STRAP-ON CHILD CARRIER WITH SUPPORT SEATING ELEMENT
A child carrier device includes a support seat affixed to a fastening strap adapted to be worn around a waist area and wherein the support seat is configured to substantially support the weight of a child, and a restraining strap detachably coupled above the support seat and configured to provide upper body support.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a strap on child carrier that provides both straps for securing the child and an additional feature of a rigid shelf support structure for assisting in bearing the load of the secured child.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to utilize strap on child carriers that hold a child for an adult, so that the adult can have greater mobility and flexibility with their arms while holding the child. Such strap-on carriers typically take the form of a compartment carrier device, or a sling. Typically, the sling device is configured to completely wrap the child's body. The sling may include openings placed in appropriate positions for the child's arms and legs to protrude through the sling while the child's torso is supported by the sling, thus allowing the child's arms and legs to move freely. Alternate versions may completely cover or support the child without leaving any openings for arm and legs.
Typically, the sling type child carriers will hold the child on the front of the adult, and are usually appropriate for small newborn infants, although there are alternate types which may be used with larger children. The soft infant carriers are typically constructed of a fabric material configured as a sling. The sling will wrap around the adults over one or both shoulders and envelope the child like a blanket and support the child within the sling.
In the compartment carrier type, typically the child is supported in a front or rear facing orientation using a device that is strapped to the adult's body using a number of straps, usually over the shoulder and around the waist. These carriers that are intended for larger children typically are constructed with additional support structure and may include a more rigid carrier that can be faced toward the adult or away from the adult so that the child can be held in either orientation. The supports may include any type of lateral or longitudinal stiffeners which assist in making a more structurally sound compartment for carrying the child. These carriers, typically provide a capsule or compartment that the child may be placed into, the compartment is usually a separate structure that can be separated from the straps that retain the carrier to the adult. In this way the carrier can be removed from the adult user without removing the child from the carrier compartment. These carriers also typically are held onto the adult wearing the unit by way of shoulder while the child is suspended with most of weight of child extending from the shoulder straps, and sometimes a waist strap is added for stability.
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These types of carriers however, both have drawbacks in terms of usability and functional flexibility. First, all of the typical prior art child carriers predominantly rely upon shoulder strap support for support. This can cause a problem for the typical user during extended wear due to the fact that support is provided through the users shoulders and back and thus fatigue and pain can result. Also, according to prior art designs, the majority of the load bearing is carried through the shoulder straps, leading to a concentration of force on the shoulder straps. By concentrating force on the shoulder straps, not only is all the child's weight supported by the adult's torso, thus resulting in pain or injury, but there can also be pain caused by the localization of force and weight on the adult's shoulders. Further, some infants are bigger than their peers so the conventional carriers have limited usage as they grow out quickly at the age of 6 month to 8 month old.
Additionally, due to the design of the prior art carriers, there is little flexibility in how the child can be carried once the child in placed in the sling or compartment. Therefore, it is very difficult to alter the child's position once they are placed in the carrier. Because the child position cannot be altered easily, muscle fatigue and pain for the adult may result and additionally discomfort may result for the child. Moreover, due to complex strap mechanism, it is not intuitive and easy to strap the baby by a user, and even requires two people to strap the baby.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a child carrier that provides an alternate support structure for the child, which more evenly distributes the child's weight over the adult's body, mainly the waste and hip area.
It is therefore a further objective of the present invention to provide a child carrier that provides more flexibility for positions in which the child can be carried and also makes it easier to load the child onto the carrier.
It is therefore a further objective of the present invention to provide a child carrier that provides for the ability of the adult to easily change the positions and also for one adult to easily load the child onto the carrier.
It is therefore a further objective of the present invention to provide a child carrier that minimizes strain on the adult's shoulders and upper torso.
It is therefore a further objective of the present invention to provide a less bulky and easy to use child carrier.
There is therefore provided a child carrier comprising a child carrier device comprising a support seat affixed to a fastening strap adapted to be worn around a waist area and wherein the support seat is configured to substantially support the weight of a child. The child carrier further includes a restraining strap located above the support seat and configured to provide upper body support.
