Manually operable seat adjustor assembly

• US 4,779,832 A
• Filed: 07/20/1987
• Issued: 10/25/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Rees, Richard W. A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramirez, Ramon O.
• Application Number:
  US07/075,513
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 248/421, 248/422, 248/162.1, 248/123.1, 248/157, 248/371, 297/347, 297/345, 296/65 R
• US Class Current: 248/421
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/1615 Parallelogram-like structure
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/1675 with weight compensating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/1685 characterised by a lock
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/169 Stepwise movement mechanisms, e.g. ratchets B60N2/167 takes precedence

Abstract

A manually operable seat adjustor assembly that combines the ease of operation of a long lever actuator, with the compactness of a short handle actuator. A handle assembly including an outer casing and an inner push rod movable within is pivoted to the side of the seat pan in common with a rear link of the seat supporting linkage. The tip of a locking rod passes through one of a series of positive detents, through a straight slot in the rear link, and through a clearance slot in the casing that has a straight portion alignable with the rear link straight slot. When the slots are so aligned, pushing on the push rod moves the locking rod tip out of the detent to free the linkage and into the aligned slots to rigidly hold the handle assembly to the rear link. Then, the linkage may be easily moved with the mechanical advantage of the entire handle, but when the handle is released, it pivots down freely under its own weight about the common pivot to an out of the way stored position alongside the seat pan.

Claims

1. A compact and easily actuatable seat adjuster assembly for manually adjusting the vertiacl height of the cushion support of a vehicle seat, comprising,

a main frame mounted to said vehicle,

a front link pivoted to both said main frame and to said cushion support,

a rear link pivoted both to said main frame and to said cushion support, said rear link further having an intermediate straight slot,

counterbalancing means acting to substantially counteract the weight of a seated adjuster assembly operator,

a series of positive detents arranged along an arc about said rear link-main frame pivot,

a handle assembly including an elongated outer casing and an inner elongated push rod, said push rod extending out of the front of said casing, said casing also being pivoted commonly to said rear link-cushion support pivot and extending forward from said rear link-cushion support pivot far enough to be easily grasped by said operator, said casing further having a slot therein with an arcuate portion defined about said common pivot and a straight portion extending generally along the axis of said casing and sized so that said handle assembly may be rotated to a ready position where said casing slot straight portion and rear link straight slot are aligned,

a locking member engageable with any of said positive detents and also extending through said rear link straight slot and closely through said casing slot arcuate portion,

biasing means acting to continually bias said locking member into engagement with one of said detents whereby said rear link is prevented from moving relative to said frame and said cushion support is locked at a corresponding height, said biasing means also acting to concurrently bias said locking member out of said casing slot straight portion and into said casing slot arcuate portion and to a position proximate but clear of the back end of said push rod, so that said handle assembly will naturally fall to a stored position along the side of said cushion support as said locking member moves through said casing slot arcuate portion,

whereby said locking member is captured within said casing slot arcuate portion until said handle assembly is rotated up from said stored position to said ready position, whereupon the operator pushes said push rod into said casing, thereby pushing said locking member out of engagement with said detent and into said aligned casing slot straight portion and rear link straight slot, thereby rigidly holding said casing relative to said rear link so that an operator may rotate said rear link up or down to move said cushion support to a different height in conjunction with said counterbalancing means with a lever arm corresponding to substantially the entire length of said handle assembly, at which point the operator releases said push rod to allow said biasing means to move said locking member into a different detent and back into said said casing slot arcuate portion, thereby recapturing said locking member and allowing said handle assembly to fall back to said stored position.

2. A compact and easily actuatable seat adjuster assembly for manually adjusting the vertical height of the cushion support of a vehicle seat, comprising,

a main frame mounted to said vehicle,

a front link pivoted to both said main frame and to said cushion support,

a rear link pivoted both to said main frame and to said cushion support, said rear link further having an intermediate straight slot,

counterbalancing means acting to substantially counteract the weight of a seated adjuster assembly operator,

a series of positive detents arranged along an arc about said rear link-main frame pivot,

a handle assembly including an elongated outer casing and an inner elongated push rod, said push rod extending out of the front of said casing, said casing also being pivoted commonly to said rear link-cushion support pivot and extending forward from said rear link-cushion support pivot far enough to be easily grasped by said operator, said casing further having a slot therein with an arcuate portion defined about said common pivot and a straight portion extending generally along the axis of said casing and sized so that said handle assembly may be rotated to a ready position where said casing slot straight portion and rear link straight slot are aligned, said push rod further having an arcuate back edge defined about said common pivot contiguous to said casing slot arcuate portion,

a locking rod having an end engageable with any of said main frame detents and extending through said rear link straight slot and closely through said casing slot arcuate portion,

a tension spring hooked between said locking rod and said common pivot to continually pull said locking rod end into engagement with one of said detents, so that said rear link is prevented from moving relative to said frame and said cushion support is locked at a corresponding height and so that said handle assembly will naturally fall to a stored position along the side of said cushion support as said locking rod end moves through said casing slot arcuate portion and along the arcuate back edge of said push rod,

whereby said locking member is captured within said casing slot arcuate portion until said handle assembly is rotated up from said stored position to said ready position, whereupon the operator pushes said push rod into said casing, thereby stretching said tension spring and pushing said locking rod end with said push rod back edge out of engagement with said detent and into said aligned casing slot straight portion and rear link straight slot, thereby rigidly holding said casing relative to said rear link so that an operator may rotate said rear link up or down to move said cushion support to a different height in conjunction with said counterbalancing means with a lever arm corresponding to substantially the entire length of said handle assembly, at which point the operator releases said push rod to allow said tension spring to pull said locking rod end into a different detent and back into said said casing slot arcuate portion, thereby recapturing said locking member and allowing said handle assembly to fall back to said stored position.