Infant Wrapping Blanket

Abstract

A baby's wrap having a rectangle configuration and being adapted to receive the infant's head on an identified corner with the body extending diagonally across the wrap; there being fastening means on the face of the wrap located at the corner diagonally opposite the corner for receiving the infant's head and at a further corner across from the location for receiving the infant's head. Two groups of further fastening means are located on the back of the wrap between the position for receiving the infant's head and the adjacent lower corner. This lower corner is pulled over the infant and the fastening means on the opposite corner is secured to one set of the fastening means on the back of the wrap. Next the further lower corner is folded over and the fastening means thereon secured to fastening means in the other set on the back of the wrap. Fastening means on the back in adjacent sets provides for adjusting the size and shape of the space formed to receive the infant. Further securing means may be provided on the longer edge of the wrap opposite the position for receiving the infant's head; one on the wrap's face and the other on its back. Such fastening means together with others may also be utilized as a shawl for the infant. In one embodiment, the wrap is elongated and cooperating fastening means are provided on the longer edges thereof so that when the wrap is folded across its midline, the fastening means may be secured to provide a pocket for diapers and the like while the outside of the structure thus formed may function as a wrap as described above, or as a mat or carrier for the infant.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an infant's receiving blanket or wrap and more specifically to a particular means for arranging the wrap for keeping an infant securely covered while lying, sitting, being held or carried, for warmth and to prevent the infant's covering from being kicked off or other wise displaced.

It is commonly known that infants should be kept warm and securely covered particularly in the first few months of life when exposure to drafts, chills and the like is more likely to cause colds and complications such as pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses. However, an infant who is wrapped snugly will frequently undo or displace his cover and the use of safety pins to secure the blanket is considered unwise, unsafe, time consuming to apply and often not satisfactory in result. Also, in handling a wrapped infant, the blanket may become displaced, tangled and the child may be tossed about in an awkward or reckless manner to avoid displacing the blanket. It is a usual experience that when a wrapped infant is being carried, constant attention is necessary to keep the blanket in place due to motions of the child. Wind or a strong breeze complicates the problem outdoors.

Various types of infant's wrappings have been proposed to overcome or ameliorate the above problems which may be found in the following patents among others: U.S. Letters Pat. Nos. 1,584,853; 2,548,420; 3,034,132; and 3,477,065. Although the prior art teaches various types of wrappings for receiving an infant, problems relative to keeping the infant securely covered and accommodating different sized infants without adding substantially to the expense of producing the wrapping continue to exist.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has been found that an improved infant's wrapping blanket can be obtained by utilizing a section of rectangular material of suitable composition such as blanket or quilted material with one corner of the rectangle intended for the infant's head and the other corners adapted to be folded over and secured so as to provide a trapezoidal pocket for the infant which cannot be displaced by kicking or other movement by the infant and also which, by providing two sets of fastening means on the back of the wrapping, is adjustable both as to length and width. More specifically, fastening means are provided on two corners across the longer dimensions of the rectangular section with additional means for indicating the location for the head of the infant being across from one of such fastening means on another corner of the section. The remaining corner is first pulled over the infant and the bottom corner located at the infant's feet is next pulled up and secured to fastening means provided on the back of the section. Then the upper corner of the section is pulled over and secured to still further fastening means to the back of the section thus forming a trapezoidal pocket for the infant which is practically impossible for him to displace. The securing of the section is, however, preferably augmented by further fastening means on its front and back along the longer edge which has the other fastening means. These same latter fastening means can be utilized with still further fastening means to provide a robe or shawl if desired. In a further embodiment, the blanket member is a rectangle which is substantially longer than wide and fastening members are provided along the longer edges whereby the blanket member can be folded over and secured by such fastening means to provide a pocket for diapers and the like within the folded blanket and the outside may be utilized as a mat, means for carrying an infant, or as a wrapping as described above.