The above and other exemplary aspects, features and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the STRAP-ON CHILD CARRIER WITH SUPPORT SHELF according to the present invention will become more apparent to a person or ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail when they would obscure appreciation of the present invention by a person of ordinary skill in the art with unnecessary detail of the well-known functions and structures. Also, the terms used herein are defined according to the functions of the present invention as would be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the terms may vary depending on user's or operator's intention and usage. That is, the terms used herein must be understood based on the descriptions made herein in view of the ordinary level of skill in the art. In all figures, the substantially same elements are given the same reference number, and overlapping descriptions are omitted.
The present invention described hereinafter provides a strap on child carrier of improved design that provides a support shelf seat as a load bearing component together with a plurality of straps that may be configured in a variety of manners for holding the child securely as well as for providing an improved way to adjust how the adult can hold the child. The seat is attached to a fastening strap or belt which is worn by the adult user around the waist and can be positioned on the front or side of an adult so that the child can be shifted into a variety of positions. Additionally, the child can be placed on the seat in either a front or rear facing orientation. There are also provided a variety of straps and restraining bands to assist in holding the child close to the adult's body and securely supported on the seat. Alternately, the adult can utilize only the seat portion without the straps or bands. In this embodiment the seat acts to minimize the weight that the adult must hold with their arms as some of the load bearing is performed by the support seat coupled to a waste belt so that the weight can be more effectively distributed around the waste and hip area when compared to the conventional art. In this embodiment it is particularly easy for the adult to move and re-position the child, and also without the need of another person's help, while still minimizing the stress and strain on the adult's arms and torso by providing the addition load bearing support seat. In this configuration, the present invention is particularly useful for short term use, when a full carrier is not needed or when the adult does not need their arms free for other tasks, but still desires or needs the additional support that the seat provides so as to avoid fatigue and strain on their arms and back.
The support seat can be held on the adult by a band or strap around the adult in a location approximately at the waist such as a belt, and may be made of a lightweight rigid material with sufficient strength to support a child's weight without deformation such as plastic, fiberboard, reinforced cardboard or other such material. Additionally the seat and straps may be covered with a soft fabric, cloth or cloth-like material to provide a comfortable surface that is not abrasive or irritating to the skin while still providing sufficient friction so that the child does not slip off the seat. The material should also be durable and easy to clean. Non-limiting examples include natural and blend textile cloths such as wool, cotton, polyester and nylon or leather or imitation leather fabric. One skilled in the art will however realize that the choices for the exterior covering are not limited to the examples giving herein, but may also include other equivalent fabrics and materials. Padding may also be added for extra comfort. In addition, the seat may be shaped to more securely hold the child by providing a depression or hollow in the seat into which the child can be seated. This depression or hollow will align the child on the seat and maintain the child within the seat edge boundaries.
The strap for holding the support seat to the adult may typically be wide to provide adequate support and even distribution of the load. The seat strap may also include stiffeners in the area where the support seat is attached to the strap to prevent the strap from folding or twisting and to prevent the support seat from pivoting downward under the weight of the child.
The child support straps or bands can include a variety of shapes and configurations that will be described hereinafter which can be used to provide support for the child and thus leave the adults arms free for other tasks, while still providing the additional load bearing support of the seat, so that pressure and force on the adults torso is minimized.
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The fastening strap 208 is preferably constructed of a soft flexible material such that it may easily be wrapped around the user and fastened to the user's body in the same manner as a belt. Typical materials known in the art for such straps may include nylon, polypropylene, canvas or other materials known to one skilled in the art. While the fastening strap 208 is constructed of a soft material, there are also provided stiffeners 210 to prevent the seat from being pushed or pivoted downward under the weight of a child. Alternatively, the stiffeners 210 may be provided inside the fabric of the fast strap 208 and the seat 206 as a single piece or two pieces. The stiffeners 210 may typically be plastic, metal, reinforced cardboard, fiberboard or any material providing adequate rigidity and stiffness to counteract the weight of an infant, a toddler, or a child. The stiffeners 210 may be either a single piece that extends the full length of the fastening strap 208 and is flexible in the longitudinal direction so that the fastening strap 208 can bend to wrap around the user while also being rigid in the lateral direction to prevent bending, folding or twisting of the fastening strap. Alternatively, the stiffeners 210 may be a single piece inside the seat 206 and the strap 208. Alternately the stiffeners 210 may be comprised of a plurality of stiffening columns that are arranged vertically along the length of the fastening strap 208. In either configuration, the stiffeners 210 are positioned to prevent the fastening strap 208 from rolling or folding over due to the force applied to the seat component 206 by the weight of the child and to prevent the seat component 206 from pivoting down due to the weight of the child. In addition the stiffener piece or columns act to evenly distribute the force applied to the seat by the weight of the child along the length of the belt and in that way provides a structure that is both comfortable for the user to wear as well as provide adequate support for the seat 202. The stiffeners 210 may be located on the exterior of the fastening strap 208 or may be installed within the fastening strap 208 and covered by the exterior material.
