FOLDING MECHANISM
A folding mechanism for a baby crib includes a handrail tube pivotable between an unfolded position and a folded position, a fixing base having a lateral end pivotably connected to the handrail tube, a locking member movably sleeved into a pivoting end of the handrail tube and slidable between a first locking position and a first unlocking position, and an operating member slidably connected to the fixing base and slidable between a second locking position and a second unlocking position. When the operating member slides from the second locking position to the second unlocking position, the operating member drives the locking member to slide from the first locking position to the first unlocking position. In the first locking position, the locking member prohibits the handrail tube from pivoting, and in the first unlocking position, the locking member allows the handrail tube to pivot.
Latest WONDERLAND SWITZERLAND AG Patents:
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310710138.X, entitled “FOLDING MECHANISM”, filed on Jun. 14, 2023, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present application relates to the technical field of children's products, in particular to a folding mechanism for a baby crib.
BACKGROUNDTo enhance storage convenience and save space, the baby crib is typically provided with a folding mechanism which allows the baby crib to be folded when not in use to reduce the space occupation. However, the existing folding mechanisms often have complex structures with high manufacturing costs.
SUMMARYIn an aspect of the present application, a folding mechanism for a baby crib is provided. The folding mechanism includes a handrail tube, a fixing base, a locking member, and an operating member. The handrail tube is pivotable between an unfolded position and a folded position. The fixing base has a lateral end pivotably connected to the handrail tube. The locking member is movably sleeved into a pivoting end of the handrail tube and slidable between a first locking position and a first unlocking position. The operating member is slidably connected to the fixing base and slidable between a second locking position and a second unlocking position. When the operating member slides from the second locking position to the second unlocking position, the operating member drives the locking member to slide from the first locking position to the first unlocking position. In the first locking position, the locking member prohibits the handrail tube from pivoting, and in the first unlocking position, the locking member allows the handrail tube to pivot.
In another aspect of the present application, a baby crib is provided. The baby crib includes the above-described folding mechanism.
The forgoing and additional objects, features, and advantages of the present application will become apparent from the detailed description of the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals throughout the accompanying drawings are used to denote the same components. The components in the accompanying drawings are not intentionally drawn in an actual scale, and the focus is instead on illustrating the principles of the present application.
Reference numeral list:
-
- 1-folding mechanism; 2-baby crib;
- 10-handrail tube; 101-pivoting end; 1011-first hole;
- 20-fixing base; 201-locking hole; 202-third hole; 203-accommodating cavity; 204-connecting groove; 205-through hole; 206-guiding rib; 2061-arched guiding face; 207-limiting portion; 2071-limiting step; 2072-limiting face;
- 30-locking member; 301-locking end; 3011-cooperating slope; 3012-end face; 3013-recess; 3014-anti-rotation portion; 302-second hole;
- 40-operating member; 401-driving portion; 4011-driving slope;
- 50-pivoting member;
- 60-first resilient member;
- 70-second resilient member;
- 80-support post.
To facilitate the understanding of the present application, the present application will be thoroughly described hereafter with reference to relevant accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings show specific embodiments of the present application. However, the present application may be implemented in a plurality of different forms, and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the embodiments described herein are intended to make the disclosure of the present application more clearly and thoroughly understood.
It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being “connected” to another element, it can be directly connected to or integrated with the other element or intervening elements may be present. The expressions such as “mounted”, “an end”, “the other end”, and the like used herein are merely for illustrative purposes.
Unless otherwise defined, all the technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as the meanings commonly understood by a person skilled in the art. The terms used in the specification of the present application are merely for describing the specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present application. The term “and/or” used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring again to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Still referring to
In this embodiment, the arched guiding face 2061, the limiting step 2071, the limiting face 2072, and the side wall 209 collectively define a pivoting space. When the handrail tube 10 pivots, the pivoting end 101 of the handrail tube 10 pivots in this pivoting space, and the locking end 301 of the locking member 30 slides on the arched guiding face 2061, the limiting step 2071, and the limiting face 2072. Specifically, when the handrail tube 10 pivots from the unfolded position shown in
In this embodiment, the limiting step 2071 has a curved face. When the handrail tube 10 has the moving tendency of pivoting toward the unfolded position, the curved face in engagement with the anti-rotation portion 3014 applies a pressure toward the pivoting center to the anti-rotation portion 3014. As the moving tendency of the handrail tube 10 pivoting toward the unfolded position increases (for example, as the force driving the handrail tube 10 to pivot toward the unfolded position increases), the pressure toward the pivoting center that is applied to the anti-rotation portion 3014 by the curved face increases. When the pressure toward the pivoting center that is applied to the anti-rotation portion 3014 by the curved face is greater than the resilient force provided by the second resilient member 60, the anti-rotation portion 3014 of the locking member 30 retracts toward the pivoting center, so that the anti-rotation portion 3014 is able to slide over the limiting step 2071 to the arched guiding face 2061. At this time, the limiting step 2071 no longer prevents the pivoting of the handrail tube 10 toward the unfolded position. Specifically, when in use, the user only needs to apply a certain external force to the handrail tube 10 to overcome the obstruction of the limiting step 2071 so that the handrail tube 10 pivots towards the unfolded position to unfold the baby crib 2.
Referring again to
The folding mechanism and the baby crib provided in the present application has a simple structure with a low manufacturing cost.
In the folding mechanism according to embodiments of the present application, by operating the operating member, the locking member can be driven to the first unlocking position to allow the handrail tube to pivot relative to the fixing base to fold the baby crib. The folding mechanism is simple in structure, low in manufacturing cost, and easy to operate, and requires only the operation of the driving member to allow the handrail tube to pivot to fold the baby crib.
