Supports – Stand – Horizontally movable support surface
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-13
2002-12-03
Chan, Korie (Department: 3632)
Supports
Stand
Horizontally movable support surface
C248S424000, C296S065030, C296S065140
Reexamination Certificate
active
06488249
ABSTRACT:
The invention proposes a system for adjusting the longitudinal position of a subassembly, especially a seat, on the horizontal floor of the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle and for blocking the same in adjusted position.
The invention relates more particularly to a system for outfitting the interior of a motor vehicle of the “one-compartment” type, which must embody flexible outfitting capabilities, and especially great modularity, with regard to both the number of removable seats or subassemblies provided in the passenger compartment, and the number of positions that these subassemblies can occupy.
According to a first known design, it has already been suggested that a plurality of series of fastening points be provided on the vehicle floor, each of which series, preferably having four fastening points for the four feet of the seat or of the subassembly, determines a mounting and fixing position.
A system for increasing the modularity of the outfitting of the passenger compartment has already been suggested. Such a system is described and illustrated in, for example, European Patent Application A 0615879, wherein the horizontal floor of the passenger compartment is equipped with at least two parallel rails or slideways which accommodate, in longitudinal sliding manner, guide members in the form of slides, also called shuttles, which guide the longitudinal displacements of the seat and which make it possible to ensure locking of the seat in adjusted longitudinal position, the seat having substantially vertical orienting feet whose lower ends contain means of known design for fastening the seat to the slides or shuttles.
This embodiment permits the modularity to be increased and also permits the longitudinal position of a seat to be adjusted while conserving its orientation and fastening, by shifting the slides.
However, this design relies on using as many pairs of slides or shuttles as correspond to the number of seats to be mounted and, if it is not desired that the slides be visible in the passenger compartment, they must be fitted in the bottom of slideways embedded in the floor, thus making it difficult to fasten a seat to the upper faces of the slides, in that these are not visible and are masked by brush-like means which partly block the central longitudinal slot of the rail-shaped slideway.
The objective of the invention is to propose a new design of an adjustment system of the type mentioned hereinabove, which design permits these disadvantages to be remedied.
Toward this objective, the invention proposes a system characterized in that the lower end of at least one of the feet is equipped with a movable expandable mechanism controlled between:
a first position, defined as engagement or disengagement position, in which two mechanism-locking members with symmetric and opposed action relative to a central longitudinal plane are in inwardly retracted position, in which their transverse width permits vertical introduction or extraction of the mechanism in the slideway via a central longitudinal slot thereof, bounded by two longitudinal and parallel upper rims of the slideway;
and a second extreme position, defined as locking position, in which each of the two locking members is extended transversely outward to face an internal portion of one of the upper rims of the slot, with which they cooperate in fastening, thus vertically and longitudinally immobilizing the foot relative to the slideway; while passing through at least one intermediate position, defined as adjustment position, in which each of the two locking members is extended transversely outward to face the said internal portion of one of the upper rims of the slot, thus vertically retaining the foot relative to the slideway and permitting longitudinal displacements of the foot relative to the slideway.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the two locking members are two locking levers, each of which is mounted to pivot, in the vicinity of its lower end, around a longitudinal hinge pin, which is supported by the foot and the active upper part of which has a profile complementary to the profile of the internal portion of a rim of the slot of the slideway which faces it;
the upper face of the upper end of each lever is formed into a hook, which cooperates with the lower fastening face of the said internal portion;
the lower fastening face of the said internal portion is provided with a series of longitudinally distributed notches, each of which constitutes a locking catch capable of accommodating the lower hook-shaped end of a locking lever;
the locking levers are biased resiliently toward their extreme locking position;
the lower ends of the two levers are mounted pivotably around a single lower longitudinal pivot which is mounted to slide in a lower central vertical opening and on which there acts a first maneuvering member, and the mechanism has two maneuvering rods, with symmetric and opposed action, each of which is pivoted at its upper end around a single upper longitudinal pivot which is mounted to slide in an upper central vertical opening and on which there acts a second maneuvering member, and each of which is pivoted at its lower end on a locking lever, near the upper end of the latter.
the subassembly is a motor vehicle seat.
REFERENCES:
patent: 660651 (1900-10-01), Olmsted
patent: 2589922 (1952-03-01), Bowman
patent: 3486204 (1969-12-01), Hurtner
patent: 4773693 (1988-09-01), Premji
patent: 5106144 (1992-04-01), Hayakawa et al.
patent: 5330245 (1994-07-01), Boisset
patent: 5372398 (1994-12-01), Aneiros et al.
patent: 5775763 (1998-07-01), Glinter et al.
patent: 5921606 (1999-07-01), Moradell
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/403,764, filed Dec. 15, 1999, pending.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/403,767, filed Dec. 13, 1999, pending.
Amerigo Marc
Girardi Philippe
Baxter Gwendolyn
Chan Korie
Renault
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