Chairs and seats – Movable bottom – Bottom and back movable as a unit
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-11
2001-07-24
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3624)
Chairs and seats
Movable bottom
Bottom and back movable as a unit
C297S344130, C297S344150, C297S344170
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264275
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a power adjustable vehicle seat with an adaptable seat, more particularly with a seating that is adjustable in height, that has a seat side part and an electromotor with a transmission which is provided with an output shaft and with a transmission case constituting a bearing for the output shaft.
Power adjustable vehicle seats of the type mentioned above are known out of many prior publications and are already being used in practice. The known constructions proved effective in principle. The following possibilities to adjust the vehicle seat are possible within the scope of the invention: adjustment of height of the rear edge and/or of the front edge of the seating, adjusting devices with parallelogram arms for example, and so on.
The object of the invention is to develop the known constructions so as to spare weight without incurring a mechanical disadvantage on one side and so as to make sure the electromotor and particularly its output shaft are mounted with accuracy in relation to the other component parts of the adjusting device on the other side.
On the basis of the power adjustable vehicle seat mentioned above, the solution of this object is that the transmission case has no case wall of its own in its area axially facing the bearing, that, in this area, the transmission case is fastened on the side part of the seat which also assumes the function of the lacking case wall of the transmission case and shuts the transmission case and that the side part of the seat is provided with a bearing for the output shaft, said bearing being designed either as an integral part of the side part or as a separate part of it.
According to the invention, weight is spared by the fact that the transmission of the very electromotor is not completely shut and that the function of the lacking case wall of the transmission case is assumed by a side part of the seat. This also spares room. The motor may be mounted nearer to the side part of the seat and the output shaft may be shorter than usual. The bearing of the output shaft for the adjusting device itself gets particularly more precise, since the bearing is now aligned on the adjusting device and no longer on the transmission case. The bearing of the output shaft of the electromotor in the side part of the seat allows thus a precise allocation of the output shaft to said side part of the seat.
The invention allows a very favourable fastening of the transmission on the side part of the seat. Connection means, for example screws, are saved and the transmission case has not to be provided with special fastening means for the reception of positioning screws needed for mounting the completely closed transmission case on the side part of the seat.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the clear inside diameter of the bearing in the lateral part of the seat is bigger than the outside diameter of the pinion. The pinion may thus be stuck through the bearing in the side part of the seat, the bearing taking place between the pinion and the transmission. Here, an electromotor with a preassembled pinion may be used. The mounting is made easier. Thanks to the big bearing, the accuracy of the bearing is also improved.
The transmission case of the electromotor's transmission may be of a simple design; it may be designed as a shell for example. It is made in one piece in particular. It preferably has a smooth, even end side on which it is open. The side part of the seat may thus be even around the bearing in the partial area forming the end wall of the transmission case.
The fastening means, preferably threaded pocket holes in the shell-like transmission case made in one piece, that are usually used for fixing a cover of the transmission case, will be directly used to fasten the laterally open transmission case on the side part of the seat which simultaneously assumes the function of an end wall of the transmission case.
In a preferred development the side part of the seat is made of several parts. It has a location indentation for the subsequent mounting of a transverse shaft that joins the two seat sides and that is connected to both seat parts with adjusting arms. This transverse shaft is encompassed by a bearing part that may be fastened on the side part of the seat. This bearing part, being component part of the lateral part of the seat and assuming the bearing of the transverse shaft in the lateral part of the seat, may at the same time assume the function of an end wall of the transmission case.
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patent: 5169113 (1992-12-01), Brodersen
patent: 5337995 (1994-08-01), Satoh et al.
patent: 5626395 (1997-05-01), Aufrere
patent: 5709364 (1998-01-01), Araki et al.
patent: 5775661 (1998-07-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 5806824 (1998-09-01), Isomura et al.
patent: 5882061 (1999-03-01), Guillouet
patent: 59-11929 (1984-01-01), None
Becker Burckhard
Beneker Wilfried
Frohnhaus Ernst-Reiner
Cornaby K. S.
Cuomo Peter M.
White Rodney B
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