Vehicle seat position control mechanism with neutral memory

• US 4,449,752 A
• Filed: 09/27/1979
• Issued: 05/22/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Yasumatsu, Jun, Mori, Mamoru, Owada, Akira, Nishiwaki, Toshihito
• Primary Examiner(s): Zugel, Francis K.
• Application Number:
  US06/079,567
• Time in Patent Office: 1,699 Days
• Field of Search: 297/341, 248/429, 248/430
• US Class Current: 297/341
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/123 and provided with memory locks

Abstract

A seat position control mechanism with a neutral position return mechanism for a front seat of a vehicle such as two-door sedan or hard top sedan incorporates a memory plate disposed outside the locking teeth of the locking plate of the seat slide adjusting device, a rockable lever journaled with the maneuverable shaft rockably secured to the locking lever, and connecting means connected from the rockable lever to the back rest of the front seat, in addition to the ordinary seat slide adjusting device. The rockable lever is always urged by the rotating force of the torsion spring in the seat locking direction so that the maneuverable shaft can be locked or unlocked regardless of the rockable lever. Thus, the entire mechanism is low bulky, compact and light with simple construction, and the front seat can be smoothly slid without interference with the rockable lever and other members.

Claims

1. A neutral position return mechanism for a vehicle seat having a seat track including a lower rail, a locking plate secured to the lower rail, an upper rail slidably carried on the lower rail, a locking lever engageable with a series of locking teeth of the locking plate and a maneuverable shaft fixedly secured to the locking lever which is always rotatably urged by the rotating force of a torsion spring in a seat locking direction comprising:

a memory member, elastically disposed at a side end thereof and outside the locking teeth of the locking plate, extending along the zone of the locking teeth of the locking plate from a neutral position of the seat toward the forward portion of the vehicle, said memory member being spaced from said locking plate so that a gap is formed between said memory member and said locking plate,

a rotatable member rotatably journaled with the maneuverable shaft and disposed at the end thereof within the gap between said memory and the locking plate so that the side end of said memory member is located within a rotating trace of said rotatable member at positions along the length of said locking plate, and

a connecting means between said rotatable member and a back of said vehicle seat for rotating said rotatable member against a biasing force of said torsion spring in a disengaging direction upon forward tilting of the back of said vehicle seat,

said rotatable member being rotatable by movement of said connecting means in a disengaging direction from a locking position of the locking lever, where it engages the locking teeth of said locking plate, to a disengaged position, where the locking lever is disengaged from the teeth of the locking plate and the end of the rotatable member moved out of said side end of said memory member, and

said memory member being disposed at said side end thereof outside the teeth of the locking plate and disposed within the rotating trace of the end of said rotatable member so that the surface of said rotatable member nearest said locking lever retains the locking lever in the disengaged position when the end of said rotatable member contacts the outside of said side end of said memory member.

2. A vehicle seat control mechanism in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a handle portion integrally formed with the maneuverable shaft for drivably rotating the maneuverable shaft to a position where the locking lever is disengaged from the locking teeth of said locking plate.

3. A vehicle position control mechanism in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a lug member integrally adjacent to and extending from the locking lever toward the surface of said rotatable lever nearest said locking lever so that the lug elastically contacts the surface of said locking lever nearest said locking lever by means of the tension of the torsion spring.

4. A vehicle seat position control mechanism in accordance with claim 1, wherein a locking hole is provided in the locking lever to engage the teeth of the locking plate.