Other objects, adaptabilities and capabilities will appear as the description progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the baby wrapping blanket in its open form with the face side up;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the baby wrapping blanket shown in FIG. 1 showing the first fold;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the baby wrapping blanket shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 after the second fold has been executed;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the baby wrapping blanket in its final folded form;

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the baby wrapping blanket folded as shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a baby blanket of a further embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the baby blanket of FIG. 6 in a folded form.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1, an infant's receiving blanket designated generally by reference 10 is composed of a single or lined piece of cloth, quilted material or other suitable blanket material. The face 11 of the blanket is intended to be worn next to the infant whereas the back portion 12 (opposite that seen in FIG. 1) is normally the outside or exposed surface when the blanket is disposed about an infant. The face 11 of blanket 10 has affixed thereto near the upper and lower left hand corners (as seen in FIG. 1) fastening means consisting of two male snap fasteners 14 and 15. On the other side (right hand side as seen in FIG. 1) of blanket 10 affixed to the back portion 12 are two groups, 16 and 17, of further fastening means consisting of female snap fasteners designated 16a, 16b and 16c for group 16, and 17a and 17b for group 17. The upper corner of face 11 has a label 20 or other indicia means which functions to indicate the location where the infant's head is to be placed.

To cover an infant or prepare the blanket 10 for receiving an infant, the lower right hand corner 21 is drawn as shown in FIG. 2, across the infant's chest and body completely covering him from shoulder down and exposing the snap fasteners in group 16.

The next step, as illustrated in FIG. 3, is to draw up the lower left hand corner 22 which has the snap fastener 14 so as to connect it with a selected snap fastener of group 16 - 16c as shown in FIG. 3.

The last step in covering the infant is illustrated in FIG. 4 wherein the left upper corner 24 of blanket 10, which has snap fastener 15 attached thereto, is drawn over the infant's chest and body so as to overlap the first two folds and then secured on a selected snap fastener of the group 17 - 17b as shown in FIG. 5.

For the very active infant, it is preferred that two further fastening means consisting of a male snap fastener 26 on the blanket face 11 and a female snap fastener 25 extending from the back portion 12 of blanket 10 be provided adjacent the edge between corners 22 and 24. As may be best understood with reference to FIG. 3, the snap fastener 26 may be secured to the snap fastener 25 when the corner 24 is drawn across the infant to the position shown in FIG. 4. The connection provided by snap fasteners 25 and 26 is more generally used when snap fasteners 16a or 16b are used to provide a longer envelope for the infant.

In order to decrease the width of the envelope, designated generally 27 in FIG. 4 for the infant, snap fastener 17a rather than snap fastener 17b is utilized. The length of envelope 27 may be increased by utilizing snap fastener 16a instead of 16b or 16c or 16b instead of 16c.

A pair of further fastening means, consisting of a female snap fastener 25a and a male snap fastener 26a may optionally be provided whereby by connecting fasteners 25a and 26a, the blanket 10 functions as a shawl with the head being received through the space existing between snap fastener 25a and 26a along the edge 30 of the blanket 10.

Snap fasteners are preferred for the purposes of this invention. However, other fastening means may be utilized; such as, for example a plastic fabric fastener available under the trade name of "Velcro" which has a flat surface containing a great number of tiny hooks formed of the plastic which mates with a similar surface made up of a great number of tiny plastic loops. Fasteners 15, 17a and 17b, as shown in the drawings, may be considered to illustrate such fasteners of a circular configuration. When such surfaces are pressed together they engage and they may be pulled apart in a manner somewhat similar to opening a zipper.

Blanket 10, as shown in the drawings, is preferably 34 by 35 inches in size and, if one piece, is composed of a material suitable for a receiving blanket such as cotton, a mixture of cotton and polyester or a heavier fabric such a a quilted cotton, quilted nylon, dacron or polyester. If face 11 and back portion 12 are different materials, preferably face 11 is a cotton lining and back portion 12 a material such as corduroy, velvet, acrylic piles or polyester piles. If desired, blanket 10 may be 30 by 40 inches in size.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 and 7, a blanket 31, having edges 32 and 34 which are substantially longer than edges 35 and 36, consists of two half portions 40 and 41 divided by a dot-dash line 37. The half portion 40 has a plurality of fastening means comprising male fasteners 42 along edges 32 and 34. The half portion 41 similarly has a plurality of fastening means comprising female fasteners 44 which reflect the position of the snap fasteners 42 across the dot-dash line 37 along edges 32 and 34 as seen in FIG. 6. When the half portion 40 is folded along the dot-dash line 37 onto half portion 41 and the snap fasteners 42 are secured to snap fasteners 44, a pocket is formed between the inner faces of half portions 40 and 41. Optionally in this embodiment, a material which is water resistent may be utilized for the face of blanket 31 whereas the backing portion is preferably a heavy quilted material. When the blanket 31 is folded as shown in FIG. 7 a mat-like carrier is provided for the infant and diapers and the like may be carried in the pocket formed between the half portions 40 and 41. Also optionally, the folded over form of the blanket 31 as shown in FIG. 7 may have applied thereto the fastening means shown in FIG. 1 of blanket 10 with the fastening means on face 11 being placed on the outer half portion 40 and those shown on the back portion 12 being disposed on the exposed side of the half portion 41. Still further, optionally, blanket 31, opened as shown in FIG. 6, may be provided with fasteners as shown in FIG. 1 wherein the fasteners 44 replace fasteners 15 and 26, and fasteners 42 replace fasteners 25 and 14. Female fasteners 46a, 46b and 46c are provided in lieu of fasteners 16a, 16b and 16c to receive the corner fastener 42 when blanket 31 is folded as shown in FIG. 3. However, since the corner fastener 44 is of a female type, the fasteners 47a and 47b which receive same are of a male type. The size of the blanket 31 will depend on whether either of the foregoing options is desired. In the event that the first option is desired, the edges 35 and 36 should measure approximately 36 inches, more or less, and the edges 32 and 34 should measure 50 inches, more or less. However, in the event that the second option is desired, or in any event, the carrier shown in FIGS. 6 may be as small as 36 by 25 inches.

