Tiltable Air Plane Seat

Abstract

This disclosure is concerned with a seat composed of a chassis, a back and a seat, the seat and the back at least being pivoted to one another and being able to move with respect to the chassis, the shaft around which the back tilts and the pivoting shaft of the back and of the seat being movable and guided both in slides made in the chassis the length of which and the direction of which determining the movement, the movement of the seat being itself guided by a third slide whose characteristics are also coherent with the form of the assembly.

Description

There are already known several types of seats specially designed for use in aircrafts and having consequently characteristics which render them comfortable for use by passengers as well as taking minimum space.

A first group of such seats can be designated as being of the fixed geometry type in the sense that the angle between the bottom of the seats and back remains constant in all positions of the assembly. In this type of seat the chassis once secured relative to the floor, the assembly formed by the bottom and the seat can move relative to the chassis either because it is connected to said chassis by a system of cranks or movable levers, or because it is mounted on rollers which move in slides or grooves made in the said chassis. It is known however that the optimum comfort of the passenger requires that according to the general position of his body which can be more or less oblique relative to the ground, the angle made by his torso and his head relative to his lower limbs is variable. This requirement is not satisfied in the case of the above described seats where the angle between the back and the bottom, the respective supports for the torso and the head on the one hand and the lower limbs on the other hand is constant.

This is the reason for providing in the prior art tiltable seats. In the first seats of this type the movable back is simply pivoted relative to the fixed bottom. The passenger can then at will increase the angle between the back and the seat; however the shape and the profile of these two elements being provided for optimum comfort in one position are not satisfactory with respect to comfort in the other extreme position.

There has then been perfected seats in which the single pivoting of the back relative to the bottom is coupled with a translational movement of said bottom when the angle between the seat and the back increases. In these seats, however, the pivoting axis between the back and bottom remains fixed. Owing to this fact, as besides in the device of the above described seat, the space towards the back in spread position of the back is important which increases the volume and decreases then the efficiency of use which in airplanes depends upon volume and weight.

Additionally the immobility of the pivoting shaft also presents a drawback with respect to comfort since the immobility of the pivoting axis necessarily creates in elongated position a tendency for the body of the passenger to go forward which tendency the passenger must repress. Finally, the distribution of the unitary pressures of the body of the passenger on the seat, calculated to be as great as possible, in a given position diminishes with variations in position. This necessitates considerable thicknesses of cushion in order to compensate.

The present invention is concerned with an improvement in a tiltable seat and has, first of all, all the advantages of pivoting with respect to a seat where the angle between the back and the bottom is fixed. This constitutes a first difference with applicant's French Pat. No. 1,369,343 of Feb. 18, 1963. Besides the pivoting axis or axes of the seat are movable which enables the passenger to vary at will the angle of his body and to assume positions as stretched as possible with a lesser rearward movement of the back than in previously described devices; this increases comfort, reduces volume and accordingly increases efficiency. Finally, the distribution of the unit pressures on each part of the body is maintained in all positions which makes it possible to reduce the thicknesses of the cushion and the weight of the seats and consequently the cost of the internal equipment of the aircraft.

The present invention has in effect for object an aircraft seat composed of a chassis, a back and a bottom, the bottom and the back at least being pivoted one to the other and being movable relative to the chassis, seat characterized by the fact that the axis around which tilts the back and the pivoting axis of the back and the bottom are movable and guided both in slides made in the chassis whose directions and lengths are coherent with respect to the general kinematic of the movement, the movement of the bottom being itself guided in a third slide whose characteristics are also coherent with the general kinematic.

The invention will be better understood by reading the following description which is given by way of nonlimiting example and with the aid of the accompanying drawing in which there can be seen in a single FIGURE a side view showing a vertical general cross section of the seat of the invention.

The chassis of the seat is composed of a foot 1, a base 2 and a couple of arms 3 only one of which is shown. This assembly can be moved relative to the ground by various devices such as the fitting of foot 1 in guide rails, not shown. Such a device for rendering the chassis movable relative to the floor has already been described in French Pat. No. 1,369,343 of Feb. 18, 1963, to the applicant. This foot has owing to its shape the industrial advantages with respect to the possibility of moving and housing the feet of the passenger behind the seat. The combination of this foot with the seat of the invention also constitutes part of the present patent.

Arms 3 are in principle fixed. However, it is possible without departing from the scope of the invention to pivot them relative to chassis 2 so as to vary their angle relative to the horizontal as required by the positions of the body of the passenger.

