GB2403768A

GB2403768A - Pivot joint for folding highchair

Info

Publication number: GB2403768A
Application number: GB0315257A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Shun-Min Chen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-06-30
Filing date: 2003-06-30
Publication date: 2005-01-12
Anticipated expiration: 2023-06-30
Also published as: DE20311835U1; GB0315257D0; GB2403768B

Abstract

A folding device for a highchair comprising a plastic outer cover (10), a plastic inner cover (20), a button (30) and a recovering spring (40). The lower portions of the plastic outer cover and inner cover are connected to the front leg (50) and rear leg (52) of the highchair, respectively, and the plastic outer cover, the button and the plastic inner cover can be coaxially assembled together. The plastic outer cover is provided with a button insertion slot (12) for preventing the button from moving with respect to the plastic outer cover. The plastic inner cover is provided with a first protruding portion and a second protruding portion, and the button is provided with a fist engaging recess and a second engaging recess. Upon pressing upwardly the button, the first engaging recess of the button detaches from the first protruding portion of the plastic inner cover so that the plastic inner cover can pivot with respect to the plastic outer cover to cause the folding of the highchair. Until a recess between the first and second protruding portions of the plastic inner cover moves to the underside of the button, the first and second engaging recesses of the button will abut against the second and the first protruding portions of the plastic inner cover, respectively, thereby completing the folding operation of the highchair.

Description

Folding Device for Highchair

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a folding device for highchair capable of folding the highchair easily.

Background of the Invention

Highchair is used for an infant to sit thereon and is very popular with the public due to its safety and convenience.

lo In order to increase the practicability, the highchair has been designed to be foldable by many manufacturers to facilitate the carrying, transportation and storage.

For example, Fig. l shows a conventional folding device for highchair, in which a user steps on a pedal to release a link engaging means on the bottom of the highchair thereby bending the link and folding the frame of the highchair by hands. This kind of highchair is provided not only with a pedal and a bottom link but also with an activating device between the pedal and the link engaging means. Therefore, such complicated structure causes to increase the number of assembling steps and the total weight. Besides, the two ends of the bottom link have to pivot with respect to the bases of front and rear legs, which increases the complication of manufacturing procedure and cost. As shown in Fig. I B. US Patent No.595 1102 discloses an infant highchair, in which a user laterally presses a folding button 64 from both sides to cause the rear leg portion 52 to rotate around a pivoting point 58 until the rear leg portion is parallel to the front leg portion 50. With the above action, the highchair can be folded. However, the applicant found that there are still some drawbacks in this kind of folding device for a highchair. Specifically, the volume of the folding plastic for connecting the front and the rear legs is larger. The left portion of the folding plastic is redundant and thus produces the waste of cost and material.

Further, the user needs to laterally press the folding buttons from both sides and lift up the highchair to fold the rear leg portion, which is not convenient enough for the user.

Further, the folding buttons should be completely sunk into the folding plastic to release the rear leg portion and thus the folding buttons will be sometimes jammed in the folding plastic.

Summary of the Invention

In view of the above drawbacks of conventional folding device for highchair, the present invention is achieved by the diligence and experience of the applicant. The object of this invention is to provide an improved folding device for highchair which can be operated by lifting up the frame of the highchair and pressing buttons with index fingers so as to easily fold the highchair. The folding device of this invention can be easy to operate, manufacture, assemble and further significantly decrease the cost.

The folding device for highchair of this invention comprises a folding plastic outer cover, a folding plastic inner cover, a button and a recovering spring. The lower portions of the folding plastic outer cover and inner cover are connected to the front leg and rear leg of the highchair, respectively, and the folding plastic outer cover, the button and the folding plastic inner cover can be coaxially assembled together.

The folding plastic outer cover is provided with a button insertion slot for preventing the button from moving with respect to the folding plastic outer cover. The folding plastic inner cover is provided with a first protruding portion and a second protruding portion, and the button is provided with a fist engaging recess and a second engaging recess. Upon pressing upwardly the button, the first engaging recess of the button detaches from the first protruding portion of the folding plastic inner cover so that the IS folding plastic inner cover can pivot with respect to the folding plastic outer cover to cause the folding of the highchair. Until a recess between the first and second protruding portions of the folding plastic inner cover moves to the underside of the button, the first and second engaging recesses of the button will abut against the second and the first protruding portions of the folding plastic inner cover, respectively, thereby completing the folding operation of the highchair.

With the above arrangement, a user only needs to press the button upwardly and lift up the highchair to carry out the folding of the highchair without employing any pedal or link means. The operation of this invention is very convenient for the user and the disengagement of the folding plastic will not easily be obstructed. Therefore, this invention is much simpler than conventional arts in structure and the manufacturing procedure and cost will consequently be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The structure, features and functions of this invention will be described in detail with reference to the following description together with the accompany drawings, in which: Fig. IA is a perspective view showing a conventional folding device for an infant highchair; Fig. IB is a perspective view showing another conventional folding device for an infant highchair; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the highchair to which the folding device of this invention is applied; Fig. 3 is an exploded view showing the primary members of the folding device for highchair ofthis invention; Fig. 4A is a perspective view showing the button structure of the folding device for highchair of this invention; Fig. 4B is a plan view showing the button structure of the folding device for highchair of this invention, Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the folding device for highchair of this invention in a state of unfolding, and Fig. 6 is a plan view showing the folding device for highchair of this invention in a state of folding.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

This invention will be described with reference to the accompany drawings and the seat portion is not the feature of this invention and thus is omitted in the

specification for simplicity.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 6, the folding device for highchair of this invention comprises a folding plastic outer cover 10, a folding plastic inner cover 20, a button and a recovering spring 40. The lower portions of the folding plastic outer cover and inner cover 20 are connected to the front leg and rear leg of the highchair, respectively, and the folding plastic outer cover 10, the button 30 and the folding plastic inner cover 20 can be coaxially assembled together.

