Vehicle rear structure

Details Vehicle rear structure Vehicle rear structure

2003-09-02

2004-11-16

White, Rodney B. (Department: 3636)

Chairs and seats

Bottom and back connected to and foldable in wall or partition

In floor

C297S331000, C297S335000, C297S336000, C297S378100, C297S378120, C296S065090, C296S066000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06817660

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle rear structure in which, when a seatback is folded, a rear floor and an upper surface of the seatback provide a flat surface.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A vehicle rear structure in which an upper surface of a seatback folded and a rear floor form a flat surface is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-5-46588. This rear structure will be described with reference to
FIGS. 14A and 14B
hereof.
A vehicle rear structure
100
shown in
FIG. 14A
has a seat cushion
108
mounted on a vehicle floor
104
, a seatback
109
mounted to the seat cushion
108
in a foldable manner, a spare tire well
103
provided in the vehicle floor
104
behind the seatback
109
for housing a spare tire
106
, and a cover member
107
covering the spare tire
106
and an unoccupied space
105
between the spare tire well
103
and the seatback
109
.
In the vehicle rear structure
100
, if the seat cushion
108
is longitudinally slidably mounted on the vehicle floor
104
, for example, a gap will be formed between the rear of the seat cushion
108
and the front edge of the cover member
107
. Through the gap, objects loaded on the cover member
107
can fall into the unoccupied space
105
.
Then, in some cases, as in a vehicle rear structure
110
shown in
FIG. 14B
, a bridge plate
118
is rotatably attached to the front edge of a cover member
117
so that the front edge of the bridge plate
118
abuts on the rear of a seatback
109
.
In the vehicle rear structure
110
shown in
FIG. 14B
, when the seatback
109
is folded onto a seat cushion
108
as shown by arrow {circumflex over (
1
)}, the bridge plate
118
can move along the seatback
109
into a horizontal position as shown by arrow {circumflex over (
2
)}. However, when the seatback
109
is raised from the seat cushion
108
, the front edge of the bridge plate
118
can get stuck on the seatback
109
, preventing the seatback
109
from being raised. Therefore desired is a structure which permits a bridge plate
118
rotatably attached to a cover member
117
, the front edge of which bridge plate
118
is made to abut on the rear surface of a seatback
109
, to smoothly move with the folding and uprising movements of the seatback
109
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle rear structure, which comprises: a seatback; a rear floor positioned behind the seatback and designed to be on the same level as an upper surface of the seatback when the seatback is folded forwardly; and a bridge plate rotatably attached to the rear floor to extend onto the upper surface of the folded seatback, the folded seatback having on the upper surface an area for receiving a front edge portion of the bridge plate and having at a rear portion thereof a portion for lifting the front edge portion of the bridge plate in conjunction with uprising movement of the seatback, the bridge plate having on an undersurface thereof a cam with which the lifting portion comes into contact.
In a vehicle rear structure in which, when a seatback is folded, a rear floor and an upper surface of the seatback form a flat surface and a bridge plate is extended between the upper surface of the seatback and the rear floor, it is convenient to move the bridge plate in conjunction with the folding movement and uprising movement of the seatback. The upper surface of the seatback, however, is not necessarily configured to be a flat surface.
Then, the seatback is provided at its rear portion with the portion for lifting the front edge of the bridge plate in conjunction with the uprising movement of the seatback and the bridge plate is provided at its undersurface with the cam to make contact with the portion, so that, to raise the seatback, the front edge portion of the bridge plate is first lifted to prevent the seatback from being stuck by the front edge portion of the bridge plate. This smoothes the folding and uprising movements of the seatback.
Preferably, the rear floor has a recess for housing a spare tire and a lid for closing the recess, and the bridge plate is provided at a front edge of the lid. Cargo can thus be loaded on the lid over the housed spare tire, resulting in an effective use of the rear floor.


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patent: 6682120 (2004-01-01), Kamida et al.
patent: 6746083 (2004-06-01), Drew et al.
patent: 2002/0033623 (2002-03-01), Sunohara
patent: 2002/0140270 (2002-10-01), Hoshino
patent: 58039535 (1983-03-01), None
patent: HEI-5-46588 (1993-06-01), None

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