SAFETY BELT RESTRAINT DEVICE

Abstract: The present invention provides a restraint device for use with a safety belt system in a vehicle for adapting the orientation of the safety belt to suit a child. The device comprises a seat (10), and at least one hook member (12) extending forwardly and arranged so as to hook over and hold down the lap belt (24) of the safety belt system.

Description: Safetv Belt Restraint Device The present invention relates to a restraint device for use with a safety belt system in a vehicle for adapting the orientation of the safety belt to suit a child. Safety belt systems for vehicles are well known and commonly comprise a belt arrangement including a lap belt and a shoulder belt designed to cross the lap and the chest of a person to engage a clasp and provide a 3-point restraint. Such systems are generally designed to be employed by an adult and suffer from various disadvantages when applied to a child. One key problem, in the case of a child, is the danger of the lap belt riding up the body of the child and impacting the vulnerable abdominal area under emergency braking or accident conditions with the consequent possibility of causing unnecessary harm. Another problem is that the shoulder belt of the safety belt, being designed for an adult, tends to cross the upper torso of the child in the region of the neck rather than across the chest, which again is dangerous under conditions of emergency braking or accident. In addition, an active wriggling child may generate slack in the safety belt system and thereby reduce its effectiveness. Various proposals have been made for modifying existing safety belt systems for use by a child and one such proposal involves raising the body of the child by a substantial amount by means of a booster seat. This has the advantage of locating the safety belt better in relation to the body of the child but has the drawback that the head of the child is then often raised above the back of the vehicle seat and is thus unsupported in emergency and unprotected against whiplash. Another proposal, described in International Published Patent Application number WO92/ 16394, features a restraint device in the form of an open ended tubular guide through which both the shoulder and lap belts of the safety belt system are threaded prior to closure of the safety belt by means of the usual buckle and clasp arrangement. Such a guide has the advantage particularly of re-orienting the shoulder belt of the safety belt system to engage firmly across the chest of the child. However, new European safety regulations are currently under consideration and new standards are likely to be introduced within the foreseeable future requiring a higher degree of safety for children, particularly up to 36 kg in weight, when travelling in automotive vehicles. One particular area of concern is the protection of the abdominal region of a child and the orientation of the lap belt of a safety belt system to ensure optimum safety even under adverse driving conditions. It is towards this problem that the present invention is directed, and it is an object of the invention to provide a new restraint device for locating the lap belt of an existing safety belt system across the pelvic region or the thighs of a child in use. A further object of the present invention is to provide a restraint device designed to prevent the lap belt of a safety belt system from becoming slack or riding up the body of a child in use. Another object of the present invention, at least in its preferred form, is to provide such a restraint device which does not raise the body of a child significantly above the vehicle seat so that the head of the child remains protected at the rear by the back of the seat in use. Still another object of the present invention, at least in its preferred form, is to provide a restraint device for additionally orienting the shoulder belt of a safety belt system across the chest and away from the neck of a child in use. The present invention provides a restraint device for use with a safety belt system in a vehicle for adapting the orientation of the safety belt to suit a child, comprising a support engageable by the body of the child, and at least one hook member extending from the support and arranged so as to hook over and hold the lap belt of the safety belt system down against the pelvic region or the thighs of the child in use. In a preferred form of the invention, the support comprises a seat having a central forwardly projecting hook member so that the lap belt may be guided down between the legs of the child in use and engaged firmly under the hook member. The advantage of this arrangement is that the lap belt is located firmly away from the stomach of the child and yet at the same time can simply be released forwardly following release ofthe buckle and clasp of the safety belt systems when the child is to be removed. The seat may be made from any material providing a rigid load bearing structure, for example from plastics, glass fibre reinforced plastics, wood or metal or from plastics reinforced by a metal insert. In this case, the seat may have a padded cover and it may be contoured to fit the child's body snugly. An alternative embodiment of the invention