Vehicle seat slide device

Details Vehicle seat slide device Vehicle seat slide device

2000-12-22

2003-02-18

King, Anita (Department: 3632)

Supports

Stand

Horizontally movable support surface

C248S424000, C248S429000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06520474

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to seat slide devices for use in automotive vehicles and, more particularly, to a vehicle seat slide device employing an elongated lower guide rail mounted on a floor panel in its longitudinal direction, and an upper slide rail firmly secured to a vehicle seat and slidably fitted in the lower guide rail for relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is generally known, a vehicle seat assembly usually employs a seat body that includes a seat cushion and a seat back which is free to rotate. Virtually all modern motor vehicles are equipped with a seat slide mechanism to slidably support the seat body on the floor panel of the vehicle for longitudinal movement of the seat body in a longitudinal (i.e., “fore and aft”) direction. With this arrangement, it is possible to design the vehicle seat's layout of a vehicle compartment into various suitable modes.
Commonly, the conventional seat slide mechanism usually includes an elongated lower guide rail extending longitudinally of the vehicle body and mounted on the floor panel of the vehicle body at a height substantially equal to that of a floor carpet, and an upper slide rail firmly secured to the seat body and slidably fitted to the lower guide rail.
A typical example of such a prior art seat slide device is shown in FIG.
1
. The seat slide device
1
includes a pair of elongated lower guide rails
2
firmly secured to the floor panel of the vehicle body. Each of the lower guide rails includes an upwardly opening, substantially C-channeled rail body
2
a
made of metal sheet, a pair of lateral side walls
2
b
standing upright from distal ends of the rail body
2
a,
and a pair of upper walls
3
inwardly bent from respective upper edges of the lateral walls
2
b
and having inwardly and vertically extending flanges, respectively, to form an elongated guide groove therebetween. The lower guide rail
2
is fixedly mounted on to the floor panel at its front and rear ends by means of mounting brackets
4
a
and
4
b.
The seat slide device
1
further includes an upper slide rail
5
that has a substantially reversed T-shape profile in cross section which is properly assembled into the lower guide rail
2
. The upper slide rail
5
has a pair of vertical walls
5
c
fixed together by some suitable means such as welding, a pair of horizontally extending walls
5
a
outwardly bent from respective lower edges of the vertical walls
5
c
and having respective distal ends formed with upwardly bent flanges
5
b,
each of which serves as an engaged portion
7
. The upper slide rail
5
is assembled into the lower guide rail
2
such that the engaged portions
5
b
engages the engaging portions
3
. The vertical walls
5
c
is firmly secured to the bottom wall of the seat body for its sliding movement by means of an anchor member, a manual shaft of a seat lifter, and a mounting base for a reclining mechanism.
In order to achieve smooth sliding movement of the upper slide rail
5
, a plurality of rollers
9
a
are located the horizontally extending walls
5
a
of the upper slide rail
5
and the rail body
2
a
of the lower guide rail
2
, and a plurality of ball bearings
9
b
are disposed between the engaging portions
3
of the lower guide rail
2
and the engaged portions
5
a
of the upper slide rail
5
. In old seat slide device, on the contrary, rollers and ball bearings are not provided between the lower guide rail and the upper slide rail, with the metal surface of the upper slide rail being held in direct contact with the metal surface of the lower guide rail for sliding movement. In this event, a sliding resistance is greater than a rolling resistance. Thus, in the old seat slide device without any rotational elements, there exists a rapid increase in sliding resistance owing to undesired deformation of the lower guide rail based on a poor bending accuracy or undesired torsion based on a poor installation of the seat slide device on the vehicle body, resulting in severe disturbance on a smooth sliding movement of the upper slide rail with noise or malfunction caused in the seat slide device. Thus, the seat slide device of
FIG. 1
is advantageous over the old seat slide device.
Besides, it is conventional practice to employ a seat slide lock mechanism providing locking and unlocking positions.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H9-95163 discloses a vehicle seat device provided with a seat slide lock mechanism including a latch member and interlock member.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
However, by the investigations of the present inventors, in the event that the conventional seat slide device is longitudinally formed in a manner as noted above, fabrication of various component parts are extremely troublesome, and undesired play or cranky movement of the upper slide rail relative to the lower guide rail owing to poor dimensional accuracy is caused to badly affect on sliding movement of the upper slide rail. Further, if the seat slide device is so fabricated as to have a greater strength that resists the load, then, the weight of the seat slide device adversely increases. Also, in the event that the seat slide device is mounted on to the floor panel of the vehicle body, dusts on the floor panel tends to enter the inside of the lower guide rail
2
through the guide groove thereof, causing a serious difficulty in sliding movement-of the upper slide rail
5
. Thus, it was difficult to provide an improved seat slide device that properly support the weight of a seat occupant with a simple structure and low manufacturing cost.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle seat slide device in that a lower guide rail has an increased strength to prevent undesired distortion of an upper slide rail, wherein the lower guide rail has a narrow guide groove to prevent the entry of dusts remaining on a floor panel into the lower guide rail, wherein the upper slide rail is ensured not to disengage the lower guide rail during collisions of the vehicle or other reasons such as heavily loaded conditions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle seat slide device which is simple in construction, easy to reduce the number of component parts while decreasing the fabricating steps, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install the seat slide device on to the floor panel in an efficient manner for a short period of time, whereby the seat slide device provides a smooth sliding movement with a great reduction in sliding resistance thereby achieving an improved maneuverability.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a vehicle seat slide device including an elongated lower guide rail adapted to be firmly fixed to a floor of a vehicle body in a longitudinal direction thereof, and an upper slide rail firmly secured to a seat body and slidably guided by the lower guide rail.
The elongated lower guide rail has a substantially upwardly opening C-channeled rail body, a pair of side walls upwardly extending from lateral distal ends of the rail body, a pair of upper guide walls inwardly extending from respective upper ends of the side walls to form a guide groove, a pair of slider rest portions formed on the respective upper ends of the side walls, a pair of first hook segments formed at respective inner distal ends of the upper guide walls, and a pair of second hook segments formed on the side walls.
The upper slide rail has a substantially downwardly opening C-channeled slide body which is slidably accommodated in the lower guide rail, and a vertical wall standing upright from the center line of the slide body and extending upward through the guide groove of the lower guide rail. The slide body has bifurcated upper slide walls extending from a lower end of the vertical wall and having their respective distal ends formed with slider rest shoulders and respective downwardly extending lower side walls. The lower side walls have their respe

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