GB2124556A - Foldable pushchair - Google Patents

Abstract

The pushchair for a child, members constituting a frame (31) to support an integral seat and backrest (33) for the child, with the frame being pivoted about an axis passing transversely of the pushchair so that by rotation of the frame about that axis, the backrest can be moved to assume any position between the vertical and the horizontal; the seat portion being formed so that when the frame is positioned with the backrest vertically disposed, the seat provides a substantially horizontal portion to support the underside of the thighs of the child; and the pushchair further comprising means (45, 47, 51) for securely stationing said frame to prevent movement thereof under the weight of the child carried in the pushchair. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Foldable pushchair This invention relates to a foldable child's pushchair.

Pushchairs of the above kind are well known and generally comprise a plurality of struts forming fiame members to provide a support for a flexible seat and backrest for the child, which seat and backrest may be integrally formed, and such as to permit the pushchair to be collapsed or "folded" about an axis passing transversely of the pushchair and/or about an axis passing in the front to back direction of the chair.

Attempts have been made heretofore to provide a foldable pushchair so that the seat and backrest can assume different positions to permit the child either to sit upright or to lie in an inclined position; but pushchairs of this kind tend either to be unsatisfactory in operation or to lead to an undue complication of the structure of the pushchair.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a child's foldable pushchair in which the position of the seat and backrest is adjustable to permit the child either to sit upright or to lie inclined, of asimple and efficacious structure.

There is provided by the present invention, a child's foldable pushchair comprising members consituting a frame to support a seat and a backrest for the child, with the frame being pivoted about an axis passing transversely of the pushchair so that by rotation of the frame about the axis, the backrest can be moved to assume any position between the vertical and the horizontal; the seat portion being formed so that when the frame is positioned with the backrest vertically disposed, the seat provides a substantially horizontal portion to support the underside of the thighs of the child; and the pushchair further comprising means for securely stationing said frame to prevent movement thereof under the weight of the child carried in the pushchair.

Preferably, the backrest and the seat are integrally formed and are secured as one piece to said frame.

In a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, said stationing means comprises part-circular loops secured to the underside of lateral members of said frame, and eye-bolts, one for each part-circular loop, secured to other frame members of the puschair and receiving through the eye portions respective ones of said loops; the eye bolts being arranged to pass through holes in said other frame members to extend from a face thereof remote from that adjacent the eye portions of the bolts and receiving on the extending portions of the bolts respective nuts so that, by tightening of the nuts, the eye portions of the bolts can be drawn into the apertures in said other frame members to trap the respective loops against the adjacant faces of said other frame members.

Since the nuts are intended to be located manually, they are preferably provided in the form of rotatable handles of a sufficient diameter to facilitate tightening up of the nuts and unscrewing thereof manually. In this embodiment, it is preferred that the eye bolts are carried in pieces separately formed from the remainder of said other frame members and then supported thereon so that the material chosen for the parts of said other frame members which carry the eye bolts need not be determined by the choice of materials of the frame members generally of the chair. Thus, in the case where the frame members generally of the pushchair are made of aluminium, the separately formed pieces to carry the eye bolts may be made of a material to prolong the useful life of the stationing means.

The pushchair may be arranged to fold about an axis passing in the front to back direction of the chair by providing a single pivot point in each foldable frame member passing transversely of the chair or by providing two pivot points in those members.

It will be appreciated that, although reference has been made hereinabove to eye bolts, the eye portions of the bolts need not form a complete loop and could be in the form of hooks.

The part-circular loops of the stationing means secured to the frame preferably comprise stops to prevent rotation of the frame through more than substantially 900 -- i.e. to limit rotation of the frame to 900 between a first extreme position in which the backrest faces forwardly and is near the vertical and a second extreme position in which the backrest is near horizontal or in which the portion acting as the seat in the first extreme position faces rearwardly and is near vertical to act as the back-rest, and the portion acting as the backrest in the first extreme position acts as the seat. To facilitate this, the integral back-rest and seat may be of identical form.

It is also preferred in the present invention that the frame members of the pushchair be arranged so that, when the pushchair is in the folded condition, the wheels are rotated to lie in a transverse plane of the pushchair with the front wheels lying above and substantially in the same plane as the rear wheels and with the armrests of the pushchair also lying in a transverse plane thereof.

So that the frame supporting the seat and backrest may fold, it may be formed at respective ends thereof with flexible members.

