SEAT CUSHION
First Claim
1. A vehicle seat comprisinga deformable elastic bed including a series of deformable strips made of elastic material and arranged to lie in side-by-side relation to one another anda bed-firmness changer including a strip deformer comprising several inflatable bladders, each inflatable bladder being positioned to lie in a bladder-receiving space provided between a companion pair of adjacent deformable strips included in the deformable elastic bed and adapted to be coupled in fluid communication to a pressurized fluid source and a strip retainer configured to provide means for retaining the series of deformable strips in side-by-side relation to one another during deformation of the series of deformable strips caused in one instance by inflation of each inflatable bladder using pressurized fluid from the pressurized fluid source and a resulting expansion in size of each of the inflatable bladders and in another instance by deflation of each inflatable bladder to discharge pressurized fluid to the pressurized fluid source and a resulting contraction in size of each of the inflatable bladders so that firmness of the deformable elastic bed is increased in response to inflation of the inflatable bladders and is decreased in response to deflation of the inflatable bladders.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle seat (10) comprising a deformable elastic layer (24) including a series of deformable strips (S) made of elastic material and arranged to lie in side-by-side relation to one another and a layer-firmness changer (25) including a strip deformer (28) comprising several inflatable bladders (B), each inflatable bladder (B) being positioned to lie in a bladder-receiving space provided between a companion pair of adjacent deformable strips (S) included in the deformable elastic layer (24) and adapted to be coupled in fluid communication to a pressurized fluid source (20) and a strip retainer (26) configured to provide means for retaining the series of deformable strips (S) in side-by-side relation to one another during deformation of the deformable strips (S) caused in one instance by inflation of each inflatable bladder (B).
21 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A vehicle seat comprising
a deformable elastic bed including a series of deformable strips made of elastic material and arranged to lie in side-by-side relation to one another and a bed-firmness changer including a strip deformer comprising several inflatable bladders, each inflatable bladder being positioned to lie in a bladder-receiving space provided between a companion pair of adjacent deformable strips included in the deformable elastic bed and adapted to be coupled in fluid communication to a pressurized fluid source and a strip retainer configured to provide means for retaining the series of deformable strips in side-by-side relation to one another during deformation of the series of deformable strips caused in one instance by inflation of each inflatable bladder using pressurized fluid from the pressurized fluid source and a resulting expansion in size of each of the inflatable bladders and in another instance by deflation of each inflatable bladder to discharge pressurized fluid to the pressurized fluid source and a resulting contraction in size of each of the inflatable bladders so that firmness of the deformable elastic bed is increased in response to inflation of the inflatable bladders and is decreased in response to deflation of the inflatable bladders.
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15. A vehicle seat comprising
a deformable layer including a series of deformable strips made of elastic material and arranged to lie in side-by-side relation to one another and a layer-firmness changer including a strip deformer comprising at least one inflatable bladder, the inflatable bladder being positioned to lie in a bladder-receiving space provided between a pair of adjacent deformable strips included in the deformable layer and adapted to be coupled in fluid communication to a pressurized source.
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18-19. -19. (canceled)
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22-23. -23. (canceled)
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25-34. -34. (canceled)
Specification