BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an adaptor for attaching a baby seat to a trolley and more particularly to a device for removable attachment to a shopping trolley. The invention also relates to the combination of such an adaptor with a shopping trolley and with a baby seat and the use of such combinations.

2. Description of the Related Art

Baby seats for use in cars are a standard item for most families with babies. Not only are they obligatory in most countries for transport of an infant in a car but they may also be used for safely carrying a child on other forms of transport or carried in the hand. Some models can be connected to a wheeled base and used as a push-chair. A particularly well-known brand of baby seat is the Maxi-Cosi™. An important factor in the popularity of such baby seats is their portability and versatility. As all parents will know, removing a sleeping infant from a seat will likely cause it to wake up. Moving the infant together with the seat allows the infant to continue sleeping. There are also other advantages to having a dedicated baby seat. The infant will feel secure and familiar with its own seat and parents with concerns for hygiene will feel more comfortable using their own seat than putting the infant into a seat that has been used by another baby.

A location that is frequented by most families is the supermarket. Although many parents will try to avoid shopping with an infant it is sometimes nevertheless necessary to do so. Carrying a baby or baby seat while pushing a shopping trolley is not however the most efficient or comfortable way of proceeding. In some supermarkets and stores shopping trolleys are available with integrated baby seats. Such systems are known from WO2004/108499 and US 4834404. As mentioned above, parents generally do not appreciate removing an infant from its own seat in order to put it into a strange seat. Other systems have been proposed for connecting a car seat to a shopping trolley. US4598945 discloses a car seat having a pair of snap fasteners on the rear wall for engaging a cross bar on the trolley and a system of straps that can be tightened around the push rod handle. Another seat is disclosed in US4958887 which includes hooks for engaging a support wire of the trolley. The seat may balance between the support wire and trolley handle. In both of these systems, an adaptation of the car seat is necessary in order for it to engage the trolley. Furthermore, in both cases the support wire or cross bar of the trolley must be present to support the seat and the system cannot be used with trolleys having no such cross bar. A further device is known from DE29615793 Ul which comprises a shopping trolley with a transverse tray region above the main basket. A conventional baby seat may be placed in the tray and fastened in place by a strap. Although this system is well adapted for use of most standard car seats, it requires a significant adaptation of the shopping trolley. Furthermore, the presence of the tray prevents the trolleys from being pushed into one another for storage.

There thus remains a need for an alternative system that overcomes or provides an alternative for some or all of the above drawbacks.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided an adapter for removably mounting a baby seat onto a shopping trolley, comprising a cross member being adjustable in length to span the width of the trolley and provided at both ends with gripping members for releasably engaging opposite edges of the trolley and a retainer for retaining the seat to the adapter. By providing an adjustable cross member that can be readily affixed to a shopping trolley, a very versatile construction is achieved that can be easily carried by a user and deployed as required. Alternatively, such adaptors may be made available by the store. In this context removable mounting is understood to mean that the adapter can be removed by a user in a store without requiring additional tools such as spanners, screwdrivers or the like. In the present context, reference is given to shopping trolleys. This is understood to be a large wheeled basket having upstanding edges. In general the width of such a trolley may be between 50 cm and 80 cm although the invention is not limited to trolleys of such dimensions. It will be understood that the adapter may also be fixed to other articles having similar configurations to shopping trolleys. Likewise, baby seats may vary considerably. In the present context, the term baby seat is used to refer to a baby car seat, namely one that is authorised for use in a motor vehicle according to ECE R44/04 Group 0 and 0+ for babies up to 13kg and having a rocker shaped bottom.

In one embodiment the cross member comprises telescoping elements that can be locked together at or close to the required length. This may comprise a central tube section into which the gripping members may slide or alternatively, a first section carrying one gripping member may telescope with a second member carrying another gripping member. Locking may be achieved by a pin and hole or other known locking arrangement. More preferably, locking may be integrated with another function such as actuation of the retainer to retain the baby seat. In order to achieve acceptance of such a product, operation must be safe yet simple. Combining two locking functions into a single operation is believed to be advantageous in this respect.

In a preferred embodiment the gripping members comprise hooks that are resiliently biased towards one another to engage the edges of the trolley. The hooks may be pulled apart to clip the hooks over the edges of the trolley and subsequently released to engage therewith. In this position, the cross member supports onto the upper edges of the trolley. The skilled person will understand that other arrangements of gripping members that are biased outwards to engage the edges or sides of the trolley may also be used and that as an alternative to supporting on the top edges of the trolley, the gripping members or cross member may support on other lower parts of the wire structure of the trolley whereby the baby seat rests at a lower level.

