Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR AN INNOVATION PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: Britax Childcare Pty Ltd Actual Inventor: Wieslaw Maciejczyk Address for Service: C/- MADDERNS, First Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: A CHILD SAFETY SEAT AND TETHERING MEANS AND CHILD SAFETY HARNESS FOR THE CHILD The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.
2 FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to child safety seats. 5 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In some child safety seats, the child is restrained in the safety seat by a child safety harness, which is connected at the top and bottom to the shell of the safety seat. The seat shell itself is connected to the vehicle by means of the vehicle seat belt, for example a lap 10 and/or sash belt. In addition, it is usual to have a tethering means such as a tether strap extending between the shell and a vehicle anchorage point. Typically, an upper tether strap is connected to a vehicle anchorage point on a shelf behind the rear seat using a latching hook connector. 15 However, the shell of a child safety seat can have imperfections and weak points, which may give way in the event of a collision, thereby compromising the safety of the infant. Furthermore, children of different sizes are not always sufficiently restrained in the safety seat of this type. 20 It is an object of the present invention to reduce or eliminate some or all of the disadvantages of the above described child safety seat arrangements. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 25 Accordingly, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a child safety seat for a motor vehicle including: a seat for seating a child therein comprising a seat portion and a backrest portion wherein the motor vehicle seat belt extends across the waist of the child; a tethering means for tethering the backrest portion and adapted to be secured to an 30 anchorage point on the motor vehicle; and a child safety harness to secure the child with respect to the safety seat comprising a pair of shoulder straps that are each connected at their lower end to said vehicle seat belt adjacent the child's waist and wherein said child safety harness extends from the backrest 3 portion to be secured with respect to said anchorage point by a connection means carried by or with respect to the tethering means. In a second aspect, the present invention provides a child safety seat for a motor vehicle including: 5 a seat for seating a child therein comprising a seat portion and a backrest portion; a tethering means for tethering the backrest portion of the child safety seat and adapted to be secured to an anchorage point on the motor vehicle; and a connection means which is adapted to be secured at one end to the anchorage point having a first aperture adapted to have connected thereto a child safety harness and having a 10 second aperture through which the tethering means locates. In a third aspect, the present invention provides a child safety seat arrangement for anchoring a child safety seat, and a child safety harness used with the child safety seat, to an anchorage point of a motor vehicle including: 15 connection means attachable to the anchorage point and including a first aperture for facilitating location of a tethering means of the child safety seat therethrough and including a second aperture for facilitating connection with the child safety harness such that the child safety seat and the child safety harness are anchored to the anchorage point of the motor vehicle. 20 In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides means for securing a child safety harness and child safety seat to an anchorage point in a motor vehicle including: a child safety seat having seat and backrest portions, a child safety harness for a child seated in the safety seat, 25 means for tethering the safety seat to an anchorage point in the motor vehicle by a tethering means which is adapted to tether the safety seat to the anchorage point by a connection means, the connection means also adapted to have the child safety harness connected thereto. 30 Preferably, the tethering means is in the form of a tether strap which is secured to the backrest portion of the safety seat but may also be secured towards the upper end of the backrest portion adjacent or at the head end of the safety seat.
