Chairs and seats – Headrest
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-26
2004-02-10
White, Rodney B. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Headrest
C297S408000, C297S409000, C297S216120
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688697
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This application claims the priority of German Patent Document 100 47 406.3, filed in Germany, Sep. 26, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a head restraint for a motor vehicle, which has a fixed support part and a movable, prestressed part, which parts are connected to each other via levers.
German Patent Document DE 197 07 998 A1 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,817) discloses a head restraint which has a fixed, rear part and a front, movable part. The two parts are connected to each other via a four-bar pivoting-lever suspension means by means of which the movable part can be transferred from a normal position into a protective position. The protective position is situated higher and further forwards than the normal position. Two different energy stores are provided as the drive for the shifting of the movable part: a flat spiral spring which is triggered by a mass lever and a pyrotechnic drive which is activated by an electric crash signal and engages on the lever system via a Bowden cable. The mass lever responds if an impact lies below a predetermined threshold. The range lying above the threshold is covered by the electric crash signal. In order to support the movable part in the extended position, supporting levers are provided in addition to the levers of the four-bar pivoting-lever suspension means. The movable part can be moved back from the protective position into the normal position via pull cables engaging on these supporting levers.
A disadvantage of this known head restraint is the complicated structure. In addition to the four pivoting levers and the two supporting levers, engagement points for a Bowden cable and cable pulls are also provided between the two parts of the head restraint. Furthermore, a mass element is integrated in the head restraint, for which sufficient space has to be made available to enable it to pivot out and which is triggered relatively slowly because it initially has to cover a certain distance. In addition, two different drive units are provided—the flat spiral spring and pyrotechnic drive—for which in turn two different triggering elements are necessary. If the triggering takes place by means of the pyrotechnic drive, then the safety system in the head restraint is not reversible, that is to say, it has to be renewed after having been triggered.
Added to this is the fact that the triggering of the known head restraint is crash-active, that is to say, it only takes place if there has already been an impact. The time then remaining is generally too short to move the movable part of the head restraint into an effective protective position. This means that the movable part may only take up its protective position when the vehicle occupant's head has already been flung rearwards. When the triggering takes place by the mass element and the drive by means of the flat spiral spring, the time at which the head restraint has taken up the protective position is delayed even further, because a flat spiral spring is relatively slow to trigger the movement of the movable part.
A further disadvantage of the known head restraint resides in the fact that the sequence of movement takes place in an arc from the bottom upwards on account of the arrangement of the levers and their pivoting points in the head restraint. In the case of this sequence of movement, there is the risk of the vehicle occupant's head being pulled rearwards over the head restraint, which considerably increases the risk of injury in the cervical vertebra region.
Against this background, an object of the present invention is to provide a head restraint of the type mentioned at the beginning, in which the movable head-restraint part can be shifted forwards in a simple manner.
This object is achieved according to preferred embodiments of the invention by a head restraint for a motor vehicle which has a fixed support part and a movable, prestressed part, which parts are connected to each other via at least one upper and one lower lever, in which case the movable part can be moved from a normal position into a protective position and vice versa, wherein the levers are arranged parallel to each other, and wherein, in order to prestress the movable part, a spring is provided that engages at its one end on the fixed support part and at its other end directly or indirectly on one of the two levers.
Accordingly, in preferred embodiments the head restraint has a fixed support part and a movable, prestressed part, which parts are connected to each other via at least one upper and one lower lever, in which case the movable part can be moved from a normal position into a protective position and vice versa. Preferred embodiments of the invention are distinguished in that the lower and upper levers are arranged parallel to each other, and in that in order to prestress the movable part a spring is provided that engages at its one end on the fixed support part and at its other end directly or indirectly on one of the levers.
The invention affords the advantage that its construction is simple and the head restraint according to the invention can accordingly be produced in a simple and therefore cost-effective manner. Furthermore, according to an advantageous feature of certain preferred embodiments of the invention the parallel arrangement of at least one upper and one lower lever affords the advantage that the path of movement of the movable part of the head restraint is likewise parallel. This means that the head restraint always retains the same inclination over the path of movement. This ensures that if the vehicle occupant's head comes into contact with the head restraint while the one head-restraint part is being shifted, the head is pushed forwards without changing its inclination. The change in inclination would have the consequence of the head experiencing a change in inclination corresponding to the change in inclination of the head restraint, which would increase the risk of injury in an impact situation.
The use of a spring for applying a prestressing force in the head restraint is particularly favorable because the energy store for driving the movement can thereby be integrated in the head restraint, and complicated connections between an energy store arranged remotely and the head restraint become superfluous. In addition, a triggering mechanism which contains a spring is reversible, in contrast to the pyrotechnic triggering mechanism described in conjunction with the prior art.
Advantageous features of preferred embodiments of the invention can be gathered from the following description and the claims. A spiral spring may, for example, be selected as the energy store, which spiral spring engages at its one end on the fixed support part, for example on a head-restraint bracket, and at its other end on the lower lever. The spring can be locked in its stressed position, in which the head restraint takes up a normal position, via a release lever. In this case, it is possible for the release lever to be held in the normal state via a torsion spring. This specific spring-lever system enables a reversible functioning of the head restraint.
According to a further advantageous feature of preferred embodiments of the invention, the spiral spring engages on one of the levers between the fixed support part and movable part indirectly via a spring lever. This spring lever can be mounted at the same point as the lever on which it engages. In order to produce a carry-along connection between the spring lever and lever, the spring lever can have a carry-along pin via which carrying-along is ensured—as soon as the pin of the spring lever touches the lever. Arranged between the spring lever and the lever on which it engages are, preferably, two shaft rings by means of which infinitely variable adjustability of the head restraint for comfort purposes is made possible. This is because the shaft rings produce a defined stiffness which is sufficient to provide the locking for the desc
Baumann Karl-Heinz
Justen Rainer
Lasi Ulrich
Crowell & Moring LLP
White Rodney B.
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