Safety strap swing seat

Abstract

A safety strap seat includes a seat portion made of a perforated flexible plastic which will bend in use. Two spring steel straps are secured beneath the seat portion, along the longitudinal edges thereof, by passing the straps through keepers which are integrally molded in the seat portion and attaching the ends of the straps to hangers which engage both the ends of the straps and seat portion.

Description

Children's swings conventionally include a relatively heavy rigid seat made of wood, metal or rigid plastic, and means for attaching the seat to a pair of supporting ropes or chains. Numerous accidents have occured, some resulting in serious injuries, when children standing near conventional swings have been struck by these heavy rigid swing seats. Attempts have been made to minimize the injury resulting from this type of accident by providing a swing seat that is light in weight and flexible through the use of a flexible material such as fabric, leather or rubber for the swing seat. These flexible swing seats have, however, introduced a new danger. The flexible swing seats provided up until now have had a tendency to weaken and break after being subjected to hard use and after being exposed to outdoor weather extremes. This tendency is especially dangerous since these flexible swing seats tend to weaken gradually over a period of time and the weakened condition of such swing seats often remains unnoticed until a failure occurs while a child is using the swing seat and a accident occurs. In such accidents a child may be subjected to serious injury if the flexible swing seat breaks and the child is thrown to the ground at a time when the amplitude of motion of the swing is at or near a peak.

Another disadvantage of conventional flexible swing seats is that they assume a permanent set in a curved or bent configuration as a result of their own weight, thus tending to pull the support ropes close together with the result that before seating himself on the seat portion the child must separate the ropes and then hold them separated as he seats himself.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of present flexible swing seats by providing a safety strap seat incorporating flexible metal reinforcing straps which prevent a failure of the seat portion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible, reinforced seat which forms around the child with a non-skid gripping effect for added stability. Rigid seats have a tendency to tip forward or backward if the child is not seated properly. Another advantage of the present invention is that the flexing allows the seat to adjust to the size of the occupant and locates the support chains or ropes in proper reach of the child while also centering the child in the swing seat.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a safety strap seat incorporating spring steel reinforcing straps which flex in use and which tend to maintain the safety strap seat in a relatively flat configuration when the seat is not in use.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a lightweight safety strap seat adapted for manufacture by high volume molding techniques and ease of assembly, resulting in low manufacturing costs.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a safety strap seat including a seat portion having a generally rectangular configuration made of molded flexible plastic. A pair of spring steel straps are secured, one each, along the longitudinal edges of the seat portion beneath the seat portion by passing the strap through a plurality of keeper portions which are integrally molded in the seat portion. A pair of steel hangers are provided for attaching the safety strap seat to supporting means. The hangers are attached to the seat portion by passing through aligned holes in the seat portion and the reinforcing straps. The seat portion and the reinforcing straps flex when the strap seat is in use and the reinforcing straps tend to restore the safety strap seat to a relatively flat configuration when the weight of the child is removed from the seat portion.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following specification when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a swing incorporating the safety strap seat of the present invention, and showing a child seated thereon;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the safety strap seat of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the safety strap seat of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the safety strap seat of FIG. 2, showing the attachment of the hanger to the seat portion.

Referring to FIG. 1, the safety strap seat 10 in accordance with the invention is shown in use attached to a pair of support ropes 12 and 14 which are suspended from a swing support frame 16. The safety strap seat 10 is shown as flexing under the weight of the child 18 seated thereon. As shown in FIG. 3, the safety strap seat 10 includes a seat portion 20, a pair of reinforcing straps 22 and 24 and a pair of hangers 26 and 28. The reinforcing straps 22 and 24 are threaded through a plurality of keeper portions 30 which are integrally molded on the seat portion 20.

The keeper portions 30 have a generally U-shaped configuration and extend vertically downward from the bottom surface 32 of the seat portion 20 so as to extend horizontally under the reinforcing straps 22 and 24 as shown in FIG. 4. Each of the keeper portions 30 is disposed directly below a rectangular hole 34 which has its longer dimension perpendicular to the longer dimension of the seat portion 20. The holes 34 serve to increase the flexibility of the seat portion 20. Projecting rib portions 36 and 38 are provided in the bottom surface 32 of the seat portion 20 having a depth, width and length slightly greater than the corresponding dimensions of the respective reinforcing straps 22 and 24 for the purpose of bordering and containing the reinforcing straps 22 and 24 and preventing unwanted contact with edges 40 and 42 of reinforcing straps 22 and 24. A ridge 39 is provided, spaced inward from the marginal edge 66 on the top surface 68 of the seat portion 20, to provide a non-slip seat surface.