4 Child safety seats where the child safety harness attaches to the seat shell rely on the mechanical integrity of the seat shell to secure the child with respect to the vehicle. In the event of a collision, the collision loads are applied to the seat shell. Therefore, the safety of the infant is dependent on the integrity of the seat shell. However, this disadvantage is 5 alleviated with the above aspects of the invention, wherein the child safety harness is secured independently of the seat shell. Usually, both an upper part and a lower part of the child safety harness will be secured with respect to the vehicle. The upper part of the child safety harness will generally 10 be secured with respect to a vehicle anchorage point such as on a rear parcel shelf or on the floor behind the seat. The lower part of the child safety harness may be secured with respect to the vehicle by a vehicle seat belt, which can be located across the seat shell and the waist of the infant. 15 The sash and lap portion (or just the lap portion in the case of a lap only seat belt) of a vehicle seat belt may be brought together over the waist of the child and therefore act to restrain the child and safety seat. The lower part of the child safety harness may include one or more loops through which the vehicle seat belt locates, thereby allowing the lower part of the child safety harness to be secured with respect to the vehicle. 20 In some embodiments, the tethering means may include a connecting component to connect to the vehicle anchorage point, which is further provided with an aperture to receive the child safety harness latching hook connector. The connecting component which is connected to the vehicle anchorage point could then be shared by both the tether strap and 25 child safety harness. There are, of course, other ways in which a component may be shared. The child safety harness includes two shoulder straps to extend over the child's shouldersand chest. These shoulder straps may be provided by a length of strap positioned behind the safety seat and extending through a pair of apertures in the backrest portion. 30 Further, each end of the shoulder straps preferably includes a loop to receive a vehicle seat belt. The child safety harness is preferably adjustable to suit children of different sizes. The length of the child safety harness may be adjusted, typically through an adjustable buckle, 5 to tighten or loosen the child safety harness. This buckle may be covered in use by padding. The child safety harness may also, in some embodiments, be adjusted by passing it through higher or lower apertures in the seat shell. 5 The child safety harness preferably also includes a cross strap connecting the two shoulder straps at a point below the child's shoulders. The cross strap may be strongly fixed to one shoulder strap - for instance by stitching - but preferably is removably connected to the other shoulder strap - for instance by a loop through which the shoulder strap can be passed. This arrangement is of particular advantage where the shoulder straps are provided 10 by looping a main harness strap behind the safety seat, through apertures therein, because it allows for simple connection of the shoulder straps after they have passed through the apertures (during either assembly or adjustment). A crutch strap attached to the safety seat may be secured to either the child safety 15 harness or the vehicle seat belt to keep the vehicle seat belt as low as possible. The connecting component may include extension straps which are ideally adjustable in length by means of adjustable buckles. This allows adjustment of the distance between the child safety harness and the point or points at which it is secured to the vehicle. 20 Preferably, there are one or more pairs of apertures in the backrest portion or grooves in the perimeter of the head end of the backrest portion through which, or around which, the shoulder straps can be passed to retain the shoulder straps in position. 25 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An illustrative embodiment of the present invention will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 30 FIGURE 1 is a view of a child safety harness; FIGURE 2 is a view a child safety harness incorporating an adjustable extension means; FIGURE 3 is a front view of a child safety seat arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in operation; 6 FIGURE 4 is a rear view of a child safety seat arrangement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing the child safety seat harness attached to a connection means on the tether strap; FIGURE 5 is a top rear view of a child safety seat arrangement as shown in figure 4 5 with the tether strap attached to a vehicle anchorage point; FIGURE 6 shows a detailed view of a latching hook connector and connection means with a tether strap and child safety harness attached; FIGURE 7 shows a detailed view of a latching hook connector similar to that shown in figure 6, but with a single tether strap attached; 10 FIGURE 8 shows a latching hook connector with a connection means carrying a buckle for connection of the child safety harness; and FIGURE 9 shows a latching hook connector having a single tether strap attached with a connection means and buckle attached to the tether strap. 15 DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figure I shows a child safety harness 20 consisting of two shoulder straps 21 and a cross strap 22. The shoulder straps are provided with padding 23, and the lower end of each shoulder strap 21 is provided with a loop 24 to receive a vehicle seat belt. The child safety 20 harness 20 is adjustable in length by means of an adjustable buckle 25, which is covered during use within the padding 23 on one of the shoulder straps 21. There is also a latching hook connector 26 on the upper end of the child safety harness 20. In Figure 2, the same child safety harness is shown with an additional extension strap 25 27, which in this instance is adjustable by means of another adjustable buckle 28. The extension strap 27 has a connection buckle 35 that enables attachment to the latching hook connector 26. A second latching hook connector 29 is attached to the other end of the extension strap 27. 