Abstract:
A bench-type dinette seat frame includes a pair of spaced-apart anchor bars positioned at the junction of a seat section and a back section of the dinette frame and a third attachment point positioned above and intermediate the first and second spaced apart anchors to provide a three-point attachment of a child safety seat to the dinette frame.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to recreational vehicles and particularly to an attachment system for attaching child safety seats to a dinette bench. 
     Standards have been developed by the Department of Transportation for regulating the attachment of child safety seats in a uniform manner in vehicles, such as automobiles. Such standards include FMVSS213 and FMVSS225 relating to the child restraints and the anchorage points, respectively. Basically, it is desired to provide a uniform system which meets minimum requirements which assures that a child safety seat will remain in situ in the event of an accident. Thus, for example, FMVSS225 for an anchorage point requires that an anchor point withstand a static force of 3000 pounds at each point with a maximum of 5″ deflection of the anchor point. 
     Typically, for vehicles such as automobiles, a commercially available child safety seat will be attached at two locations on either side of the child safety seat to anchor points located at the intersection of the vehicle seat and seat back. A third anchor point is provided higher on the seat back such that a tether at the upper portion of the child safety seat attaches to such anchor point to prevent the upper portion of the safety seat from lurching forwardly in the event of an accident. Such a safety seat installation cannot easily be accommodated in recreational vehicles, since other design considerations come into play. Front passenger seats are typically captain-chair type plush upholstered seats which render them virtually impossible to fasten safety seats securely to them. Further, some motor homes are equipped with passenger side airbags and child safety seats are not recommended for front passenger seats having such airbags. 
     Sofas employed in recreational vehicles typically are side facing and child safety seats are not designed or approved for a side-facing installation. Lounge chairs also frequently used in recreational vehicles behind the cockpit area are typically pedestal mounted and the mounting of a child safety seat in such a standard lounge chair would be extremely difficult due, in part, to the plushness of the chair itself. Further, the pedestal mount itself would normally not be able to withstand the above referenced stress and deflection requirements of an attachment system if mounted in such a seat. Thus, the floor and pedestal mount would of necessity need to be redesigned at a great expense and additional weight to the vehicle. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Recreational vehicles, such as motorhomes, for example, typically include a dinette with a table which can be lowered for converting the dinette into a sleeping berth. In order to accommodate child safety seats in a recreational vehicle, a bench-type dinette seat in a preferred embodiment of the invention includes three anchor points arranged in a triangle on the seat frame for the attachment of a child safety seat. A forward facing dinette bench seat allows room for the location of two child safety seats in the preferred forward-facing position. The footprint of such a bench seat distributes the load over a relatively wide area of the floor structure and, thus, can pass the stress and deflection tests. Use of a dinette, however, presents its own problems for the mounting of a child safety seat in view of the dinette table which, when in a raised position, would interfere with the parent attaching the child safety seat to a dinette bench seat as well as placing the child in and removing the child from the safety seat once attached. Thus, the dinette table preferably includes a drop leaf which provides sufficient clearance for the anchor mount deflection to prevent a child from contacting a table edge in the event of an accident or the table must be designed to be able to be moved to a lower position where it does not interfere with the safety zone of 5 inches. 
     Systems embodying the preferred embodiment of the invention comprise a bench-type dinette seat for a recreational vehicle having a frame with said frame including a pair of spaced-apart anchor bars positioned at the junction of a seat section and a back section of the dinette frame and a third attachment point positioned above and intermediate the first and second spaced apart anchors for the three-point attachment of a child safety seat to the dinette frame. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the dinette includes two such anchor systems such that two child safety seats can be mounted therein. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the dinette frame is made of tubular steel members. Suitable upholstery cushions are provided on the seat section of the frame and the back section of the frame, exposing the anchor points to the user. Such upholstery may include indicia aligned with the anchor points for providing the user with guidance in attaching the child safety seat to the dinette seat. 
     These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof together with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the interior dinette area of a recreational vehicle including the seat attachment system of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of a dinette seat frame embodying the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the dinette seat frame shown in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the frame shown in FIG. 2, shown with the upholstery partially broken away; 
     FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional and schematic view of a child safety seat mounted to the dinette seat shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view of the lower attachment of one side of child safety seat shown in FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view of the upper tether attachment of the child safety eat to the dinette seat shown in FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of the child safety seat shown attached to the dinette seat as shown in FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of a child safety seat mounted to the dinette seat on the other side and shown with the upholstery partially broken away. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown the interior of a recreational vehicle  10 , such as a motorhome, which includes a floor  12  supported on a frame and chassis of the motorhome in a conventional manner. Adjustably mounted to the floor in a dinette area  14  is a dinette table  16  which can be moved between a lowered position, shown in FIG. 1, to a raised position, allowing occupants to comfortably use the dinette table  16  for its normal functions. In the lowered position, the seating surface  17  of a dinette seat  20  having a seat back  18  intersecting with the seating surface  17  is fully exposed to allow a child safety seat  30  to be mounted to the dinette seat  20  in a forward facing position, as seen in FIG. 1, by means of the child safety seat attachment system described in detail in connection with FIGS. 2-9 now described. 
