GB2481391A - Three wheeled foldable child transportation device - Google Patents

Abstract

The device, which is a child seat or stroller, has three supporting legs 1-3, with wheels, which are movable to lie mutually parallel to enable the device to be carried, e.g. on the back or shoulder. The legs 1-3 are pivoted to a platform 4, one leg 1 extending through the platform and having a telescopic handle 5 with a pivotable grip portion 7 at its upper end. The device has a foldable removable seat.

Description

CHILD TRANSPORTATION DEVICE

The present invention is a portable child transportation device which comprises a three wheeled seat upon which a child may be transported by pushing or pulling the device. When not required for transporting a child the device can be folded into a small enough package to be carried on the back or shoulder.

Presently, transportation devices for children, or pushchairs as they are sometimes known, can be segregated into two main categories.

Firstly there are those devices which are intended to convey children from birth or about 6 months to around 3 years of age and which are generally known as pushchairs. Then secondly there are another group of conveyances generally known as strollers which are more appropriate for children over 3 years of age but less convenient for use with children over 4 years of age.

For children over 4 years the use of a stroller can often be an inconvenience as most children over 4 years will often want to walk for some of the time and this inevitably results in the parent pushing an empty stroller, simply because the alternative of carrying the stroller is far too difficult. However it is not easy for a parent to hold a child's hand whist it walks and at the same time push the empty stroller along.

Many parents with children 4 years and over frequently resort to leaving the stroller behind and walking the child but this also causes a number of problems.

Young children get tired quickly and then may have to be carried but it is not easy to carry a 5 year old child for any distance and the result of this is often very tired children having to walk and getting more and more miserable.

Three wheeled child transportation devices are well known in the art and typical examples of pushchairs and strollers can be found in published patent applications W02007117517, US2003085551 and EP1553001. These are just typical examples of the state of the art, though the last example makes an attempt to design something which can fold to a much smaller profile.

Some attempts have been made to recognise the needs of parents of older or larger children and to design systems more suited to the older child. Typical examples selected to illustrate this from hundreds of different examples in the art are: -DE10200501 3336. This design is a two wheeled seat upon which a child can also stand but has the disadvantage of still requiring to be pushed when the child is not using the device.

EP1 582433. This is a one wheeled device upon which a child can sit and which is stabilised by attachment to a harness worn by the parent. Not the easiest device to use but offering a quite different solution.

DE202005001882. A two wheeled device with removable seat which can fold to a small profile when not in use.

NL1017805. A three wheeled child carriage with removable seat which encompasses a carrying frame and which folds to reduce the bulk of the device.

US3887208. A utility cart capable of carrying a child but which can fold when not in use.

US2006290081 A two wheeled device similar to the 336 example above but which incorporate a telescopic handle and can be carried as a backpack by the parent when reduced in size.

All of these examples offer solutions to the problem of transporting the older child but none of these examples is sufficiently developed to become an ideal answer to the problem.

The present invention seeks to provide a small compact device which is easy to carry and which can be unfolded quickly to provide a child transportation device with three wheels and which can either be pushed or pulled. When not in use it's folding legs, telescopic handle and removable seat allow it to be compacted down into a suitable size to be carried on the shoulders or back of the parent, possibly in a small back pack.

According to a first feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device with three supporting legs. These legs form a triangular footprint on the floor when in use and they can be folded so that all three legs are parallel to each other when the device is not in use. The said legs may be of any suitable sectional shape.

According to a second feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device according to the first feature which has a telescopic handle which collapses or slides folds down into one of the three legs. This handle may be of more than one section and may be preferably of oval or round section or any other suitable sectional shape to match the shape of the leg into which it has to retract.

According to a third feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous feature where one of the three legs extends through a centre platform upon which all of the legs are pivoted. The pivot on this one leg therefore, operates differently to the pivot on the remaining two legs.

According to a fourth feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous feature which is equipped with a removable seat. This seat can be folded to reduce it's profile and to facilitate packing it away.

According to a fifth feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous feature which is equipped with removable wheels. These wheels can be of any suitable size and may be different sizes to each other.

According to a sixth feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous feature which has a release lever in the handle portion. Alternatively there may be other release means like a push button mounted inside the leg into which the handle will retract.

According to a seventh feature of the invention there is provided a three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous feature which has a pivoted hand grip. This grip is attached to the handle portion and can be adjusted to suit the user.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1. Is a view of the device fully compacted so that it can be carried on the back or over the shoulder in or out of a carrying container.

Figure 2. Shows the start of the unfolding process where the handle is extended and the pivotally mounted grip can be seen.

Figure 3. Is a view of the whole device fully extended Figure 4. Shows the removable seat folded for packing away.

