Playseat With Stabilizer

Abstract

An improved children's play seat is convertible between rocker, walker and bouncer positions. It has a pair of upwardly-curved rockers and a seat resiliently suspended from the rockers. Casters are provided at the ends of the rockers so that a child in the seat can propel the vehicle with his feet. Outrigger type feet are pivotally mounted at the ends of the rockers. When the playseat is being used as a walker, these feet are swung up so that the casters engage the ground. On the other hand, when the seat is being used as a bouncer, the feet are swung down below the casters so that they engage the ground and thereby stabilize the seat.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a playseat for children. It relates more particularly to a playseat which can function selectively as a baby walker, a baby jumper, or a rocker and which also can be folded easily into a compact package. As such, it is an improvement over the playseat shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,331,631 owned by the assignee of the present application.

Playseats of this type comprise a pair of upwardly-curved rockers and a seat resiliently suspended from the rockers. Casters are removably secured at the end of the rockers so that a child in the playseat can propel the vehicle with his feet which extend down between the rockers and engage the ground. The aforesaid patent discloses a play seat with stabilizers mounted on the rockers. When the vehicle is to function as a bouncer, the casters are removed from the rockers and these stabilizers are swung down so that they engage the ground and prevent the seat from rocking.

Thus, in order to convert the prior playseat between its walker and bouncer positions, it is necessary to remove the casters. In some cases, this becomes a tedious task, particularly when the child wishes to change back and forth between the operative positions of the playseat relatively often.

Also, when the casters have to be removed from the playseat, they tend to become misplaced and lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a children's playseat which is convertible between rocker, walker and bouncer positions without having to remove the casters from the playseat.

Another object of the invention is to provide a playseat which has a wide base and is, therefore, relatively stable when used as a bouncer.

Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

In general, the playseat has the usual upwardly-curved rockers and a foldable seat resiliently suspended from the rockers. Casters are removably secured at the ends of each rocker so that a child in the seat can propel it with his feet.

Stabilizing arms are pivotally mounted at the ends of the rockers. When the seat is being used as a walker, these arms are raised up above the casters so that the seat is free to roll along the ground. On the other hand, when the seat is being used as a bouncer, the stabilizing feet are swung down so that they extend out like outriggers to extend the base of the seat and stabilize it as the child bounces up and down in the seat. The stabilizers are angled outwardly away from the rockers so that they can be swung up and down between their two operative positions without the casters interfering.

Of course, when the playseat is functioning as a walker, the stabilizing feet are placed in their upper position and the casters are removed so that the child can rock back and forth in the playseat.

Thus, the present item of juvenile furniture can be converted between its operative positions with a minimum amount of effort on the part of the mother. Furthermore, there is less likelihood of the casters becoming lost or misplaced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a children's playseat embodying the principles of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view along line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view along line 3--3 of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the playseat showing the stabilizer in its upper walker position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawing, the playseat comprises a rocker assembly shown generally at 10 and a seat assembly indicated generally at 12 resiliently suspended from rocker assembly 10 by the usual resilient means, herein helical springs 14.

The rocker assembly 10 includes a pair of parallel, spaced-apart, upwardly-curved rockers 16. Each rocker has an upturned rear end 16a and an upturned forward end 16b connected to a crossbar 17.

A pair of tubular caster mountings 18 are installed near the opposite ends of each rocker 16 just inboard of the upturned end portions 16a and 16b. These mountings 18 are arranged to receive the usual swivel-type casters 19. Also resilient bumpers 20 engage around the rocker upturned end portions 16a and 16b.

The seat assembly 12 is a conventional construction shown in complete detail in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,331,631 and the entire unit is foldable for compact storage.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, outrigger-type feet 24 are connected by pivots 26 to rocker 16 adjacent the caster mounts 18. Each foot 24 is in the form of a stiff rod having a relatively long straight main portion 24a, and a shorter upper portion 24b which is bent at an obtuse angle relative to portion 24a. The upper end 24c of each foot is bent at right angles to portion 24b and transverse to rockers 16. Also, the bottom end 24d of each foot 24 is bent parallel to rockers 16 in a relatively gentle curve. At the junction 32 of portions 24a and 24b, the foot is flattened so that it lies flat against rocker 16 and can be secured thereto by pivot 26.

As best seen in FIG. 3, each foot 24 is secured to rocker 16 so that the pivot 26 makes a slight angle A with the horizontal axis. Accordingly, when the foot is swung down toward its lower bouncer position shown in FIGS. 1 - 3, the foot, and more particularly its main portion 24a, swings out sideways and clears the adjacent caster 19.

The foot swings down until its portion 24c engages the top of rocker 16. At this point, the curved end of 24d of the foot engaging the ground is positioned forwardly (or rearwardly) of the end of the associated rocker 16 as shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, the weight of the child in the seat biases foot portion 24c toward the rocker so that the feet tend to remain in this operative position. Moreover, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 the feet 24 all engage the ground outboard of rockers 16 thereby increasing the base of the playseat and making it quite stable despite violent movements of the child sitting in it.

Referring now to FIG. 4, when it is desired to convert the seat from its bouncer to its walker position, each foot 24 is swung up until the foot portion 24c again engages the top of the associated rocker 16 on the other side of the associated pivot 26. The pivotal connection at 26 is sufficiently tight so that there is minimum tendency for the foot to swing down again of its own accord. As seen in FIG. 4, with the feet 24 in their upper position, casters 19 are free to engage the ground and the vehicle can be easily foot propelled by a child sitting in the seat.

The present seat can also function as a rocker simply by placing the feet 24 in the upper position shown in FIG. 4 and removing casters 19.

It will be seen from the foregoing then, that I have provided a simple playseat which is readily convertible between a baby jumper and a baby walker and which may also function as a rocker. Furthermore, when converting between the bouncer and walker modes of operation, there is no need to remove the casters. Therefore, the conversion can be accomplished with a minimum amount of effort and without any likelihood of the playseat parts becoming lost.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described.

Claims

I claim:

1. A children's playseat convertible between bouncer and walker positions, said playseat comprising

A. a pair of parallel, spaced-apart rockers,

B. a seat resiliently suspended from said rockers,

C. means for mounting casters near the opposite ends of said rockers, and

D. stabilizers adjustably mounted at the opposite ends of the rockers adjacent the caster mounting means, each such stabilizer comprising a wire member having

1. a relatively long main section pivotally connected to a rocker, and

2. a shorter upper section oriented at an angle relative to the main section and having an end portion bent sideways relative to the upper section so that the portion engages the top wall of the rocker on one side of the caster mounting means when the stabilizer is in its extreme upper position and also engages the wall on the other side of the caster mounting means when it is in its lower position wherein it supports the playseat, thus providing limit stops for the stabilizer.

2. A children's playseat as defined in claim 1 and further including casters mounted in the caster mounting means.

3. A children's playseat as defined in claim 1 and further including resilient bumpers mounted at the opposite ends of the base members.

4. A children's playseat as defined in claim 1 wherein the lower end of each stabilizer main section is upwardly curved where it engages the ground.

5. A children's playseat as defined in claim 1 wherein the pivotal connection between the stabilizer and the rocker is oriented at an angle relative to a horizontal plane so that the stabilizer main section is displaced sideways relative to the rocker when it is swung down to its lower operative position so as to bypass a caster in the caster mounting means and so as to increase the base of the playseat.