Claims

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An infant's blanket which comprises a substantially rectangular body member with a plurality of fastening means, a first upper corner of said body for receiving the head of an infant adjacent thereto on the face of said body, first fastening means located on the face of said body adjacent a first lower corner of said body which is diagonally across said body from said first upper corner, second fastening means located on the back of said body between the center of said body and the second lower corner of said body whereby when the part of said second lower corner is folded across an infant received on the face of said body towards the second upper corner of said body said first fastening means may be drawn towards said first upper corner and secured to said second fastening means, third fastening means on the face of said body located adjacent to the second upper corner of said body, fourth fastening means is located on the back of said body between said second fastening means and said first upper corner whereby when said second upper corner is folded across said infant said third fastening mean may be secured to said fourth fastening means thereby providing an envelope receiving the infant's body.

2. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 1 wherein alternate second and fourth fastening means are provided in the vicinity of said aforementioned second and fourth fastening means for adjusting the shape of said envelope.

3. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 1 wherein an indicia means is included on the face of said body in its first upper corner for indicating the location for the infant's head.

4. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least two of said fastening means adapted to secure together comprise plastic fabric fasteners.

5. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 1 wherein a pair of further fastening means are affixed to said body along the edge thereof between said first lower corner and said second upper corner, the lower said further fastening means being on the back of said body and the upper said further fastening means being on the face of said body, said further fastening means being adapted to be fastened together when said second lower corner is folded across said infant.

6. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 5 wherein additional fastening means are provided adjacent each said further fastening means along said edge whereby said body may be utilized as a shawl.

7. An infant's blanket with a face part and a back part which is folded in the form of an elongated pentagon and a pocket is formed for receiving the infant, said blanket having a first fold from one side over the infant's body and a second fold from the bottom of the blanket which covers the infant's body, a third fold is provided which extends from opposite said first fold over said first and second folds and includes a portion which extends around and under the pocket thus formed by said first, second and third folds, a first securing means on the blanket face part of said portion and a second securing means located substantially centrally on the back part of said blanket which securing means are adapted to be fastened together when said portion is under said pocket.

8. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 7 having third securing means on said second fold and fourth securing means for engaging said third securing means and fastening said second fold in its relative position over the infant.

9. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 8 wherein said third securing means is located on the blanket face part of said second fold in its lower aspect prior to folding.

10. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 9 wherein said fourth securing means is located on the blanket back part of said first fold.

11. An infant's blanket having a front side and a back side which comprises a rectangular pliant section of suitable fabric material and which is folded to form a pocket for receiving an infant having his head at a corner of the section, said section including a first fold from a first corner over the infant's body and a second fold from a second corner opposite the corner for receiving the infant's head which covers the infant's body, a third fold is provided in said section which extends from opposite said first fold over said first and second folds and includes a third corner opposite said first corner on said section which extends around and under the pocket thus formed by said first, second and third folds, a first securing means on the front side of said blanket at said third corner, a second securing means located substantially centrally on the back side of said blanket under said pocket which fastens to said first securing means.

12. An infant's blanket in accordance with claim 11 having third securing means on the front side of said blanket near the lower aspect of said fold prior to folding and fourth securing means on said blanket for receiving said third securing means and fastening said second fold in its desired relative position over the infant.