Baby Buggy Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to providing a baby buggy for use on rough ground and for climbing stairs. Background

There are a plethora of baby buggies on the market and described in the patent literature. These include: o Perambulators, henceforth prams that are used for transporting babies, usually in a recumbent position o Push-chairs for infants that can sit up and perhaps can walk, but tire easily o The McClaren baby buggy that is particularly lightweight and folds away into a tiny volume for storage in a car or on a bus o The three wheel sporty stroller that was apparently designed for use by men, and is reminiscent of the more manly wheel-barrow

Ultra-portable small wheeled pushchairs are usually lightweight and fold down to a small size. They are ideal for use in urban areas and for carrying on and off public transport, etc. The small wheels are less suitable for rough ground, mud, snow, and for negotiating stairs. Large wheeled baby buggies are much better on rough ground, but typically are heavier and less compactable.

Slightly built mothers soon after giving birth, may find negotiating rough ground and stairs with a pram or pushchair difficult, as will older siblings and babysitters that may be in early teens, for example.

United States Patent Application No. US 5,679,101 to Magid describes a tread-mill, that, in embodiments shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7 thereof, are designed for exercising a baby in a stroller or pram. This publication does not relate to using the pram on rough ground or to go up and down stairs.

United States Patent Application No. US 4,192,216 to Wait describes a one- man armored vehicle that can be used on rough terrain. It is not a pram or stroller.

United States Patent Application No. US 4,895,384 to Kaiser describes a toy tank that provides fun for children and can help cross rough terrain, including use on water.

United States Patent Application No. US 4,566,706 to Bihler describes an easy-adjust stair climber for a wheelchair. It includes a caterpillar track and can be used with a wide variety of wheelchairs, or with a baby carriage - see Column 2 line

69 to column 3 line 1. Bihler's solution is applicable to climbing stairs and not to use on rough ground. It is not integral to the carriage, but rather retrofittable thereto.

United States Patent Application No. US 5,135,427 to Suto et al. relates to a children's toy having caterpillar tracks. The toy is designed for off-road use, on sand or grass. Nowhere does the application mention climbing stairs however. Furthermore, no reference is made to the toy being used to carry a child thereupon.

United States Patent Application No. 5,865,451 to Hu, describes a system for a baby stroller that is designed to prevent the stroller from traveling down stairs. US 3,432,178 to Xander, describes a device for rolling a baby carriage on stairs. The device includes a retrofittable caterpillar track that is attached to the wheels. No reference is made to the device being used on rough terrain.

Hungarian Patent Numbers 9701365 titled "Additional Instrument for Baby

Carriages Going on Unevent [sic] Ground, Snow or' Stairs" and 9701366 entitled "Baby carriage / perambulator for use on uneven ground, snow and stairs" address this issue. From the Figures thereof it appears that these patents relates to a pram with a sun and planetary wheel front wheel array for climbing stairs.

Israel Application No. IL 0089842A0 entitled "Device for Facilitating Pushing Perambulators on Stairs" was never published. There is, however, a European patent that is based thereon which shows back wheels and sledge blades.

The plethora of prior art demonstrates that there is a need for baby buggies that can cope with rough ground, stairs, mud and snow, and the present invention addresses this need.

Summary of the Invention

It is an aim of the invention to provide a mechanized assist for a baby buggy that can help negotiate stairs and rough ground.

It is a further aim of preferred embodiments of the invention that the mechanized assist be retrofittable to the existing chassis of a baby buggy.

It is a further aim of preferred embodiments of the invention that the mechanized assist can be positioned to help negotiate rough ground or stairs and repositioned out of the way to allow use of the wheels of the baby buggy to which it is fixed. The present invention is directed to providing a mechanized assist for assisting a pusher to push a baby buggy comprising electrically driven left and right independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms.

Preferably, the mechanized assist further comprises a portable electrical power source coupled to left and right motors. Most preferably the portable electrical power source is rechargeable; the mechanized assist further comprising a charger for charging the portable power source.

The mechanized assist is for affixing to a chassis of a wheeled baby buggy between the wheels thereof, and in some embodiments is retrofitting to the chassis of a prior art wheeled baby buggy.

Preferably the mechanized assist is positionable in a lower position where caterpillar tracks of mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms contact ground and a raised position where caterpillar tracks of mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms do not contact ground. Preferably, the mechanized assist further comprises a foot pedal for lowering the caterpillar tracks of the mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms to the lower position.

Optionally, the mechanized assist further comprises a control unit fixable to a handle of the baby buggy for use by the pusher thereof.

Typically the control unit comprises at least some of the controls selected from the list of: forward drive, reverse drive, left turn, right turn, power and speed.

The control unit may further comprise a low power indicator, and may additionally comprise a rocking controller for activating the mechanized assist to rock the baby buggy.

Typically the electrically driven left and right independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms each comprise a caterpillar track that encircles a driving wheel coupled to an electrical motor and driven wheels that freely rotate.

In preferred embodiments, the mechanized assist further comprises shock absorbers.

By 'baby buggy', any wheeled contraption that is pushed including, inter alia, wheel chairs, pushchairs, prams, strollers and pushed shopping carts.

Brief Description of the Figures

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention; the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic isometric projection of one embodiment of a mechanized assist of the invention that is fittable to a baby buggy;

Fig. 2 is an exploded view of the mechanized assist of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 is a schematic side view of a stroller type baby buggy fitted with a mechanized assist, negotiating rough ground;

Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of a stroller type baby buggy fitted with a mechanized assist, negotiating stairs;

Fig. 5 is a functional block diagram of the electrical elements of one embodiment of the present invention, and

Fig. 6 is a control unit for the mechanized assist for afixing to the handle of the baby buggy.

