Chairs and seats – Movable bottom – Bottom and back movable as a unit
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-17
2001-06-12
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Movable bottom
Bottom and back movable as a unit
C248S429000, C297S337000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244660
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a power seat for vehicles, and particularly, to a power seat for vehicles including a power-assisted sliding rail structure for carrying a seat mounted thereon.
A power seat with such a sliding rail structure has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 5-024466.
In this conventional power seat, when the vehicle is subjected to a collision, acceleration or deceleration, a load is applied to a pair of upper and lower sliding rails via a seat member in a sliding direction of the rails. Essentially, this load is transmitted from the upper rail, which carries the seat member, via a gearbox and a lead screw in a drive unit, which is fixed to a front end of the upper rail, and further through a nut member screwed on the lead screw, ultimately to the lower rail.
Considering the case of a front-end collision in which a collision load of several times the weight of an occupant is applied to the upper rail in a forward direction of the vehicle, there develops a significant bending moment in a front end region of the upper rail to which the gear box is fixed. In the, case of a rear-end collision in which a load is applied in a rearward direction of the vehicle, a similar moment develops in a reverse direction.
Reinforcement is required to counter the effect of such a moment. For example, to prevent deformation of the upper rail by the moment, it is necessary to provide reinforcement by making the thickness of the upper rail larger, and to prevent deformation of the lead screw, it is necessary to make the diameter of the lead screw larger. These measures are accompanied by additional cost and weight.
As the collision load is applied directly to the gear box, it is necessary for the gear box to be made of such a material and to have such a construction that can withstand this load. This leads to an extra cost, and a failure to achieve a compact gear box design for efficient use of space and reduction in weight.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made with such points in view. It therefore is an object of the invention to provide a power seat for vehicles including a power-assisted stronger sliding rail structure, while reducing cost and weight.
To achieve the object, an aspect of the invention provides a power seat for vehicles comprising a seat member, a pair of first and second rails slidable relative to each other and either carrying the seat member, and a powered drive mechanism including a gear box fixed to the first rail, a lead screw extending from the gear box, a nut member fixed to the second rail and screwed on the lead screw, and a rigid member fixed to the first rail at a different position from the gear box and engaging with the lead screw in an axially secured manner.
According to the aspect of the invention, axial impact loads are transmitted between first and second rails, firstly via a rigid member, and secondly via a gear box in which gears have backlashes.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5048786 (1991-09-01), Tanaka et al.
patent: 5150872 (1992-09-01), Isomura
patent: 5259257 (1993-11-01), Mouri
patent: 5303881 (1994-04-01), Aronne
patent: 5765798 (1998-06-01), Isomura
patent: 5823499 (1998-10-01), Ito et al.
patent: 42 27 846 C1 (1993-09-01), None
patent: 43 01 241 A1 (1994-07-01), None
patent: 43 30 367 A1 (1995-03-01), None
patent: 41 27 503 C2 (1995-05-01), None
patent: 5-024466 (1993-02-01), None
Cuomo Peter M.
McDermott & Will & Emery
Nissan Motor Co,. Ltd.
Vu Stephen
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