     The underlying elongated generally rectangular frame  40  for the dinette seat  20  (shown in FIG. 1) is shown in FIGS. 2-9 and includes a base  42  having transversely extending struts  41  and  43  joined by longitudinal struts  44  and  45 . The struts are made of 1″×2″ steel tubes welded into an elongated rectangular base  42 . Spaced-apart front and rear risers  46  and  47 , respectively, extend upwardly from the base  42  with front risers  46  being made of 1″×2″ steel tubes and rear risers  47  being made of 1½″×2″ tube members. The four equally spaced risers  46  and  47  support a seat support platform comprising a frame  50  made of a forward tube member  51 , a rearward tube member  52 , end tubes  53  and  54  and intermediate tubes  55  and  56 , all comprising 1″×2″ steel tubes welded to one another and to risers  46  and  47  which are welded to base  42 . 
     Frame  50  defines the seating area of the dinette seat  20  which includes a seat back support including upper risers  57 , which are coaxial with rear risers  47  and a top rail  58  welded to the upper ends of risers  57  which, in turn, are welded to rear tube  52  to form an integral bench-like frame structure  40 . Extending horizontally between outer risers  57  and adjacent inner risers  57  are a pair of U-shaped channel members  60  and  62  which are positioned slightly below top rail  58  and which open rearwardly, as seen in FIG. 2, and include a boxed in section comprising spaced-apart vertical walls  61  between which there is welded a 6.4 mm rod  63  defining one anchor point for receiving a snap hook of a tether as described in greater detail below in connection with the child safety seat  30 . 
     Spaced-apart anchor bars, comprising generally U-shaped anchor members  70 , are positioned on rear rail  52  with a pair of such members  70  associated with each side of the dinette seating area  17  (FIG. 1) such that two child safety seats  30  can be anchored thereto. Each of the anchor members  70  include a pair of inclined legs  71  and  72  with the legs extending upwardly to the connecting rod  73  to incline upwardly from the rear tube  52  to position rod  73  for access by an attachment clip associated with the child safety seat  30 . Thus, the bent U-shaped members  70  provide an upwardly and outwardly projecting rod  73  which is accessible at the intersection of the seating area  17  and the back area  18  on either side of the child safety seat  30  for anchoring the lower section of the child safety seat to the frame  40 . Frame  40  is attached to the floor  12  of the recreational vehicle  10  by means of attachment bolts  49 , which extend through apertures  49 ′ in the base  42  at spaced-apart locations. Bolts  49  extend through the laminated underlayment of floor  12  and through the steel supporting structure of the vehicle frame to securely anchor the seat frame  40  to the vehicle floor  12 . Members  70  are made of 6 mm diameter steel rods to conform (as do rods  63 ) to the FMVSS safety standards required for anchor bars for securing child safety seats to a vehicle. 
     As best seen in FIG. 4, the seat frame  40  includes a seating cushion  17  (shown in fragmentary form in FIG.  4 ), which covers the rectangular seat area frame  50  and a seat back cushion  18  covering the upright back area comprising risers  57  and top rail  58 . The back side of the seat  20  so formed is upholstered with a suitable upholstery panel  80  which includes an aperture  82  formed therein and aligned with the tether anchor bar  63  for each side of the seat. Thus, the lower spaced-apart anchor members  70  and the spaced-apart anchor bars  63  define a triangular anchor system for a child safety seat. The elongated bench seat  20  can accommodate two such anchor systems for two child safety seats  30  in side-by-side relationship if desired. Also, although a forward facing seat is preferred, a dinette may include a rearward facing seat with similar frame construction for lockably securing one or more child safety seats thereto. 
     The seat pad  17  and seat back pad  18  can be of conventional construction insofar as they are made of a closed-cell urethane foam cushion covered by a suitable upholstery material, however, it differs in that, as seen in FIG. 9, the upholstery layer, in alignment with one of the anchor members  70 , includes suitable printed indicia  15  indicating to the user the location of the anchor member  70  between seat cushion  17  and back cushion  18 . Child safety seats  30  are commercially available and are manufactured with an upper tether strap  32  having a hook  34  at the end thereof for securing the upper portion of seat  30  to the anchor bar  63 , as illustrated in FIG. 8, by extending over the top rail  58  of the seat back and over the back panel  80  to engage the anchor bar  63 . The seats  30  also include a hook mechanism  36  on either side, shown schematically in FIG. 6, for engaging a anchor bar  73  of each of the locking members  70 . Thus, the child safety seat  30  is anchored in laterally spaced relationship at its lower end at the intersection of seat back  18  and seat cushion  17  by tether straps  36  and clips  38  for locking tethers  36  onto anchor bar  73 . Frame  40  of dinette seat  20  is suitably enclosed by decorative panels  19  at the sides and lower end as represented by the fragmentary panel  19  in FIG.  9 . 
     It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications to the preferred embodiment of the invention as described herein can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.