Child's car seat harness storage system

This invention relates to a child\'s car seat which may be used with or without an internal harness system, and, more specifically, a means to store an internal harness system of a child\'s car seat when the car seat is being used without the harness system.

Children\'s car seats are well known and are used in combination with an auto seat belt to restrain children traveling in automobiles. Two types of car seats commonly used are belted car seats and booster car seats.

Belted car seats are secured to an automobile seat with an automobile seat belt, combination lap/shoulder belt system, or a supplemental LATCH (an acronym which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) belt attaching to special anchor points in an automobile. Belted car seats have an internal harness system that retains the child into the seat, generally a 5-point system with a crotch belt, left and right lap belt sections and left and right shoulder belt sections joined at a central buckle. Most internal harness systems also have a harness tie to locate the shoulder belt portions on the child\'s shoulders. They are typically used for children weighing between 22 and 40 or 65 pounds.

Booster car seats use only the combination automobile lap/shoulder systems passing in front of the child and booster seat to restrain the child. They are typically used for children weighing 30 to 80 or 100 pounds.

Some newer children\'s car seats are combination belted car seats and booster car seats. These seats are used with the internal harness until the child is over a specified maximum weight and then they are used as booster car seats.

In the past, it was necessary to remove the internal harness system when converting from use as a belted car seat to a booster car seat because the harness system buckles and harness tie would make uncomfortable seating for any occupant. It is easily seen that removing a multi-component harness system is inconvenient. But, more importantly, storing it apart from the car seat can lead to lost parts and misuse of the seat. Reinstallation can lead to improper installation, further misuse and inconvenience.

This invention makes using a car seat which converts from a belted seat to a booster seat and then back to a belted seat easier and safer by describing a means to store the harness system on the car seat such that no components need to be removed and no uncomfortable disruptions of the seating surface occur.

This invention is a child\'s car seat with a seating surface, a backrest surface and side surfaces. It also has a belt path through which an automobile seat belt (not shown) or a LATCH belt (not shown) may be threaded to secure the car seat to an automobile seat. It further has a 5-point harness system with a crotch belt with an attached buckle body, a combination left lap and shoulder belt with a sliding latch plate, a combination right lap and shoulder belt with a sliding latch plate, and various other components to add to utility or comfort, e.g., cup holders and arm rests. The seat is also equipped with a soft pad for comfort (not shown).

The crotch belt emerges from an opening in the seating surface. The combination lap/shoulder belts also emerge from openings in the seating surface, pass through sliding latch plates which removeably connect to the crotch strap buckle, and then pass through openings in the seat back. A harness tie is secured to the shoulder belts above the sliding latch plates and may be separable into left and right halves by a fastening means.

The invention utilizes an additional opening in the seating surface near to and in front of or optionally behind the crotch belt. This opening is sized to allow passage of the crotch strap buckle through the opening for storage, thereby minimizing the disruption of the essentially horizontal seating surface to the elevation of the thickness of the crotch belt when the crotch strap buckle is so stored. In addition, there are angled “U”-shaped slotted openings on both the left and right sides of the seating area near to and between each of the seat openings from which the lap belts emerge. Each of these openings is preferably angled at about 45 degrees, although both larger and smaller angles are envisioned to be within the scope of the invention. Each “U”-shaped slotted opening results in an attached central tongue. Additional “U”-shaped slotted openings are located near a rounded junction of the seat and back surfaces and generally between the first angled slotted openings and the second slotted openings in the seat back through which the shoulder belts pass.

To store the 5-point harness, one disconnects the sliding latch plates from the crotch strap buckle and feeds the buckle body through the opening in the seating surface in front of (or optionally behind) the crotch strap. Thus the crotch strap belt lies essentially flat on the seating surface and presents only a minimal deviation (limited to the thickness of the crotch strap) from the surface thereby maximizing seating comfort as the crotch strap buckle is stored beneath the seating surface.

Next, the sliding latch plates on the respective left and right lap/shoulder belts are slid downward and into their respective openings in the seat through which the lap belt emerges. They are thus stored beneath the seating surface.

One lap belt (e.g., the left lap belt) is threaded into the nearest side of the angled and slotted “U”-shaped opening and under the attached tongue. It is then folded over the attached tongue and fed under the attached tongue of the additional slotted “U”-shaped opening and travels onward. The right lap belt is similarly stored.

Finally, the harness tie is slid up or down on the shoulder belt until it is positioned over the recessed auto belt path. If desired, the harness tie may be separated into its two halves if so provided to allow a straighter path for the shoulder belts.

Like the crotch belt, the combination lap/shoulder belts lie on the surfaces of the seating surface and back surface and make no significant protrusion above the surface so as to maximize comfort to an occupant. All hard sliding latch plates are beneath the seating surface and pose no comfort issue and the harness tie is over a recess and also poses no comfort issue.

Thus, the 5-point harness is stored on the car seat without removal of any components and the car seat may now be used as a booster car seat. When it is desired to reconvert to a belted car seat, e.g., for a younger sibling or other second user, the process is simply reversed.

Therefore, it is an object of the invention to produce a car seat which can interconvert between a seat which may be used with or without an internal harness system in which a storage capacity exists beneath the seating surface which accommodates the buckle and latch plates of the internal harness system.

It is another object of the invention to illustrate a car seat in which the internal harness system is capable of being stored in a manner which minimizes any horizontal deviation above the plane of the seating surface, any such deviation being limited to the thickness of the belt of the harness system.

It is yet another object of this invention to allow easy storage of an internal harness of a belted car seat when using the car seat as a booster car seat.

It is still yet another object of this invention to allow said storage with no removal of components.