Century Products Company

Francis Bernart

Mark A Sedlack

A NHTSA-safety compliant infant restraint with a number of advantageous features including a linkage mechanism that allows relative movement between the seat and underframe during an impact, to allow for an infant to be transported reclined while the restraint is in a rear-facing mode, while enabling the restraint to comply with NHTSA standards during a crash. The restraint may be used in a forward facing, non-rotatable position as well. A plurality of seat back incline positions may be selected for both the rearward and forward-facing modes.

Reclining restraint (smart move)

An improved splitter plate arrangement for use with children's furniture such as automobile safety seats and the like comprises a quadrilateral shape having a generally trapezoidal configuration, with the lower edge and side edges disposed in generally orthogonal relationship. A closed slot is disposed parallel to the lower edge and spaced apart therefrom, to receive therethrough the lower belt of a three-point harness extending from the seat. The lower belt is generally looped through and secured in permanent fashion to the closed slot, so that the splitter plate is assembled to the upper end of the lower belt of the three-point harness arrangement. A single upper slot to receive both shoulder belts of the three-point harness is disposed generally parallel to and spaced vertically above the closed slot. The conjunction of both shoulder belts in a single slot determines that the tensile forces applied by the shoulder belts are coincident at a common point at the splitter plate, and are convergent with respect to the lower belt attachment. A single access slot extends from a side edge of the splitter plate to the upper slot. The access slot is narrower in width than the upper slot, and is provided with a dogleg configuration to intersect with a medial-end portion of the upper slot. The closed slot and the upper slot may be positioned eccentrically with respect to the side edges of the splitter plate, and the access slot extends from the more closely adjacent side edge of the plate.

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Homeworth, OH, United States of America

Francis Bernart