular use.

It is a particular feature of some embodiments of the infant seat adapter, that it is conveniently usable with a variety of playground equipment, rather than merely one type of equipment.

It is another feature of some embodiments of the infant seat adapter, that it is adapted to be usable by a wide range of infants, including, and particularly for, relatively young infants, i.e. for use with swings, and other such equipment, that is designed for relatively young infants.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention provides a seat adapter for facilitating the use of playground equipment, the seat adapter comprising: a back member; an infant holding portion attached to the back member at a lower location, a left side location and a right side location, thereby defining openings for the infant's legs and torso; and upper fasteners and at least one of lower fasteners and mid-way fasteners, for attaching the seat adapter to, and over, the piece of playground equipment.

According to some embodiments, the seat adapter is rollable and/or foldable for being tied into a package via one or more of the fasteners; and in one modification, one or more fasteners is in the form of a strap for ease of carrying the seat adapter.

According to some embodiments, the seat adapter's back member and the infant holding/restraining portion are made of a stretchy fabric material. According to some embodiments, the seat adapter's back member comprises horizontal or vertical slats for infant back support.

According to particular embodiments, the seat adapter it is adapted for use with an infant playground swing. According to other particular embodiments, the seat adapter is adapted for use with a playground carousel. According to still other particular embodiments, the seat adapter is adapted for use with a playground seesaw.

According to some embodiments, the seat adapter further comprises a back support member. According to some embodiments, the seat adapter is adapted for simultaneous use by a pair of infants and comprises a pair of back members; a pair of infant holding portions; and a support mechanism between the pair of back members.

According to particular embodiments, the present invention provides a seat adapter in combination with an infant playground swing. The playground swing comprises: a seat; a back; a pair of handrails; and a front bar. The seat adapter is disposed above the front bar and comprises an infant support and holding mechanism; and a swing connecting mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be more clearly understood upon reading of the following detailed description of non-limiting exemplary embodiments thereof, with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an infant seat adapter of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is another embodiment of the infant seat adapter of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the infant seat adapter of the present invention in a packaged, rolled up, ready to carry manner;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are perspective views illustrating the infant seat adapter of the present invention attached to two common pieces of playground equipment, a swing and a carousel;

FIG. 5A and 5B are perspective views of other embodiments of the infant seat adapter of the present invention adapted for use with a seesaw; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the infant seat adapter of the present invention wherein it is adapted for use with two infants.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an infant seat adapter of the present invention to facilitate infants using common playground equipment. The infant seat adapter comprises a back member 10 and a triangularly shaped infant restraining or holding portion 12. Back member 10 is typically made of a comfortable yet washable fabric material, for example woven nylon, and is thus flexible to help it suit playground equipment of various configurations and be comfortable to an infant (not shown).

To snugly secure the infant in the seat adapter, infant holding portion 12 is typically made of a stretchy material; else it comprises stretchy portions in conjunction with a material such as that of back member 10, for example, stretchy portions 14a, 14b, and 14c. According to some embodiments, the seat adapter comprises an alternative mechanism for securing the infant in a snug fashion, for example, via tightenable straps or the like (not shown).

Infant holding portion 12 is attached to back member 10 at a lower location 16, a right side location 18 and a left side location 20. The aforementioned attachment locations 16, 18 and 20 define openings 22, 24 and 26 for the infant's legs and torso to enter so that the infant can be secured in the seat adapter.

Back member 10 is typically rectangular in shape, although not limited to any particular shape. To facilitate fastening the seat adapter to various pieces of playground equipment, back member 10 comprises upper fasteners 28 and lower fasteners 30, typically attached to the back member at its four corners. These fasteners 28 and 30 are preferably constituted by fastener types that allow quick and easy attachment and release. Examples of such fasteners include hook and loop fasteners; snap-fitting fasteners; ribbons or rope; hook and eyelet type fasteners; belt-like fasteners and so on. In addition, the seat adapter comprises fasteners 32 located about midway along the back member 10, for example, at locations 18 and 20.

According the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the back member 10 is simply a piece of fabric, however, according to other embodiments, the back member 10 comprises a plurality of parallel slats 34, as shown in FIG. 2. Although slats 34 are arranged vertically in FIG. 2, alternatively, they may be arranged horizontally. According to some embodiments, the seat adapter is conveniently packagable for carrying by folding slats 34 in an accordion-like fashion or else in a rolled up fashion, and then tied using the fasteners, as shown in FIG. 3. In a modification of this embodiment, one or more of the fastener(s) is in the form of a strap that allows easy carrying as a side bag.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate the infant seat adapter of the present invention attached to two common pieces of playground equipment. In FIG. 4A, the seat adapter is connected to a common playground swing 36 designed for relatively young infants; and in FIG. 4B the seat adapter is connected to a common playground carousel 38.

The swing 36 comprises a seat 40, a back 42 a rope or chain 44 from which the swing hangs, as well as a pair of hand rails 46 and a front bar 48, which are often integrally formed. It should however be understood that the infant set adapter can be used with swings having a variety of designs and the swing depicted herein is merely exemplary.

