Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-11
2002-10-15
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
active
06464279
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to passenger vehicles and seating systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a vehicle seat adapted for use in connection with enhanced capacity vehicles such as station wagons, sport utility vehicles and vans that have an enlarged cabin area for carrying either more cargo, more passengers or both than a conventional sedan.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known in the art of automotive vehicle body design to provide enhanced capacity vehicles with forward seat assemblies for a driver and a front passenger, a rear seat assembly, and an intermediate seat assembly located at a mid-vehicle position. As both cargo and passenger carrying capacity are valued, it is desirable to design the intermediate and rear seat assemblies to carry additional passengers and additional cargo, and to be convertible easily between an enhanced passenger carrying configuration and an enhanced cargo carrying configuration.
Many of the rear seat assemblies are designed to be removable, foldable or collapsible to improve cargo capacity. However, such assemblies are typically bulky and cumbersome for the user to operate. The seat assembly may be heavy and require awkward actuation of release levers, causing difficulty in collapsing the seat assembly within the confined space of a vehicle interior. Further, the folded seats take up space and impinge on the desired cargo carrying capacity. Other seat arrangements provide for a rear seat assembly that is completely removable from the vehicle. A disadvantage of this design is that the seat must be stored in an independent storage area. Further, if the seat is needed or preferred, the stored seat may not be immediately available to the user, forcing an undesirable situation of having the occupants sit unrestrained in the cargo area, if necessary.
Examples of patents showing various seating and cargo configurations for enhanced capacity vehicles are U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,602 issued Aug. 24, 1999 to Sturt et al. and entitled “Folding Seat Assembly”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,755 issued Jan. 11, 2000 to Hecht et al. and entitled “Foldable Automotive Seat”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,252 issued Mar. 14, 2000 to Hecksel et al. and entitled “Automotive Bench Seat with Fixed Rollers and Linear Floor Latch”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,555 issued Apr. 25, 2000 to Neale and entitled “Removable Seat Assembly”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,380 issued Sep. 26, 2000 to Sturt et al. and entitled “Automotive Seat Assembly with Folding Structural Supports for Storage in a Foot Well for an Automotive Vehicle Body”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,999 issued Oct. 17, 2000 to Piekny et al. and entitled “Folding Vehicle Seat Assembly”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,552 issued Nov. 7, 2000 to Husted et al. and entitled “Third Automotive Seat Assembly for an Automotive Vehicle”.
None of the above-described patents disclose a self-stowing rear seat assembly capable of being stowed away into the floor of the vehicle thereby providing full cargo space usage. Further, none of these patented seat assemblies provide a roll-up seat assembly having fully functioning head rests and occupant restraints while eliminating the need for large floor pan depressions or complete removal of the rear seat assembly from the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefor an object of the present invention to provide a self-stowing rear seat assembly in a vehicle seating system.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a rear seat assembly that stows away into the floor of the vehicle thereby providing full cargo space usage.
It is still further an object of the present invention to provide a rear seat assembly having a roll-top configuration that rolls upward from a stored position into a fully functioning seat assembly equipped with head rests and occupant restraints.
It is another object of the invention to provide additional passenger and cargo space without requiring removal of the rear seat assembly from the vehicle.
Finally, it is an object of the invention to provide additional passenger and cargo space without necessitating a large floor pan depression in the floor of the vehicle to support the stored rear seat assembly.
The present invention overcomes the above referenced shortcomings of the prior art vehicle seat assemblies by providing a roll top seat assembly structure that is slidable between an active position and an inactive position. In the active position, the seat assembly is slid along opposing tracks located on either side of a vehicle's interior sides to form a fully functioning rear seat equipped with head rests and seat belts. In the inactive position, the roll top seat assembly is slid along the opposing tracks to stow flat along the cargo floor of the vehicle's interior, thereby providing the entire area with cargo room.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5806910 (1998-09-01), DeRees
patent: 5941602 (1999-08-01), Sturt et al.
patent: 6012755 (2000-01-01), Hecht et al.
patent: 6036252 (2000-03-01), Hecksel et al.
patent: 6053555 (2000-04-01), Neale
patent: 6088116 (2000-07-01), Pfanstiehl
patent: 6123380 (2000-09-01), Sturt et al.
patent: 6129404 (2000-10-01), Mattarella et al.
patent: 6131999 (2000-10-01), Piekny et al.
patent: 6142552 (2000-11-01), Husted et al.
patent: 6231101 (2001-05-01), Kamida et al.
Deyonker Raymond C
Forker Michael O
Schambre John E
Washington Marcus G
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
Dayoan D. Glenn
Morrow Jason
Smith Ralph E.
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