Supports – Stand – Horizontally movable support surface
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-15
2001-10-09
Nelson, Jr., Milton (Department: 3636)
Supports
Stand
Horizontally movable support surface
C297S344100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299120
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention proposes to a device for adjusting the longitudinal position of a subassembly, especially a seat, on the horizontal floor of the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle and for locking the same in an adjusted position.
The invention relates more particularly to a system for outfitting the interior of a motor vehicle of the “one-compartment” type, which must embody flexible outfitting capabilities, and especially great modularity, with regard to both the number of removable seats or subassemblies provided in the passenger compartment, and the number of positions that these subassemblies can occupy.
2. Discussion of the Background
According to a first known design, it has already been suggested that a plurality of series of fastening points be provided on the vehicle floor, each of which series, preferably having four fastening points for the four feet of the seat or of the subassembly, determines a mounting and fixing position.
A device for increasing the modularity of the outfitting of the passenger compartment has already been suggested. Such a device is described and illustrated in, for example, European Patent Application A 0615879, wherein the horizontal floor of the passenger compartment is equipped with at least two parallel rails or slideways which accommodate, in longitudinal sliding manner, guide members in the form of slides, also called shuttles, which guide the longitudinal displacements of the seat and which make it possible to ensure locking of the seat in adjusted longitudinal position, the seat having substantially vertical orienting feet whose lower ends contain means of known design for fastening the seat to the slides or shuttles.
This embodiment permits the modularity to be increased and also permits the longitudinal position of a seat to be adjusted while conserving its orientation and fastening, by shifting the slides.
However, this design relies on using as many pairs of slides or shuttles as correspond to the number of seats to be mounted and, if it is not desired that the slides be visible in the passenger compartment, they must be fitted in the bottom of slideways embedded in the floor, thus making it difficult to fasten a seat to the upper faces of the slides, in that these are not visible and are masked by brush-like means which partly block the central longitudinal slot of the rail-shaped slideway.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The objective of the invention is to propose a new design of an adjustment device of the type mentioned hereinabove, which design permits these disadvantages to be remedied.
Toward this objective, the invention proposes a device characterized in that the lower end of at least one of the feet is equipped with a movable expandable mechanism controlled between:
a first position, defined as engagement or disengagement position, in which two mechanism-locking members with symmetric and opposed action relative to a central longitudinal plane are in inwardly retracted position, in which their transverse width permits vertical introduction or extraction of the mechanism in the slideway via a central longitudinal slot thereof, bounded by two longitudinal and parallel upper rims of the slideway;
and a second extreme position, defined as locking position, in which each of the two locking members is extended transversely outward to face an internal portion of one of the upper rims of the slot, with which they cooperate in fastening, thus vertically and longitudinally immobilizing the foot relative to the slideway; while passing through at least one intermediate position, defined as adjustment position, in which each of the two locking members is extended transversely outward to face the said internal portion of one of the upper rims of the slot, thus vertically retaining the foot relative to the slideway and permitting longitudinal displacements of the foot relative to the slideway.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the two locking members are two locking levers, each of which is mounted to pivot, in the vicinity of its upper end, around a longitudinal hinge pin, which is supported by the foot and the active lower part of which has a profile complementary to the profile of the internal portion of a rim of the slot of the slideway which faces it;
the upper face of the lower end of each lever is formed into a hook, which cooperates with the lower fastening face of the said internal portion;
the lower fastening face of the said internal portion is provided with a series of longitudinally distributed notches, each of which constitutes a locking catch capable of accommodating the lower hook-shaped end of a locking lever;
the locking levers are biased resiliently toward their extreme locking position;
the lower face of the lower end of each lever is profiled in such a manner that it can cooperate with the upper guide face of the said internal portion to retract the lever transversely inward, against its resilient biasing means, during engagement of the mechanism in the slideway;
the mechanism has a lever-control fork, which is mounted to move by sliding vertically relative to the hinge pins of the levers, and each of the two branches of which cooperates via a cam profile with a control peg supported by each lever in the vicinity of its lower end, and the displacements of which, from a high position to a low unlocking position, bring about retraction of the levers transversely inward, against their resilient biasing means;
the levers and the control fork are mounted movably relative to a support, which is mounted to slide vertically over the lower part of the foot between a low position and a high active locking position, and the lower part of the foot is braced vertically on the bottom of the slideway via means for guiding the longitudinal displacements of the foot relative to the slideway;
the upper part of each lever is provided with an opening shaped as an arc of a circle centered on its hinge pin, in which opening there is accommodated a control finger supported by the lower end of a control rod, whose upper end is mounted pivotably, around a longitudinal pin, on a control slide which is vertically movable relative to the lower part of the foot;
the subassembly is a motor vehicle seat.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3507472 (1970-04-01), Agee et al.
patent: 6105921 (2000-08-01), Carrig et al.
Amerigo Marc
Girardi Philippe
Jr. Milton Nelson
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Renault
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