features a seat formed with a pair of forwardly projecting hook members at its two sides. For example, the seat may have raised side walls with a respective hook member disposed adjacent the interior of each side wall whereby the lap belt of the safety belt system may be guided upwardly over the side walls and then downwardly under the hook members to fit closely against the legs of the child. As before, the seat may be formed from any material providing a rigid load bearing structure. In either instance, the restraint device may also include means for guiding the shoulder belt of the safety belt system across the chest of the child. For example, such means may comprise a strap attached to the support or to the seat, which strap is engageable round the shoulder belt to locate the shoulder belt in a particular orientation in relation to the support or seat. The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a restraint device according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the restraint device shown in Figure 1 in use and orienting a safety belt system of a vehicle in relation to the body of a child; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modification of the restraint device of Figure 1 in use; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of a further restraint device according to the invention in use. Referring initially to Figures 1 and 2, these show a restraint device comprising an integrally moulded seat 10 formed from glass fibre reinforced plastics by means of injection moulding, blow moulding, rotational moulding, or other moulding process. The seat 10 is formed with a central forwardly projecting hook member 12 and a pair of forwardly extending leg rests 14. Two rearwardly extending slots 16 separate the hook member 12 from the leg rests 14. The seat 10 has a padded covering providing a pair of seat pads 18. The overall seat 10 including the leg rests 14 is contoured and slightly centrally dipped in order to fit snugly around the bottom of a child and, with the aid of the pair of seat pads 18, provide a firm but comfortable support. The undersurface of the seat 10 includes means, for example a roughened surface, for providing a frictional engagement with the seat of a vehicle in use in order to ensure that the seat 10 does not slip about. The hook member 12 itself has an upper surface 20 which is inclined upwardly, in relation to the rest of the seat 10 and the leg rests 14, towards the free end of the hook member 12, again for snug location of the child's body. An undersurface 22 of the hook member is also inclined upwardly in relation to the rest of the seat 10 towards the free end of the hook member 12 and then, at the free end, curves slightly downwardly to provide a guide surface for firm positive engagement with a lap belt of a safety belt system as shown in Figure 2. In addition, the free end of the hook member 12 splays out sideways and is enlarged in order to prevent inadvertent or accidental disengagement of the lap belt in use. Figure 2 shows the restraint device in use by a child in combination with a safety belt system including a lap belt 24 and a shoulder belt 26. As illustrated, the child's buttocks engage firmly with the seat 10 with the child's thighs resting on the leg rests 14. The lap belt 24 engages over the legs of the child and down between the child's legs and is hooked under the hook member 12 to locate the lap belt 24 firmly around the lower body portion of the child and prevent it from riding up in use. A buckle 28 secures the belts 24, 26 to a clasp (not shown) on a fixed strap 30 in the usual way. The advantage of the present restraint device is that it locates the lap belt 24 of the safety belt system securely and firmly in use against the legs of the child to provide a safe body restraint for the child. The hook member 12 is designed to inhibit or prevent disengagement of the lap belt 24 when the safety belt system is secured. At the same time, however, disengagement of the safety belts 24, 26 on release of the buckle 28 is a simple matter and merely requires that the belts be drawn forwardly of the hook member 12. It is to be noted that the seat 10 is not designed as a booster seat for raising the body of the child but serves primarily as a locating device for the lap belt 24 of the safety belt system. Consequently, the seat 10 is not required to have a substantial thickness but is merely required to be sufficiently rigid to provide adequate load bearing properties, and it can be relatively thin so that the head of the child remains below the level of and protected by the back of the vehicle seat. However, in the case of younger children and infants, it may be advantageous for the seat 10 to be thicker to raise the child up to see out of the vehicle without raising the child so far that its head becomes unprotected. Figure 3 shows a modification of the design illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, in which further means are provided for guiding the orientation of the shoulder belt 26 of the safety belt system. These means comprise a strap 32 fixed at one end 34 to the seat 10 and engageable at the other end 36 with the shoulder belt 26 to locate the shoulder belt 26 at a predetermined level