Seat, Particularly For Automotive Vehicles

Abstract

A seat, particularly for automotive vehicles, which comprises a seat-cushion frame adjustable in height and inclination. The seat has two pairs of extension links, and a seat-base frame, as well as toggle-lever links, and transversely-extending connecting rods. The seat-cushion frame is connected via the two pairs of extension links with the seat-base frame. The extension links are supported via the toggle lever links on the seat-base frame and are connected in pairs with each other by the transversely-extending connecting rods. Spring means urge the connecting rods into a raised position of the seat-cushion frame and are displaceably guided in slots in the seat-base frame. A releaseable tooth-engagement lock, including teeth, are disposed within the region of the slots between each of the connecting rods and the seat-base frame such that the teeth are directed parallel to the plane of the slot.

Description

The present invention relates to a seat, particularly for automotive vehicles, with a seat-cushion frame, which is adjustable in height and inclination and is connected with the seat-base frame by two pairs of extension links, supported by toggles links on the seat-base frame and are connected in pairs with each other by a transversely extending connecting rod, the connecting rod being urged by a spring into the raised position of the seat-cushion frame.

Such seats provided with links have the advantages of rapid displacement and of low height.

In one embodiment of such seats, the operating levers of a locking means, which makes possible a stepwise vertical displacement, also protrude laterally from the seat-base frame, so that the entire possible range of adjustment cannot be utilized. Furthermore, additional space for movement is required for the release of the upward swingable detent jaws which engage in annular groves on detent pins, one of which is seated on each of the displaceable connecting rods.

In another known car seat of this type, the means which fix the vertical position are shifted out of the region between the upper edge of the seat-base frame and the lower edge of the seat-cushion frame, so that the possibilities of a lower height are better utilized. This solution employs clamping members which enter into toothed engagement to fix the position of the seat. The structural development is such, that on the outside of the edge of the slot passing through the connecting rod, there is seated a fixed clamping piece which is provided with outwardly extending teeth and which cooperates with a correspondingly toothed mating clamping piece, which is seated for axial displacement on the connecting rod and, after the loosening of a clamping screw placed on the free end of the correspondingly threaded connecting rod, can be brought out of toothed engagement. This development, however, does not permit a mainipulation which can be referred to as rapid adjustment since several turns of the clamping screw are required, depending on the depth of the tooth engagement. This displacement thus takes too much time. This is not without danger when the car is moving, since the driver's attention is diverted for a correspondingly long period of time.

It is an object of the present invention, to create a seat of this type, which combines the advantages of an extremely low structural height and rapid displacement, but also assures dependability in operation for very long periods of use, and in addition is easily manufactured and mounted.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a seat of this type which is adjustable in height and inclination and is connected with two pairs of extension links with the seat base frame.

The seat of this invention is characterized by simple and rapid operation, is of uncomplicated construction, of extremely low structural height, and can be installed in practically all current models of cars and special vehicles. A dependable toothed locking which can be released "by a twist of the hand" is employed. The locking teeth are directed parallel to the plane of a longitudinal slot. In order to release the locking connection, not only are slight actuating forces necessary but, in addition, only small swing paths need be provided for the corresponding adjusting means. The invention employs a pin urged in the direction of rotation by a spring and supported in the preferably round tubular connecting rods, the pin being continued by an operating lever, which lies on the outside of the seat-base frame. The pin has two diametrically opposite detent teeth which engage in oblique position to the slot on opposing toothed slats extending parallel to the edges of the slot. The pins are advantageously formed at the same time as the longitudinal slot-slide axes of the extension links. The spring force is applied by a torsion spring arranged in the inside of the tubular connecting rods. This tension spring acts in the direction towards the basic position of the operating lever and accordingly presses the sides of the detent teeth against the corresponding sides of the stationary teeth. In order to release the basic detent position, it is therefore merely necessary to swing the detent teeth by an amount equal to the length of the side of the adjoining tooth. This corresponds to only a few degrees. Thereupon the pin can be shifted in the longitudinal slot and the adjustment of the height and inclination of the seat-cushion frame thus brought about. This displacement is effected with the assistance of a stored force. A corresponding force-storage spring therefore urges the connecting rods in the direction apart from each other. The angle of the release swing of the operating lever is advantageously in the direction towards the ends of the longitudinal slot, which ends face each other. In this way an actuating region of limited space requirement is provided, which makes prolonged hunting unnecessary. The driver can reach into the actuating range. He can thereby easily determine, by touch, which operating lever is to be manipulated for the rear displacement section and which for the front displacement section. The displacement means themselves are also of a very simple design. The toothed slats consist of stamped plates having a window-like opening with detent teeth lying in the edge region. The plates can be attached by welding, riveted or otherwise. As part of the detent function, they bring about a stabilizing of the section of the frame which is weakened by the longitudinal slot. The rotation of the pin is limited by a stop, in order to prevent the teeth engaging into the opposite toothing in case of too large a path of swing of the operating levers. The limitation by stop is therefore of such a nature that the detent teeth of the pins extend, in the one stop position, approximately in the longitudinal central plane of the slot. A favorable structural shape has the connecting rods provided on one side with a toothed-slat jaw, with which there is associated a jaw extending parallel to the longitudinal slot which is provided with a mating toothed-slat and is swingable in the transverse direction against spring action. One structurally simple solution has a jaw in the form of as angle arm lever and one leg of the angle arm lever in the form of an actuating handle; the toothed-slat jaw are and the mating jaw arranged on the outside of the lengthwise arm of the seat frame.