The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figs. 1 to 3 are diagrams, illustrating the principle of the construction of a pushchair according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a pushchair according to the present invention with a part indicated in outline in the interests of clarity; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pushchair of Fig. 1 showing the part indicated in outiine in Fig.

1; Fig. 6 is a front eievation of the pushchair of Fig. 1.

A folding chair as illustrated in the drawings comprises a pair of similar wheeled folding side frames inter-connected by hinged cross-members, and a frame, consisting of rigid side members and flexible end members, supporting an integral seat and backrest 33 for carrying the child.

Each side frame comprises inter-pivoted bars providing a front leg 1, a seat side bar 2, an armrest 3, a back pillar 4 and a back leg 5. The legs 1 and 5 have wheels 6.

The cross-members comprise a lower front rail 7, with foot-rest sections 8, a front seat rail 9, a lower back rail 10 and an upper back rail 11 forming a handle bar. The ends of the handle bar rail 11 are integral extension from the back pillars 4; and the ends of the foot-rest rail 7 and lower back rail 10 are securely united by pins to the front legs 1 and rear legs 5 respectively so as to constitute integral parts thereof.

In the diagrammatic illustration of Figs. 1 to 3, the cross-members each have one central intermediate hinge at X, the hinges forming one co-planar set, to enable the folded side frames to close together simply like a thin book. However, it is preferred to use a construction as shown by Figs. 4 to 6, in which each cross-member has a central part 7c, 9c etc hinged to the end parts by respective hinges X and Y so that there are two sets of co-planar hinges which lie in two parallel, normally vertical, planes X-X, Y-Y indicated in Fig. 6.

When the side frames are folded, each set of hinges X and Y comes into line coaxially in its respective plane and, as shown by Fig. 6, the side frames, with the integral ends of the crossmembers, can close together by folding over the portions lying on the outer aspect of the hinges X and Yso that the portion lying between the two hinges and the folded over portions form a general "U" shape.

When the chair is open, the cross-member hinges are out of alignment so that they cannot turn together and the structure is self locking. This applies also when the chair is partly opened.

To maintain the side frames fully open for use, a locking sleeve 12, with a concealed loading spring, is slidable on a back pillar 4 and is formed with a shoulder 35 to engage with a corresponding shoulder 37 of a bracket 13 fastened to the adjacent back leg 5.

The integral seat and backrest consist of flexible sheet material and are supported by corner pockets thereof on the frame 31. It may be noted that, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5 the sheet is shaped so that when the frame 31 is inclined at an angle of substantially 450 to the horizontal, a forward portion of the sheet lies substantially horizontal and serves as a seat whereas a iike rearward portion lies somewhat inclined to the vertical to serve as an inclined backrest. The side frame members 41 of the frame 31 are pivoted to respective arms 43 each secured, along with respective side bar 2, to a front leg 1 and also secured to a respective armrest 3 to lie in alignment with the respective front leg 1 and support the frame 31 at a location disposed somewhat above the arm-rest 3.Each frame member 41 supports on the underside thereof a part-circular loop 45, in this instance, describing an arc of substantially 1 800, and each loop passes through the eye of an eye-bolt 47 the shank of which is passed through a boss formed on the respective arm 43 and then through a hole or suitable clearance in the respective arm-rest to extend from the face thereof remote from the arm 43. The extending portion of the shank of the eyebolt has screwed thereon a knob 51. The knob may be manually rotated to draw the eye portion of the eye-bolt against the boss formed on the arm 43 so as to trap the loop there-against and thereby prevent pivoting of the frame 31 about its pivots to the arms 43. It follows from this that by slackening the knobs, the frame may be rotated about its pivots with the arms 43 to permit the position of the frame 31 to be adjusted.In the illustrated embodiment, it is intended that the frame should be rotatable between a position in which the backrest is forward facing and lies near to the vertical, a position in which the backrest lies near the horizontal and a position in which the seat is rearward facing, lies near to the vertical and acts as a backrest. An advantage of providing for adjustment to the latter position is that some users of childs' pushchairs prefer the child to face the user rather than face fowards. To prevent rotation of the frame 31 otherwise, the partcircular loopes have sleeves 53 mounted thereon so that when the frame 31 has been rotated to the position in which the seat is rearward facing and lies near to the vertical, a respective end of the sleeve abuts against the eye portion of a respective eye-bolt.Rotation of the frame 31 in the opposite direction i.e. from the last.mentioned position to the position in which the backrest is forward facing and lies near to the vertical, is provided by abutment of a side frame member 41 against the eye portion of a respective eye-bolt.

