US3059963A - Infant's walker - Google Patents

Description

1962 E. F. HAMILTON ETAL 3,059,963

INFANTS WALKER Filed Sept. 12, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet l INV EN TORZB.

Ema F. HEM/ATOM BY nuo RHLPH B. LFIY Oct. 23, 1962 E. F. HAMILTON ETAL 3,059,963

INFANTS WALKER Filed Sept. 12, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS EHRL E HHMILTON y FWD RHLPH 8- L175 United States Patent 3 ,059,963 INFANTS WALKER Earl F. Hamilton and Ralph B. Lay, Columbus, Ind, as-

This invention relates to an infants walker, and has for its objects the provision of an infants walker which can be manufactured largely from inexpensive metaltubing, which is easily movable between an extended operative position providing a mobile, broad, groundengageable base and a compact collapsed position for storage, and which can be releasably locked in its extended operative position.

In carrying out our invention in its preferred form, there is provided a pair of laterally spaced rear legs rigidly joined together at their upper ends. A pair of front legs are pivotally connected at their upper ends to said rear legs and are swingable between an operative position angling outwardly from said rear legs and a collapsed position in which they are generally parallel with said rear legs. A swivel-type castor is mounted on the lower end of each of the front and rear legs to permit the walker to be easily moved in any desired direction.

A generally U-shaped seat frame is pivotally mounted on said front legs and is provided with locking means lockingly engageable with said rear legs for releasably retaining the walker in its extended position. The seat frame carries a flexible infant-supporting sling and is movable, upon release of said locking means, from an extended operative position projecting outwardly from the rear legs to a collapsed position generally coplanar with said rear legs.

Other objects and features of our invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an infants walker embodying our invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the walker shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the walker shown in FIG. 1, but showing said walker in its collapsed position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section showing the front and rear legs and seat frame in their partially collapsed position, and showing in dotted lines said front and rear legs and seat frame in their fully collapsed positions; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the pivotal interconnections between the seat frame and the front and rear legs.

As shown in the drawings, our infants walker comprises a pair of rear legs 10, conveniently constituting the generally parallel stretches of a U-shaped length of metal-tubing, and interconnected at their upper ends by a bight 12 extending transversely across the walker adjacent its forward end. The upper stretches 14 of the legs are generally parallel to each other, with the intermediate stretches 16 of said legs angling laterally outwardly and joined to the lower stretches 18 of said legs which are normal to the plane of the floor.

A forwardly extending front leg 20 is pivotally connected, as at 22, to the upper stretches 14 of each of the rear legs 10. Each of the front legs 20 has an upper stretch 24 parallel with, and in alignment with, the upper stretch 14 of its associated rear leg 10, a laterally outwardly angled intermediate stretch 26, and a downwardly projecting lower stretch 28 normal to the plane of the floor. As shown in FIG. 2, the front legs 20 are shorter 3,fi59,%3 Patented Oct. 23, 1962 than the rear legs 10, and their intermediate stretches 26 angle outwardly at a larger angle than the intermediate stretches of the rear legs to thus dispose the lower stretches 18 of said rear legs in planes within the lateral extent of the lower stretches of the front legs 20. A swivel-type castor 30 is mounted in the lower end of each of the front and rear legs, and the lower stretches 18 and 28 of said legs are further provided with outwardly projecting resilient bumpers 32.

A generally U-shaped seat frame comprising a pair of laterally spaced parallel stretches 34 interconnected by a transversely extending bight 36 is pivotally mounted on the front legs 20 adjacent the ends of the stretches 34, as at 37, to provide a transverse pivotal axis for the seat frame above the angled intermediate front leg stretches 26. The seat frame projects outwardly from the rear legs when the walker is in its extended operative posi tion, and has a bracket 40, conveniently in the form of a sheet-metal stamping pivotally mounted, as at 35, on each of its parallel stretches 34. An outwardly extending locking finger 42 adapted to be received over the upwardly presented face of the adjacent rear leg 10 is formed on each of the brackets 40. The inherent resiliency of the locking finger 42 permits it to be releasably snapped in a locked position on said adjacent rear leg for releasably locking the walker in its extended operative position. The end of the bracket 40 opposite the locking finger 42 is provided with an elongated slot 44 which is slidably and pivotally received over a pivot pin 45 mounted on the inner face of the upper stretch 14 of the rear leg 10 to slidably and pivotally interconnect the seat frame to the rear legs. Thus, the brackets 40 interconnect the seat frame to the rear legs on fixed pivots 37 and to the rear legs 20 on sliding pivots 44 and 45.

As shown in FIG. 1, the seat frame supports a flexible infant-supporting sling 46 provided at its forward end with a crotch strap 48 carried on a cross bar 50 mounted in aligned openings in the inner faces of the upper stretches 14 of the rear legs 10. As shown, the cross bar 50 is disposed in parallelism with and below the bight 12 interconnecting the rear legs 10.

