MOTOR VEHICLE SEAT

• US 3,697,128 A
• Filed: 12/03/1969
• Issued: 10/10/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/1968
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Eberhard Faust, Werner Strien
• Original Assignee: Eberhard Faust, Werner Strien
• Inventors: Strien, Werner, Faust, Eberhard
• Primary Examiner(s): Zugel, Francis K.
• Application Number:
  US04/881,687
• Time in Patent Office: 1,042 Days
• Field of Search: 297/216,386,389,378,379,388,284,361
• US Class Current: 297/216.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/028 Elastically mounted back-rests
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/045 Longitudinal adjustment by means of articulated rods supporting the seat, e.g. parallelogram mechanisms B60N2/38 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4221 due to impact coming from the front
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/42709 involving residual deformation or fracture of the structure
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/42736 of the whole seat

Abstract

A seat construction for a motor vehicle in which the seat occupant is strapped to the back rest by a safety belt which is secured to the seat rather than to the vehicle body and in which energy-absorbing or dissipating means are provided for consuming a considerable amount of the energy which is produced by the forward propulsion of the seat occupant, for example, in a headon collision, so that the pressure which is then exerted by the safety strap upon the body of the seat occupant will not exceed the bearable limit and this person will thus not be injured at least by the safety belt.

Claims

1. A seat for a motor vehicle having a seat part and a back rest pivotally connected to said seat part near the rear end of the latter so as to be pivotable about an axis extending substantially horizontally and transversely to the longitudinal direction of said seat part, a seat occupant being adapted to be strapped by a safety belt which is secured to the seat and at least one end of which is secured to the back rest, a truss means supporting said seat part and being mounted on said base, said truss means comprising a plurality of rods and joints connecting the adjacent rods to each other and being disposed in a plane extending substantially normal to said base and combination energy-dissipating means and back rest adjusting means for manually adjusting the normal angle of inclination of said back rest relative to said seat part, said combination energydissipating and back rest adjusting means being interposed in at least one of said rods of said truss means and being connected to said seat part.

2. A seat as defined in claim 1, in which said truss means comprise one first truss on at least one lateral side of said back rest and a second truss on the same side of said seat part and connected to said first truss.

3. A seat as defined in claim 1, in which said rods of said truss means are connected to each other by joints so as to form a triangle.

4. A seat as defined in claim 2, in which the rods of each of said first and second trusses are connected to each other by joints so as to form a triangle, two adjacent rods of said seat-part truss projecting upwardly, one of said two rods being common with and also forming one of the rods of said back-rest truss, and the joints on the ends of said common rod connecting the same to the two other rods of each of said trusses.

5. A seat as defined in claim 4, in which at least two of said joints of said two trusses form hinges pivotably connecting the rods adjacent to said hinges so as to be pivotable relative to each other within the plane of said truss means.

6. A seat as defined in claim 1, in which said combination energy-dissipating and back rest adjusting means comprise at least two elements, one of said elements being movable relative to the other element so as to act thereon in a manner so as permanently to deform the same when said pressure of said safety belt upon the body of said seat occupant reaches substantially said bearable limit.

7. A seat as defined in claim 1, in which said combination energy-dissipating means and back rest adjusting means are adapted to consume energy when subjected to compressive stresses and also when subjected to tensile stresses.