Vehicular child seat cover

A vehicular safety seat for a child may be exposed to the sun to such an extent that certain portions will be hot enough to burn a child. A removeable cover is provided that covers all areas of the seat when unoccupied. Because the cover must be applied and removed while holding the child, special structure is provided so that these tasks may be performed with one hand. A combined storage pouch/pillow is attached to the upper or backrest portion of the cover. While the upper portion of the cover remains attached to the safety seat, the balance of the cover may be removed from the seat and stuffed into the pouch with one hand to form a soft pillow for the child's head. The position of the pouch may be adjusted on the cover to accomodate the child's growth. The balance of the cover may be removed from the pouch and applied to completely cover the child seat with one hand. There are no problems with misplacing the cover since the upper portion remains attached to the child seat in both the covered and uncovered mode. Arrangements for holding the cover in place on the child seat are provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to child seats of the type mandated by law to safely 
support young children in motor vehicles, and more particularly to an 
improved cover for such child seats. 
Child seats of the type for which the cover of the invention is intended 
vary widely in design and construction. They are all characterized by a 
seat and back portion and a supporting base therefor. Most seats have 
restraining bars or straps to hold the child in place and the supporting 
base is held in place on the vehicle seat by a seat belt. The seat portion 
is often plastic for easy cleaning and the bars, buckles and the like may 
have portions made of metal. 
The metal and plastic materials of the child seat may become so extremely 
hot if left exposed to the sun, or even when left in a vehicle exposed to 
sunlight, as to burn the sensitive skin of the child. The experience may 
so traumatize the child as to engender a phobia against vehicles. 
For this reason, a variety of covers for infant seats have been devised. 
These are examplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,761,032 issued Aug. 2, 1988 to 
Sanchez et al and 4,478,453 issued Oct. 23, 1984 to Schutz. Covers of the 
prior art generally do not make provisions for disposition of the cover 
when not in use. Since deploying and removing of the cover will generally 
be performed while holding the child with one hand, it would be desirable 
to have a cover that may be operated with one hand. 
The child seats of the art do not make adequate provision for adjusting the 
backrest for maximum comfort as the child grows. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a protective cover 
for a vehicular child seat that can be readily deployed for covering the 
seat with one hand. It is another object of the invention to provide 
storage means for the cover when the seat is uncovered and providing for 
uncovering the seat with one hand. It is yet another object of the 
invention to provide storage means for the cover that remain attached to 
the seat in the form of a pouch that is vertically adjustable on the seat 
to serve as a pillow for the child. 
The cover of the invention remains attached at its upper end to the 
backrest of the child seat. When deployed, the cover extends down over the 
entire upper surface of the child seat and its restraining means to 
protect them from the heat of the sun. Attached to the outer surface of 
the backrest portion of the cover is a pouch/ pillow. This is removably 
attached so that it can be raised as the child grows. When the child is to 
be placed in the seat, the portions of the cover below the pouch are 
pulled off the seat and stuffed into the pouch where they are ready for 
use and where they provide stuffing for the pillow function. The unsoiled, 
underside of the cover is thereby turned to the outside as it covers the 
pillow. 
These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will 
become more apparent when the detailed description is studied in 
conjunction with the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now first to FIGS. 1 and 3, a vehicular child seat 1 has a back 2 
and seat portion 3. The cover 4 of the invention has an elasticized upper 
hem that forms a snug fitting sleeve top 5 to fit a variety of backs 2 
without adjustment. The cover may be removably attached to the seat back 2 
by attaching means such as matching hook-and-loop fasteners 6, one member 
of which is cemented to the seat so that the cover may be removed for 
cleaning. When opened, the cover extends over the entire back 2 and seat 
portion 3, completely covering the surfaces that would touch the child 
including any restraining bars 7 or belt buckles 9 that are often metal 
that can more readily cause burns. A pouch/pillow 10 is removably attached 
to the outer surface of the cover by hook and loop fastening means 11 or 
snaps 12. These are positioned at a series of levels, so that the pillow 
may be raised as the child grows, thereby providing an adjustment of the 
seat configuration for more comfortable seating. The bottom hem 13 of the 
cover is also elasticed for enhanced fitting to the bottom of seats of 
different sizes and shapes. 
When the seat is to be uncovered, the bottom hem is pulled free and, as 
best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, stuffed into the pouch/pillow 10 until 
substantially all of the cover below pillow level is stuffed into the 
pillow. The sides of the pouch may be elasticized for enhanced 
performance. The cover is now out of the way and the child may be placed 
in the seat without fear of burning because all the surfaces that may 
contact the child's body had been covered. Furthermore, the cover kept 
them clean. And the surface of the pillow that had been exposed to soiling 
is now covered, with the surface exposed to the child's head being the 
underside of the cover. Any dirt or dust that may have settled on the 
cover is now on the surface in contact with the pouch and away from the 
child. The cover may be fabricated from one or more layers of any of a 
variety of materials both functional and decorative, as desired including 
sheet fabric, sheet plastic, plastic coated fabric and the like. It can be 
seen that the cover of the invention, once installed on a child's seat 1 
and fastened at the rear by fasteners 6, can be easily operated with one 
hand to cover or uncover the car seat, while holding the child with the 
other hand. The surfaces in contact with the child are kept clean and 
there is never any posibility of exposing the child on the seat to the 
dirty outer surface of the cover. The pouch/pillow has a top opening and 
closed bottom and elasticized sides, it forms a convenient storage means 
of ready access and adds a comfort element that adjusts to the child's 
growth. 
The above disclosed invention has a number of particular features which 
should preferably be employed in combination although each is useful 
separately without departure from the scope of the invention. While I have 
shown and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be 
understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise than as herein 
specifically illustrated or described, and that certain changes in the 
form and arrangement of parts and the specific manner of practicing the 
invention may be made within the underlying idea or principles of the 
invention within the scope of the appended claims.