Chairs and seats – Headrest – Angularly movable about horizontal axis
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-17
2001-09-18
Nelson, Jr., Milton (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Headrest
Angularly movable about horizontal axis
C297S391000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290298
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tiltable headrest for a vehicle seat, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a tiltable headrest for a vehicle seat which has a hinge part for allowing a support bar to be rotated within a predetermined angle relative to a body support frame supporting a headrest body, the hinge part having a pair of annular leaf springs intervened between the body support frame and a head portion of a rivet serving as a hinge shaft such that they are brought into back-to-back contact with each other and a pair of flat washers fitted around the hinge shaft at both sides of a flat end portion of the support bar, respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a headrest provided at an upper end of a seat back in a vehicle or an aircraft is used in a state that both ends of a support bar
20
, which are embedded into a headrest body
10
, are fitted into a pair of guide holes formed in the seat back, respectively, as shown in FIG.
1
. However, in this headrest structure, because the headrest body
10
is securely fixed to the support bar
20
, it is impossible for a driver or passenger to adjust the angle of a headrest.
To solve this problem, a technique for allowing a headrest to be tilted is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication Gazette No. 93-7220. According to the technique, in a headrest provided at an upper end of a seat back, a lower end of a support member is embedded into the seat back, and an angle adjustor having a sector-shaped configuration is integrally molded to an upper end of the support member. A center hole is formed at a center portion of the sector-shaped angle adjustor, and a guide groove is formed adjacent to an edge portion of the sector-shaped angle adjustor such that it circumferentially extends. A plurality of headrest support fixing holes are formed in the guide groove such that they are circumferentially spaced apart one from another. A space into which the sector-shaped angle adjustor is received is defined in a lower end of a headrest body. One end of a headrest support around which a coil spring is wound, is secured into a wall portion of the headrest body, which defines the space for receiving the sector-shaped angle adjustor. A long shaft portion of the headrest support is passed through the center hole, and a short shaft portion of the headrest support is passed through one of the plurality of headrest support fixing holes.
However, the tiltable headrest constructed as mentioned above encounters a problem in that the sector-shaped angle adjustor must be integrally molded to the upper end of the support. Further, since the headrest support is assembled to the angle adjustor such that the short shaft portion thereof is passed through one of the plurality of headrest support fixing holes, the assembling operation cannot be performed in an easy manner. In addition, because the space for receiving the angle adjustor must be defined in the headrest body, the headrest body must be separately formed having this space.
In view of these problems, a tiltable headrest as shown in
FIG. 2
is disclosed in the art. In the tiltable headrest as shown in
FIG. 2
, a hinge part
30
is provided at a lower end of a body support frame
11
which supports a headrest body
10
as shown in FIG.
1
. An upper end of a support bar
20
is rotatably coupled to the hinge part
30
by a hinge shaft
33
. The hinge part
30
has a first limiter
31
which can be brought into contact with a lower portion of the support bar
20
and a second limiter
32
which can be brought into contact with an upper portion of the support bar
20
. An auxiliary guide arrangement
40
which surrounds the hinge part
30
, includes first and second guide members
43
and
44
which cooperate with each other to define a hinge part receiving space
42
therebetween. The first guide member
43
is formed with a projection
45
, and the second guide member
44
is formed with a groove
46
into which the projection
45
is engaged. Between lower ends of the first and second guide members
43
and
44
, there is defined a support bar guide groove
41
which allows the support bar
20
to be rotated therein within a predetermined angle.
Referring to
FIG. 3
, there is shown a schematic perspective view illustrating the tiltable headrest of
FIG. 2
, which is in an assembled state. In
FIG. 3
, the hinge part
30
shown in
FIG. 2
is received into the hinge part receiving space
42
which is defined by the first and second guide members
43
and
44
of the auxiliary guide arrangement
40
in a state that the support bar
20
and the body support frame
11
are rotatably coupled to the hinge part
30
, and the projection
45
is engaged into the groove
46
. At this time, because the support bar
20
is fixedly secured to the seat back, the body support frame
11
is actually rotated, whereby the angle of a headrest body
10
can be adjusted.
Referring to
FIG. 4
, there is shown a side view illustrating an independent appearance of the hinge part of FIG.
2
. As described above, the body support frame
11
and the support bar
20
are rotatably coupled to each other by the hinge shaft
33
of the hinge part
30
. The hinge part
30
has the first and second limiters
31
and
32
, and the support bar
20
is rotatably coupled to the hinge part
30
via the hinge shaft
33
. At this time, since the upper end of the support bar
20
is rotatably coupled to the hinge part
30
by the hinge shaft
33
while a wear-resistant packing
34
is intervened therebetween, once the support bar
20
is rotated relative to the body support frame
11
to adjust the angle of the headrest body
10
, the adjusted angle of the headrest body
10
is maintained as it is, and accordingly, there is no need for separate angle adjusting means. At this time, even though the body support frame
11
is actually rotated about the hinge part
30
due to the fact that the support bar
20
is fixedly secured to the seat back, it was stated, in view of convenience of illustration and explanation, that the support bar
20
is rotated about the hinge part
30
.
FIG. 5
is a side view illustrating the hinge part
30
of
FIG. 4
, which is surrounded by the auxiliary guide arrangement
40
. As described above, the body support frame
11
and the support bar
20
are rotatably coupled to each other by the hinge shaft
33
at the hinge part
30
. The hinge part
30
has the first and second limiters
31
and
32
which function to delimit a rotating angle of the support bar
20
. For doing this, it is preferred that the upper end of the support bar
20
is formed as a flat end portion
23
and first and second stepped portions
21
and
22
are formed on lower ends of both flat side surfaces of the flat end portion
23
, respectively, which correspond to the first and second limiters
31
and
32
. Of course, the packing
34
is provided at the upper end of the support bar
20
, which is formed as the flat end portion
23
, such that the support bar
20
is coupled to the hinge part
30
by the hinge shaft
33
while being biased by the packing
34
. At this time, although the support bar
20
is illustrated in
FIG. 5
as being rotated, it is to be readily understood that since the support bar
20
is fixedly secured to the seat back, the body support frame
11
is actually rotated about the hinge part
30
to adjust the angle of the headrest body
10
. Accordingly, due to the fact that the hinge part
30
is received into the hinge part receiving space
42
and the support bar guide groove
41
is defined at a lower portion of the auxiliary guide arrangement
40
, which corresponds to the support bar
20
, for example, if the body support frame
11
is rotated in a clockwise direction while the support bar
20
is held in a position depicted by the one-dot chain line in
FIG. 5
, a positional relationship between the support bar
20
and the body support frame
11
can be depicted as represented by the solid line in FIG.
5
.
Han Shin Industry Co., LTD
Jr. Milton Nelson
Ladas and Parry
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