The folding plastic outer cover 10 is shaped as a disk and provided with a hollow cylinder 11 for connecting the button 30 and the folding plastic inner cover 20. The folding plastic outer cover 10 is also provided with a button insertion slot 12 for preventing the button 30 from moving with respect to the folding plastic outer cover 10. Similarly, the folding plastic inner cover 20 is shaped as a disk and provided with a hollow cylinder 23 for inserting into the hollow cylinder 11 of the folding plastic outer cover 10. Thus, the folding plastic outer cover 10 and the folding plastic inner cover 20 can be assembled together by rivets to form the casing of the folding device. Further, the folding plastic inner cover 20 is provided with a first protruding portion 21 and a second protruding portion 22, and the button 30 is provided with a fist engaging recess 31, a second engaging recess 32 (as shown in Fig. 4B), a recovering spring accommodating chamber 33 and a button tail 34.

Next, the operation of the folding device for highchair of this invention will be described. As shown in Fig. 5, when the highchair is in the state of unfolding, the button 30 is hold to be close to the side ofthe folding plastic outer cover 10 due to the button insertion slot 12 of the folding plastic outer cover 10. At this time, the first engaging recess 31 of the button 30 abuts against the first protruding portion 21 of the folding plastic inner cover 20. When the user intends to fold the highchair, he only needs to press the button 30 upwardly by index finger so that the first engaging recess 31 ofthe button 30 moves upwardly to disengage from the first protruding portion 21 of the folding plastic inner cover 20. Then, the folding plastic inner cover 20 pivots toward the folding plastic outer cover 10. The first protruding portion 21 of the folding plastic inner cover 20 passes through the space below the first engaging recess 31. Until a recess between the first and second protruding portions (21, 22) of the folding plastic inner cover 20 moves to the underside of the button 30, the first protruding portion 21 reaches the second engaging recess 32 of the button 30. When the user does not apply force to the button 30 any more, the button 30 moves downwardly due to the recovering force of the recovering spring 40. The button will be engaged between the first and second protruding portion (21, 22) of the folding plastic inner cover 20 with the first and second engaging recess (31, 32) of the button abutted against the second and the first protruding portions (22, 21) of the folding plastic inner cover 20, respectively. Thus, the folding operation of the highchair can be achieved.

As to me unfolding of the highchair, the principle of unfolding is similar to that of folding. When the user presses the button upwardly, the first and second engaging recesses (31, 32) of the button 30 disengage from the second and the first protruding portion (22, 21) of the folding plastic inner cover 20, respectively. At this time, the folding plastic outer cover 10 pivots with respect to the folding plastic inner cover 20 until the first engaging recess 31 of the button 30 abuts against the first protruding portion 21 of the folding plastic inner cover 20. Then, the button 30 can be hold in position by the spring force of the recovering spring 40 and thus the unfolding of the highchair is completed.

While this invention has been described by a preferred embodiment, it should be understood that this invention is not limited to this. Various modifications in material or structure can be carried out by those skilled in this art in view of the teaching of this invention. Therefore, as long as not departing from the spirit of mis invention, such simple modification or equivalent change still falls in the scope of this invention defined by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is: 1. A folding device for highchair, comprising a

folding plastic outer cover, a folding plastic inner cover, a button and a recovering spring, characterized in that the folding plastic outer cover, the button and the folding plastic inner cover can be coaxially assembled together, and in that the folding plastic inner cover can pivot with respect to the folding plastic outer cover by pressing the button thereby to achieve the folding of the highchair.
2. A folding device for a highchair substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 2 to S of the drawings. b

2. The folding device for highchair according to claim 1, wherein the folding plastic outer cover is provided with a button insertion slot for preventing the button from moving with respect to the folding plastic outer cover, the folding plastic inner cover is provided with a first protruding portion and a second protruding portion, and the button is provided with a fist engaging recess and a second engaging recess; wherein the first engaging recess of the button detaches from the first protruding portion of the folding plastic inner cover by pressing upwardly the button, so that the folding plastic inner cover can pivot with respect to the folding plastic outer cover until a recess between the first and second protruding portions of the folding plastic inner cover moves to the underside of the button, and then the first and second engaging recesses of the button will abut against the second and the first protruding portions of the folding plastic inner cover, respectively, thereby completing the folding operation of the highchair.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows: 1. A folding device for a highchair, comprising a plastic outer cover with a first leg of the highchair extending therefrom, a plastic inner cover with a second leg of the highchair extending therefrom, a button and a recovering spring, the outer cover, button and inner cover being coaxially assembled together about a pivot axis "hereabout the inner and outer cover pivot by pressing the button to fold the highchair legs together, wherein the outer cover is provided with a button insertion slot for preventing the button from moving rotationally with respect to the outer cover, the inner cover is provided with a first protruding portion and a second protruding portion, and the button is provided with a first engaging recess and a second engaging recess, wherein the first engaging recess of the button detaches from the first protruding portion of the inner cover by pressing the button inwardly toward the pivot axis, so that the inner cover can pivot with respect to the outer cover until the first and second engaging recesses of the button abut against the second and first protruding portions of the inner cover, respectively.