Child's car seat with improved overhead shield

An overhead shield for a child's car seat has a pair of arms pivotally attached to the side walls of the car seat and a central section which is adjustable with respect to the pivotable arm portions. A stationary rack secured to the arm has a plurality of rack notches which engage a pawl latch pivotally mounted to the side extensions of a central cushion member. An exposed operating button enables the pawl latch to be disengaged from the rack notches, and a bias spring normally urges the latch pawl into engagement with one of the rack notches.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to infants' and children's car seats having overhead 
shields. More particularly, this invention relates to such a car seat 
provided with an overhead shield with arms of adjustable length. 
Infants' and children's car seats are known which are provided with a 
safety shield which is pivotally attached at an appropriate point to the 
sides of the seat. Such shields are typically U-shaped with a padded 
central section to cushion the occupant in the event of a collision, and 
the shield is pivotally attached so as to be maneuverable to an overhead 
position in which the infant or child can be easily placed in and removed 
from the car seat. 
Most such overhead shields have arms of fixed length, which suffer from the 
disadvantage that as the infant grows in size insufficient space is 
afforded by the inner periphery of the shield to comfortably accommodate 
the child. At this point, the shield loses its utility. One solution to 
this problem is to provide car seats with overhead shields having arms of 
different length. However, this solution is quite costly in that it 
requires replacement of the entire seat structure at least once. A 
compromise solution is to design the shield with an intermediate length: 
however, this solution suffers from the disadvantage that the arms can be 
too long for an infant and too short for a child of forty pounds or more. 
Attempts in the past have been made to provide overhead shields with arms 
of adjustable length: however, to date such shields have provided only 
nominal adjustment ranges, on the order of a maximum of approximately two 
and a half inches. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention comprises a comprises an adjustable arm structure for an 
infant and child's car seat which provides a broader range of 
adjustability and therefore is capable of accommodating a broader range of 
children ranging from a newborn infant to a child of about forty pounds in 
weight (a typical four-year old child). 
From an apparatus standpoint, the invention comprises an adjustable 
overhead shield for a child's car seat, the shield comprising first and 
second arm members each having an attachment end and a distal end and a 
rack member secured thereto and having a plurality of notches arranged 
therealong. A central U-shaped member is provided with first and second 
side sections each slidably engagable with the first and second arm 
members, respectively, at the distal end thereof. Each of the side 
sections includes a pawl latch pivotally mounted therein, the pawl latch 
having a nose portion engagable in locking relation with the notches and 
an operating end having a manually engagable surface. 
Each of the side sections also includes a bias member, preferably a folded 
blade spring, for urging the nose portion of the pawl latch into 
engagement with one of the notches. 
The invention includes a position indicator mounted on at least one of the 
arm members to indicate the relative position of the central U-shaped 
member and the first and second arm members. Each of the side sections 
also includes an abutment stop for limiting outward movement of the side 
sections relative to the arm members. 
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention, 
reference should be made to the ensuing detailed description, taken in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred 
embodiment of the invention showing a car seat 10 in phantom. As seen in 
this figure, the overhead shield comprises a generally U-shaped device 
having a pair of arms 12, 14, and a U-shaped central member generally 
designated with reference numeral 15. Arms 12, 14 are pivotally attached 
to the outer side walls of car seat 10 in any suitable fashion so as to be 
maneuverable from the position shown in full to an overhead position in 
which an infant or child can be placed in the car seat 10 or removed 
therefrom without interference from the shield. 
Central member 15 includes a pair of cover portions 16, 17 which are 
slidably arranged on arms 12, 14, and a padded center portion 18 which 
provides a cushion against sudden impacts. Each arm 12, 14 is provided 
with a locking mechanism described below and including a release button 18 
for enabling the relative position of central member 15 to be adjusted 
relative to arms 12, 14. An indicator scale 20 is provided on at least one 
of the arms 12, 14 to indicate the relative position of the central member 
15. 
With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, which illustrate the locking mechanism for 
the left arm 12 (which is identical to the locking mechanism for the right 
arm 14), a notched rack 21 is secured to arm 12 in any suitable fashion, 
such as by using appropriate fasteners, bonding or the like. Rack 20 is 
stationary with respect to arm 12. A pawl latch 22 is pivotally secured at 
pin 23 to a substantial upper portion 24 of member 16. Pawl latch 22 is 
generally L-shaped and has a nose portion 23 with a shape conformable with 
the notches 24 formed in rack 20. In the preferred embodiment, notches 24 
have a straight front edge 25 arranged substantially normal to the bottom 
26, and a sloping ramp rear edge 27. 
Pawl latch 22 terminates at the free end in button 18 having a surface 
shaped to accommodate a finger or thumb. A blade spring 30 is arranged 
between the inner surface of upper portion 24 and the rear edge of the 
nose portion 23 of pawl latch 22. Thus, when the button 18 is not 
operated, spring 30 maintains nose portion 23 engaged in one of the rack 
notches 24. 
With reference to FIG. 3, when button 18 is pushed downwardly using a 
finger or thumb, pawl latch 22 rotates counter-clockwise about pivot 23 
against the force of spring 30 to lift nose portion 23 clear of the rack 
slot 24. Once the pawl latch 22 is disengaged from the rack 20, center 
member 15 can be adjusted inwardly or outwardly of arm 12 to the desired 
position. After the adjustment has been made, button 18 is released, and 
spring 30 forces the pawl latch 22 against the rack 21. If the nose 
portion 23 is in registration with one of the rack notches 24, spring 30 
will automatically cause engagement between nose portion 23 and a rack 
notch 24. If nose portion 23 is not in exact registration with one of the 
rack notches 24, further manipulation of central member 15 will eventually 
result in proper registration and automatic engagement under the force of 
spring 30. 
In order to prevent complete removal of central member 15 from arms 12, 14, 
an abutment stop 32 is provided at the forward end of rack 21. 
As will now be apparent, the invention provides easy adjustability of the 
length of the overhead shield by simply depressing buttons 18 and 
maneuvering central member 15 on side arms 12, 14. The range of 
adjustability depends on the length of rack 20 and the number of notches 
provided. In one embodiment, the range of adjustability is 3.0 inches: 
however, greater lengths may be provided, as desired. 
While the above provides a full and complete disclosure of the preferred 
embodiments of the invention, various modifications, alternate 
constructions and equivalents may be employed, as desired. Therefore, the 
above description and illustrations should not be construed as limiting 
the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.