Various forms of retainer may be provided, which may be integrated with the cross members or gripping members or may be provided as a separate item of manufacture. It will thus be understood that the adapter may be supplied without a retainer and that this may be subsequently provided by a user. According to a further aspect of the invention, the retainer may be in the form of a strap provided and connected such that tightening the strap causes the seat to be retained onto the cross member or cross members.

Additionally, it may act to cause the gripping members to be biased against the edges of the trolley. In this manner, once the strap is tightened, the gripping members cannot be inadvertently released from their gripping position. It will be understood that this may be achieved by connecting the strap to the gripping members or to another portion of the cross members. It will also be understood that reference to a strap includes the possibility of two straps that clip together. Tightening may be achieved by a

conventional sliding buckle.

According to an important aspect of the invention, the cross member is collapsible to have a length of less than half the width of the trolley, in particular, less than 30 cm. This may be conveniently achieved by hinging the cross member at its centre or making it in two parts that engage together. Alternatively, as mentioned above, multiple parts may telescope together to achieve the desired shortening. Since the cross member must extend to greater than the width of the trolley, the overall difference between collapsed length and extended length will be more than a factor of two and preferably about three times. In this manner a highly compact and portable device is achieved which may even be carried in a pocket or stored in a recess in the baby seat. In its extended state, the cross member may have a length of more than 50 or even more than 70 cm. In general it is understood that a parent will wish to attach a seat closer to the handle side of a trolley where the width is widest. Nevertheless, in certain

circumstances it may be desirable to attach the seat and cross member close to the point of the trolley. In this case, a width of 40 cm may suffice.

The adapter may be manufactured of light yet strong material such as aluminium or composites. Preferably the cross member is provided with a non-slip surface coating to reduce any sliding of the baby seat during and after tightening of the strap.

The skilled person will understand that, in its simplest form, the adapter may comprise a single cross member spanning the trolley. The baby seat may then support on the cross member and on one of the front or back edges of the trolley. Nevertheless, in its preferred form the adapter comprises a further similar cross-member which can engage the trolley at a distance from the first cross member such that the baby seat can support between the two cross members. Expressed in other words, the cross-member may comprise two cross elements spaced from one another. The ideal spacing between the two cross members or elements will depend upon the baby seat and the trolley but will generally be around 25 cm.

Preferably, the cross member and further cross member are attached to one another in order to maintain a desired spacing. This may be achieved using flexible cords or webbing or may make use of part of the strap. Most preferably, the connection is relatively rigid and may be achieved by hinged rods or links arranged to maintain the cross members spaced and generally parallel to one another. Operation of the hinged rods or links may also serve to operate the blocking function discussed above whereby the cross members are locked at a given length.

In a most preferred form of the invention there is provided an adapter for removably mounting a baby seat onto a shopping trolley, comprising first and second cross members being adjustable in length to span the width of the trolley, each provided at both ends with gripping members comprising hooks for releasably engaging opposite edges of the trolley, the cross members being collapsible from a first extended length to a second collapsed length that is less than half of the extended length, hinged link members connecting the first and second cross members to each other, the link members being pivotably connected to the first and second cross members to allow movement from a parallel adjacent position to a parallel distanced position and a strap for retaining the seat in contact with the cross members, the strap being connected at either end to a cross member and having an intermediate tightening buckle. This combination of elements has been found to be especially practical in that the cross members can be collapsed and the link members hinged to produce a compact collapsed adapter having the size of little more than a collapsible umbrella.

The invention also foresees the combination of an adapter as described above with a shopping trolley and a baby seat, the adapter being connected to span a width of the trolley and engage and support on opposite edges of the trolley, the baby seat being releasably retained by the retainer. The assembled combination forms a stable structure that is safe to use in a busy supermarket or store and can be easily disassembled after use with a minimum number of operations.

