SAFETY HARNESS

Abstract: A safety harness suitable for a young child travelling on the back seat of a motor car, includes a body harness portion which, in use, is fastened about a child's waist and thorax, and a static portion secured to the seat. The body harness portion includes a belt (1) secured by means of a buckle (2) and two shoulder straps (3) extending from the front of the belt, over the wearer's shoulders, crossing one another at the back of the wearer and extending to, and secured to, said belt (1) at the back of the belt (1). The shoulder straps (3) are secured at the front by adjustable buckles (4), and the straps (3) pass through an annular collar (5) disposed at the place where the elements (3) cross one another. The static harness portion comprises a long belt (6), also extending through the collar (5), the belt (6) being extended, in use, around the respective seat back of the motor car, the ends of the belt (6) being secured together by means of a buckle (7). The harness disclosed allows the child limited freedom of movement, so that he or she may stand up on the seat, sit down on the seat, or even lie down on the seat, without restriction, and yet will restrain the child from being flung violently forwards or sideways in the event of an acci­ dent.

Description: "Safety Harness" THIS INVENTION relates to a safety harness for persons travelling in a vehicle. The invention is of particular, but not exclusive, utility, for safeguarding children travelling on the back seats of motor cars. When children travel in cars they normally travel in the back seats thereof, and, indeed, it is normally recommended that they should do so for safety reasons. It is furthermore to be recommended that children so travelling should be restrained against being flung forwards or sideways or otherwise out of the seat occupied in the event of an accident. A number of systems have been devised to secure a child in or on the seat of a motor vehicle. Examples of such devices include children's seats and belts; however, all of these known devices suffer from the disadvantage that because the child basically remains "anchored" the whole time it generally finds travelling quite uncomfortable. It is an object of the present invention to provide a safety harness by which a child can be safely secured to a vehicle seat, can move to a limited extent and can sit or stand up and move around in a limited area of the seat on which he is placed. According to the invention, there is provided a safety harness for use by a person travelling in a vehicle, and including a body harness portion adapted to be secured around the body of such a person, a guide member carried by the body harness portion, and a static harness portion adapted for mounting in or on the vehicle and including a strap or the like which, in use, extends through an aperture provided in said guide member whereby the guide member, and with it the body harness portion, can slide along said strap whilst being retained thereon. An embodiment of the invention is described below, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a safety harness embodying the invention; FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the device in use. Referring to the drawings, the safety harness includes a body harness portion which comprises a belt 1 which, in use, extends around the waist or chest of the child and is fastened by means of a buckle 2. Two shoulder straps or braces-like elements 3 extend from spaced-apart locations on the back portion of the belt 1, cross at the back of the wearer, extend over the wearer's shoulders and are fastened at the front, to the belt 1, by adjustable buckles 4. The elements 3 extend through an annular collar 5 at the place where the elements 3 cross one another. The safety harness further comprises a static portion which takes the form of a long belt 6 which also extends through the collar 5. The ends of the belt 6 can be secured together by means of an adjustable buckle 7. To use the safety harness, the belt 1 is placed around the child with the child's arms extended through the respective apertures defined between the shoulder straps 3 and the belt 1, the buckle 2 fastened and the buckles 4 adjusted if necessary. The long belt 6 is extended through the collar 5 and around the back of the car seat on which the child is placed, the belt 6 being fastened by means of the buckle 7, conveniently located behind the seat back. Where the child is to travel on a car back seat of the usual block or bench form, the belt 6 is preferably arranged substantially in the middle of the back seat so that the child cannot reach the door handles, locks, windows, etc. The long belt 6 thus extends substantially vertically over the front of the seat and the child can stand up or sit down as it wishes, the collar 5, during such movement, sliding freely along the portion of strap 6 on the front of the seat. The collar 5 preferably extends fairly loosely around the straps 3 and 6, so that not only is free vertical movement along strap 6 not impeded normally, but the collar can tilt somewhat relative to straps 3 and 6, so that the child may even lie down on the seat. Nevertheless, the child is restrained from being flung forwardly in the event of an accident or sudden deceleration and from being flung sidewards. The child's safety is therefore ensured, and thus the peace of mind of the adult or adults in charge of the child. It will be appreciated that many variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, the belt 6, instead of being merely looped around the seat back, may be fastened at either end to mountings secured to seat-belt mounting points where these are provided in the motor car. In this case, at least one end of the static strap may have a quick release fastener which can pass readily through the aperture in collar 5. The collar 5 may take the form of a conventional buckle, for example being in the form of a plate with two or more slots or apertures, one for the straps 3 and one for the strap 6. The buckles 2 and 4 may conveniently be of child-proof, quick-release type. The body harness portion may likewise take different forms and may, for example, take the form of a waistcoat or the like garment of an appropriate fabric. The harness described with reference to the drawings may be used, when not fitted in a car, as a conventional walking harness or rein, allowing a toddler to walk on his own whilst being safety attached to an attending adult. To this end, the buckle 7 may be made of a size and shape which will not pass through the respective aperture in the collar 5 but will be arrested thereby, when the other end of strap 6 is held, to provide an attachment with the harness body portion. It will be appreciated that the harness described with reference to the drawings is simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture. The features disclosed in the foregoing description, in the following claims and/or in the accompanying drawings may, both separately and in any combination thereof, be material for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A safety harness for use by a person travelling in a vehicle, and including a body harness portion adapted to be secured around the body of such a person, a guide member carried by the body harness portion, and a static harness portion adapted for mounting in or on the vehicle and including a strap or the like which, in use, extends through an aperture provided in said guide member whereby the guide member, and with it the body harness portion, can slide along said strap whilst being retained thereon. 2. A safety harness according to claim 1 wherein said static harness portion takes the form of a simple strap or belt adapted to be secured in a vehicle so as to extend from top to bottom over the back of a seat. 3. A safety harness according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said body harness portion is adapted to extend around the waist of the person wearing the harness, and over the chest, shoulders and back of such person, and said guide member is in the form of a ring or loop mounted on the back part of the body harness portion. 4. A safety harness according to claim 1 wherein said body harness portion includes a belt adapted to extend around the waist or chest of the wearer and be secured by a buckle, two shoulder straps each extending from a front part of said belt around a respective shoulder of the wearer, to a back part of said belt, the shoulder straps crossing one another over the back of the wearer and passing through an aperture defined by said guide element, where the shoulder straps cross, and wherein said static harness portion takes the form of a single strap provided with adjustable fastening means whereby the ends of the strap can be secured together after the strap has been extended around a seat back, said strap extending through an aperture provided by said guide element. 5. The combination of a harness according to any preceding claim, with a motor vehicle having a seat to which said static harness portion is secured.

Inventors: KIRSTEN, THOMAS PETER
Applicants: KIRSTEN, THOMAS PETER, PARKINSON, JAMES GRAHAM
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B60R22
IPC codes: B60R22