30 Figure 3 shows a front view of child safety seat arrangement according to the present invention in operation. A child safety harness 20 is shown holding the child 31 in a safety seat 30 where the safety seat 30 has a backrest portion 36, a seat portion 37 and a head end 38 of the backrest portion 36. Shoulder straps 21 extend over the shoulders and chest of the child 31. The child safety harness 20 is passed through a pair of apertures 32 in the backrest 7 portion 36 of the safety seat 30. The vehicle belt 33 comprising either the vehicle lap belt or a combination of the lap and sash belt is passed through the loops 24 at the lower ends of shoulder straps 21. The vehicle belt 33 can then optionally be connected to the safety seat 30 by means of crutch strap 34 (shown not connected in Figure 3), which helps keep the vehicle 5 belt 33 as low as possible. In Figures 4 and 5, there can be seen the mounting arrangements for securing the upper end of the child safety harness 20 and the safety seat 30 with respect to the vehicle. A tether strap 40 is connected to the backrest portion 36 of the safety seat 30 at connection 10 points 41 and 42, and to a vehicle anchorage bracket 50 (that is secured to a vehicle) by latching hook connector 43. The length of the tether strap 40 can be adjusted through the adjustable buckle 46, to allow the mounting arrangement to suit different vehicles. As is also shown clearly in Figures 3 to 5, the safety seat 30 includes multiple pairs of 15 apertures 32, 32a and 32b in the backrest portion 36. The child safety harness 20 can be positioned through any of these pairs of apertures to adjust the height of the shoulder straps 21 with respect to the size of the child 31. It is preferable to have the aperture through which the shoulder straps 21 locate to be approximately at the same level, or slightly lower than, the child's shoulders, as this gives the safest retention of the child 31 in the safety seat. Although 20 multiple pairs of apertures are shown in this preferred embodiment, it would also be possible to have the child safety harness 20 pass through a single aperture in the head end 38 of the backrest portion 36 or around recesses in the perimeter of the backrest portion 36. For instance, the shoulder straps 21 could be joined before they are passed through a single aperture. 25 The child safety harness 20 is secured with respect to the vehicle via an anchorage bracket 50 installed in the vehicle. The anchorage bracket 50 has an aperture 51 to which the latching hook connectors 43 of the tether strap 40 attaches. The connection means, which as shown in figures 4 and 5, comprises a connection strap 44 and a buckle 45 having an aperture 30 47. The latching hook connector 26 of the child safety harness 20 attaches to the aperture 47 thereby securing the child safety harness 20 with respect to the anchor bracket 50. In this manner, the child safety harness 20 is secured with respect to the vehicle rather than with respect to the safety seat 30.
8 Of course, the mounting arrangements for securing the child safety harness 20 and safety seat 30 with respect to the vehicle can take other forms. Figure 6 shows a variation to the connection of a tether strap 40 and child safety harness 20 to an anchor bracket 50. 5 The latching hook connector 43 comprises a body having a flat plate portion 48 with a hook 39 at one end that attaches to the aperture 51 of the anchor bracket 50. The latching hook connector 43 has an aperture 49 through which the tether strap 40 locates which enables the tether strap 40 to extend between the connection points 41 and 42. The connection means 10 comprises the portion of the plate 48 that extends between the aperture 49 and the aperture 47 with the latching hook 26 of the child safety harness 20 attaching to the aperture 47. This thereby secures the child safety harness 20 with respect to the anchorage bracket 50. Figure 7 shows an arrangement that also uses a latching hook connector 43 having a 15 body in the form of a flat plate 48. However, the tether strap 40 is a single strap having one connection point to the safety seat 30. The apertures 49 and 47 are closely spaced with a loop 53 on the end of the tether strap 40 passing through both apertures 49 and 47. The latching hook connector 26 connects to the aperture 47 and locates in a recess 54 on one edge of the aperture 47. 20 Figures 8 and 9 show a variation on the arrangement shown in figures 4 and 5. In figure 8 the bracket 45 has two apertures 56 and 57 with a connection strap attached through and extending between the aperture 49 in the latching hook connector 43 and the aperture 56 in the bracket 45. The latching hook connector 26 then attaches to aperture 57 in the bracket 25 45. The tether strap 40 also passes through aperture 49. In figure 9, a single tether strap 40 is used as in the version shown in figure 7. However, the connection strap 44 is stitched to the tether strap 40 at one end and connected to aperture 56 of bracket 45 at the other end. The latching hook connector 26 then attaches to 30 aperture 57. Although a number of embodiments of the present invention have been described in the foregoing detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and 9 substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention. Modifications and variations such as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed within the scope of the present invention.