relative to the seat 10. More particularly, the end 34 of the strap 32 fits through a slot 38 in the seat 10 and is stitched back on itself or fixed by a buckle for attaching the strap 32 to the seat 10. The end 36 is provided with a velcro or alternative fastening by which the end 36 can be engaged with the shoulder belt 26, for example by folding the end 36 over the shoulder belt 26 and fastening it back on itself. The length of the strap 32 is selected so that, when the end 36 is fastened round the shoulder belt 26, the belt 26 is fitted closely to the shoulder of the child to provide a firm restraint. A further restraint device is shown in Figure 4 and comprises an integrally formed seat 40 formed from glass fibre reinforced plastics by injection moulding, blow moulding, rotational moulding or other moulding techniques. The seat 40 has a raised back 42 and side walls 44 contoured to receive snugly the body of a child. Two forwardly extending hook members 46 are disposed respectively to run parallel to the interior of each side wall 44 and to form with the adjacent side wall 44 a respective slot 48 for receiving the lap belt 24 of a safety belt system. In this instance, therefore, the lap belt 24 is guided upwardly over the side walls 44 of the seat 40 and then downwardly behind and under the hook members 46 to locate the lap belt 24 over the thighs or lower torso of the child's body. A primary purpose of the raised side walls 44 is to ensure that the buckle 28 of the safety belt system is situated outside the seat 40 and does not itself bear against and exert a load on any portion of the seat 40. Consequently, the height of the side walls 44 is selected to be sufficient that the buckle 28 lies below the upper edge of the adjacent side wall 44 and this edge is subjected only to load from the lap belt 24. In both embodiments, the buckle of the safety belt system is kept in use away from the hook or hooks, either by the body of the child or by the side walls of the seat, so that no additional load is applied to the hook(s) beyond the weight of the child and the load from the lap belt 24. Various other modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention. In particular, the seat 10 or 40 may be formed from plastics, wood or metal instead of from glass fibre reinforced plastics. Alternatively, the seat may be formed from plastics reinforced by a metal insert or from a combination of these materials. In the design shown in Figures 1 to 3, the leg rests 14 may be omitted. Further, the restraint device shown in Figure 4 may feature a locating arrangement for the shoulder belt 26 of the safety belt system, and such locating arrangement may constitute a strap 32 as shown in the embodiment of Figure 3.

Claims: Claims 1. A restraint device for use with a safety belt system in a vehicle for adapting the orientation ofthe safety belt to suit a child, comprising a support engagement by the body of the child, and at least one hook member extending from the support and arranged so as to hook over and engage the lap belt of the safety belt system to hold the lap belt firmly down against the pelvic region or the thighs of the child in use. 2. A restraint device according to claim 1 , in which the support has a central forwardly projecting hook member. 3. A restraint device according to claim 2, in which the hook member is enlarged at its tip. 4. A restraint device according to claim 2 or 3, in which the hook member is inclined upwardly towards its tip and dips downwardly its tip. 5. A restraint device according to any of claims 2 to 4, in which the hook member is defined by rearwardly extending slots on each side of the hook member. 6. A restraint device according to claim 1 , in which the support has a pair of forwardly extending hook members at respective side of the support. 7. A restraint device according to claim 6, in which the support has side walls with the hook members disposed respectively adjacent to the interior of each side wall, whereby the lap belt may be guided up over the side walls and then down under the hook members in use. 8. A restraint device according to any preceding claim, in which the support is a child's seat. 9. A restraint device according to claim 8, in which the seat is contoured to fit the child's bottom snugly. 10. A restraint device according to claim 8 or 9, in which me undersurface of the seat has means for frictionally engaging the surface of a vehicle seat in order to prevent slippage. 11. A restraint device according to any preceding claim, further comprising a strap attached to the support and arranged to be engageable with the shoulder belt of the safety belt system to guide the shoulder belt across the chest and away from the neck of the child. 12. A restraint device according to claim 10, in which the strap includes a fastening arrangement for engaging the strap with the shoulder belt.

Inventors: FIELD DAVID WILLIAM, SMITH ANTHONY MALCOLM, FIELD, DAVID, WILLIAM, SMITH, ANTHONY, MALCOLM
Applicants: FIELD DAVID WILLIAM, METRO PRODUCTS ACCESSORIES & L, SMITH ANTHONY MALCOLM, FIELD, DAVID, WILLIAM, METRO PRODUCTS (ACCESSORIES & LEISURE) LTD., SMITH, ANTHONY, MALCOLM
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B60R22
IPC codes: B60N2, B60R22