Vehicle seat with a seat padding, in particular for an aircraft seat

• US 5,564,144 A
• Filed: 10/25/1994
• Issued: 10/15/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CA Greiner & Sohne GmbH
• Original Assignee: CA Greiner & Sohne GmbH
• Inventors: Weingartner, Rudolf, Moseneder, Johann
• Primary Examiner(s): Milano, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US08/328,421
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: 5/463, 5/464, 5/653, 5/481, 297/452.27, 297/452.37, 297/452.53
• US Class Current: 297/452.27
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 31/001 Fireproof means
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/26 with reinforcement of the external layer of the upholstery, e.g. vandal resistant
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/242 Bus seats
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/70 Upholstery springs ; Upholstery

Abstract

The invention relates to a vehicle seat with a seat padding (4), in particular for an aircraft seat, of the type comprising a supporting body (6) of foamed plastic, which consists of a supporting part (7) of a resilient plastic foam (42) having a first specific gravity and a sitting part (8) of a resilient plastic foam with a second specific gravity which is less than the specific gravity of the supporting part (7) and an upholstery material (62), which are connected, in particular are glued in places together. Between the supporting body (6) and the upholstery material (62), if required, a flame-resistant intermediate layer (51) formed from a lattice or from high temperature-resistant fibers or threads (52), is arranged in a lattice form. At least over a portion of the thickness (12) of the supporting part (7) and/or of the sitting part (8) between a front and/or back leading edge (11, 25) of the supporting part and/or sitting part (7, 8) and approximately in a central region thereof, an insert piece (9,84) is arranged. The latter has a greater hardness than the supporting and/or sitting part (7,8). The specific gravity of the insert piece (9,84) is less than the first specific gravity of the supporting part (7).

Claims

1. A seat padding for a vehicle seat comprising a supporting body and an outer covering material, the supporting body extending from a front edge through a center region to a rear edge and having lateral edges defining the width of the supporting body, the front and rear edges defining the depth of the supporting body, and the supporting body comprising

(a) a supporting part of a resilient plastic foam having a first specific gravity, the supporting part having

(1) an upper side and

(2) an underside opposite the upper side,

(b) a sitting part of a resilient plastic foam having a second specific gravity which is less than the first specific gravity, the sitting part having

(1) an upper side and

(2) a bearing face opposite the upper side,

(3) the bearing face of the sitting part facing the upper side of the supporting part and

(4) the sitting part being superposed on the supporting part and being connected thereto, and

(c) an insert piece of resilient plastic foam forming a portion of the supporting part and being arranged between the front edge of the supporting body and about the center region thereof, the insert piece

(1) having a third specific gravity which is less than at least one of the specific gravities of the parts and a hardness greater than that of at least one of the parts,

(2) extending over at least a portion of the thickness of the supporting part, and

(3) having a connecting face facing a front end face of the supporting part, the connecting and front end faces being connected to each other.

2. The seat padding of claim 1, comprising a further insert piece forming a portion of the supporting part and being arranged between the rear edge of the supporting body and about the center region thereof, the further insert piece extending over at least a portion of the thickness of the supporting part, and having a connecting face facing a rear end face of the supporting part, the connecting and rear end faces being connected to each other.

3. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein at least one of the insert pieces extends over 20% to 80% of the thickness of the supporting part.

4. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein at least one of the insert pieces extends over at least a portion of the thickness of the sitting part.

5. The seat padding of claim 4, wherein the portion of the thickness of the sitting part does not exceed 30% of the thickness.

6. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein the insert pieces have an identical specific gravity.

7. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein at least one of the insert pieces consists of a closed-cell plastic foam.

8. The seat padding of claim 7, wherein the closed-cell plastic foam is a polyethylene foam.

9. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein at least one of the insert pieces has a specific gravity of 15-50 kg/cu.m.

10. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein at least one of the insert pieces extends over the width of the supporting body.

11. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein the connecting face of at least one of the insert pieces comprises at least two support faces which are offset from each other in the direction of the depth of the supporting body.

12. The seat padding of claim 11, wherein respective ones of the support faces are inclined to each other to form steps.

13. The seat padding of claim 1, wherein the insert piece has a shank adjacent the front edge and projecting beyond the underside of the supporting part.

14. The seat padding of claim 13, wherein the shank has support legs projecting beyond an end face of the shank.

15. The seat padding of claim 2, wherein at least one of the insert pieces is flame-resistant.

16. The seat padding of claim 1, wherein the supporting part has a hardness from 350 N to 550 N.

17. The seat padding of claim 1, wherein the sitting part has a hardness from 120 N to 300 N.

18. The seat padding of claim 1, further comprising a flame-resistant intermediate layer of high temperature-resistant fibrous material arranged between the supporting body and the outer covering material.

19. The seat padding of claim 18, wherein the fibrous material is a lattice of high temperature resistant threads.

20. The seat padding of claim 1, further comprising a spring core embedded in the supporting part and arranged between the insert piece and the rear edge of the supporting body.

21. The seat padding of claim 20, further comprising a pressure distributing layer of wear-resistant and abrasion-proof material arranged between the spring core and the underside of the supporting part.

22. The seat padding of claim 1, further comprising a flame-retardant protective upholstery material bonded to the underside of the supporting part.

23. The seat padding of claim 1, further comprising a three-layer laminate arranged between the supporting body and the outer covering material, the laminate including an intermediate layer consisting of a batt of interconnected fibers.

24. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the laminate further includes a substrate layer consisting of a fabric or lattice of threads of a material selected from the group of synthetic resins, glass and natural materials.

25. The seat padding of claim 24, wherein the threads have a strength of dtex of 22/1.

26. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the substrate layer comprises 80 to 180 stitch rows/dm length.

27. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the substrate layer comprises 40 to 140 stitch wales/dm length.

28. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the substrate layer consists of three times 400 to 1500 threads/surface unit.

29. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the substrate layer has longitudinal and transverse extensibility of 30% to 50%.

30. The seat padding of claim 14, wherein the substrate layer withstands a maximum tensile force of 200 to 500 N in the longitudinal and transverse directions.

31. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the substrate layer has a tearing strength of 240 to 500 N/cm in the longitudinal and transverse directions.

32. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the fibers of the batt consist predominantly of a natural material.

33. The seat padding of claim 32, wherein the natural material is selected from the group consisting of wool and cotton, and from 5% to 20% of synthetic resin fibers are admixed to the natural material fibers, the synthetic resin being selected from the group consisting of polypropylene, polyethylene and polyacrylate.

34. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the fibers of the batt consist of a synthetic resin selected from the group consisting of polypropylene, polyethylene, polyacrylate and polybenzimidazole, and at least a portion of said fibers have a fusion temperature above 1000°

C.

35. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein a portion of the fibers of the batt is comprised of thermoplastic synthetic resin fibers.

36. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the fibers of the batt consist of a synthetic resin material having a melting point of 100°

C. to 150°

C.

37. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the fibers of the batt have a length of 40 to 80 mm.

38. The seat padding of claim 23, wherein the batt is compressed to a weight of 300 to 500 g/sq.cm.

39. The seat padding of claim 24, wherein the laminate includes a further layer arranged on the batt opposite the substrate layer.

40. The seat padding of claim 39, wherein the further layer is connected to the fibers of the batt by needling.

41. The seat padding of claim 39, wherein the further layer consists of a fabric or lattice of fibers of an inorganic material.

42. The seat padding of claim 39, wherein the further layer has a weight of 80 to 185 g/sq.m.

43. The seat padding of claim 24, further comprising a device connecting the outer covering material to the substrate layer.

44. The seat padding of claim 43, wherein the connecting device is a burred tape.