Chairs and seats – Movable back – Tiltable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-26
2001-05-01
Brown, Peter R. (Department: 3624)
Chairs and seats
Movable back
Tiltable
C192S015000, C192S223100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06224157
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an articulation intended particularly for a motor vehicle seat.
The state of the art already knows an articulation of the type with parallel gears comprising two coaxial annulus gears with internal sets of teeth of different pitch, one stationary and the other mobile, meshing with at least one planet bearing two external sets of teeth that mate with the internal sets of teeth and are off-centred with respect to these internal sets of teeth, the axis of the articulation coinciding with the axis of the annulus gears.
An articulation of this type is advantageously used in a motor vehicle seat to connect the seat cushion and the backrest of the seat together. The stationary and mobile annulus gears are, respectively, as one with the seat cushion and with the backrest. The articulation allows the inclination of the backrest with respect to the seat cushion to be adjusted continuously.
Customarily, the articulation is operated by an operating knob which the user turns in the desired direction in order to adjust the inclination of the backrest. The articulation allows very accurate infinitesimal continuous adjustment of the inclination of the backrest, without the user having to exert a significant amount of torque on the operating knob because of the high degree of demultiplication obtained by the gearing of the articulation.
However, when the user wishes to move the backrest through a large angle, for example to bring it from a normal, roughly vertical position into a reclined, roughly horizontal position, he or she has to turn the operating knob through a great many turns, which is a lengthy and irksome operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to propose an articulation which allows very precise infinitesimal adjustment without thereby making it necessary, in the application to a seat mentioned above, to perform numerous rotations of the operating knob in order to move the backrest through a large angle.
To this end, the subject of the invention is an articulation of the aforementioned type, characterized in that the external set of teeth capable of mating with the mobile internal set of teeth extends over a shorter sector than the other external set of teeth, which means that the planet can move over an angular travel in which its two external sets of teeth mesh with the two mating internal sets of teeth, between two end-of-travel positions beyond which the stationary internal set of teeth is kept in mesh with the mating external set of teeth while the other external set of teeth is disengaged from the mating mobile internal set of teeth.
According to other features of this articulation:
the planet is mounted so that it can pivot about an axis of pivoting distant from the axis of the articulation, on a support which rotates as one with a member for operating the articulation which is mounted so that it can rotate about the axis of the articulation;
in the end-of-travel position, the planet collaborates with an elastic stop returning this planet to a position in which its two sets of external teeth are in mesh with the two mating sets of internal teeth;
the elastic stop is formed by a leaf spring borne by the planet support;
the elastic stop is formed by a spring of angular effect comprising an end caught on a pivot which is as one with the planet support embodying the axis of pivoting of this planet and a free end intended to collaborate with one or other of two opposed stops formed on the planet depending on which of the end-of-travel positions this planet is in;
the articulation comprises four planets distributed, on the one hand, uniformly about the axis of the articulation and, on the other hand, in two pairs of adjacent planets, at least one pair of planets comprising elastic return means urging the two planets of the pair in opposite directions;
the elastic return means comprise two springs with opposite angular effects, each caught (i.e., connected) on a corresponding planet and on a pivot which is as one with the planet support embodying the axis of pivoting of this corresponding planet;
the annulus gears are formed in the respectively stationary and mobile cheeks which between them delimit a housing for the planet.
Another subject of the invention is a motor vehicle seat of the type comprising a backrest connected to a seat cushion by an articulation of axis transverse to the seat, characterized in that the articulation is as defined above, the stationary annulus gear being as one with the seat cushion and the mobile annulus gear being as one with the backrest, the articulation thus allowing the inclination of the backrest with respect to the seat cushion to be adjusted continuously when the planet is between its two end-of-travel positions and discontinuously when the planet reaches one or other of its end-of-travel positions.
According to another feature of this seat, the latter comprises means of elastically returning the backrest towards the front of the seat by rotation about the axis of the articulation.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5127286 (1992-07-01), Wittig
patent: 5368363 (1994-11-01), Sakamoto
patent: 5462498 (1995-10-01), Lindblad
patent: 5881854 (1999-03-01), Rougnon-Glasson
patent: 37 29 134 (1989-03-01), None
patent: 584 589 (1994-03-01), None
patent: 636 510 (1995-02-01), None
patent: 694 434 (1996-01-01), None
patent: 2 218 627 (1989-11-01), None
patent: 92/20548 (1992-11-01), None
patent: 94/00314 (1994-01-01), None
Bertrond Faure Equipement SA
Brown Peter R.
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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