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High chairHigh chair description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070085388, High chair. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/803,086, filed on Mar. 18, 2004, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/457,325, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Disclosure [0003] The present invention relates to seating for children and, in particular, to high chairs. [0004] 2. Description of Related Art [0005] High chairs have been provided with a myriad of features designed to enhance their comfort, safety and convenience. There is room for improvement, however, as to several aspects of high chair design. This invention addresses these needs. [0006] During the course of attending to a child in a highchair, it is common practice for the caregiver to sit in front of the highchair and rest his or her arms on the high chair tray. High chair trays typically are made of a relatively hard, unforgiving material and do not provide a comfortable resting place for the caregiver's arms. [0007] The tray of a high chair can become extremely soiled by an infant while eating. Often relatively large food chunks remain on the surface of the tray. The effective and controlled removal of this debris is not adequately addressed in the prior art. [0008] The position of a high chair tray often requires adjustment. Often the tray sticks, or does not slide easily on the surface of the highchair on which it bears. [0009] High chairs that allow the height of the chair to be adjusted require the use of two hands to make the adjustment. Busy caregivers often find that only one hand is free for making a height adjustment. This requires the caregiver first to free up one hand before the adjustment can be made. [0010] Stringent stability (tipping) regulations have a direct impact on the footprint geometry of a high chair. Generally speaking, consumers prefer to have a high chair with a small footprint so that it can be integrated into the kitchen or table setting more conveniently. The footprint size, which is governed by stability concerns, is necessarily larger in high chairs that have a recline feature. Because a child's head comprises a significant proportion of his or her body weight, in reclining high chairs the center of gravity can move substantially to the rear as the child is moved from a full upright to a reclining position. Thus it is highly desirable to minimize the shift of the center of gravity when the seat back is reclined, whereby the footprint of the high chair can be minimized. [0011] Recline mechanisms that allow the seat back to pivot at the bight portion of the seat usually cause a change in the distance between the seat back and the crotch support of the arm bar as the seat is moved through various recline positions. This distance is regulated by industry standards, and it is highly desirable to be able to vary the angle of the seat back without significantly altering the distance between the seat back and the crotch support. [0012] Children typically utilize high chairs throughout a relatively large age span. The wide range of physical development that a child undergoes during this time presents a formidable challenge to designing a high chair that ideally accommodates all of the physical needs of the child. This situation is exacerbated by high chairs that have recline features, enabling the unit to be used for very young infants, and removable arm bars, which when removed allow the chair to be pulled right up to a table for use by an older child. One aspect of available high chairs that does not adequately address this need is the seat height relative to the tray. Most high chairs are designed to accommodate the older child, which means that the tray is usually higher than optimal for an infant or a toddler. [0013] Finally, a consumer-preferred feature is to have entertainment value readily available for a child in a high chair. Often after a meal it is desirable to keep the child in the high chair and quickly occupy the child with interesting objects that cannot be thrown to the floor. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0014] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a chair is provided that includes a seat and a tray. The seat includes a seat bottom portion and a seat back portion, and further includes a bearing surface. The tray is removably supported at a front of the chair above the seat bottom portion so as to be accessible by the seat occupant. They tray defines a top side and an underside. At least one wheel is mounted to the underside of the tray. The wheel rotates along the bearing surface to facilitate for-and-aft movement of the tray relative to the seat. [0015] Still another aspect of the invention facilitates easy fore/aft adjustment of the tray. The tray has a top side, an underside, and at least one wheel mounted to the underside to rotate for movably supporting the tray on a bearing surface of the chair. In one embodiment, the tray can have three wheels, two of which are laterally spaced and are rotatable about a common axis, and the third being centrally located and rotatable about an axis offset from the common axis. The chair can have an occupant restraint at the front of the seat, and the central wheel rides on a recessed track in the occupant restraint. [0016] It should be appreciated that the foregoing and other aspects of the invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof, and in which there is shown by way of illustration, and not limitation, preferred embodiments of the invention. Such embodiments do not necessarily represent the full scope of the invention, and reference must therefore be made to the claims herein for interpreting the full scope of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0017] The above and other features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompany exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing figures, in which: [0018] FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a high chair according to the invention; [0019] FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a tray according to the invention; [0020] FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of the tray of FIG. 2; Continue reading about High chair... Full patent description for High chair Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this High chair patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like High chair or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Head restraint movement mechanism Next Patent Application: Passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular, and a passenger seat group, an aircraft passenger seat group in particular Industry Class: Chairs and seats ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the High chair patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.1136 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Tyco , Unilever , Warner-lambert , 3m 174 |
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