These and other objects more readily will become apparent in the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the car seat, designed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation thereof;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view, on a larger scale, of the joint between the seat cushion, seen in the same direction as FIG. 1 and the back-rest cushion;

FIG. 4 is a section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary showing of the height and inclination adjustment device with the seat-base frame lowered;

FIG. 6 is a corresponding view with the seat-base frame raised;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the seat-base frame;

FIG. 8 is a variation of the height-and inclination-adjusting device; and

FIG. 9 is a section along the line IX-IX of FIG. 8.

The car seat shown has a frame 2 which bears a cushion 1 and from which there extends at the rear two upward directed cheeks 3, which carry bearing pins 4 for the back-rest frame 6 which is also covered by a cushion 5.

The back-rest frame 6 is mounted for a swinging motion around the pin 4. The desired position of inclination can be locked via a mechanism 7 (FIG. 3). The latter consists of two intermeshing toothed jaws, namely a displaceably mounted slidepiece toothed jaw 10, which can be released via a control pin 8 by a handle 9 and the mating toothed jaw 11 on the frame side. By pulling the actuating lever 9, the toothed jaw 10 is pulled downward by means of the control pin 8 which passes through an arcuate slot 3' in the cheek 3 and extends into a control slot of the jaw 12, the guide pin, extending in the basic position beyond the deadcenter position x--x, supports the slidepiece toothed jaw 10, which is acted on by a return spring 13.

The seat-cushion frame is supported at the front and the rear by extension links 14. The latter are arranged in pairs and are connected via link pins 15 to the seat-cushion frame 2. The pivot connection on the seat-base frame side is obtained by means of pins 1' one of which is shown at 16 in FIGS. 5 and 6, each of which passes through a separate longitudinal slot 17 in the seat-base frame 18; each pin is formed at one end into a bent operating lever 19. The preferably bent end of the operating lever 19 bears a handle 19' .

Both the pins 16 lying on the side of the operating lever 19 and the opposite pin 16 are supported in a rod 20 which rigidly connects the extension links 14 with each other. The correspondingly tubular connecting rod 20 furthermore receives a torsion spring, which is secured on the pin 21. The torsion spring is so arranged under pre-tension, that it urges the pin 16 having the operating handle in the direction indicated by the arrow y (see FIG. 6).

For the fastening of the spring on the pin side, the pin is split. A bushing 19" which is secured by a transverse split pin 19"' effects the required assembly.

With each pair of extension links there are associated two toggle links 23 acting as supporting lever. These links are pivoted on the one side to the pin 24 of the seat-base frame 18 and on the other side via pivot pins 25 to the extension links 14, approximately in the central section between the pins 15 and 16. The toggle links 23 are also firmly connected with each other on the seat-base side by a tubular connecting rod, so that the load of the seat is transferred uniformly to the adjacent extension links. These connecting rods are designated 26 (FIG. 7). They extend parallel to the pins 16.

