Safety seat equipped in automobile

• US 5,167,421 A
• Filed: 07/05/1991
• Issued: 12/01/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liu Yunzhao
• Original Assignee: Liu Yunzhao
• Inventors: Yunzhao, Liu
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorner, Kenneth J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nelson, Jr., Milton
• Application Number:
  US07/726,217
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 297/216, 296/68.1
• US Class Current: 297/216.18
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4221 due to impact coming from the front
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/42736 of the whole seat
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4279 electric or electronic triggering
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/43 Safety locks for back-rests B60N2/433

Abstract

A safety seat installed in a motor vehicle includes a safety belt, a movable seat and sensors. The movable seat is supported on pipe rails by ball rollers and is locked by a locking device controlled by electromagnetic force. The sensor has two metal elements which are separated from each other. When the motor vehicle collides with an obstruction the two metal elements contact each other and close an electric circuit whereby the locking device will release the seat under the action of an electromagnetic force. The seat is forced to move backward by the action of compressed springs, to prevent the driver and/or passenger on the front seat from being injured by damaging objects penetrating into the cab and/or the front seat.

Claims

1. A safety seat installed in a motor vehicle comprising a seat cushion, a seat back, a seat frame, a seat belt, a sensor unit, a seat cushion-supporting-iron plate, a locking device and compression springs used to move the seat backward, said seat frame having supporting legs attached to said seat frame and arranged on each side of said seat frame, said seat frame being movably arranged on a pair of rails fixed on the vehicle floor parallel to the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle, wherein:

said rails are pipe rails comprising steel pipes fixed on the vehicle floor and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle;

said pipes each comprise slots extending along the longitudinal direction of each of said steel pipes, formed in each side of an intermediate portion of each said steel pipe, the length of each said slot being greater than the sum of the moving distance of said seat and the distance between outer sides of two parallel seat shafts of said seat frame, the width of each said slot being greater than the diameter of each said seat shaft;

the longitudinal axis of each said slot in each steel pipe being coincident with the longitudinal axis of the steel pipe;

said two parallel seat shafts are respectively arranged on the supporting legs of said seat frame, and each seat shaft passes through said slots of said steel pipes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe, and ball rollers movably arranged in said steel pipes, movably supporting said seat frame on said pipe rails;

under the seat-cushion-supporting-iron plate of said seat frame, a guiding plate parallel to said seat-cushion-supporting iron plate, separated therefrom by a fixed distance, is secured to said seat frame;

a guiding hole is formed in said guiding plate;

a pin seat, extending vertically and made of magnetic material, is fixed on the guiding plate and between the seat-cushion-supporting iron plate and the guiding plate, said pin seat having a blind hole extending vertically;

the blind hole of the pin seat being concentric with the guiding hole in the guiding plate;

wherein a coil W is vertically arranged in the blind hole of the pin seat, a metal sleeve is concentrically arranged inside coil W, and a locking spring and a pin are arranged in said metal sleeve;

the vertical section of said pin is T-shaped, wherein the upper portion thereof has a larger diameter corresponding to an interior diameter of said metal sleeve, and the lower portion thereof has a smaller diameter corresponding to a diameter of said guiding hole in said guiding plate, and the pin can move vertically and reciprocally in said metal sleeve and is made of magnetic material;

said locking spring is arranged between the upper portion of said pin and the bottom of said pin seat blind hole;

a fixed socket is vertically secured to a socket plate which is fixed at the front portion of said rail, and said socket comprises a blind hole extending vertically upward, wherein the diameter of said blind hole corresponds to the diameter of the lower portion of said pin;

wherein in normal operation, the lower portion of said pin extends out from the metal sleeve into said blind hole of said pin seat under the action of the locking spring, and is inserted into the blind hole of said socket through the guiding hole in said guiding plate to be locked and, at the same time, a compression spring in front of the supporting legs of said seat frame is in a compressed state;

sheet sensors and pipe sensors are connected in parallel to form said sensor unit;

said sheet sensor is made of two easily deformable metal sheets between which there are a plurality of insulation blocks for separation thereof, and said metal sheets comprise two connecting terminals respectively;

said pipe sensor is made of an easily deformable thin wall metal pipe and a metal rod, said metal rod is arranged in the thin wall metal pipe wherein there is a gap between the exterior surface of said metal rod and the interior surface of said thin wall metal pipe and a plurality of insulation rings extend around said metal rod, wherein said metal rod and said thin wall metal pipe comprise two connecting terminals;

wherein said sensors are arranged on the front portion and front-side portion of a motor vehicle;

wherein a plurality of said sensors are connected in parallel to form a sensor unit R, and said sensor unit R is connected in parallel with checking switch K1 and serially connected with battery B, coil W and power switch K2.

2. A safety seat installed in a motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lower portion of said pin is of conical shape and the corresponding blind hole of said socket is a conical hole, shaped correspondingly to the lower portion of said pin.

3. A safety seat installed in a motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said sensor unit comprises pipe sensors connected in parallel.