The invention also relates to the use of an adapter to removably attach a baby seat to a shopping trolley, comprising extending an adjustable cross member to have a length greater than a width of the trolley, engaging gripping members on either end of the cross member with edges of the trolley, placing the baby seat onto the cross member and retaining the baby seat such that it cannot move substantially with respect to the cross member or otherwise become detached. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the invention will be appreciated upon reference to the following drawings of a number of exemplary embodiments, in which:

Figure 1 shows an adapter according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an adapter according to a second embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 shows the adapter of Figure 2 in use;

Figure 4 shows a baby seat attached to the adapter of Figure 3;

Figure 5 shows the adapter of Figure 2 in a collapsed position;

Figure 6 shows an adapter according to a third embodiment of the invention; Figure 6B shows the adapter of Figure 6 in a packed configuration;

Figure 7 shows a baby seat attached to the adapter of Figure 6;

Figure 8 shows an adapter according to a third embodiment of the invention;

Figure 8B shows the adapter of Figure 8 in a packed configuration;

Figure 9 shows an adapter according to a fourth embodiment of the invention;

Figure 9B shows the adapter of Figure 9 in a packed configuration; and

Figures 10 to IOC show views of an adapter according to a fifth embodiment of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODFMENTS

Figure 1 shows an adapter 1 according to the invention in partially exploded perspective view. The adapter 1 comprises a cross member 2 formed of first and second tubular sections 3, 4. First section 3 has a sleeve member 6 which can insert into an open end 8 of the second section 4. Sleeve member 6 carries a locking pin 10 that can engage with a corresponding hole 12 in the second section 4. The tubular sections 3, 4 are formed of aluminium and may be generally of the form used for tent pole constructions or the like.

The first section 3 at an end opposite to the sleeve member 6 has an extension tube 14 which slides within a hollow interior of the first section 3. An end stop (not shown) within the first section 3 prevents the extension tube 14 from being detached. The extension tube 14 carries a first hook 16 at its end. The second section 4 carries a second hook 18 at its end opposite to the open end 8. An elastic cord 20 within the tubular sections 3, 4 attaches from the first hook 16 to the second hook 18 and biases them towards one another. A first strap portion 22 is attached to the first section 3 and a second strap portion 24 having a buckle 25 is attached to the second section 4, the function of which will be further described below.

In use, the adapter 1 according to the first embodiment of the invention may be spanned across a shopping trolley whereby the hooks 16, 18 can engage with opposite edges of the trolley. Due to the resilient bias of the elastic cord 20, the telescope member 14 may be extended to allow the first hook 16 to pass over and engage the edge. A child seat can then be supported by the cross member 2 and by an end of the shopping trolley and strapped in place using the straps. Operation will be further clarified in the context of the second embodiment. According to Figure 2, there is shown in perspective view a more preferred second embodiment of the invention in which like elements are given the same reference as in the case of the first embodiment.

According to the second embodiment the adapter 1 is provided with two cross members 2A, 2B, both of which are substantially identical to that of the first embodiment. The cross members 2 A, 2B are joined to each other by a pair of hinged links. A first hinged link 26 joins first sections 3 A, 3B together and a second hinged link 28 joins second sections 4A, 4B together. Each hinged link 26, 28 has a central hinge 30 and is pivotally connected at its ends to the respective first and second sections 3 A, 3B, 4A, 4B. The pivotal connections and hinges may be provided by rivets or the like. The hinged links 26, 28 allow the cross members 2 A, 2B to be brought from an adjacent position where the cross members 2A, 2B lie next to each other to a distanced position in which the cross members 2A, 2B are spaced from one another but are generally parallel.

Although the cross members 2A, 2B are generally identical, only cross member 2A is provided with strap portions 22, 24.

Figure 3 shows the adaptor 1 of Figure 3 in position on a shopping trolley 40. The trolley has sides 42, 43 formed of wire and terminating in upper edges 44, 45. As is generally conventional, the sides 42, 43 of trolley 40 taper slightly towards one another. The adapter 1 is mounted to the trolley 40 with hooks 16A, 16B, 18 A, 18B engaged over the sides 42, 43 to engage the respective upper edges 44, 45. As can be seen the extension tube 14A of the first cross member 2A is extended to a greater extent than the extension tube 14B of the second cross member 2B. The hinged links 26, 28 are almost fully extended so that the first and second cross members 2A, 2B are spaced from each other by around 30 cm.

Figure 4 shows the arrangement of Figure 4 with a baby seat 50 attached to the trolley 40 by means of the adaptor 1. The baby seat 50 is a generally conventional portable car seat having a carry handle 52, a rocker base 54 and retention hooks 56. The baby seat 50 sits on the adaptor 1 with the rocker base 54 engaging on both first cross member 2 A and second or further cross member 2B. Strap sections 22, 24 engage around the baby seat 50 through retention hooks 56 and are held in position by buckle 25. It will be understood that although the strap sections 22, 24 are shown attached in this manner, other arrangements of strap may also be provided for connection to the first or second cross members 2A, 2B, the hinged links 26, 28 or the sides 42, 43 of the trolley 40. Figure 5 shows an important aspect of the invention, namely the manner in which the adaptor 1 of Figure 2 can be collapsed into a convenient carrying configuration. Each of the cross members 2A, 2B is first separated at its centre by releasing the locking pins 10A, 10B from their corresponding holes 12 A, 12B. The sleeves 6 A, 6B may then be withdrawn against the tension of the elastic cord 20A, 20B and the first sections 3 A, 3B and the second sections 4A, 4B can be folded together. The resulting bundle of four sections with their respective links can be less than 30 cm in length and as little as 6 cm in width and breadth. The strap sections 22, 24 may be wound around to hold it together and the complete adapter 1 may be provided with a pouch (not shown) for storage.

