Vehicle seat

Details Vehicle seat Vehicle seat

2002-04-30

2004-08-10

Nelson, Jr., Milton (Department: 3636)

Chairs and seats

Movable bottom

Bottom and back movable as a unit

C297S344150, C297S452520

Reexamination Certificate

active

06773069

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat, and more particularly, relates to the frame structure of a seat bottom of a vehicle seat.
BACKGROUND ART OF THE INVENTION
As a prior art, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-35458 discloses a seat bottom of a vehicle seat, which comprises: a framework including a pair of left and right side frame members extending in the back-and-forth direction, a front frame member fixed between front portions of the side frame members, and a rear frame member fixed between rear portions of the side frame members; a plurality of zigzag springs positioned between the front frame member and the rear frame member, and having spring tip ends attached at the middle portion between the front portion and the rear portion of the side frame member; a cushion attached on the framework with the springs; and a height control mechanism moving the framework up and down relative to a vehicle body.
The prior art has such a disadvantage that the thickness in the vertical direction of the seat bottom is thick. It will be described below. As shown in
FIGS. 23 and 24
, the framework
100
of the prior art has a bracket
102
fixed to a bottom
101
of the framework
100
, and the bracket
102
is connected to a slide rail
104
by way of a height control mechanism
103
. The height control mechanism
103
has a leg portion
105
fixed to the bracket
102
, an arm
107
connected to the tip of the leg portion
105
by a shaft
106
, an interlocking shaft
108
to which the base portion of the arm
107
is fixed, an operating dial
109
, an output gear
110
arranged to be rotated by the operating dial
109
, and a sector gear
111
meshed with the output gear
110
and fixed to the interlocking shaft
108
. The dial
109
is supported by a bracket
112
of the slide rail
104
.
In the case of the prior art with the above structure, the framework
100
has the integrally fixed bracket
102
, and therefore, the vertical height of the framework
100
is shown by H. Therefore, the zigzag spring
113
is positioned at a higher position of the framework
100
, and the position of the cushion that is mounted on the spring
113
also inevitably becomes high, so that the thickness in the vertical direction of the seat bottom is increased.
Furthermore, in the case of the prior art, the fact that almost all members of the height control mechanism
103
are provided at positions lower than the upper end of the bracket
112
of the slide rail
104
is also the reason why the vertical thickness of the seat bottom is increased.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved vehicle seat that overcomes the disadvantage of the prior art.
In order to achieve this object, a vehicle seat is provided, which comprises: a framework composed of a pair of left and right side frame members that extend in the back-and-forth direction, a front frame member that has left and right side plates fixed to the front portions of the side frame members, and a rear frame member that has left and right side plates fixed to the rear portions of the side frame members; a plurality of zigzag springs that are positioned between the front frame member and the rear frame member, and have spring tip ends attached at the middle portion between the front portion and the rear portion of the side frame member; and a height control mechanism that moves the framework up and down relative to the vehicle body, and which is characterized in that each of the spring tip ends is arranged at a position near the center line vertically dividing the side frame member, and the distance between the spring tip end and the center line is made shorter than the distance between the spring tip end and the upper edge of the side frame member.


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