Title:
DOUBLE ACTION SAFETY LOCK FOR CRIB SIDES
United States Patent 3862455
Abstract:
An infant's crib having a drop side and guide or slide rods for the drop side with a notch in each rod and spring biassed pins on the drop side which snap into the notches to lock the drop side at a predetermined elevation, a recess on each pin and a lip on each notch, the lips being received in the recesses, preventing withdrawal of the pins in the normal manner until the entire drop side has been slightly lifted.
Application Number:
05/391951
Publication Date:
01/28/1975
Assignee:
Thayer, Inc. (Gardner, MA)
Other Classes:
5/11, 5/181, 248/408
International Classes:
A47D7/02; A47D7/00; (IPC1-7): A47D9/00
Field of Search:
5/11,100,181,331,99,181T 403
Primary Examiner:
Nunberg, Casmir A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
Fay, Charles R.
Claims:
I claim
1. a crib having a drop side and drop side guide rods therefor, a notch in a guide rod and a biassed pin latch on the drop side, the pin entering the notch and locking the drop side in predetermined position against motion thereof on the guide rods,
2. The crib of claim 1 wherein said recess in the pin is annular.
3. The crib of claim 1 wherein said lip is at the surface of the drop side guide rod.
4. The crib of claim 1 wherein there is a notch in each of the guide rods and a biassed pin latch at each end of the drop side, each notch receiving a pin and both pins having recesses.
5. A crib comprising end posts, drop side guide rods thereon, a drop side slidably mounted on the guide rods, a spring biassed pin latch on the drop side, said pin being biassed toward a respective guide rod and tending to ride on the same during motion of the drop side on the guide rods,
6. The crib of claim 5 wherein the interengaging means comprises a lip on the guide rod and a recess on the pin.
7. The crib of claim 6 wherein the lip extends upwardly.
8. The crib of claim 7 wherein the recess is annular.
Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The safety of infants in cribs has been a matter of concern for some years. The prior art in relation to the present invention comprises a crib having a drop side, a vertical guide or slide rod at each end of the crib connected to the corner parts, the drop side having apertures in the top and bottom rails thereof slidably guided on said rods for motion up and down thereon, there being a notch adjacent the upper end of each of said rods and a spring biassed pin on the drop side of each rod, the pins entering the notches to hold the drop side in its upper position.
The pins are retracted by means of hand manipulated buttons which are in areas where the infant in the crib may be able to grasp the same and may accidentally push or pull on a button in such a way as to release the drop side which is apt to injure the infant by allowing him to tumble out of the crib.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an infant from accidentally dislodging the pins.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An infant's crib is provided as usual with a drop side slidable vertically on a pair of guide or slide rods mounted on the opposite ends of the crib as for instance on the corner posts thereof, the drop side having rails provided with apertures which receive the rods, the rods thereby slidingly guiding the drop side in its vertical motion. Adjacent the upper end of each rod there is a notch and cooperating therewith there are spring biassed pins on the drop side to snap into the notches to lock the drop side in its uppermost position. By pulling the buttons, one with each hand, the drop side is released and falls.
In the present invention there is provided an undercut on each of the notches at the lower side thereof forming upwardly extending lips, and the pins which snap into the notches are provided with recesses which snap over the lip, the lip being received in the recesses, thereby forming the double lock.
With the present construction the buttons attached to the pins for withdrawing the same from the notches may not be operated unless and until the recesses in the pins are retracted from the lips and this is only possible to be done by lifting the drop side slightly by which means the pins are raised and the lips are released from the recesses. Thereupon the buttons may be operated to retract the pins to allow the drop side to drop.
Usually the operation will be accomplished through the use of two hands one of which holds the drop side in raised position and the other of which retracts the pins. Therefore the pins have to be retracted one after the other as both pins have to be retracted to allow the crib drop side to be released to drop. If only one pin is engaged in a notch the drop side cannot drop although it may sag slightly at the notch-released end of the crib.
This means that should a child accidentally release one of the pins of the present case, the drop side would still not drop, and the infant would have to deliberately walk to the other end of the crib and repeat the operation in order to get the drop side to drop, and this is so improbable as to be substantially impossible.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation illustrating the crib and its drop side;
FIG. 2 is a view on an enlarged scale looking in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1 and showing the drop side in the double locked position;
FIG. 3 illustrates the action of the lock and shows a situation where the crib drop side has been raised slightly from the FIG. 2 position releasing the pin from the notch;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the pin completely free of the notch so that the drop side is able to drop; and
FIG. 5 shows a slightly modified form of locking pin.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
The reference numerals 10 and 12 illustrate the corner posts of a more or less conventional crib which has a drop side generally indicated at 14 with a top rail 16. There is also a similar bottom rail and both of them are provided with apertures at the ends thereof for the sliding reception of slide or guide rods 18 and 20, these rods being secured in the usual manner at their top ends by screw threaded fasteners or the like which extend through the corner posts and thread into bent portions 22, 22 of the rods. The lower end supports 24, 24 are also conventional.
Secured to the lower surface of top rail 16 at each end thereof there is a bracket 26, 26. Each bracket has a downturned portion 28 on which is mounted a thimble 30 slidably receiving a locking pin 32. the thimble 30 has a spring in it not shown and the pin 32 is connected to a finger manipulated button 34 by which it may be retracted from its spring biassed position shown in FIG. 2 to retracted position shown in FIG. 4.
Each slide or guide rod is provided with a notch generally indicated at 36. These notches are located in the side of the rods which face the pins 32. Each notch is provided with a lip 38 formed by a recess 40 behind it. Each pin 32 is provided with a reduced area or recess 42 providing a head 44 at the inner ends of the pins 32.
In the operation of the device, assuming that the drop side is in its downwardmost position, the head 44 of the pin 32 rides on the near surface of the rod 18 and therefore when the drop side is raised to a point where the pins 32 are in alignment with the notches, the pins snap forwardly into the notches and gravity insures that the drop side will drop slightly when released. Therefore their recesses 42 in the pins 32 receive the upturned lips 38 as shown in FIG. 2. In this condition, the button 34 may be pushed or pulled or manipulated in any way desired and it cannot retract sufficiently to release the drop side. If the nurse lifts the drop side by spindle 16 the situation shown in FIG. 3 will occur, with the heads 44 of the pins 32 completely clear of lips 38. Using the fingers of the other hand, the pins 32 can be retracted by means of buttons 34 to the FIG. 4 position, whereupon release of the rail 16 allows the drop side to drop enough so that the button or end 44 is below the lip 38 and outside of it. The drop side will drop by gravity in the usual manner.
It is practically impossible to operate both buttons 34 at the same time because one hand must be used to hold the drop side in its slightly elevated condition and therefore it will be seen that an infant of an age using a crib, in the first place will not be able to release either catch at any time; but on the other hand should one of them be accidentally released the other one is still locked and will hold the drop side in raised position although with a slight sag at the end of the crib where the locking pin has been released.
In FIG. 1 the bracket 26 has a pair of fasteners 46 holding it to the rail 16, both fasteners being inboard of the buttons 34. FIG. 5 shows a modification where bracket 26' has a fastener at each side of the pin 32' but the button 34', pinhead 44', each are similar to those described.