Chairs and seats – Movable back – Tiltable
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-14
2002-01-08
Friedman, Carl D. (Department: 3635)
Chairs and seats
Movable back
Tiltable
C297S378100, C297S344100, C297S341000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06336679
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rotary recliner control mechanism for use with a vehicle seat assembly having a rotary recliner positioned to control the pivotal folding of a seat back member of the seat assembly relative to the seat cushion member of the assembly, which control mechanism is especially suited for incorporation into such a seat assembly also having an E-Z entry mechanism.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Automotive vehicles typically have one or more seat assemblies wherein the seat back member thereof may be forwardly folded over the seat cushion member (sometimes termed “tilting” or “tipping” of the seat back member) to allow access to space within the vehicle behind the seat assembly. Moreover, utility type vehicles, such as mini-vans, station wagons, hatchbacks, sport-utility vehicles, and the like, are commonly constructed such that the seat back members of one or more of the vehicle seat assemblies may be folded fully forward, so that the seat back member is substantially horizontal (sometimes termed “dumping” of the seat back member), thus permitting the rear surface of the seat back member to form a temporary “load floor” for storage of luggage and the like thereon. In this latter case, it is desirable to be able to lock the folded seat back member in its substantially horizontal configuration before placing the luggage etc. to be stowed on top of the seat back member. It is also sometimes desirable in such vehicles for the entire seat assembly (ie., both the seat cushion member and the seat back member, in unison), to be translated forwardly relative to the floor of the vehicle in order to temporarily provide more space behind the seat, as for example, to allow easier ingress and egress of passengers into the space behind front vehicle seat assemblies. This latter design requirement has often been met, especially in the case of smaller vehicles, by having a so-called “E-Z entry” feature incorporated into seat assemblies where such translational movement is required. In E-Z entry systems, the entire seat assembly slides forwardly within the vehicle on a seat track mechanism when the seat back member of an unoccupied seat assembly is forwardly dumped, usually under forward urging by a biasing means associated with the seat track mechanism. E-Z entry seat systems are well-known in the vehicle seating art, and examples thereof can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,169, issued Jul. 18, 1978 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,206, issued Jan. 28, 1997.
Furthermore, it is common for vehicle seat assemblies, particularly front vehicle seat assemblies, to have a reclining mechanism for the seat back member, which reclining mechanism allows for pivotal adjustment of the seat back member from a relatively vertical, occupiable orientation through a range of increasingly rearwardly inclined positions. Such adjustable rearward pivotal movement of the back rest is typically referred to as “reclining” of the seat back member, and the seat assembly hardware which provides for same is called a “recliner” or a “reclining mechanism”.
Numerous mechanisms are known for controlling the features of tipping of seat back members, dumping of seat back members, reclining of seat back members and fore and aft translational movement of an entire seat assembly through the use of E-Z entry mechanisms upon full forward tilting of the seat back member. However, such known devices typically utilize separate load bearing locks, latches, or recliners for each of these seat back member functions, with each of these being actuated by an independent actuation mechanism. The complexity and cost of such prior art designs make it difficult to offer them in high volume/low cost vehicle applications. Another problem with this “multiple latch” or “latch upon latch” approach of the prior art, is that it multiples the number of issues related to strength, durability, reliability, release effort and noise. Lastly, the “latch upon latch” approach results in tolerance stacking problems, which, in turn, raises quality control concerns. All of these issues are of serious concern to present-day vehicle manufacturers, who demand continually higher quality content at increasingly lower prices.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems associated with the prior art by providing a vehicle seat assembly that allows for control of the multiple seat functions of: full forward folding of the seat back member (ie., dumping of the seat back member); tipping of the seat back member (ie., partial forward folding of the seat back member); reclining of the seat back member, (ie., adjustable rearward inclination adjustment of the seat back member)and E-Z entry control through the use of but a single recliner in combination with a unique interlocking system interconnected between the recliner and various other components of the vehicle seat assembly. This is accomplished by a simple mechanism that requires exertion of little effort by the user, is quiet in use, is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, is reliable, and does not exhibit the stacked tolerances of prior art devices having similar utility.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention relates to a rotary recliner control mechanism for use in a vehicle seat assembly attachable to a vehicle floor, which vehicle seat assembly has a seat back member defining a longitudinal seat back axis, said seat back member frame being mounted on a seat cushion member by means of a rotary recliner operable between locked and unlocked configurations to selectively control pivotal movement of the seat back member frame member relative to the seat cushion member about a substantially horizontal pivot axis, and at least two seat track assemblies, with each seat track assembly having a first track section attachable to the vehicle floor and extending from front to rear when installed on the vehicle floor, and a second track section which is attachable to the seat cushion member and is slidably engaged with the first track section, and a track locking assembly having a track lock means for locking the first and second track sections together at any position from a forward position of the second track section to a rearward position of the second track section and a track lock releasing means for selectively unlocking the track lock means from locking as aforesaid. The rotary recliner control mechanism of the invention comprises a recliner control crank member mounted on the rotary recliner for movement of the recliner control crank member between first and second crank positions corresponding to said locked and unlocked configurations, respectively, of said rotary recliner. The recliner control crank member is biased by the rotary recliner towards the first crank position. A first handle control means is mounted on the seat back member and is connected to the recliner control crank member for selective movement of the recliner control crank member between the first and second crank positions against the aforementioned biasing of the rotary recliner. An elongate link member, having opposed first and second ends, is connected adjacent its first end to the seat back member for sliding movement relative to the longitudinal seat back axis between first and second link positions. The elongate link member is connected adjacent its second end to a pivot point for pivotal movement around the substantially horizontal pivot axis concurrent with the pivotal movement of the seat back member and for said sliding movement of the link member transverse to the substantially horizontal pivot axis. A first biasing means is also provided for biasing the link member towards said first link position. The link member has a laterally displaced foot portion adjacent to its second end, with the foot portion being adapted to frictionally engage the recliner control crank member upon the aforementioned sliding movement of the link member from its first link position to its second link position, so as to cause the recliner control crank member to attain the second crank p
Bertrand Faure Components Ltd.
Dorsey Dennis L.
Friedman Carl D.
Hofbauer Patrick J.
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