Chairs and seats – Crash seat – Bottom and back movable as unit in response to force
Patent
1992-12-21
1994-08-16
Cranmer, Laurie K.
Chairs and seats
Crash seat
Bottom and back movable as unit in response to force
B60N 242
Patent
active
053380908
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for absorbing a striking or impact energy exerted on a seat and particularly to a striking energy absorbing seat leg structure capable of absorbing an impact load exerted on a front surface side or an upper surface side of a seat upon accident of a vehicle or an aircraft.
2. Background Art
Various seat shock absorbers have been used heretofore. For example, a striking energy generated in the event of failure in landing of an airplane is mostly absorbed by a shock absorber provided on the airplane body side. In the event of automobile collision, the resulting striking energy is absorbed by a shock absorber provided between a bumper and the chassis.
In a landing failure accident of an airplane or in an automobile collision accident, however, there is sometimes generated an impact load exceeding the impact absorbing ability of a shock absorber, and in this case too large an impact energy is applied to passengers. As the seat particularly in an airplane, in order to absorb such striking energy, there has been used a seat designed so that a special shock absorber is added to a leg portion of the seat or a diagonal member so as to absorb striking energy through a crushing load or a tensile load of the shock absorber.
In the conventional seat as described above, the leg structure such as a leg portion, a diagonal member and so on is firmly fixed by bolts and screws at connecting and fixing portions of front and rear beams, the leg portion and the diagonal member, but this is not a structure such that when the impact is applied to the leg structure, it is deformed by the impact or the striking energy can be absorbed. Accordingly, in such a case as described, the leg structure should be especially provided with parts or devices for absorbing the shock, resulting in a problem such that not only does the leg structure become complicated, but also the weight constituting the seat increases and the leg structure increases in price.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the aforementioned problems, and it is the object thereof to provide a striking energy absorbing seat leg structure in which a special shock absorber or member is not added to the conventional leg structure but a connecting method of a diagonal member and a leg portion constituting a leg structure is changed to reduce a striking energy applied to the seat through a material characteristic, that is, a plastic deformation of the diagonal member itself, thus enhancing safety of a seat.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a striking energy absorbing seat leg structure which can minimize an amount of deformation of a seat after shock absorption to enhance safety for passengers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a striking energy absorbing seat leg structure wherein a seat bottom and a seat back are mounted on a base frame which is mounted bridgewise between front and rear beams to constitute a seat, the structure being featured in that a diagonal member is extended bridgewise from said front beam supported by a front leg to a rearward lower portion of the seat, a rear leg for supporting the rear beam is supported and fixedly mounted on a substantially intermediate part of said diagonal member, and lower end portions of the front leg and the diagonal member are fixed to a fixed floor side rail and so on by fixing fitting members.
According to the above described structure, as shown by the phantom lines in FIG. 8, in a case, when one striking load G is applied frontwardly of the seat, the leg structure is deformed and rotated centered on the front beam while being retained on the fixed structure on the floor, with the rear side of the base frame rotated so as to be raised upwardly of the seat. Also the rear leg having an upper end connected to the rear beam as well as the diagonal member connected to the lower end of the rear leg and is flexed and deformed upwardly to absorb the str
REFERENCES:
patent: 4440441 (1984-04-01), Marrujo et al.
patent: 4718719 (1988-01-01), Brennan
patent: 4911381 (1990-03-01), Cannon et al.
patent: 5152578 (1992-10-01), Kiguchi
Bayliss Brian S.
Simpson Leslie J.
Allred David E.
Cranmer Laurie K.
Koito Industries Ltd.
LandOfFree
Leg structure of seat for absorbing impact energy does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Leg structure of seat for absorbing impact energy, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Leg structure of seat for absorbing impact energy will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-946821