Child's seat with sunshade

Abstract

 A child's seat has a backrest (12) which extends above the head of a seated child and a sunshade (40) formed from flexible sheet material with a rear edge of length equal to the width of the top of the seat back (12) and a quilted tubular element (52) extending around the remainder of its periphery. The rear edge of the sunshade (40) has fastener means (54, 56) for detachably securing the sunshade (40) to the top of the backrest (12) so as to project forwardly. The seat (10) is provided with a padded fabric liner (22) and the sunshade (40) is dimensioned so that, when detached from the backrest (12), it can be attached to the liner (12) so as to form the upper part of a foot muff, the lower part of which is formed by part (24) of the liner (22).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a a child's seat having a backrest head of a seated child and a sunshade formed from flexible sheet material with a rear edge of length equal to the width of the top of the seat back and a quilted tubular element extending around the remainder of its periphery, said rear edge having fastener means for detachably securing the sunshade to the top of the backrest so as to project forwardly. A seat of this type is disclosed in US-A-4579385.

[0002] According to the invention, a child's seat of the type described above is provided with a padded fabric liner and the sunshade is dimensioned so that, when detached from the backrest, it can be attached to the liner so as to form the upper part of a foot muff, the lower part of which is formed by part of the liner.

[0003] The tubular peripheral element may be filled with plastics foam material, preferably of circular cross-section.

[0004] The fastener means for securing the rear edge of the sunshade to the seat back may be a touch-and-close fastener. Preferably, the loop elements of the fastener are carried by the sunshade and the hook elements attached to the seat back.

[0005] In use, the peripheral quilted element gives the sunshade sufficient rigidity to project forwardly from the seat back in an approximately horizontal orientation.

[0006] Preferably, a zip fastener, one half of which is secured to the bottom of the tubular peripheral element of the sunshade, serves to connect the sunshade to the lower part of the liner when the sunshade is to be used as a foot muff.

[0007] An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a child seat of the type to which the invention can be applied;

Figure 2 shows a padded fabric liner for use with the seat shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view, similar to Figure 1, but showing the liner of Figure 2 in place on the seat;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the of the components, in accordance with the invention, which can serve either as a sunshade or a foot muff;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the seat and liner shown in Figure 3, with the components of Figure 4 in use as a foot muff; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the seat as shown in Figure 1 with the components of Figure 4 in use as a sunshade.

[0008] Referring to Figure 1, a child seat has a seat body 10 comprising a seat portion 12, a back portion 14 and side walls 16 and 18. The seat body 10 is pivotally mounted on a base structure 20 by pivot joints which can be secured in any of a number of desired orientations. The details of these pivot joints form no part of the present invention and will not be described in detail.

[0009] Figure 2 and 3 illustrate a padded fabric insert 22 dimensioned to fit snugly within the seat body 10. The insert 22 has a seat portion 24, a back portion 26, two side walls 28 and 30 and a front wall portion 32 joining the front ends of the two side wall portions 28 and 30. One half of a zip fastener 34 extends along the portion of the free edge of the side wall 28 aligned with the base portion 24, across the free edge of the front wall 32 and along the corresponding part of the side wall 30, for a purpose to be explained hereinafter.

[0010] Figure 4 shows a component 40 in accordance with the invention which can serve both as the upper part of a foot muff, in conjunction with the seat liner shown in Figure 2, and as a sunshade. The component 40 is formed from flexible sheet material and has a central region 42, a rear edge 44, side walls 46 and 48 and a front wall 50. A quilted portion 52, containing a foam rubber insert of diameter approximately 35mm, extends round the bottom edges of the side walls 46 and 48 and the front wall 50. The other half (not shown) of the zip fastener 34 (Figures 2 and 3) is secured to the bottom edge of the quilted portion 52. The loop part 54 of a touch-and-close fastener (such as the fastener sold under the registered trade mark "VELCRO") is secured to the underside of the central panel 42 so as to extend along the rear edge 44 thereof.

[0011] Figure 5 shows the component 40 in use as a foot muff, the zip fastener 34 being used to secure it to the liner 22.

[0012] Figure 6 shows the component 40 in use as a sunshade, the loop part 54 of the touch-and-close fastener engaging with the hook part 56 of this fastener, which is secured to the back of the backrest 26 of the seat body 10 as shown in Figure 1. Figure 6 shows the seat body 10 without the liner 22. The liner 22 may be used at the same time as the component 40 is being used as a sunshade if desired.

Claims

1. A child's seat having a backrest (12) which extends above the head of a seated child and a sunshade (40) formed from flexible sheet material with a rear edge of length equal to the width of the top of the seat back (12) and a quilted tubular element (52) extending around the remainder of its periphery, said rear edge having fastener means (54, 56) for detachably securing the sunshade (40) to the top of the backrest (12) so as to project forwardly, characterised in that the seat (10) is provided with a padded fabric liner (22) and the sunshade (40) is dimensioned so that, when detached from the backrest (12), it can be attached to the liner (12) so as to form the upper part of a foot muff, the lower part of which is formed by part (24) of the liner (22).

2. A child's seat according to claim 1, wherein the tubular peripheral element (52) is filled with plastics foam material.

3. A child's seat according to claim 2, wherein the plastics foam material is of circular cross-section.

4. A child's seat according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the fastener means for securing the rear edge of the sunshade (40) to the seat (10) back is a touch-and-close fastener (54, 56).

5. A child's seat according to claim 4, wherein the loop elements (54) of the fastener are carried by the sunshade (40) and the hook elements (56) are attached to the seat (10) back.

6. A child's seat according to any preceding claim, wherein one half of a zip fastener (34) is secured to the bottom of the tubular peripheral element (52) of the sunshade (40) and the other half of the zip fastener (34) is secured to the lower part of the liner (22).

Drawing