Child seats

次回、この記事の日本語版を投稿します。

I can vividly remember as a small child growing up in the U.S., riding three abreast in the front seat of my grandfather's 1950s Oldsmobile.  Back then, there were no child seats and automobiles had no airbags nor seat belts.  Automobile safety has come a long way.  But what about bicycles?  Apart from wearing a helmet or other protective gear, not much has improved in terms of standard safety features since I was a kid back in the early 1960s.  In Japan, one thing that certainly has changed is bicycle child seats.  There are bicycle models specifically designed for carrying one or two children.

Back in the 1950s, the most common means to carry children was to have them simply sit directly atop the rear carrier (aka luggage rack).
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It was a bumpy ride, as most of the streets were unpaved.  To provide comfort, often a zabuton (a floor seat cushion used in traditional tatami mat floors) was placed on the rear carrier to provide the child with some comfort as shown below.

Of course, the precious child learned to hold on for life, and, to keep one's feet away from the spokes.

Infants were carried on the rider's back onbu-style.  

Look closely at the photo below as there are three important points.
(1) The zabuton atop the rear carrier.
(2) The womens bicycle front-mount bicycle seat.
(3) The guard to keep both the mother's skirt and the child's feet from getting caught in the rear wheel spokes.

For mens bicycles, there were front-mount bicycle seats which were fitted to the top tube.

These front-mount child seats too often lacked any padding.




  

Some sort of improvised padding was placed on the seat to protect the child's bottom.

And, finally, some people made their own child seats by simply strapping a wooden box to the rear carrier.