In U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,544 (Hollett et al.) there is disclosed a reconfigurable chair for home or restaurant use for supporting a toddler or small child in a sitting position or an infant in an infant carrier. The reconfigurable chair has a fixed frame formed of wood or other lightweight material, such as plastic, providing a base for placement on a floor surface. The frame has a front side, a back side, and two opposing sides. A seat assembly is supported on the frame at a position elevated above the base. The seat assembly has a bottom seat fixedly secured to the frame and a movable back rest pivotally joined to the bottom seat. The movable back rest is operable between an upright seat position, in which a toddler or small child can sit on the bottom seat and have his/her back against the back rest, and a closed position, in which the back rest is folded down on the bottom seat. The chair also has a front cross member on the front side of the chair extending between the opposite left and right sides of the frame and positioned on the frame above the bottom seat and a back cross member in the back side of the frame extending between the left and right side of the frame positioned on the frame between the levels of the back cross member and the bottom seat and wherein the front and back cross members are positioned relative to one another and adapted to receive an infant carrier facing toward the back of the frame when the movable seat back rest is folded down.
While the chair of the '544 patent appears generally suitable for its intended purposes, it leaves much to be desired from various standpoints, such as its inability to be use as a portable unit, since it is incapable of being collapsed for easy storage or transportation.
A collapsible infant car seat station and highchair stand has been sold under the trademark The GoTo™. That device addresses some of the drawbacks of the device of Hollett et al. patent, but nevertheless leaves much to be desired from various standpoints, the most significant of which being the resistance to tipping-over when the device is configured as a high chair and when an infant is seated in the high chair. The subject invention addresses those drawbacks
All references cited and/or identified herein are specifically incorporated by reference herein.
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