WO1993001956A1

WO1993001956A1 - Securing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1993001956A1
Application number: PCT/AU1992/000350
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Barrie Martin; Debra Ann Martin
Original assignee: John Barrie Martin; Debra Ann Martin
Priority date: 1991-07-16
Filing date: 1992-07-13
Publication date: 1993-02-04
Also published as: CA2113436A1

Abstract

There is provided a securing device (10) including a padded chest panel (11) having opposed side flaps (12) and (13) formed integrally therewith. The side flap (12) is provided with press studs (14) along the outer edge thereof so that the flap (12) may pass around a shoulder strap whereby the press studs clip into complementary stud portions (19) provided on the front panel (11) forming a sleeve which accomodates the strap. The side flap (13) is provided with a hook pile fastening strip (17) on its rear face engageable with a complementary hook pile fastening strip (18) supported centrally on the rear face of the chest panel (11) so that the flap (13) may wrap around an opposite shoulder strap and securing in position by the hook pile fastenings (17) and (18). It is difficult for a young child to release the hook pile fastening to release the securing device. Accordingly in use the child is restrained from placing their arms through the head opening or pulling the shoulder straps down over their shoulders, as the head aperture is sufficiently constricted by the securing device to make such inoperative positioning of the harness unlikely.

Description

"SECURING APPARATUS" This invention relates to securing apparatus. This invention has particular reference to securing apparatus for securing small children in full harness type seat belts and for illustrative purposes, reference will be made hereinafter to such application. This invention can also be utilized in other applications such as with adult seat harnesses.

Young children are often individually restrained in vehicles by a restraint in the form of a child's seat secured to the vehicle seats and provided with a child size full shoulder harness. Typically the harness includes shoulder straps which buckle to one another and to the lower straps by means a child proof buckle.

When properly worn, such harnesses are effective for restraining children generally and particularly effective in restraining children in automobile accidents. However such harnesses do have the disadvantage that young children can place their hands between the shoulder straps and then slide their arms therebetween to separate the shoulder straps, thus permitting their upper body to become substantially unrestrained. This is believed to be a significant disadvantage which the present invention aims to alleviate. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent. With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in securing apparatus for securing apparatus for securing the opposed pair of shoulder straps of a safety harness against the unaided passage of a wearer's shoulders therebetween, said securing apparatus including:- a resilient chest panel; connecting means for connecting said chest panel to one of the shoulder straps, and releasable securing means for connecting said chest panel to the other shoulder strap. Preferably the chest panel is formed so as to extend upwardly from the buckle securing the shoulder straps together to a position adjacent a wearer's neck and so as to extend laterally to cover the space between the shoulder straps. In one form the invention includes a sleeve portion, which may be a permanent sleeve portion or a releasable sleeve portion extending along one edge of the chest panel whereby the chest panel may be slidably retained on the one shoulder strap and the releasable securing means is an edge portion of the chest panel which may be releasably formed into a sleeve extending about the other shoulder strap. It is also preferred that both sleeves converge towards the bottom of the chest panel.

Of course if desired the resilient chest panel could be adapted for connection to one of the shoulder straps by having a panel portion adapted for sewing, gluing or riveting or the like and the other releasable securing means could be secured to the other of said shoulder straps by a buckle or press clips or the like. It is also preferred that the chest panel be formed of fabric which has sufficient bulk whereby in use it remains in a panel-like configuration and suitably the chest panel is padded to provide a soft abutment for a user's chest. Of course the chest panel could be formed of a resilient material such as leather, hide or a plastics material if desired.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention the securing apparatus is adapted for use securing small children in full harness type seat belts and the releasable securing meas are so formed as to be substantially inaccessible to the user. In such embodiments, the chest panel suitably extends upwardly from the wearer's lap to a position beneath a wearer's chin and the upper laterally opposed portions of the chest panel are formed to retain the shoulder harness straps in such manner that they are not readily separated by a child sufficiently for the child to place their arms and upper body between the shoulder straps above the chest panel. It is also preferred that the releasable securing means be substantially concealed whereby it cannot be readily accessed and released by a young wearer.

Suitably the releasable securing mean is provided along one edge of a laterally extending flap portion extending from the chest panel and on a complementary back portion of the chest panel whereby the flap portion may be passed around the shoulder strap and returned behind the chest panel for connection thereto. Press studs or lacing or VELCRO strip or the like be used to connect the returned edge to the flap portion to the back of the chest panel.

In a further aspect, this invention resides broadly in a safety harness assembly including a harness having opposed shoulder straps and securing apparatus substantially as described variously herein attached to one of the shoulder straps.

In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate typical embodiments of the invention and wherein:-

FIG. 1 illustrates the manner in which children release their upper body from the shoulder restraints of a full harness seat restraint;

FIG. 2 is a front view of one form of securing apparatus; FIG. 3 is a corresponding rear view of the securing apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a plan view which illustrates the manner of securing the securing apparatus to one shoulder strap;

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the method of operatively securing the securing apparatus of FIG. 2 to a harness;

FIG. 7 is a rear view of another form of securing apparatus, and

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the securing apparatus, of FIG. 7 in its operative securing configuration.