Further, the fastening strap 208 can be fastened around the waste or hip area of a user using a releasable attachment mechanisms, which may include but are not limited to hook and loop fasteners, buckle, snaps, buttons, laces, belt type fastener, zippers, velcro, and the like know to those stilled in this art or any combination thereof. Similarly, the restraining strap component 204 can use any of the aforementioned attachment means or any combination thereof.
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The restraining shield 702 may preferably be made from a soft fabric material that is both durable and soft, thereby providing a secure and comfortable restraining device. Such fabrics may include cloths such as wool, cotton, polyester and nylon, although the choices are not limited to such materials.
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While the invention has been described in connection with a presently preferred embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications and changes can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention, which accordingly is intended to be defined solely by the appended claims. For example, the strapping mechanism around the shoulder area can be achieved by any known combination of strap means known to artisians as long as the seating element 202 and seat 206 are used in conjunction. Also, the size of the seat 206 can be varied depending on the design preference.
Claims
1. A child carrier device comprising a support seat affixed to a fastening strap adapted to be worn around a waist area and wherein the support seat is configured to substantially support the weight of a child; and a restraining strap located above the support seat and configured to provide upper body support.
2. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the fastening strap includes a stiffening element.
3. The child carrier device according to claim 2, wherein the stiffening element is a continuous flat strip along the length of the fastening strap.
4. The child carrier device according to claim 2, wherein the stiffing element is plurality of lateral stiffening elements located at predetermined intervals along the length of the fastening strap.
5. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the seat includes a non-slip cover material.
6. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the seat includes a hollow configured to provide a secure seating surface.
7. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the restraining strap is configured to be attached to around a waist area in a continuous detachable loop fashion.
8. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the restraining strap is configured to be attached to a user by shoulder straps.
9. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the restraining strap is configured to be attached to a user by a wearable vest garment.
10. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the seat is adapted to be worn around a waist area in a plurality of different positions.
11. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the seat is formed of a rigid material such as one selected from the group comprising plastic, fiberboard or reinforced cardboard.
12. The child carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the restraining strap is detachably coupled to the support.
13. The child carrier device according to claim 17, wherein the support seat further comprising a pocket for storage.
14. A child carrier device comprising a support seat affixed to a fastening strap adapted to be worn around a waist area, and wherein the support seat is configured to substantially support the weight of a child; a carrier compartment integrally coupled above the support seat, and a strap coupled to the carrier compartment to fasten around an upper body.
15. The child carrier device according to claim 14, wherein the strap is configured as a more than one piece.
16. The child carrier device according to claim 14, wherein the strap is a shoulder strap.
17. The child carrier device according to claim 16, wherein the strap is a garment vest.
18. A child carrier device for providing a structure for partially supporting the weight of the child comprising a support seat affixed to a fastening strap adapted to be worn around a waist area, wherein the fastening strap includes a stiffing element and wherein the support seat is configured to substantially support the weight of a child.
19. The child carrier device according to claim 18, wherein the seat is adapted to be worn around a waist area in a plurality of different positions.
20. The child carrier device according to claim 18, wherein the support seat further comprising a pocket for storage.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 21, 2013
Publication Date: Aug 21, 2014
Inventor: Steve CHA (Franklin Lakes, NJ)
Application Number: 13/772,894
International Classification: A47D 13/02 (20060101);