A plurality of rectangular holes 44 is provided along the center line of the seat portion 20 for the purpose of increasing the flexibility of the seat portion 20. The rectangular holes 44 are disposed in two groups one at each end of the seat portion 20, with the center portion 45 of the seat 20 unperforated. The rectangular holes 44 cause the safety strap seat 10 to bend non-uniformly with the center part 45 remaining relatively flatter than the end parts since the center part 45 is not perforated and is consequently less flexible. This non-uniform bending causes the safety strap seat to conform more closely to the buttocks of a child user and provides a more comfortable seat than if the seat were to be uniformly flexible as is the case for conventional flexible swing seats.

Apertures 46 and 52 at the ends of the seat portion 20 are provided in alignment with corresponding apertures 54 and 60 respectively in reinforcing strap 24 and apertures 48 and 50 in the seat portion 20 are provided in alignment with apertures 56 and 58, respectively, in reinforcing strap 22. Hangers 26 and 28 are made of heavy steel wire and have end portions 62 which pass through the seat portion 20 and the reinforcing straps 22 and 24 with each of the end portions 62 passing through an aligned hole in the seat portion 20 and a reinforcing strap 22 or 24 as detailed above, then forming a closed loop 63, as shown in FIG. 5. The hangers 26 and 28 thus secure the reinforcing strap 22 and 24 to the seat portion 20 and the safety strap seat 10 is provided as a completely assembled unit which cannot be misassembled or misused by a consumer. The hangers 26 and 28 each have a central curved portion 64 adapted for attachment of supporting means, for example ropes, chains or the like.

The seat portion 20 is made of a light plastic material meeting the following requirements: ease of fabrication by means of molding, flexibility, and good resistance to damage due to exposure to outdoor weather. In the preferred embodiment the seat portion is made of polyvinyl chloride and the reinforcing straps 22 and 24 are made of spring steel, thus resulting in a unit which combines flexibility and relatively great tensile strength. The straps 22 and 24 not only reinforce the plastic seat portion to prevent breakage thereof, but also tend to maintain the safety strap seat 10 in a relatively flat configuration when the weight of the child 18 is removed. This relatively flat configuration of the safety strap seat 10 is an advantage as the seat portion 20 maintains the separation of the support ropes 12 and 14, thus making it relatively easy for children to seat themselves directly on the seat portion 20 without having to separate the support ropes 12 and 14 as is required in conventional flexible seats which tend to remain in a bent configuration with the support ropes 12 and 14 close together.

The reinforcing straps 22 and 24, being made of spring steel, bend freely with the safety strap seat 10. As a result when a child 18 sits on the safety strap seat 10 a position of equilibrium is reached wherein the safety strap seat 10 conforms to the body of the child and grips it with a non-slipping effect. The flexibility of the seat, with its mounted reinforcing straps, permits the seat to adjust to the body of the occupant, regardless of its size, locates the supporting chains or ropes within easy reach of the occupant, and centers the child in the swing seat.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, it is obvious that numerous omissions, changes and additions may be made in such embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A safety strap swing seat comprising a flexible rectangular seat portion made of a flexible molded plastic, at least one resilient and bendable spring steel reinforcing strap formed separately from said seat portion and disposed parallel to the longitudinal edges of said flexible rectangular seat portion, attachment means for attaching said reinforcing strap to said flexible rectangular seat portion with said strap extending flat against the lowermost surface of said seat portion and in a plane parallel thereto, said strap being bendable with said seat portion under the weight of a person, and hanger means disposed along transverse edges of said flexible rectangular seat portion for the purpose of attaching said safety strap seat to supporting means.

2. A safety strap seat according to claim 1 which includes a pair of reinforcing straps each disposed along a respective longitudinal edge of said rectangular seat portion.

3. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein said attachment means comprise a plurality of spaced keeper portions disposed beneath said flexible rectangular seat portion and depending from the bottom surface thereof, said reinforcing straps being sized to pass through said keeper portions.

4. A safety strap seat according to claim 3 wherein said plurality of keeper portions and said flexible rectangular seat portion form an integrally molded unit.

5. A safety strap seat according to claim 3 in which said keeper portions are U-shaped and have ends secured to the lower surface of said seat portion.

6. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein said flexible rectangular seat portion and said resilient reinforcing straps have aligned holes and wherein said hanger means comprise a pair of formed members each having two ends, with each end passing through an aligned hole in said flexible rectangular seat portion and said reinforcing strap and having an open ring portion for attachment of support means.

7. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein said flexible rectangular seat portion includes a portion defining a pair of recessed areas, said resilient reinforcing straps being disposed within said respective recessed areas.

8. A safety strap seat according to claim 1 wherein said flexible rectangular seat portion includes end portions each having a plurality of holes and an unperforated center portion for the purpose of increasing the flexibility of said end portions beyond that of said center portion.