The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features are described in the embodiments. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, the combinations should be considered as in the scope of the present application.
The above-described embodiments are only several implementations of the present application, and the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, but they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present application. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, and all fall within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the patent protection of the present application shall be defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A folding mechanism for a baby crib, comprising:
- a handrail tube pivotable between an unfolded position and a folded position;
- a fixing base having a lateral end pivotably connected to the handrail tube;
- a locking member movably sleeved into a pivoting end of the handrail tube and slidable between a first locking position and a first unlocking position; and
- an operating member slidably connected to the fixing base and slidable between a second locking position and a second unlocking position;
- wherein when the operating member slides from the second locking position to the second unlocking position, the operating member drives the locking member to slide from the first locking position to the first unlocking position;
- wherein in the first locking position, the locking member prohibits the handrail tube from pivoting, and in the first unlocking position, the locking member allows the handrail tube to pivot.
2. The folding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the locking member has a locking end provided with a cooperating slope, the operating member is provided with a driving slope in driving cooperation with the cooperating slope, and when the operating member slides from the second locking position to the second unlocking position, the driving slope abuts against and presses the cooperating slope to drive the locking member to slide from the first locking position to the first unlocking position.
3. The folding mechanism of claim 2, wherein the locking end is provided with a recess on an end face thereof, and a bottom face of the recess is inclined relative to the end face of the locking end to form the cooperating slope.
4. The folding mechanism of claim 3, wherein the operating member comprises a driving portion extending in a sliding direction thereof, the driving slope is formed on an end of the driving portion, and the driving slope drivingly cooperates with the cooperating slope within the recess.
5. The folding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the pivoting end of the handrail tube is provided with a first hole, the locking member is provided with a second hole, the fixing base is provided with a third hole, and a pivoting member passes through the first hole, the second hole, and the third hole to allow the handrail tube and the locking member to pivot relative to the fixing base.
6. The folding mechanism of claim 5, wherein the locking member comprises:
- a fixing portion non-slidable in an axial direction of the handrail tube and provided with the second hole in a circular shape; and
- a locking portion slidably connected to the fixing portion and slidable in the axial direction of the handrail tube between the first locking position and the first unlocking position.
7. The folding mechanism of claim 5, wherein the second hole is an elongated hole allowing the locking member to slide in the axial direction of the handrail tube between the first locking position and the first unlocking position.
8. The folding mechanism of claim 7, further comprising a first resilient member, wherein one end of the first resilient member abuts against the pivoting member, the other end of the first resilient member abuts against the locking member, and when the handrail tube is in the unfolded position, the first resilient member biases the locking member toward the first locking position.
9. The folding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the fixing base is provided with a locking hole therein; when the locking member is in the first locking position, a locking end of the locking member is positioned inside the locking hole to prohibit the handrail tube from pivoting relative to the fixing base; and when the locking member is in the first unlocking position, the locking end of the locking member is positioned outside the locking hole to allow the handrail tube to pivot relative to the fixing base.
10. The folding mechanism of claim 9, wherein the locking hole is provided in an upper portion of the fixing base and extends in a lateral direction of the fixing base.
11. The folding mechanism of claim 9, wherein the fixing base is provided with a guiding rib extending from a lower side of the locking hole to the lateral end of the fixing base, the guiding rib is provided with an arched guiding face on a side thereof facing the handrail tube, and when the handrail tube pivots relative to the fixing base, the locking end of the locking member slides on the arched guiding face.
12. The folding mechanism of claim 11, wherein the fixing base further comprises a limiting portion disposed at a side of the guiding rib proximate to the lateral end of the fixing base, and when the handrail tube is in the folded position, the limiting portion prohibits the handrail tube from pivoting toward the unfolded position.
13. The folding mechanism of claim 12, wherein the limiting portion comprises a limiting step and a limiting face, the limiting step is disposed between the limiting face and the arched guiding face, and a distance between the limiting face and a pivoting center of the handrail tube is greater than a distance between the arched guiding face and the pivoting center of the handrail tube.
14. The folding mechanism of claim 9, wherein the fixing base is provided with an accommodating cavity therein, and the operating member is at least partially accommodated in the accommodating cavity.
15. The folding mechanism of claim 14, wherein the operating member is provided with a connecting protrusion thereon, a side wall in the accommodating cavity is provided with a connecting groove in cooperation with the connecting protrusion, and when the operating member slides relative to the fixing base, the connecting protrusion slides along the connecting groove.
16. The folding mechanism of claim 15, wherein the connecting groove is an elongated groove extending in a sliding direction of the operating member.
17. The folding mechanism of claim 14, wherein a top wall of the accommodating cavity is provided with a through hole in communication with the locking hole, the operating member includes a driving portion extending in a sliding direction thereof, and the driving portion passes through the through hole to cooperate with the locking end of the locking member.
18. The folding mechanism of claim 1, further comprising a second resilient member, wherein one end of the second resilient member abuts against the operating member, the other end of the second resilient member abuts against the fixing base, and the second resilient member biases the operating member toward the second locking position.
19. The folding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the fixing base has a bottom wall at least partially covering an interior space of the fixing base.
20. A baby crib comprising the folding mechanism of claim 1.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 12, 2024
Publication Date: Dec 19, 2024
Applicant: WONDERLAND SWITZERLAND AG (Steinhausen)
Inventor: Tao WANG (Dongguan)
Application Number: 18/741,378