Stroller

Abstract

A stroller has a collapsible frame structure with a pair of laterally spaced apart rear legs each with a lower end. The frame structure is collapsible in vertical, horizontal, and side-to-side lateral directions from an in-use arrangement to a compact arrangement. The stroller has a seat supported by the frame structure and the seat has a seat bottom. A storage area is beneath the seat bottom when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement. An access opening into the storage area when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement is bounded by the seat bottom, the rear legs, and a lower boundary. A frame cross-brace is connected to the rear legs when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement. The entire cross-brace is positionable vertically at or below the lower boundary of the access opening.

1 . A stroller comprising: 
 a frame structure having a pair of laterally spaced apart rear legs each with a lower end, the frame structure being collapsible in vertical, horizontal, and side-to-side lateral directions from an in-use arrangement to a compact arrangement;    a seat supported by the frame structure and having a seat bottom;    a storage area beneath the seat bottom when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement;    an access opening into the storage area when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement, the access opening bounded by the seat bottom, the rear legs, and a lower boundary; and    a frame cross-brace connected to the rear legs when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement, the cross-brace is positionable entirely vertically at or below the lower boundary of the access opening.    
     
     
         2 . A stroller according to  claim 1 , further comprising a storage receptacle within the storage area and having a rear panel with an upper edge that defines the lower boundary of the access opening.  
     
     
         3 . A stroller according to  claim 2 , wherein the upper edge of the rear panel is positioned rearward of a position of the rear legs and upward of a bottom panel of the storage receptacle.  
     
     
         4 . A stroller according to  claim 1 , further comprising a generally horizontal storage surface positioned beneath and spaced from the seat bottom.  
     
     
         5 . A stroller according to  claim 4 , further comprising a storage receptacle within the storage area and having a rear panel with an upper edge positioned upward relative to a rear edge of the storage surface.  
     
     
         6 . A stroller according to  claim 5 , wherein the rear panel and the upper edge can be lowered to selectively lower the access opening lower boundary to increase the size of the access opening.  
     
     
         7 . A stroller according to  claim 6 , wherein the upper edge of the rear panel is also positioned rearward of the rear edge of the storage surface.  
     
     
         8 . A stroller according to  claim 1 , wherein the frame cross-brace is generally horizontally oriented when in the in-use arrangement and is connected to the rear legs vertically at or below the lower boundary of the access opening.  
     
     
         9 . A stroller according to  claim 8 , further comprising: 
 a hub separating the cross-brace into two sections that are pivotable relative to one another about the hub to facilitate movement of the frame structure between the compact and the in-use arrangements.    
     
     
         10 . A stroller according to  claim 1 , wherein the frame cross-brace has two brace components forming a collapsible X-shaped structure within at least a portion of the access opening, a portion of the frame cross-brace being pivotally connected to the frame structure and a portion of the frame cross-brace being removably connected to the frame structure so that the frame cross-brace can be pivotally moved out of the access opening.  
     
     
         11 . A stroller according to  claim 10 , wherein a first end of each the brace components is connected to a respective one of the rear legs at a pivot point, and a second end of each brace component is removably connected to the opposite rear leg at a position above the pivot point of the first end of the other brace component.  
     
     
         12 . A stroller collapsible in three dimensions, the stroller comprising: 
 a frame structure with a pair of laterally spaced apart rear legs each having a lower end, the frame structure being movable relative to horizontal, vertical longitudinal, and vertical lateral reference planes between an in-use configuration and a compact configuration;    a seat having a seat bottom;    a storage space beneath the seat bottom; and    an access opening for accessing the storage space, the access opening positioned between the rear legs and below the seat bottom, wherein the frame structure can be configured so that no part of the frame structure encroaches the access opening when the stroller is in the in-use configuration.    
     
     
         13 . A stroller according to  claim 12 , wherein the frame structure includes a lower cross-brace interconnecting the rear legs near their respective lower ends, the cross-brace having two brace sections pivotally connected to one another at a center hub and having only two opposed ends, one connected to each of the rear legs.  
     
     
         14 . A stroller according to  claim 13 , wherein the lower cross-brace does not encroach upon the access opening upon moving the stroller to the in-use configuration.  
     
     
         15 . A stroller according to  claim 12 , further comprising a rear cross-brace of the frame structure that interconnects the rear legs.  
     
     
         16 . A stroller according to  claim 15 , wherein the rear cross-brace does not encroach upon the access opening upon moving the stroller to the in-use configuration.  
     
     
         17 . A stroller according to  claim 16 , wherein the access opening is the entire area below the seat bottom, between the rear legs, and above the rear cross-brace.  
     
     
         18 . A stroller according to  claim 15 , wherein the rear cross-brace encroaches upon the access opening upon moving the stroller to the in-use configuration, but can be moved so as not to encroach on the access opening while remaining at least partly attached to the frame structure.  
     
     
         19 . A stroller according to  claim 17 , wherein the rear cross-brace has two brace components pivotally connected to one another at a joint in a scissor-like fashion.  
     
     
         20 . A stroller collapsible in three dimensions, the stroller comprising: 
 a frame structure that is movable between an in-use configuration and a compact configuration, each of an in-use frame structure length, height, and width being larger than a compact frame structure length, height, and width;    a seat having a seat bottom;    a storage receptacle positioned beneath the seat bottom;    a pair of laterally spaced apart rear frame legs each having a lower end;    a transverse cross-brace interconnecting the rear legs, the cross-brace having two sections pivotally connected to one another at a center hub, the cross-brace having only two free ends, one end connected to the lower end of each of the rear legs, the cross-brace being the only part of the frame structure that extends between and interconnects the rear legs at an elevation below the seat bottom when the stroller is in the in-use arrangement.