To move the baby walker from its extended position shown in FIG. 1 to its collapsed position shown in FIG. 3, the locking fingers 42 are disengaged from the rear legs 10, and the front legs 20 are thus free to swing about their pivotal connections 22 into their partially collapsed full line position shown in FIG. 4. Concurrently with the collapsing movement of the front legs 20, the seat frame is swung downwardly pivoting with respect to said front legs 20 about its pivotal connections 3'7, and pivoting with respect to the rear legs 10 about the pivot pins 45. As the seat frame reaches its partially collapsed position shown in full lines in FIG. 4, the bracket slots 44 slide downwardly on the pivot pins 45 to provide a lost motion for maintaining the fixed distance between the pivot points 37 and 35 as said seat frame is swung into its fully collapsed position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the front legs have a length shorter than the distance from the pivot points 22 to the lower ends of the front legs 10, and this difference in length of the two sets of legs coupled within the differences in their widths at their lower ends permits the lower ends of the front legs 20 to swing through and cross the plane of the front legs 10 when the walker is in its fully collapsed position, as shown in FIG. 3. As will be understood, the walker may be moved from its collapsed position into its extended position by merely reversing the pivotal movements just described.

We claim as our invention:

1. An infants walker, comprising a pair of laterally spaced rear legs rigidly interconnected at their upper ends,

a pair of front legs pivotally connected at their upper ends to said rear legs and swingable between an operative position divergent'with said rear legs and a collapsed position generally parallel with said rear legs, a U-shaped seat frame pivotally connected to said front legs and having a pair of brackets pivotally mounted thereon, each of said brackets having a locking finger adapted to be lockingly received on said rear legs for releasably locking the walker in extended operative position and each being pivotally joined to one of the rear legs on a sliding pivotal axis whereby said seat frame is swingable between an operative position projecting outwardly from said rear legs and a collapsed position generally coplanar therewith, a flexible infant-supporting sling carried on said seat frame, and castors mounted on the lower ends of said front and rear legs.

2. An infants walker as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said pair of rear legs are interconnected adjacent their upper ends by a transversely extending cross rod and the forward end of said sling is mounted on said cross rod.

3. An infants walker, comprising a pair of laterally spaced rear legs, a pair of laterally spaced front legs, said pairs of front and rear legs being pivotally joined together adjacent their upper ends for movement between a collapsed position generally parallel with each other and a diverging extended operative position, a generally U-shaped seat frame having a pair of lateral stretches interconnected at one of their ends and pivotally connected adjacent their opposite ends to said front legs below their connection to said rear legs, locking means interconnecting said lateral stretches and rear legs for releasably locking the walker in extended operative position, said locking means being pivotally connected to said rear legs and said lateral stretches with at least one of said pivotal connections being a slidable pivotal connection, said seat frame being swingable downwardly from an operative position projecting rearwardly from its interconnections to said front and rear legs into a collapsed position generally parallel with said front and rear legs, means rigidly interconnecting at least one of said pairs of legs above its interconnection to said seat frame, a flexible infant-supporting sling carried on said seat frame and said interconnecting means, and casters mounted on the lower ends of said front and rear legs.

4. An infants walker, comprising a pair of laterally spaced rear legs, a pair of laterally spaced front legs, said front and rear legs being pivotally joined together adjacent their upper ends for movement between a collapsed position generally parallel with each other and a diverging extended operative position, a seat pivotally connected to said front legs below their interconnection to said rear legs, locking means pivotally mounted on said seat and rear legs and having means lockingly receivable on the upper faces of said rear legs for releasably locking the walker in extended operative position, said locking means being pivotally connected to said rear legs and seat with at least one of said pivotal connections being a slidable pivotal connection, said seat being swingable downwardly from an operative position projecting rearwardly from its interconnections to said front and rear legs into a collapsed position generally parallel with said front and rear legs, means rigidly interconnecting at least one of said pairs of legs above its interconnection to said seat, and casters mounted on the lower ends of said front and rear legs.

5. An infants walker, comprising a pair of laterally spaced rear legs, a pair of laterally spaced front legs, said front and rear legs being pivotally joined together adjacent their upper ends for movement between a collapsed position generally parallel with each other and a diverging extended operative position, a seat frame having a pair of lateral stretches interconnected at one of their ends by a transversely extending bight and pivotally connected adjacent their opposite ends to said front legs below their connection to said rear legs, locking means interconnecting said lateral stretches and rear legs and releasably locking the walker in an extended position in which said lateral stretches intersect the plane of said rear legs and extend rearwardly beyond said intersection, said locking means being pivotally connected to said rear legs and lateral stretches with at least one of said pivotal connections being a slidable pivotal connection, said seat frame being swingable downwardly from said operative position into a collapsed position generally parallel with said front and rear legs, a flexible infant-supporting sling carried from said bight and from said lateral stretches along the portions of said lateral stretches interposed between said bight and their pivotal connections to said locking means, and casters mounted on the lower ends of said front and rear legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,910 Burst Sept. 10, 1935 2,577,579 Hall Dec. 4, 1951 2,788,054 Erickson Apr. 9, 1957 2,886,337 Quisenberry May 12, 1959

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