A pin 16 is displaceable in the slot 17 by an amount corresponding to the length of the slot and thus produces a change in height and/or inclination of the seat surface. This pin can be locked in position by tooth engagement between a connecting rod 20 and the seat-base frame 18. For this purpose the pin 16 mounted in the tubular connecting rod 20 has two detent teeth 27 and 28 lying diametrically opposite each other. These teeth engage in tooth gaps 29 of correspondingly associated toothed slats 30. The latter extend in the direct vicinity of the slot edge 17' , on the outside of the frame 18. The teeth 31 of the toothed slats extend accordingly in a plane parallel to the plane of the slot. The tooth tips 31' which face each other terminate directly at the height of the slot edge 17' .

The detent teeth 27, 28 have a width B which corresponds to that of the tooth flanks 31". The tooth depth is so dimensioned that it does not extend beyond the thickness of the toothed slats 30 which, for reasons of ease in manufacture, are advantageously designed in the form of a continuous plate 32. The plate 32 can be held in position, for instance, by welding. In addition to providing the mating detent means, it at the same time also constitutes an advantageous reinforcement of the region of the frame which is weakened by the slot. Since the detent teeth 27, 28 extend for all practical purposes only by an amount equal to the width of the tooth into the spaces 29 only a slight actuating path results, so that the release position can be brought about easily and without diverting the attention of the driver. The basic detent position is obtained automatically upon release of the operating lever 19. In order to release the tooth-engagement position existing at the time, it is merely necessary to lift the operating lever against the action of the torsion spring which strives to hold the operating lever and thus the detent teeth in the position in which they secure the instantaneous height and inclination, so that the two teeth come out of engagement simultaneously. The pin 16 which are at the same time the slot-slide pins of the tension links are immediately released. If such a displacement is effected towards the right (see FIG. 4), this results in the lowering of the front edge of the seat. If such an actuation is effected on the rightside pin 16 (see FIG. 2), then the rear end of the seat is also lowered either at the same time or following same. In order to vary the inclination of the surface of the seat, one or the other of the pairs of extension links is left in its supporting position.

In order to prevent the operating lever from passing upon actuation into a position which extends beyond the upper edge 18' of the seat-base frame 18, or that the upper detent tooth 27 comes into the sphere of the bottom toothed slat 30, the movement of swing of the lever is most simply limited by a transverse pin 33, shown in FIG. 7. The latter is driven into the pin 16 and extends into a transverse slot 34 which is provided in the connecting rod 20 and forms the corresponding end stop. The length of the transverse slot 33 is dimensioned with due consideration of the connectrod's 20 own rotation. The width of the longitudinal slot 17 is so selected, that it provides sufficient play for the deviation which varies in accordance with the vertical position of the frame 2, but is still tolerable, so that the detent teeth in release position extend approximately in the longitudinal center of the slot or slots, respectively.

As can be noted in particular from FIG. 2, the release direction of swing of the operating levers 19 lies in the direction of the slot ends 17" which face each other. Accordingly an opposite alignment of the operating levers is established also in the basic locked position. This has in particular the advantage, that the driver can easily determine by touch whether it is the front or the rear lever of the adjusting handle.

The displaceable connecting rods 20 are acted on by an expanding force-storage spring 35. This is a leaf spring which is shaped into a ring. In its central region it is placed over pins 36 extending from the inside of the lengthwise arms of the seat-base frame 18. The spring has corresponding holes. In its longitudinal central plane, the force-storage spring 35 acts via supporting bearings 37 on the connecting rods 20. In this case also this spring is merely placed over pins 36. The spring force acts in the direction to change the height, so that by a change in weight of the person sitting in the seat, a raising of this half of the seat or of the other half of the seat takes place by means of the force-storage spring. The width of the spring does not extend beyond the height of the vertical arm of the longitudinal arm made of angle iron of the seat-base frame 18. Extension links and toggle lever links also are smaller than this vertical dimension, so that only the ends of the extension links which are on the seat-cushion frame side extend -- also in order to avoid self-locking -- beyond the upper edge 18' of the frame, whereby an extremely compact construction with optimum stability is obtained.

