Chairs and seats – Supplemental seat – Secured by bottom-back crevice
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-06
2003-02-04
Brown, Peter R. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Supplemental seat
Secured by bottom-back crevice
C297S336000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06513873
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved locking device for a vehicular folding seat designed for removable attachment thereto of a child seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of child seats have been proposed to meet the mandatory requirement that an automotive vehicle seating a small child, such as an infant or schoolchild, should be equipped with a dedicated child seat. The child seat, which is smaller in size than an ordinary seat for adult (so-called “adult seat”), is placed on and then securely fixed to the adult seat, such as by fastening the child seat with a seat belt or in accordance with the “ISO-FIX” (FIXATION) specifications prescribed by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization).
FIG. 10
is a perspective view explanatory of how a child seat is fixed to an adult seat of an automotive vehicle in accordance with the ISO-FIX specifications. The child seat
100
designed in compliance with the ISO-FIX specifications (hereinafter also called an “ISO-FIX child seat”) includes a pair of left and right lock pieces
101
L and
101
R extending horizontally rearward from lower end portions of the seat back (in the illustrated example, “L” and “R” added to reference numerals represent the left and right, respectively, corresponding to left and right arms of a vehicle driver looking ahead from behind a steering wheel). The lock pieces
101
L and
101
R each has, at its distal end, a U-shaped channel portion
102
L or
102
R opening rearwardly, and a latch (not shown) is incorporated in each of the channel portions
102
L and
102
R.
Adult seat
110
designed in compliance with the ISO-FIX specifications (hereinafter also called an “ISO-FIX adult seat”), on the other hand, includes a seat bottom frame
112
incorporated in a seat base or bottom
11
, and a pair of left and right legs
113
L and
113
R each extending downwardly from a front end portion of the seat bottom frame
112
and secured at the lower end to a vehicle compartment floor
115
by means of a hinge (only the left hinge
114
L associated with the left leg
113
L is shown in the drawing). The ISO-FIX adult seat
110
also includes a pair of ISO-FIX seat strikers
116
L and
116
R projecting upwardly from a rear end portion of the seat bottom frame
112
so that the child seat
100
can be securely attached to the adult seat
110
by means of the ISO-FIX seat strikers
116
L and
116
R. Namely, the child seat
100
can be fixed to the adult seat
110
by bringing the U-shaped channel portions
102
L and
102
R into engagement with the ISO-FIX seat strikers
116
L and
116
R and then locking the U-shaped channel portions
102
L and
102
R in the engaged state via not-shown latch mechanisms.
FIG. 11
is a perspective view supplementary to
FIG. 10
, which shows more details of the conventional ISO-FIX adult seat
110
. Left and right catchers
120
L and
120
R are provided on rear end regions of side portions of the seat bottom frame
112
, and latches
121
L and
121
R are incorporated in or attached to the respective catchers
120
L and
120
R. The seat bottom frame
112
is secured to the vehicular floor
115
with the latches
121
L and
121
R engaged with floor strikers
122
L and
122
R projecting upwardly from the floor
115
. When the adult seat
110
is to be folded into a stowed position, delatching cords
123
L and
123
R associated with the latches
121
L and
121
R are pulled rearwardly to disengage the respective latches
121
L and
121
R from the floor strikers
122
L and
122
R.
Allowing for removable attachment of the ISO-FIX child seat
100
to the ISO-FIX adult seat
110
, the left and right catchers
120
L and
120
R must have sufficient mechanical strength or rigidity, and the left and right floor strikers
122
L and
122
R have to be rigid enough accordingly. However, the catchers
120
L and
120
R and floor strikers
122
L and
122
R with such sufficient rigidity undesirably lead to increased costs.
Further, each time the adult seat
110
is to be folded or flipped up, the left and right delatching cords
123
L and
123
R have to be pulled as noted above in relation to
FIG. 11
, which would involve bothersome manual operations. Furthermore, if the left and right delatching cords
123
L and
123
R are interconnected via a connecting rod so that pulling only one delatching chord can simultaneously disengage the left and right latches
121
L and
121
R from the floor strikers
122
L and
122
R, the connecting rod and other elements associated therewith would increase the total number of necessary component parts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved locking device which is suitable for use in a folding adult seat designed for removable attachment thereto of a child seat and which permits reduction in weight of necessary catchers and strikers and also facilitates operations necessary for folding the adult seat.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned object, the present invention, in one aspect, provides a locking device for a folding adult seat in an automotive vehicle, which comprises: a first locking mechanism that normally retains a seat base or bottom of the folding seat in a first locked state relative to a floor of the vehicle, and cancels the first locked state of the seat bottom when the seat is to be flipped up or folded into a stowed position; and a second locking mechanism a) that is normally kept in a nonlocking state such that the seat bottom of the adult seat is secured to the vehicle floor by the first locking mechanism alone as long as no child seat is attached to the adult seat, b) that, as a child seat is moved toward and engaged with the adult seat, retains the seat bottom of the adult seat in a second locked state relative to the vehicle floor, and c) that, as the child seat is disengaged from the adult seat, cancels the second locked state, leaving the seat bottom retained only in the first locked state.
When no child seat is attached to the folding adult seat, the adult seat is connected to and locked relative to the vehicle floor by means of the first locking mechanism alone. The first locking mechanism has no direct relation to the attachment of the child seat, i.e. is not directly operated on by the child seat during and after the attachment of the child seat, and thus the first locking mechanism may be constructed to have a relatively small size and weight (and hence relatively low rigidity). When the child seat is attached to the folding adult seat, on the other hand, the seat bottom of the adult seat is locked relative to the vehicle floor not only by the first locking mechanism but also by the second locking mechanism that automatically locks the seat bottom of the adult seat by being operated on (e.g., pressed) by part of the child seat as the child seat is moved toward and engaged with the adult seat. In this condition, the second locking mechanism that is directly operated on (e.g., pressed) by the attached child seat is constructed to have rigidity great enough for performing a primary seat-bottom locking function to lock the seat bottom of the adult seat relative to the vehicle floor, while the first locking mechanism is constructed to have lower rigidity for performing just an auxiliary seat-bottom locking function. Therefore, according to the present invention, the first locking mechanism can be constructed to have a smaller size and weight than the second locking mechanism.
As compared to the conventional locking device which connects and locks the adult seat to the vehicle floor using a pair of left and right locking mechanisms both having relatively great rigidity (hence a great size and weight), the locking device of the present invention can significantly reduce the size and weight of the first locking mechanism while requiring only the second locking mechanism to have a great size and weight for great rigidity. By the reduction in the size and weight of the first locking mecha
Tsuda Toshihiko
Waku Seiji
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Brown Peter R.
D'Adamo Stephen
Honda Giken KogyolKabushiki Kaisha
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