007/000729

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

With reference now to Fig. 1 and exploded view shown in Fig. 2, the mechanized assist 2 includes a foot pedal 4 which by pushing down thereon, allows the mechanized assist 2 to assume a raised or lowered position with respect to the wheels of the baby buggy 50 (Figs. 3, 4) to which it is affixed.

The foot pedal 4 is coupled to a back lowering arm 14 and a corresponding front lowering arm 10. Pushing down on foot pedal 4 causes front and back lowering arms 10, 14 to lower the mechanized assist 2 with respect to clips 24, 22 wherewith the mechanized assist 2 is affixed to the back and front parts of the chassis or a baby buggy 50 and locked thereto by locking means 20, that may be simple catches, thumb screws, clips and the like, as known. Lowering the mechanized assist 2 with respect to clips 20, 22 brings independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms 6 on left and right sides of the mechanized assist 2 into contact with the ground therebeneath and optionally raises the wheels of the baby buggy 50 off the ground. The back clip 24 may be slideably positioned along a track or preferably tracks

26, thereby allowing the distance between front and black clips 22, 24 to be set to allow the mechanized assist 2 to be fixed to the front and back cross bars of a variety of baby buggies, including push chairs, strollers, prams and the like, of the various designs available. Similarly, an adjustable means such as screws in slots 28 may be provided to allow the effective length of front lowering arm 10 to be varied, thereby allowing the height of the front clip 22 above independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms 6 on left and right sides of the mechanized assist 2 to be set for different types of ground and different types of baby buggies 50 having different diameter wheels, for example. A locking means 12 such as a thumb screw allows the foot pedal 4 to be locked in the lowered position, thereby locking the front lowering arm 10 and back lowering arm 14 in lowered position such that independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms 6 on left and right sides of the mechanized assist 2 contact the ground therebeneath. Optionally, a basket 16 is provided thereupon for small items, since the mechanized assist 2 may well be retrofitted to baby buggies in place of the basket often provided on the chassis thereof, between the wheels. The mechanized assist 2

includes a power pack and electronic circuitry (shown in Fig. 5 and described hereinbelow) that are protected within a box 18. The power pack and electronic circuitry are coupled to left and right motors 32, 34 that may be protected from mud etc. by shield 30. The mechanized assist 2 is filled with independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms 6 on left and right sides thereof. As shown in Fig. 2, the caterpillar track mechanisms 6 consist of support rollers 48 that freely spin around axes 44 through inner and outer plates 36, 38, and driving wheels 40 that are connected to the motors 32, 34. A continuous traction belt 42 is provided around the support rollers 48. This may be fabricated from an elastomeric material such as natural rubber, butadiene, and the like, or from segmented metal or plastic. A cover 8 hides the independently mechanized caterpillar track mechanisms 6, and is essentially non functional but allows colour coordination, addition of logo, etc. A shock absorber system 46 is usefully provided to absorb vibration from the ground, cushioning infant in baby buggy 50.

With reference to Fig. 3, a stroller type baby buggy 50 fitted with a mechanized assist 2 is shown negotiating rough ground 54. Also indicated, is control unit 52 attached to handle of baby buggy 50, for allowing pusher to control functioning of mechanized assist 2. The control unit 52 is described with reference to Fig. 6 hereinbelow.

With reference to Fig. 4, a schematic side view of a stroller type baby buggy 50 fitted with a mechanized assist 2 is shown negotiating stairs 86. The caterpillar tracks 42 grip the stairs and the motors 32, 34 (Fig. 2) take the weight of the baby buggy 50, making negotiating steps much easier than hitherto possible. As shown in functional block diagram of Fig. 5, the electrical elements of one embodiment of the present invention include an electronic circuit 80, a rechargeable battery 82, a battery charger 84 for connection to a mains power supply to charge battery 82. These components are situated in box 18. the circuit 80 is also connected to left and right motors 32, 34 referred to hereinabove and shown in Fig. 2, and further connected to control unit 52 shown in more detail in Fig. 6.

The battery may but need not be rechargeable. It may be a one-time disposable power pack. It could be a solid electrochemical cell or battery thereof, or it may

include a liquid electrolyte. It may also be an acid lead accumulator as commonly used in cars, motorbikes and the like.

With reference to Fig. 6, a control unit 52 for the mechanized assist for afixing to the handle of the baby buggy is shown. Control unit 52 typically includes forwards 56 and backwards 58 buttons that activate both left and right motors 32, 34 simultaneously; a right button 62 that activates right motor 34 only, or possibly and / or left motor in reverse; a left button 64 that activates left motor 32 only, or possibly and / or right motor in reverse. The control unit 52 may include a low battery indication 66 that will typically be a light emitting diode LED ₅ that draws minimal current, speed adjusting control 68 for adjusting power to motors 32, 34, and a power control 76 for negotiating steps 86 (Fig. 4).

The control unit 52 will typically have a socket for a control wire 74 connector 72, allowing it to be coupled to circuit 80 in box 18. It may alternatively be remotely coupled thereto. Finally a useful feature that may be provided is a rocking button 78 that activates the motors to rock the baby buggy 50.

The present invention is thus directed to providing a mechanized assist 2 for assisting a pusher to push a baby buggy 50 over rough ground 54, therough mud, snow or up stairs 86. Other features may be included and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and includes both combinations and sub combinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications thereof, which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.

In the claims, the word "comprise", and variations thereof such as "comprises", "comprising" and the like indicate that the components listed are included, but not generally to the exclusion of other components.