Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-23
2004-02-10
Patel, Kiran (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
C296S065130, C248S429000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688667
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a power seat for vehicle which is moved forward and backward by a motor.
Generally, a power seat for vehicle includes an upper channel and a lower channel fixedly attached on a floor of a vehicle. A seat is mounted on the upper channel. The upper channel is engaged with the lower channel, and movable along the longitudinal direction of the lower channel. The power seat is provided with a nut unit. The nut unit is secured to the lower channel. A driver shaft is passed through the nut unit, and is rotated in forward and backward directions by an electric motor to slide the upper channel.
The nut unit is usually secured to the lower channel using a holder. A conventional nut unit securing construction is shown in FIG.
8
. In this construction, a nut unit
130
is placed in a recessed nut accommodating portion
131
a
formed by a shock-absorbing member
131
, the nut unit
130
in this state is accommodated in a space
132
b
of a holder
132
, and an externally threaded portion
133
provided at the bottom of the holder
132
is inserted through a through hole
134
a
formed in a lower channel
134
and engaged with a nut
135
from the lower side of the lower channel
134
. The driver shaft
136
is passed through an internally threaded hole
130
a
of the nut unit
130
and through holes
132
a
of the holder
132
concentrically arranged.
Another conventional securing construction is shown in FIG.
9
. In this construction, a shock-absorbing member
141
having an opening
141
b
at the bottom is put on a nut unit
140
from above, a holder
142
whose middle part projects in U-shape is put on the shock-absorbing member
141
, the opposite ends of the holder
142
are placed on a mount position of a lower channel
144
, and bolts
145
are engaged with mount holes
142
b
of the holder
142
from below via mount holes
144
a
of the lower channel
144
to mount the nut unit
140
on the lower channel
144
. An internally threaded hole
140
a
of the nut unit
140
, through holes
141
a
of the shock-absorbing member
141
and through holes
142
a
of the holder
142
are concentrically arranged, so that a driver shaft
146
can be passed therethrough.
The movement stroke of the seat is generally restricted by mounting stoppers in the form of nuts, pins or the like on the driver shaft while spacing them apart by a suitable distance. The stopper construction is shown in FIG.
10
. In this stopper construction, a transmission unit
147
is used as one stopper and a nut
148
mounted on the driver shaft
146
while being spaced apart from a transmission unit
147
is used as the other stopper. Further, there are provided resin-made washers
150
for preventing the holder
142
from colliding with the transmission unit
147
or the nut
148
to ensure strong engagement between the driver shaft
146
and the internally threaded hole
140
a
, thereby causing resistance when next movement is started, i.e., for preventing the so-called biting, at the colliding sides of the transmission unit
147
and the nut
148
.
In recent years, it has become usual practice to mount side airbags and/or to strengthen a seat frame in order to improve the safety upon crash. This makes the weight of the seat heavier, increasing the load acting on the driver shaft and the nut unit of the power seat.
The holder
132
of the former conventional construction shown in
FIG. 8
is formed by drawing, and has thus a thinned portion. Accordingly, there is the demand for such a contrivance as to prevent stresses from being concentrated on the thinned portion as the load increases.
The holder
142
of the latter conventional construction shown in
FIG. 9
has a U-shaped middle part bent in a direction normal to moving directions. Thus, there is the demand for such a contrivance as to prevent the U-shaped portion from being elastically deformed.
On the other hand, the stopper construction shown in
FIG. 10
has the problem of the increased number of parts since the resin-made washers
150
are separately required in addition to the transmission unit
147
and the nut
148
as the stoppers to prevent the biting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a power seat for vehicle which is free from the problems residing in the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a power seat for vehicle which can prevent the damage of a holder and an occurrence of biting without increasing the number of parts.
According to an aspect of the invention, a power seat for a vehicle is provided with an upper channel fixedly attached to a seat, a lower channel fixedly attached to a floor of the vehicle. The lower channel is slidably engaged with the upper channel. The power seat is further provided with a nut unit fixedly attached to one of the upper channel and the lower channel, a driver shaft passing through the nut unit, a motor mounted on the other one of the upper channel and the lower channel, and a transmission unit for transmitting a torque of the motor to the driver shaft.
The nut unit includes a nut block having an internally threaded through hole through which the driver shaft passes, and a holder for holding a nut block. The holder is formed with a front standing wall, a rear standing wall, and a coupling portion coupling the front standing wall and the rear standing wall so as to define a space for holding the nut block. Each of the front standing wall and the rear standing wall has right and left buttress walls projecting outward, the ends of the right and left buttress walls that face an inner surface of the channel attached with the nut unit coming into contact with the inner surface of the channel attached with the nut unit.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description along with the accompanying drawings.
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Kurashita Takashi
Nishimoto Shinji
Delta Kogyo Co. Ltd.
Patel Kiran
Smith Patent Office
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