Rotatable armrest assembly

This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/021,727, filed on Jan. 17, 2008.

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an armrest assembly, more particularly to a rotatable armrest assembly for facilitating ingress and egress of a child to and from a child car seat.

2. Description of the Related Art

A child car seat is placed in a vehicle for securing a child in the vehicle and for protecting the child in case of an accident. The child car seat normally includes a base and a pair of armrests provided on two lateral sides of the base. In general, there are two types of armrests for child car seats, namely, stationary-type armrests movable-type armrests. Most commercially available child car seat armrests are a movable-type armrests, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,143. However, conventional child car seat armrests are rotatable upwardly and downwardly, and as such, are not suitable for holding articles, such as bottles and cans.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a rotatable armrest assembly that can overcome the aforesaid drawback associated with the prior art.

According to this invention, there is provided a rotatable armrest assembly that comprises: an armrest support adapted to be connected to a base of the child car seat and having an insert hole; and an armrest having top and bottom ends that are opposite to each other in an axial direction, and provided with a shaft that extends into the insert hole so as to permit the armrest to be rotatable relative to the armrest support about an axis of the shaft that extends in the axial direction.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the preferred embodiment of a rotatable armrest assembly according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary schematic top view of the preferred embodiment illustrating a state where a spring-biased latch is disposed at a locking position; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary schematic top view of the preferred embodiment illustrating another state where the spring-biased latch is disposed at an unlocking position.

FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate the preferred embodiment of a rotatable armrest assembly for a child car seat according to this invention.

The child car seat includes a headrest 1 , a backrest 2 , a base 3 , a pair of safety belt guiding mechanisms 4 disposed respectively at two opposite lateral sides of the base 3 , and a pair of armrest assemblies 5 disposed respectively at the lateral sides of the base 3 . The headrest 1 is capable of height adjustment. Each of the headrest 1 and the backrest 2 includes wings that are width adjustable so as to permit children of different ages to use the child car seat and/or to provide a more closed-in seating area when desired. Each of the lateral sides of the base 3 is formed with a locking hole 31 .

Each of the rotatable armrest assembles 5 includes an armrest support 51 , an armrest 52 , and a locking unit 53 .

The armrest support 51 of each of the rotatable armrest assemblies 5 is connected to a respective one of the lateral sides of the base 3 , and has a laterally extending mounting surface 511 and a tubular wall 512 protruding upwardly from the mounting surface 511 . The armrest support 51 is formed with an insert hole 513 . The tubular wall 512 defines an upper section of the insert hole 513 .

The armrest 52 of each of the armrest assemblies 5 has top and bottom ends 501 , 502 that are opposite to each other in an axial direction (L), is provided with a shaft 524 , and includes first and second shell halves 521 , 522 and a coupling cap 523 interconnecting the first and second shell halves 521 , 523 . The first and second shell halves 521 , 523 have recessed rear end portions that cooperatively define a shaft-receiving hole for receiving fittingly and securely the shaft 524 therein, and front end portions that cooperatively define a lock-guiding hole 525 . The first shell half 521 is formed with a through-hole 526 in spatial communication with the lock-guiding hole 525 . The shaft 524 extends into the insert hole 513 so as to permit the armrest 52 to be rotatable relative to the armrest support 51 about an axis of the shaft 524 that extends in the axial direction (L).

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6 , in combination with FIGS. 1 to 4 , the locking unit 53 includes a spring-biased latch 531 and an urging member 532 . The spring-biased latch 531 includes a main portion 5311 , a pressing portion 5312 extending from a front end of the main portion 5311 , and a hook portion 5313 extending from one side of the main portion 5311 . The spring-biased latch 531 is movably mounted in the lock-guiding hole 525 . The hook portion 5313 extends through the through-hole 526 . The pressing portion 5312 is exposed from the armrest 52 to allow the user to press the same. The urging member 532 is a compression spring, is disposed in the lock-guiding hole 525 , and has two opposite ends abutting against the main portion 5311 and the first shell half 521 for urging the spring-biased latch 531 to move frontwardly such that the hook portion 5313 is moved to engage releasably the locking hole 31 in the base 3 (see FIG. 5 ), thereby preventing rotation of the armrest 52 about the axis. When it is desirable to permit ingress or egress of a child to and from the child car seat, the user can press the pressing portion 5312 of the spring-biased latch 531 so as to disengage the hook portion 5313 from the locking hole 31 (see FIG. 6 ), thereby permitting outward rotation of the armrest 52 about the axis to a fully open position.

Referring now to FIG. 4 , the tubular wall 512 is formed with a retaining groove 514 , and the shaft 524 is formed with a retaining groove 527 . A torsion spring 528 is sleeved on the shaft 524 , and has one end 5281 retained in the retaining groove 514 in the tubular wall 512 , and the other end 5282 retained in the retaining groove 527 in the shaft 524 for restoring the armrest 52 to its original position.

Alternatively, restoration of the armrest 52 can be realized in a different manner without the use of the torsion spring 528 . In one example, the mounting surface 511 of the armrest support 51 has a first side 5111 (see FIG. 3 ) and a second side 5112 opposite to the first side 5111 and having a level greater than that of the first side 5111 such that the mounting surface 511 is inclined downwardly from the second side 5112 toward the first side 5111 so as to permit the armrest 52 to rotate automatically about the axis to be restored to its original position by virtue of gravity.

In order to prevent the armrest 52 from pinching the fingers of the child during returning thereof to its original position, the mounting surface 511 of the armrest support 51 is formed with a stopper 515 protruding therefrom and disposed adjacent to the first side 5111 of the mounting surface 511 for stopping movement of the armrest 52 toward the first side 5111 of the mounting surface 51 . The stopper 515 has a size and a shape such that the user can easily push the armrest 52 to pass thereover.

By making the armrest 52 to be rotatable about the axis that extends in the axial direction (L), ingress and egress of the child to and from the child car seat is facilitated. Moreover, the armrest 52 of each of the armrest assemblies 5 can be formed with an article-holding recess 54 for receiving articles, such as bottles, cans, and the like.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation and equivalent arrangements.