In addition to facilitating the use of playground equipment by infants, another benefit of the present invention is that it is adaptable to essentially prevent hand and/or mouth access by the infant to the playground equipment, thereby preventing one avenue for the spread of germs and reducing the chances of illness. For instance, it can be observed that the adapter seat is disposed on top of the front bar 48 thereby precluding the infant from teething on it. In this regard, the infant adapter seat may further comprise pieces of material or fabric (not shown) at the sides or front thereof to prevent direct hand and/or mouth access by the infant to any handrails or other rails of playground equipment.

Upper fasteners 28 of the infant seat adapter are attached to chain 44 of the swing 36 and middle fasteners 32 are attached to hand rails 46. Lower fasteners 30 may be attached to either a lower front portion of the swing 36 or hand rail 44; or as shown in this case, they need not be attached. The infant seat adapter is analogously attachable to carousel 38.

Referring now to FIGS. 5A and 5B, additional embodiments of the infant seat adapter are illustrated wherein it is adapted for use with a common playground seesaw 50 having a fulcrum 52 and handles 54. FIG. 5A illustrates the infant seat adapter in use with seesaw 50; and FIG. 5B shows more detail and further options. For helping suit the seat adapter for use with seesaw 50, in some embodiments the seat adapter comprises a support board 56 to provide additional back support to the infant. Lower fasteners 30 can be tied to each other underneath seesaw 50; as can fasteners 32, as shown with the seat adapter at the right side of the seesaw. Alternatively, lower fasteners 30 may be tied/attached to the seesaw's handle 54 (as shown with the seat adapter at the right side of seesaw 50); or fasteners 32 may be attached to the seesaw's handle in cases where the adapter seat is located in front of handle 54 (this situation is not illustrated). In some embodiments, support board 56 comprises apertures 58 (FIG. 5A) wherethrough fasteners 30 and/or 32 can pass in order to secure the support board to back member 10 of the seat adapter. In accordance with one alternative, the back member 10 comprises a pocket 60 (FIG. 5B) into which the support board 56 may be inserted; else other mechanisms to allow positioning of the support board at the back member may be used.

To ensure that support board 56 is held in a proper position (i.e. approximately perpendicular to seesaw 50 or reclining somewhat), according to some embodiments, the seat adapter further comprises adjustable straps 62 extending from the support board (or adapter seat) to a lower position along the side of the seat adapter, as illustrated in FIG. 5B; while in other embodiments the seat adapter comprises shoulder straps 65 for additional infant security.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the infant seat adapter of the present invention wherein it is adapted to hold two infants. This can be particularly convenient and enjoyable for parents with twins. For illustrative purposes, the seat adapter is shown attached to swing 32. The adapter essentially comprises two seat adapters, for example, such as shown in FIG. 1 or 2, that are connected, for example, via a snap connection, are sown together or otherwise connected to each other along their bottom edges 64 to face each other. One of the “twin” seat adapters extends out away from swing 32. In some embodiments, the seat adapter is supported, for example, by a pair of straps 66, which may extend between the tops of the back members 10, or by other mechanism, e.g. via a cantilever style mechanism (not shown) or a telescoping mechanism (not shown).

It should be understood that the above description is merely exemplary and that there are various embodiments of the present invention that may be devised, mutatis mutandis, and that the features described in the above-described embodiments may be used separately or in any suitable combination.

Claims

1. A seat adapter for facilitating the use of playground equipment, the seat adapter comprising:

a back member capable of supporting an infant;

an infant holding portion attached to said back member at a lower location, a left side location and a right side location, thereby defining openings for the infant's legs and torso; and

upper fasteners and at least one of lower fasteners and mid-way fasteners, for attaching the seat adapter to, and over, said piece of playground equipment.

2. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein it is rollable and/or foldable for being tied into a package via one or more of the fasteners.

3. An adapter according to claim 2, wherein the one or more fasteners is in the form of a strap for ease of carrying the seat adapter.

4. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein the back member and the infant holding/restraining portion are made of a stretchy fabric material.

5. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein the back member comprises horizontal or vertical slats for infant back support.

6. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein it is adapted for use with an infant playground swing.

7. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein it is adapted for use with a playground carousel.

8. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein it is adapted for use with a playground seesaw.

9. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein it further comprises a back support member.

10. An adapter according to claim 1, wherein it is adapted for simultaneous use by a pair of infants and comprising a pair of back members; a pair of infant holding portions; and a support mechanism between said pair of back members.

11. A seat adapter in combination with an infant playground swing, the playground swing comprising: a seat; a back; a pair of handrails; and a front bar, the seat adapter comprising an infant support and holding mechanism; and a swing connecting mechanism, the seat adapter being disposed above said front bar.

12. An adapter according to claim 11 comprising:

a back member;

an infant holding portion attached to said back member at a lower location, a left side location and a right side location defining openings for the infant's legs and torso; and

upper fasteners and at least one of lower fasteners and mid-way fasteners, for attaching the seat adapter to the swing.