Conventional full safety harnesses for small children such as the harness 9 illustrated in FIG. 1 have the disadvantage that a child restrained thereby may free their shoulders by firstly passing their hands behind the shoulder straps and then forcing the shoulder straps over their shoulders so as to free their upper body from the restraint. This is dangerous and very distracting for the driver or other occupants of the vehicle.

As illustrated, a securing device 10 of the present invention is in the form of a padded chest panel 11 having opposed side flaps 12 and 13 formed integrally therewith. The side flap 12 is provided with press studs 14 along the outer edge thereof and arranged so that the flap may be passed around behind a shoulder strap 15 for return in front of the strap 15 whereby the press studs may clip into complementary press studs 19 provided on the back face of the front panel 11 so as to form a sleeve 16 which closely accommodates the strap 15. In this manner the securing device may be fastened to a shoulder strap as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The side flap 13 is provided with a VELCRO strip 17 on its rear face and adapted to be engaged with a complementary VELCRO strip 18 supported substantially centrally of the chest panel 11 on the rear face thereof so that the flap 13 can be wrapped around the opposite shoulder strap 20, as illustrated in FIG. 4, and be secured in position by pressing the VELCRO strips 17 and 18 together to form a further strap retaining sleeve 22. This operation is performed by an adult after a child has been secured in the restraint by securing the shoulder straps 15, 20 of the harness 9 by the lap buckle 21.

It will be seen from FIG. 6 that when the device is operatively attached to the shoulder straps 15, 20 of the harness 9 the chest panel 11, which is padded so as to retain its panel-like form, extends upwardly from the buckle 21 to a position adjacent the wearer's neck. The padding also serves to provide a soft restraint for the child. It will also be seen that the chest panel 11 tapers downwardly to the buckle 21 so that the strap sleeves conform to the normal positions of the shoulder straps 15 and 20 and that the releasable VELCRO connection is concealed between the child's body and the chest panel 11. Thus it is difficult for a young child to release the VELCRO fastening to permit the securing device to be removed. Accordingly in use a child secured in position by the harness 9 is restrained from placing their arms through the head opening or pulling the shoulder straps down over their shoulders, as the head aperture is sufficiently constricted by the securing device to make such inoperative positioning of the harness unlikely.

The securing apparatus 30 illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 is of similar configuration to the above described embodiment. However it differs in that it is formed from a single sheepskin panel 31 provided with an edge binding 32.

At one edge, the panel 31 has inner socket-part press- studs 33 which project to the woolly side of the panel and outer spigot-part press-studs 34 which project to the skin side of the panel 31. The press studs 34 mate with socket- part press studs 35 which project to the skin side of the panel substantially centrally thereof so as to form the sleeve 36 which affixes the securing apparatus 30 semi¬ permanently to one shoulder strap 42 as illustrated, and at the opposite edge the panel 31 has a pair of spigot-part press-studs 39 which project to the skin side of the panel 31 and engage with the press-studs 33 at the opposite face thereof to form the releasable sleeve 40 adapted for affixing to the other shoulder strap 43. As in the previous embodiment all press studs are substantially inaccessible to a restrained young wearer and thus provide security of restraint for the wearer.

It will of course be realised that the above has been given only by way of illustrative example of the invention and that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as is defined in the appended claims.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWSt-

1. Securing apparatus for securing the opposed pair of shoulder straps of a safety harness against the unaided passage of a wearer's shoulders therebetween, said securing apparatus including:- a resilient chest panel; connecting means for connecting said chest panel to one of the shoulder straps, and releasable securing means for connecting said chest panel to the other shoulder strap.

2. Securing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chest panel is formed so as to extend upwardly from the lap buckle which secures the shoulder straps together to a position adjacent a wearer's neck.

3. Securing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said releasable securing means includes an extension flap at one side of said chest panel and connecting means for connecting the free edge of said extension flap to said chest panel so as to form a sleeve which may extend about said other shoulder strap.

4. Securing apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said connecting means includes a sleeve which extends about said one shoulder strap.

5. Securing apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said sleeve is a releasable sleeve.

6. Securing apparatus as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5 when appended to claim 3, wherein said sleeves converge towards the bottom of said chest panel.

7. Securing apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said resilient chest panel is so formed whereby in use it remains substantially in an extended panel configuration.

8. Securing apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said releasable securing means is substantially concealed between the wearer restrained and said chest panel.

9. Securing apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said releasable securing means is a push together connection.

10. A safety harness assembly including:- a harness having opposed shoulder straps, and securing apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims attached to one of the shoulder straps.

11. Securing apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 or FIGS 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.