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[0001] This application claims the benefits of prior filed, co-pending provisional patent application Serial No. 60/387644 filed of Jun. 11, 2002.
[0002] Transportable or rollable baby cribs are well known in the art. The usual baby crib design comprises two end members and two side members, which are attached together at the corers to provide a baby crib frame. The frame is provided with a mattress support which is held within the frame to support the crib mattress. Columnar legs support the frame at the corners and are equipped with swivel casters at the bottom ends.
[0003] The baby crib frame may either be of the fixed or foldable type. A typical fixed type is exemplified by the The Mini Crib model produced by L.A. Baby of Los Angeles, Calif. In this design, the side members and end members are made of metal tubes attached together at the crib corners by screws. The legs are provided with swivel casters to enable re-positioning the crib or rolling the crib from room to room.
[0004] Another type of frame is a foldable frame having hinged end members, which enable folding the crib into a smaller size for storage. Exemplary of a foldable frame is The Holiday Crib also produced by L.A. Baby.
[0005] A common problem with a transportable crib is that the legs or corners of the crib may strike and damage furniture when moving the crib about in the room, or may damage doorways or walls when moving the crib from room to room. This is a particularly difficult and costly problem with commercially available baby cribs used in hotels, where the cribs are frequently moved from room to room, or in and out of storage. It would be desirable to have a transportable baby crib, which would reduce the possibility of damage to surrounding objects and doorways when moving the crib about.
[0006] Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved transportable baby crib that reduces damage to surrounding objects.
[0007] Another object of the invention is to provide an improved transportable baby crib which protects both the crib and other property from damage.
[0008] Briefly stated, the invention comprises an improvement to a baby crib of the type, which has opposed sides, opposed ends connected to the opposed sides at corners, a columnar leg depending from each corner, and a swivel caster disposed on the end of each said columnar leg to make the crib transportable, said improvement comprising a bumper disposed on each said columnar leg above the swivel caster, the bumper being substantially in the shape of a disk defining a central hole therein arranged to receive said columnar leg therethrough, the central hole being dimensioned so as to enable rotation of the bumper about the columnar leg when striking an object while transporting the crib on the swivel casters.
[0009] Preferably, the bumper is comprised of dense impact-absorbing, closed cell, plastic foam, is supported on top of the caster swivel plate, and has an outer diameter approximately the same as, or larger than that of the caster wheel.
[0010] The invention will be better understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0011]
[0012]
[0013]
[0014] Referring to
[0015] End members
[0016] The frame is supported on columnar legs at each of the four corners. One such columnar leg is indicated at
[0017] Referring to
[0018] All of the above description is conventional and well known for a foldable transportable baby crib. Constructional details of transportable baby cribs will vary considerably in design. For example, the columnar legs are sometimes formed as extensions of the side members, as shown in the illustrated embodiment. However, other constructions may form the columnar legs as extensions of the end members. Such a construction is used in a fixed crib frame design, exemplified by The Mini Crib by L.A. Baby.
[0019] In accordance with the present invention, bumpers
[0020] Referring to
[0021] In accordance with the present invention, a bumper member
[0022] Typically, in a swivel caster, the axle for the wheel does not lie directly below the axis of the pin about which the caster swivels, but is offset. This forces the caster to swivel about the vertical axis when the motion commences, and the wheel will follow the direction of movement. By dimensioning the outer diameter of the disc-shaped bumper substantially the same as, or greater than, the wheel diameter, this insures that the leading edge of bumper
[0023] An important feature of the invention is to make the dimension of central hole
[0024] A preferred material for the impact-resisting foam material of bumper
[0025] While there has been described what is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, other modifications will occur to those skilled in the art, and it is desired to secure all such modifications herein, which fall within the scope of the invention.