In chassis 2 are provided at least three slides 4, 5 and 6. The back 7 and the bottom 8 of the seat are pivoted around pivot 9 and the back around pivot 10. In the inclined movement, the back assumes positions 7a, 7b and the bottom takes simultaneously positions 8a, 8b, etc. During this movement pivot 10 around which pivots back 7 moves in groove 6 while the shaft of its articulation 9 with the bottom 8 moves in groove 5 and a pivot 11 integral with bottom 8 moves in groove 4. Positions 10a-- 10b, 9a--9b, 11a--11b, of pivots 10--9 and 11 correspond to positions 7a--8a and 7b--8b relative to back 7 and bottom 8.

It is seen then according to the fundamental characteristic of the invention that the axes 9 and 10 of pivoting and articulation are movable with respect to the fixed chassis.

As indicated above this device makes possible to combine the advantages of a mobility of the assembly of the seats relative to the chassis and of a relative movement of the seat and back. Naturally this assembly of characteristics can only be obtained if the length and the directions of the slides 4, 5 and 6 be coherent therebetween, that is to say if they permit without friction or blocking a harmonious simultaneous movement of the various parts one relative to the other and relative to the chassis.

The invention is not limited to the above described case which comprises a single articulation and three slides.

It is easy without departing from the scope of the invention to generalize in the case where the back 7 and/or bottom 8 themselves are articulated in one or several parts. It is perfectly possible to conceive of back 7 as being articulated at least in two parts, the upper part forming the seat of the head which the passenger may require to make a certain angle with his back. In the same manner, the passenger may wish that the front of the seat be slightly raised when he is in stretched position in order to repress definitely all tendency to slide to the front or in order to ensure a higher level for his legs.

In such a hypothesis there is reason to provide one or several additional grooves made in the chassis and extended for this purpose upwardly or towards the front and in which move the axes of articulation of the back or bottom 8. Additional guiding grooves similar to groove 4 in device 7 above described would then be provided with axes integral of the back or bottom 8 whose extremities would move in these grooves.

In the extreme case the seat can constitute a device resembling somewhat a bicycle chain whose various links are pivoted with respect to one another and which would be ideal with respect to the unitary distribution of the passenger's weight and his comfort.

The ends of the axes of articulation or the guides which slide in grooves 4, 5 and 6 can have rollers which aid movement within said grooves.

Additionally there has been shown schematically at 13 a lock which can be hydraulic and extensible and serves to immobilize the movable assembly constituted by the bottom and the back. This lock is secured on the one hand to a fixed point 14 of the chassis and on the other hand to a point 14' of the movable seat. This lock is controlled by a button 15.

As long as the user does not touch the button, the movable assembly remains in the desired position.

Owing to the advance movement of bottom 8 into position 8a and 8b when the back assumes positions 7a and 7b, the rearward movement of said back 7 is much less when bottom 8 is fixed which constitutes an advantage with respect to the space taken up by the seat.

Claims

I claim:

1. An aircraft chair comprising a chassis, a seat, and a back, a plurality of pivot pins connected to said seat and back, a plurality of pivot pins connected to said seat and back, and means defining first, second and third slots in said chassis for receiving said pins to thereby join said seat and back to said chassis, said first slot is positioned in an upper portion of said chassis and is disposed substantially vertically first pins are pivotally received in said first slots, said lower back section and read end of said seat are hinged together and provided with a pair of second pivot pins projecting from their hinged connection and pivotally received in said second slots, and a forward end of said set is provided with a pair of third pivot pins pivotally received in said third slots, whereby said seat and back portions are movable with respect to said chassis by pivotal and sliding movement of said pairs of first, second and third pivot pins within said first, second and third slots.

2. An aircraft chair according to claim 1, wherein said back comprises two sections hingedly connected at said first pivot pin.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1, in which the lower end of said first slot is disposed above said second slot.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1, in which said first, second and third slots define sections of a substantially continuous curve.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1, in which the forward end of said second slot is substantially horizontally aligned with said third slide.

6. An aircraft seat comprising a chassis including two spaced parallel plates each having means defining first, second, and third slots, a seat portion, and a back portion including upper and lower separate sections, said upper and lower separate back sections are hinged together and provided with a pair of first projecting pins at their hinged connection, said pair of and on a slight angle downward and forward of said chassis, said second slot is positioned in a rear lower portion of said chassis and is disposed substantially horizontally and on a slight incline downwardly and forwardly of said chassis, and said third slot is positioned in a lower forward portion of said chassis and is disposed substantially horizontally, said back is provided with a first said pivot pin pivotally and slideably received in said first slot to articulate said back with respect to said chassis and said bottom, said back and seat are hinged together at their respective lower and rear portions and are provided with a second said pivot pin pivotally and slideably received in said second slot, and said seat is provided with a third said pivot pin and its forward portion slideably and pivotally received in said third slot.