To adjust the position of the frame 31 , the user need only slacken the knobs, rotate the frame to the desired position and then retighten the knobs to secure the position of the frame. In this connection, it may be noted that the front rail 9 and the lower back rail 10 are positioned below the integral seat and backrest so that a child is supported entirely by the latter and does not encounter either of those members.

The handle-bar is of composite construction and comprises a flexible central portion 55 between the pivot axes X and Y to permit folding in of the back pillars 4 towards one another in folding-up the chair. When folded, the bends of the handle-bar are convenient for slinging the chair on the forearm of the user.

Pivoted lever wheel-engaging brakes 1 6 are provided for the back wheels.

In folding-up the chair, the frame 31 is positioned so that it does not pass between the back pillars 4 and lies approximately parallel with the back pillars. The flexible portion of the handlebar is then bent backwardly and the sideframes are drawn upwardly by lifting the front of the pushchair to the back pillars 4, and the side frames are then folded inwardly. These movements cause rotation of the front and rear legs so that the wheels are bodily rotated to assume a positon, when the chair is completely folded, where the wheels lie substantially in the same transverse plane of the chair with the front wheels disposed above the rear wheels. In this position, the side frame members of the frame 31 lie in the bend of the handle-bar and pass downwardly substantially in the same plane as the back pillars 4; the part-circular loops being located immediately rearwardly of the back pillars 4 and the front legs, the rear legs, the arm-rests, the seat side bars and the arm supporting frame 31 all lying substantially vertically and generally in the plane of the back pillars 4. The chair may be secured in this condition by an arm pivoted, say, to one of the front legs and bearing a hook formation to hook on the shank of a stud secured to the opposite front leg.

Claims (10)

1. A child's foldable pushchair comprising members constituting a frame to support a seat and a backrest for the child, with the frame being pivoted about an axis passing transversely of the pushchair so that, by rotation of the frame about that axis, the backrest can be moved to assume any position between the vertical and the horizontal; the seat portion being formed so that when the frame is positioned with the backrest vertically disposed, the seat provides a substantially horizontal portion to support the underside of the thighs of the child; and the pushchair further comprises means for securely stationing said frame to prevent movement thereof under the weight of the child carried in the pushchair.

2. A pushchair according to claim 1, wherein the backrest and the seat are integrally formed and are secured as one piece to said frame.

3. A pushchair according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said stationing means comprises partcircular loops secured to the underside of lateral members of said frame, and eye-bolts, one for each part-circular loop, secured to other frame members of the pushchair and receiving through the eye portions respective ones of said loops; the eye bolts being arranged to pass through holes in said other frame members to extend from a face thereof remote from that adjacent the eye portions of the bolts and receiving on the extending portions of the bolts respective nuts so that, by tightening of the nuts, the eye portions of the bolts can be drawn into the apertures in said other frame members to trap the respective loops against the adjacent faces of said other frame members.

4. A pushchair according to claim 3, wherein the nuts are in the form of rotatable handles of a sufficient diameter to facilitate tightening up of the nuts and unscrewing thereof manually.

5. A pushchair according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the eye bolts are carried in pieces separately formed from the remainder of said other frame members and supported thereon.

6. A pushchair according to claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein the eye portions of the bolts do not form a complete loop and are in the form of hooks.

7. A pushchair according to any of claims 3 to 6, wherein the part-circular loops of the stationing means secured to the frame comprises stops to prevent rotation of the frame through more than substantially 900 between a first extreme position in which the backrest faces forwardly and is near the vertical and a second extreme position in which the backrest is near horizontal or in which the portion acting as the seat in the first extreme position faces rearwardly and is near vertical to act as the backrest, and the portion acting as the backrest in the first extreme position acts as the seat.

8. A pushchair according to claim 7, as dependent on claim 2, wherein the integral backrest and seat are of identical form.

9. A pushchair according to any of the preceding claims wherein the frame members of the pushchair are arranged so that, when the pushchair is in the folded condition, the wheels are rotated to lie in a transverse plane of the pushchair with the front wheels lying above and substantially in the same plane as the rear wheels and with the arm-rests of the pushchair also lying in a transverse plane thereof.

10. A child's foldable pushchair substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.