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Child-care instrument and hood

Child-care instrument and hood description/claims

The present invention relates to a child-care instrument such as a child bed, a child safety seat, a baby carriage, and a child-car seat and more particularly, to a hood for covering the upper part of a child receiving space in a child-care instrument.

Various kinds of child-care instruments are introduced in the catalog under the supervision of Aprica Child-Care Society “Book of Baby Happiness of Aprica child-raising book in 2004”. For example, a child-car seat is described on pages 99 to 136, a baby carriage is described on pages 137 to 172, a baby sling is described on pages 173 to 198, and a child bed and chair is described on pages 198 to 214. Among these child-care instruments, the baby carriage to be used out of doors is provided with a hood as a sunshade.

The hood mounted on the baby carriage has a function to protect the baby sat on the seat from the strong sunlight mainly. The hood comprises a plurality of hood bones and a hood cloth extending over the hood bones. The baby carriage comprising such hood is available in the market. Some baby carriages comprise a ventilation window in the hood cloth to introduce air into the seat.

On a hot and humid day, the seat can be cooled by opening the ventilation window. Meanwhile, it is necessary to close the ventilation window on a cold or windy day. Therefore, in the case of the conventional hood having the ventilation window, a cover member such as a soft cloth for covering the window is provided.

The window provided in the hood is intended for the above ventilation and for observing child behavior in the seat. In the latter case, an opening is provided in the hood cloth and the opening is lined with a transparent film in general. Since the sunlight enters the seat through the transparent film, a cover member such as a soft cloth for covering the window is also provided in order to close the window of the transparent film according to need.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-187554 discloses a baby carriage provided with a hood. The hood disclosed in this document comprises a sunshade member provided selectively at a position in which it extends to the front of the hood and a position in which it is housed inside the hood in order to correspond to the change in incident angle of the sunlight.

According to the hood disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-187554, although it corresponds to the change in incident sunlight from the front of the hood with the sunshade member, it is not particularly devised for the change in environment on the sides of the hood.

The baby carriage to be used out of doors is provided with a hood mainly in view of sunshade and protection from blowing dust in many cases. Meanwhile, in the case of indoor child-care instrument, since it is not necessary to consider the sunlight or wind, the upper part of its child receiving space is completely open. However, the inventor of this application has recognized that it is also necessary to cover the upper part of the child receiving space in the child-care instrument to be used in doors. The reasons for the above are as follows.

The first reason relates to a baby having immature eyes. Since the eyes of a newborn baby are immature, the daylight in the room could stimulate the eyes of the baby too much. Similarly, illuminated light could be also too strong for the eyes of the newborn baby. In this point, it is necessary to cover the upper part of the child receiving space in the child-care instrument to be used in doors also in order to protect the newborn baby from the strong stimulation of the light.

The second reason is for adjusting a sleeping environment of the baby. Recently, the sleeping environment of the baby has got worse. This is mostly because of a late-night mother. The mother watches TV until late at night under the illuminated light beside the sleeping baby in some cases. In the atmosphere illuminated brightly, the baby cannot get sufficient sleep. In this point, it is necessary to cover the upper part of the child receiving space in the child-care instrument to be used in doors also to have the baby get enough sleep.

The third reason relates to rhythm of sleep and wakefulness of the baby. The baby regularly repeats the sleep and wakefulness at a constant cycle. This rhythm is called a circadian rhythm and it is said that it is provided according to a change in body temperature. When it is assumed that the rhythm of the body temperature of the human is repeated correctly, the body temperature is highest at 4:00 to 7:00 in the afternoon and then it becomes lower and it is lowest at 4:00 to 7:00 in the morning and then it becomes higher. Considering the biological rhythm for the baby, it seems to be important to make clear distinction between the day and night at the time of sleeping also. More specifically, it seems to be important to make the child receiving space of the child-care instrument darkest when the baby sleeps at night and not to make the child receiving space of the child-care instrument too dark when the baby takes a nap. In this point, it is necessary to cover the upper part of the child receiving space in the child-care instrument to be used in doors also to keep the regular biographic rhythm of the baby.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a child-care instrument that can promote the healthy growth of a baby.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a hood that can adjust the brightness of the child receiving space of a child-care instrument.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a hood of a child-care instrument that can flexibly correspond to an environmental change on the side of the hood.

A child-care instrument according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a body forming a child receiving space and a hood mounted on the body so as to cover the upper part of the child receiving space. The hood comprises a cover part spreading over the upper part of the child receiving space. The cover part comprises a plurality of brightness adjusting regions each having a brightness adjusting function to transmitted light.

According to the present invention having the above constitution, since the cover part of the hood has a plurality of brightness adjusting regions, the brightness of the child receiving space can be adjusted in several stages by adjusting the brightness of the light that passes through each brightness adjusting region.

According to one embodiment, the plurality of brightness adjusting regions are positioned on the right and left sides. In this constitution, the brightness of the light can be flexibly adjusted in accordance with the outer environment on the right and left sides of the child-care instrument. In order to more flexibly correspond to it, it is preferable that the plurality of brightness adjusting regions are positioned on the front, rear, right and left sides.

Preferably, each brightness adjusting region comprises an inner sheet positioned inside and an outer sheet overlapped on the inner sheet. The outer sheet is provided so as to be openable. According to one embodiment, the inner sheet is made of a mesh cloth. Furthermore, according to one embodiment, the outer sheet is made of a material that shields ultraviolet rays.

Furthermore, according to one embodiment, the hood comprises a support member mounted on the body, a first hood bone having a lower end turnably connected to the support member, and a second hood bone positioned posterior to the first hood bone and having a lower end turnably connected to the support member. The cover part comprises a front part positioned anterior to the first hood bone, a central part positioned between the first hood bone and the second hood bone, and a rear part positioned posterior to the second hood bone. Each of the front part, the central part and the rear part of the cover part has a plurality of brightness adjusting regions.

More specifically, each of the front part, the central part and the rear part of the cover part has a middle region having a brightness adjusting function, and side regions positioned on both sides of the middle region and having the brightness adjusting function. Preferably, the hood further comprises a third hood bone connected to the lower edge of the rear part of the cover part and having a front end turnably connected to the support member.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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