The variation, shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, has the front-side end of each connecting rod 20 or of the pins 16 rigid provided with a toothed slat jaw 38. The latter in its turn lies on the outside of the longitudinal slot 17 there. The corresponding plate is turnable in view of the rotation of the pin 16 or rod 20 itself and in order to secure readiness for engagement is extended over by a fixed slat 18" located above it. A mating toothed slat 40, which can be swung out of the region of its toothed slat 39, cooperates with the jaw 38. The toothed slat is seated on the jaw 41 of an angle lever 43 which is swingable about the fixed pins 42 and the angle arm 44 of which extends horizontally in the basic position is bent slightly downward at its end at 45 and serves as operating handle. Bearing lugs 46 are cut from the horizontal angle arm 44 and bent upward, they being supported by the pivot pins 42 which pass through wings 47 extending from the frame 18. The teeth 48 of the toothed-slat jaw 38 and the teeth 49 of the mating toothed slat 40 of the jaw 41 extend parallel to the slot 17, as in the embodiment which was described by way of example above.

This tooth engagement is also under spring action. This spring carries the numeral 50 in the drawing.

The seat-base frame 18 rests on a box-shaped carrier 51 and can be moved back and forth in known manner with respect to the carrier. For this purpose it has a release handle 52 for a detent tooth 53 which cooperates with a stationary rack 54 of the carrier 51, the rack being guided in the channel 53.

Claims

We claim:

1. A seat, particularly for automotive vehicles, comprising:

a seat-cushion frame adjustable in height and inclination, two pairs of extension links;

a seat-base frame;

toggle lever links;

transverse-extending connecting rods; said seat cushion frame being connected via said two pairs of said extension links with said seat-base frame, said extension links being supported via said toggle lever links on said seat-base frame and being connected in pairs with each other by said transverse-extending connecting rods;

spring means, said connecting rods being urged by said spring means into a raised position of said seat-cushion frame and displaceably guided in slots in said seat-base frame;

a releasable tooth-engagement lock, including teeth disposed within the range of said slots between each of said connecting rods and said seat-base frame such that said teeth being directed parallel to the plane of said slot, and wherein said connecting rods are tubular, a separate pin is disposed in each of said connecting rods and passing through said slot, being urged by spring means in the direction of rotation, and equipped with an operating lever, said pins are provided within the range of said slot with two diametrically opposite detent teeth, said teeth engage in an inclined position to said slot on oppositely disposed toothed slats extending parallel to edges of said slot.

2. The seat, as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said pins are slot-slide pins of said extension links.

3. The seat, as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said pins are charged by torsion springs disposed within said tubular connecting rods.

4. The seat, as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said connecting rods are charged by a force-storage spring for spreading apart said connecting rods.

5. The seat, as set forth in claim 1, wherein

the swing-release direction of said operating levers is disposed in the direction of the ends of said longitudinal slot which ends point towards each other.

6. The seat, as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said toothed slats are formed of plates placed on arms of said seat frame and include an opening,

7. The seat, as set forth in claim 1, which includes

a stop limiting the rotation of said pins such, that in one stop position said detent teeth of said pin are disposed opposite each other about in the longitudinal central plane of said slot.

8. An adjustable seat for an automotive vehicle comprising:

a seat-base frame;

a seat-cushion frame overlying said seat-base frame;

a pair of first links pivotally connected to one of said frames and swingable about a fixed axis thereon;

a shaft interconnecting said links at said axis for joint angular displacement and spanning said one of said frames;

a pair of second links each pivotally connected to one of said links and to the other of said frames at a fixed location thereon;

means on said other frame defining a horizontal slot;

a toothed locking member guided by said slot;

shaft means interconnecting said first links and defining a second axis parallel to the first-mentioned axis and perpendicular to said slot, said shaft means spanning said other frame; and

a toothed member cooperating with said locking member for fixing same in an adjusted position along said slot, one of said members having a row of teeth extending along said slot and engageable with at least one tooth formed in the other member, said locking member being angularly displaceable relative to the axis defined by said shaft means, and one of said members being angularly displaceable through a small fraction of a revolution to disengage the teeth of said members from each other.

9. The seat defined in claim 8 wherein said locking member is a toothed disk guided in said slot in fixed orientation and having a row of teeth thereon and the member engageable therewith is a flap formed with a rack parallel to said slot and swingable about an axis parallel thereto.