Figure 6 shows a third embodiment of an adapter 101 whereby cross members 102 A, 102B are provided with hinge members 107A, 107B at their midpoint. This

configuration can be easily folded to the position shown in Fig 6A for storage. Other aspects of this embodiment are substantially the same as that of Figure 2 and are not further described.

Figure 7 shows the embodiment of Figure 6 in operation with a baby seat 150. The seat 150 is held in position against the cross members 102A, 102B by straps 122A, 122B. Each strap has a buckle 125 A, 125B of the type used for child car seat belts. Such an arrangement gives additional security in that the seat 150 is held at two positions. Although not shown, it is conceivable that the buckles 125 may have an additional blocking function whereby the cross members 102 A, 102B are locked on attachment of the buckle. Alternatively, blocking of the cross members may be achieved by operation of the hinge members 107 A, 107B or the hinged links. The skilled person will be well aware of convenient mechanisms that can provide such function.

Figure 8 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention having an alternative form of retention for the baby seat. The adapter 201 of Figure 8 comprises first and second cross members 202 A, 202B each provided with a central hinge 207 A, 207B. The adapter 201 differs from the second and third embodiments in that the hinged links are replaced by pivotal spacer elements 226, 228. The spacer elements 226, 228 can pivot about axes P-P from a packed position in which they lie in the plane of the cross members 202A, 202B to an erect position as shown. An upper end of each spacer element 226, 228 is provided with a bearing 229 and a catch 231. The bearing 229 and catch 231 provide a retention arrangement for engaging complementary provisions on a child seat which can be suspended from the bearings 229.

Figure 8 A shows the adapter 201 of Figure 8 in a folded configuration for storage. Although not shown, the spacer elements 226, 228 may also serve to block the cross members 202A, 202B at a desired length extension. This may be achieved by appropriate cam or ratchet mechanisms engaging with the extension tubes on rotation of the spacer elements around the axes P-P to their elevated position.

Figure 9 shows an adapter 301 according to a fifth embodiment of the invention comprising cross members 302A, 302B. Unlike the previous embodiments, the cross members 302A, 302B are not separable or hinged at their centres. In this embodiment, each cross member 302A, 302B has a telescopic extension tube 314A, 314B, 315A, 315B at both of its ends. Each extension tube 314A, 314B, 315 A, 315B is provided with a hook 316 at its end for engagement with an edge of the shopping trolley. The cross members 302A, 302B are spaced from each other by a hinged spacer member 326 having a hinge 330. As in previous embodiments, the extension tubes 314A, 314B, 315A, 315B may be biased inwardly by springs or elastic cords. Alternatively or additionally they may be fixed in position with respect to the cross members 302 A, 302B by suitable blocking pins or may be automatically blocked on folding out of the spacer member 326.

Figure 9 A shows a folded position of the adapter 301 in which the telescopic extension tubes 314A, 314B, 315A, 315B are retracted into the cross members 302A, 302B and in which the spacer member 326 is hinged downwards about the hinge 330. In this position, openings 331 in the spacer member form a convenient handle for carrying the adapter 301. The adapter 301 in its folded position may also be used to assist in carrying heavy shopping bags by suspending the carrying loops from the cross members 302 A, 302B.

Figure 10 shows the manner in which the adapter 301 of figure 9 is used to retain a baby seat 350. Mouldings 329 (shown in detail in Figure 10A) on the cross member 302B secure straps 322, 324 in position. A buckle 325 (shown in detail in Figure 10B) allows the straps 322, 324 to be connected together and tightened. In an alternative shown in Figure IOC, the straps 322, 324 are connected to the spacer member 326. Thus, the invention has been described by reference to certain embodiments discussed above. It will be recognized that these embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms well known to those of skill in the art. Many modifications in addition to those described above may be made to the structures and techniques described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, although specific embodiments have been described, these are examples only and are not limiting upon the scope of the invention.