Figure 5. Illustrates the removable seat unfolded and ready to be mounted upon the fully unfolded transportation device.

Figure 6. Is a view of the device ready for use with the removable seat mounted upon the centre platform.

A device according to claim 1 can be seen by referring to Figure 1 but Figure 3 will be used to begin describing the invention.

Referring now to Figure 3 the basic device less removable seat can be seen in this figure. Three legs 1, 2, and 3 can be seen opened to form a triangular footprint on the floor. These legs are pivoted on the centre platform 4 and leg 1 passes through the centre platform 4, and a telescopic portion slides out of leg 1, to form the handle 5. The handle 5 is secured in it's extended position by suitable means which is controlled by release lever 6 and a grip portion 7, is attached to the distal end of handle 5, which grip portion 7, is pivoted at point 8 so that it may be adjusted to suit the user.

The device may be equipped with foot rests 2b and 3b which may be of a fold down type, a flexible member or any other suitable foot rest means compatible with the folding nature of the device.

Figure 4 shows a removable seat 9 which is pivoted at 10 and is stored in a folded condition as show in the illustration. This is unfolded to form the shape shown in figure 5 and then added to the open device by mounting it on top of platform 4 to form the finished device illustrated in figure 6.

When not required for carrying a child then the device may be folded by moving the legs inward until they are parallel to each other as shown in figure 2 and then pressing release lever 6 and sliding the handle 5 inside the leg 1 to form the shape as illustrated in figure 1.

Wheels la, 2a, and 3a may be removable and may be different sizes to the illustration also the wheels may be different sizes to each other.

The whole device is intended to fold down to a size suitable for carrying either by a carrying strap or a backpack type arrangement with or without a suitable container.

Claims (8)

1. CLAIMS1. A three wheeled child transportation device which has three supporting legs which can be folded so that all three legs are parallel to each other.
2. 2. A three wheeled child transportation device according to claim 1 which has a telescopic handle which slides down into one of the said three legs.
3. 3. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim where all three legs are pivoted on a centre platform and one of the said legs passes through the said centre platform.
4. 4. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has a removable seat.
5. 5. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has removable wheels.
6. 6. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has a retractable telescopic handle with suitable releasing means.
7. 7. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has a pivoted hand grip.
8. 8. A three wheeled child transportation device as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawing.Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows:CLAIMS1. A three wheeled child transportation device which has three supporting legs where all three legs pivot on a centre platform and can be folded so that they are parallel or substantially parallel to each other with one of the said legs passing through the centre platform.2. A three wheeled child transportation device according to claim 1 which has a telescopic handle which folds down into one of the said three legs.3. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has a removable seat.4. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has removable wheels.Q 5. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has a retractable telescopic handle with suitable releasing means.6. A three wheeled child transportation device according to any previous claim which has a pivoted hand grip.7. A three wheeled child transportation device as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawing.*.:r: INTELLECTUAL . ... PROPERTY OFFICE Application No: GB 1010377.8 Examiner: Roger Binding Claims searched: 1-8 Date of search: 11 October 2010 Patents Act 1977: Search Report under Section 17 Documents considered to be relevant: Category Relevant Identity of document and passage or figure of particular relevance to claims X 1, 6 EP 1982895 A (MAXI), see paragraph 0029 onwards.X 1, 4, 6 EP 1352803 A (ALL OUR KIDS), see paragraphs 0018, 0020 onwards.X 1,2,4,6 FR2837160A (ROMEFORT), see abstracts and drawings.X 1,5 GB2392418A (EVERETT), see page 4, line 16, onwards.X 1,4,7 U52006/267303A (GOLIAS), see paragraph 0048 onwards.X 1 US 3679222 A (GUILLAMON), see whole document.X 1,7 WO 2007/099121 A (PERRI), see page 4, line 5, onwards.X 1, 4, 5, 7 WO 03/074342 A (WF TNT. HOLDING), see page 5, lines 3-10, and page 6, line 3, onwards.Categories: X Document indicating lack of novelty or inventive A Document indicating technological background and/or state step of the art.Y Document indicating lack of inventive step if P Document published on or after the declared priority date but combined with one or more other documents of before the filing date of this invention.same category.& Member of the same patent family E Patent document published on or after, but with priority date earlier than, the filing date of this application.Field of Search:Search of GB, EP. WO & US patent documents classified in the following areas of the UKCX Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk *::r: INTELLECTUAL . ... PROPERTY OFFICE 11 Worldwide search of patent documents classified in the following areas of the IPC B62B The following online and other databases have been used in the preparation of this search report Online WPI EPODOC International Classification: Subclass Subgroup Valid From B62B 0007/06 01/01/2006 Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk