Child safety seat with shock absorber having compression-type soft material resilient member

摘要

A child safety seat utilizes a compression-type resilient shock absorber in which a soft-material resilient member serves to dampen shocks applied to the seat's harness assembly by undergoing compressive deformation in a way that prevents the harness safety belts from experiencing a “hard stop”. The resilient member (e.g., a foam rubber block, a gel-like substance, or a fluid-filled bladder) is disposed such that one portion is held against a rigid support (e.g., the backside surface of the seat's shell), and a second portion is operably coupled to a fixed end of a safety belt. The resilient shock absorber is oriented such that tension applied to the safety belt pulls the two end portions of the resilient member toward each other and against the rigid support, thereby causing the resilient member to compressively deform against the rigid support.

主权项

1. A child safety seat comprising:
a seat shell having a frontside surface facing a seating area of said child safety seat, and a backside surface facing a backside region of said child safety seat; a safety harness assembly including one or more safety belts, each of the one or more safety belts including a first portion disposed in the seating area and including one of a latch portion and a tongue portions, each of the one or more safety belts including a second portion and a fixed end portion disposed at an end of the second portion; and a resilient shock absorber including a soft-material resilient member having opposing first and second end portions, the first end portion contacting a rigid surface, and a second end portion operably coupled to the fixed end portion of said at least one safety belt such that a sudden tensile force applied to the first portions of the one or more safety belts causes compressive deformation of the resilient member against the rigid surface from an initial state to a deformed state, whereby the tensile force is at least partially converted to potential energy stored in the resilient member, wherein the resilient member comprises a foam rubber block, and wherein the safety belt extends through a slit defined between said first and second end portions through the foam rubber block.