Patent ID: 7617550

Claim:
A playard movable between an open arrangement and a folded arrangement, comprising: a plurality of legs; a plurality of pivot joints, each pivot joint connected to one of the plurality of legs, respectively; a plurality of slider joints, each slider joint slidingly engaging one of the plurality of legs, respectively; a plurality of cross members arranged in pairs, at least one of the pairs extending between adjacent legs such that one of the slider joints connects at least one cross member of one of the pairs to one of the adjacent legs and one of the pivot joints connects at least one cross member of one of the pairs to the other of the adjacent legs; at least one latch mechanism operable in a latched condition to maintain a predetermined gap along one of the legs between one of the slider joints and one of the pivot joints to prevent movement of the playard toward the folded arrangement, the gap having a height greater than that of the corresponding slider joint; and a plurality of top rail segments extending between the legs, each top rail segment comprising a strip oriented horizontally in the open arrangement in which a width of the strip is substantially larger than a height of the strip, such that the plurality of top rail segments defines a flat, upper periphery when the playard is in the open arrangement.