Infant Support

Abstract

An inflated cushion support with releasably attached, overlapping arms that may be wrapped around an infant at the front to hold him sitting up. The support is weighted in the bottom at the back to hold it with the arms at the front raised enough to provide clearance for the infant's legs.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENITON

Various devices have been proposed heretofore for supporting an infant in a sitting-up position, but the prior devices have not been entirely satisfactory from the standpoint of the infant's comfort and/or feeling of security. Also, many such infant supports have been relatively bulky and cumbersome to carry about to the different locations where it may be used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a novel and improved infant support which overcomes difficulties and disadvantages associated with previously proposed devices for this same purpose. It provides a cushioned support that completely envelopes the infant snugly, so as to provide both comfort and a feeling of security somewhat comparable to being held on someone's lap. Preferably, the present infant support is inflated for use, and it may be deflated readily for ease of transport, such as when traveling.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a novel and improved support for comfortably and securely holding an infant in a sitting-up position.

Another object of this invention is to provide such an infant support which is convenient to use and to carry from place to place.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of two presently preferred embodiments thereof, which are shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view taken from the right end of FIG. 1 and showing an infant in phantom lines sitting upright inside this support;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view showing the fastener strips on the free ends of the arms on the FIG. 1 infant holder;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, front-to-back cross-section through this infant holder, taken along the line 4 -- 4 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view showing a simplified second embodiment of the infant holder in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is an end elevational view of this infant holder, viewed from the right end of FIG. 5.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 - 4, the presently preferred embodiment of this invention is in the form of a hollow shell or envelope 10 of suitable flexible material, such as vinyl, which is inflated with air, carbon dioxide or other suitable gas enough to sit erect and support an infant but still be soft and deformable enough to have a cushioning effect or feel. A suitable conventional valve (not shown) may be provided on the body to enable it to be inflated or deflated, when desired, or it may be inflated permanently and then sealed. Essentially, the body 10 is a split ring which is closed at the back 11 and on the opposite sides 12 and 13, and has separable, overlapping arms 14 and 15 at the front.

As shown in FIG. 3, the separable free ends of the arms carry "Velcro" fastener strips 16 and 17, respectively, which may be engaged with one another to releasably secure the ends of the arms together so as to close the cushion ring snugly around the infant, as indicated in FIG. 2. One of these fastener strips has a pile containing a myriad of filament loops, and the other has a pile containing a multiplicity of filament hooks for interlocking engagement with these loops to releasably lock the two strips to one another when they are pressed together. These strips may be separated by an adult pulling the arms 14 and 15 apart manually.

The upstanding back 11 and the opposite sides 12, 13 of the split-ring cushion preferably are flat-bottomed, and they rest on a floor or other horizontal support on which the infant is to be placed sitting up. The overlapping arms 14 and 15, however, are appreciably shorter vertically than the sides 12, 13 and they will be spaced above the floor or other support to provide a vertical clearance 18 (FIG. 2) for passing the infant's legs comfortably when he is sitting upright.

Preferably, as shown in FIG. 4, the split-ring cushion 10 is weighted on the bottom at the back, such as by having a bottom compartment in the back partly filled with sand, BBs, or other suitable heavy material 19, to insure that it sits erect with the arms 14 and 15 at the front in the raised horizontal position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In the preferred embodiment, the overlapping ends of the arms 14 and 15 are contoured and/or decorated to look like the paws of a bear or other animal. Also, a head rest 20 provided on the upper end of the back 11 of the split-ring cushion is shaped and/or decorated to look like the head of a bear or other animal. This head rest 20 extends well above the level of the tops of the sides 12, 13 and the arms 14, 15.

In the use of this infant holder, the arms 14 and 15 and sides 12 and 13 are sufficiently flexible to be wrapped snugly around the infant at the sides and front, so that his back rests against the front surface on the back 11 of the support and the arms 14 and 15 embrace him comfortably at the front, with one paw 14 extending in front of the other 15.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a second embodiment of this invention which is simpler than the embodiment of FIGS. 1 - 4 in that the animal's head on the back and the paws are omitted. In this second embodiment, one arm overlies the other instead of extending in front of it, as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 - 4. In all other respects, it is essentially similar to the first-described embodiment, and corresponding elements are given the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 - 4, but with an "a" suffix added. A detailed description of these elements will be omitted as repetitious and unnecessary for a clear understanding of this second embodiment.

It is to be understood that the split-ring cushion need not be a hollow, inflatable envelope, as shown, but may instead be of foam rubber or other suitable material giving the desired cushioning effect and the desired flexibility at the overlapping arms, coupled with the ability to sit erect with a self-sustaining configuration that will support an infant adequately. Also the fasteners for the arms may be snap fasteners, or other manually releasable fasteners, if desired, instead of "Velcro" strips.

Claims

I claim:

1. In an infant support comprising a self-supporting cushion body in the form of a non-jointed split ring having flexible, overlapping arms at the front which are separable so that said split ring may encircle an infant with the arms overlapped at the front of the infant and with the back of the split ring providing support for the back of the infant, the improvements wherein:

said split ring has self supporting back and side portions for sitting horizontally on a horizontal support in an upright position and extending from the support upward a substantial distance to partially encircle and position the infant in an upright sitting position, said back portion having weight means therein to ensure that said split ring sits erect on said horizontal support, the tops of said arms being substantially flush with the tops of said side portions, and said arms having a substantially smaller vertical thickness than said side portions forming a single continuous open space under said arms at the front of said split ring when sitting erect on said support for receiving the legs of the infant, said split ring being substantially thicker horizontally than the arms of the infant for providing cushioned arm and hand rests for the infant, and said arms of said split ring having overlapping front end portions on which complementary fasteners are affixed for releaseably attaching said arms together overlapping one another at the front to close the ring snugly around the sitting infant and normally preventing the infant from leaving the ring.

2. The infant support as claimed in claim 1 in which said complementary fasteners comprise strips on the front end portions of the arms with interlocking projections thereon that are separable by manually pulling them apart.

3. The infant support as claimed in claim 2 in which said split ring is a hollow shell of flexible material inflated with air or another gas.

4. The infant support as claimed in claim 3 in which said strips comprise Velcro.

5. The infant support as claimed in claim 4 in which said back portion of said split ring extends higher than said side portions and provides a headrest.