SEATING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLE

• US 20150115680A1
• Filed: 03/26/2013
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tachi-S Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tachi-S Company Limited
• Inventors: Mabashi, Yohei, Shimomura, Yoshiyuki, Fujino, Shigeya, Sasaki, Katsuhiko, Imayou, Kazuya, Igarashi, Toshiki, Ishihara, Masao
• Granted Patent: US 9,511,689 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 297/334
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/06 slidable B60N2/12 , B60N2/2209 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/3013 the back-rest being hinged on the vehicle frame
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/3065 in a longitudinal-vertical plane
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/309 rods
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/43 Safety locks for back-rests B60N2/433
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/68 Seat frames
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/70 Upholstery springs ; Upholstery

Abstract

A seating apparatus for a vehicle, in which a seat cushion supported on the vehicle body by a link member can be flipped up toward the front of the vehicle from a use position and which includes a locking mechanism that operates only when the seat cushion is acted upon by an inertial force greater than a predetermined force in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, to temporarily prevent the seat cushion from flipping up. The locking mechanism includes a locking plate supported on the seat cushion and rockable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle between a normal position and a rocked position, and a spring for urging the locking plate toward the normal position. The locking plate locks the seat cushion to the link member when it is moved inertially to the rocked position against the force of the spring, to prevent the seat cushion from flipping up, and the locking plate unlocks the seat cushion when it is located in the normal position.

Claims

1-4. -4. (canceled)

5. A seating apparatus for a vehicle, in which a seat cushion is flipped up toward a front of the vehicle from a use position allowing a passenger to sit on the seat cushion, the seating apparatus comprising:

a link member which is pivotable in a manner such that the seat cushion is flipped up from the use position toward the front of the vehicle; and

a locking device associated with the seat cushion and capable of restricting pivotal movement of the link member,

wherein the locking device includes

a rocking member supported on the seat cushion and rockable between a normal position permitting the pivotal movement of the link member and a rocked position restricting the pivotal movement of the link member, and

an urging member which urges the rocking member toward the normal position,

wherein the rocking member includes

a weight which, in response to backward inertial force acting upon the seat cushion, rocks from the normal position to the rocked position due to the inertial force, against force of the urging member, and

a pawl which rocks from the normal position to the rocked position along with the weight and engages with the link member to restrict the pivotal movement of the link member.

6. The seating apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the link member extends in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and has a front end coupled to the vehicle body so as to be pivotable in the longitudinal direction and a rear end coupled to the seat cushion so as to be pivotable in the longitudinal direction.

7. The seating apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

forward rocking motion of the seat cushion from the use position about the front end of the link member is restricted by a restricting device, and the seat cushion is rocked forward by raising a front of the seat cushion from the use position about the rear end of the link member and then rocking the seat cushion forward about the front end of the link member.

8. The seating apparatus according to claim 7, wherein:

the seat cushion includes an engaging device capable of elastically engaging with and disengaging from the link member in the use position, and

the engaging device is disengaged from the link member by moving the front of the seat cushion upward.