Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-22
2001-05-08
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
C297S341000, C248S429000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227596
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to slide rails for vehicle seats and to seats comprising such slide rails.
More particularly, the invention concerns a slide rail for a vehicle seat, comprising:
a fixed section, intended to be fixed to the vehicle,
a mobile section, which is sliding mounted along the fixed section and which is intended to be fixed to the seat to allow movement of this seat in a so-called longitudinal direction, forwards and backwards, the mobile section delimiting with the fixed section a hollow inner space in the slide rail,
a slide rail catch which is mounted on the mobile section and which is movable between, on the one hand, a locked position wherein said slide rail catch engages with the fixed section to lock the mobile section, and on the other hand, an unlocked position wherein said slide rail catch does not engage with the fixed section and allows said mobile section to slide, the slide rail catch being resiliently biased to its locked position,
a memory retaining runner which is sliding mounted relative to the fixed section parallel to the longitudinal direction, this memory retaining runner being placed in the inner space of the slide rail and limiting the backward movement of the mobile section, defining in this way a memorized position of the mobile section,
a runner catch which is carried by the memory retaining runner and which is movable between, on the one hand, a locked position wherein said runner catch engages with notches integral with the fixed section so as to immobilise the memory retaining runner relative to the fixed section, and on the other hand, an unlocked position wherein said runner catch does not immobilize the memory retaining runner,
a runner lock-on device which is mounted on the mobile section and which is movable between, on the one hand, an attached position wherein said lock-on device fixes the memory retaining runner to the mobile section, and on the other hand, an unattached position wherein said lock-on device does not fix the memory retaining runner to the mobile section,
first control means adapted to move simultaneously the slide rail catch from its locked position to its unlocked position and the lock-on device from its unattached position to its attached position, so as to allow simultaneous sliding of the mobile section and the memory retaining runner relative to the fixed section, either forwards or backwards, in order to adjust the memorized position of the seat,
and second control means adapted to move the slide rail catch from its locked position to its unlocked position without moving the lock-on device into its attached position, so as to allow the mobile section to slide forwards without moving the memory retaining runner.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Slide rails of this type are used in particular to equip the front seats of two-door vehicles. To access the rear seats of such a vehicle, the second control means are activated, generally by folding the seat back forwards, then the seat is made to slide forwards to a stop position. In order then to put the seat back into its initial position, it is made to slide backwards to its initial position, brought about by the memory retaining runner.
The document FR-A-2 695 885 describes an example of one such slide rail, wherein the memory retaining runner is simply trapped in the hollow inner space of the slide rail, this memory retaining runner comprising a tip which constitutes the runner catch and which is movable between its locked and unlocked positions by pivoting the whole runner on itself. In this known slide rail, the memory retaining runner tip is resiliently biased to its locked position by a leaf spring which is supported under the upper web of the mobile section, in such a way that this tip engages with a rack formed in the bottom of the fixed section, said rack being positioned so as to prevent the memory retaining runner from sliding backwards.
The slide rail disclosed in this document is satisfactory taken as a whole, but has nonetheless the following drawbacks:
when the mobile section of the slide rail moved backwards after being moved forwards following activation of the second control means, the memory retaining runner may possibly lose its memorized position and move back one or more notches when the mobile section strikes violently against said memory retaining runner, which may occur in certain circumstances,
the memory retaining runner is free so long as the mobile section is not mounted on the fixed section of the slide rail, which complicates the assembly of said slide rail,
and sliding contact of the leaf spring under the upper web of the mobile section presupposes that said web has a smooth sliding track, which imposes an additional constraint on the design of the slide rail.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A particular object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks.
To this end, according to the invention, a slide rail of the type in question is essentially characterised:
in that the memory retaining runner engages by friction fitting, with a longitudinal guide integral with the fixed section,
and in that the mobile section of the slide rail comprises a wedge which projects into the hollow inner space of said slide rail, this wedge having a cam surface which is adapted to engage with a support surface belonging to the runner catch, said cam surface being configured so as to leave the runner catch in its unlocked position when the mobile section of the slide rail is in its memorized position, and to move the runner catch into its locked position when the mobile section is not in its memorized position, at least when said mobile section leaves its memorized position or returns to said memorized position, and the friction between the memory retaining runner and the corresponding guide being significant enough for the action of the wedge cam surface on the runner catch support surface not to cause any longitudinal sliding of the memory retaining runner.
By means of these arrangements, the runner catch is kept positively in its locked position when the mobile section of the slide rail leaves its memorized position or returns to said memorized position, i.e. at the exact moment when the memory retaining runner could lose the memorized position owing to its engagement with other components of the slide rail. Effective memory retention of the last setting position of the slide rail is thus guaranteed, using straightforward and inexpensive means.
Furthermore, the memory retaining runner is held by its guide even before assembly of the mobile section on the fixed section, which facilitates the assembly of the slide rail.
Lastly, the present invention does not require any sliding contact between a component of the memory retaining runner and the upper web of the mobile section, which simplifies the design of the slide rail.
In preferred versions of the invention, use may be possibly made additionally of one and/or other of the following arrangements:
the wedge cam surface is configured to move the runner catch into its locked position only when the mobile section of the slide rail is shifted forwards from its memorized position, to a distance from said memorized position less than a pre-specified distance, which pre-specified distance is less than 1 cm, in such a way that the runner catch is in its locked position only when the mobile section has just left its memorized position or is returning to said memorized position;
the slide rail catch is a resilient metal part contained in the hollow inner space of said slide rail;
the fixed section comprises a horizontal bottom which carries the memory retaining runner, the mobile section having a horizontal upper web which is integral with said wedge and which carries a slider mounted to slide longitudinally relative to said mobile section between front and rear positions, this slider having a front end and a rear end, and the front end of said slider being pivoting mounted relative to the mobile section around a first horizontal transverse axis, in such a way that
Calor Hervé
Foucault Laurent
Bertrand Faure Equipements SA
Dayoan D. Glenn
Gutman Hilary
Marshall O'Toole Gerstein Murray & Borun
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