Seat lumbar motion chair, assembly and method

• US 5,735,574 A
• Filed: 09/24/1996
• Issued: 04/07/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Serber, Hector
• Original Assignee: Serber, Hector
• Inventors: Serber, Hector
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuomo, Peter M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITE, RODNEY BARNETT
• Application Number:
  US08/718,998
• Time in Patent Office: 560 Days
• Field of Search: 297/284.4, 297/216.15, 297/216.19, 297/216.1, 297/343, 297/318, 297/317, 297/320
• US Class Current: 297/284.4
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4221 due to impact coming from the front
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/42763 with anti-submarining systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/42781 mechanical triggering
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4279 electric or electronic triggering
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/66 Lumbar supports

Abstract

A seat and lumbar motion chair having a lumbar support assembly which is coupled to the seat and a mounting assembly mounting the seat and the lower end of the lumbar support for movement in a generally horizontal orientation in fore and aft directions. Movement of the seat is along an upwardly tilting path having a compound radius of curvature centered proximate to the mass of a person seated on the seat. The lumbar support mounting assembly is movable at two points, namely, in the fore and aft direction at the rear of the seat and pivotally at the back support. The seating apparatus further includes a back support positioned to engage the person'"'"'s upper back in the thoracic region. A method including the steps of employing a seat and lumbar support assembly mounted for movement relative to the back support along a fore and aft direction to maintain contact between the person'"'"'s buttocks with the seat and contact of the lower back with the lumbar support during motion of the person'"'"'s body. The chair can employ a shock absorber device to control seat motion, a seat pan formed with a pelvic cradle pocket, pummel and side bolsters, a seat pan safety net, specialized seat belts, and apparatus for selective adjustment of the reclining angle between said back support and the seat.

Claims

1. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly comprising:

a back support including a forwardly facing back surface;

a back support mounting assembly coupled to said back support and mounting said back support in a stationary position in a generally vertical orientation;

a seat having an upwardly facing seat surface;

a seat mounting assembly coupled to said seat and mounting said seat in a generally horizontal orientation proximate said back support for guided fore and aft movement of said seat along an upwardly tilting, arcuate path having an axis of curvature oriented parallel to said seat surface and to said back surface;

a lumbar support; and

a lumbar support mounting assembly mounting said lumbar support to proximate a rear of said seat for movement therewith and movably coupling said lumbar support to proximate a mid to full height of said back support for movement of said lumbar support in a manner following said fore and aft movement of said seat, whereby the buttocks and lumbar region of the user seated on said seat can remain supported in substantial contact with said seat and said lumbar support during fore and aft seat and body motion.

2. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said lumbar support top end is coupled to a mid height of said back support with axially pivoted means formed as a first axis of curvature for the rear of said seat, and a second axis of curvature for the front of said seat located below said seat, whereby said guided fore and aft movement of said seat changes to a downwardly tilting, arcuate path as said seat moves forward.

3. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said lumbar support is formed for mounting said top end coupled to said mid height of said back support with sliding means.

4. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said axis of curvature of said seat is located above 15 inches above said seat.

5. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said axis of curvature of said seat is located below 4 inches above said seat.

6. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said axis of curvature of said seat is located between 4 to 15 inches above said seat.

7. The seat assembly for vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said mounting means is formed to mount said seat in said vehicle for movement along an upwardly concaved arcuate path having a radius of curvature maintaining significant frictional contact between said seat, lumbar support, lower back and buttocks of a person seated on said seat during stopping of forward motion of said vehicle at a high rate of deceleration.

8. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said mounting means is formed to mount said seat in said vehicle for movement along an upwardly arcuate path having a radius of curvature selected to be sufficiently large to allow said seat to move forward to a position in front of the buttocks of said person and sufficiently small to convert a portion of the linear momentum of said person'"'"'s lower back and buttocks to angular momentum.

9. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said mounting means mounts said seat and lumbar support for substantially unrestrained movement along said arcuate path.

10. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 1,

said seat mounting means having a radius of curvature resisting submarining of the person'"'"'s legs and torso relative to a passenger restraining means provided in said vehicle proximate said seat.

11. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein,

the center of curvature of said concaved path is located proximate the center of lumbar curvature of said person'"'"'s spine when seated on said seat.

12. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 11 wherein,

an upper back support is mounted for selective adjustment of the fore and aft position of said back support relative to said post means.

13. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said seat mounting means is provided by a plurality of roller elements and an upwardly concaved track.

14. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 13 wherein,

said track is mounted to said seat, and

said roller elements are rotatably mounted between said track and said seat mounting assembly.

15. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 13 wherein,

said track is mounted to said seat mounting assembly,

sand said roller elements are rotatably mounted between said track and said seat.

16. A seat and lumbar motion chair assembly for a vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said seat mounting means mounts said seat for movement along an upwardly concaved path defined by a plurality of radii of curvature having centers of curvature positioned to provide a smooth path.

17. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said lower back support is coupled to said seat by rod means and follower means.

18. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 16 wherein,

said rod means is provided as a rod extending sideways of said seat, and said follower means is provided by an extension of said lower back support formed with an opening at each side therein dimensioned to pivotally receive said rod, said rod having a distal end extending through said opening.

19. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a locking device adapted to restrain said fore and aft movement of said seat for an initial impact force below a known threshold.

20. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

an inertia locking device to prevent movement of said seat relative said lumbar support at its steepest seat deployment angle during an initial impart to maintain a buttock anchor onto said seat during rapid deceleration.

21. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 20 wherein,

said inertia locking device has a locking release to allow the seat and lumbar support to return to its original position once the momentum of the crash is spent and dissipated.

22. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a shock absorber coupled to said seat and to said seat mounting assembly to permit displacement of said seat in a forward and upward direction and to cause resilient displacement in a downward direction against said shock absorbing means when deceleration forces on said seat and said person exceed a known threshold.

23. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a seat pan safety net formed to contain the load of a user'"'"'s lower body and adapted to be deformable into a sack shape, whereby the user'"'"'s buttock bones become anchored and contained in said seat safety net during a vehicle collision.

24. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a pair of curved runners mounting said seat on said mounting assembly, said pair of curved runners being deformable at a known threshold to provide resilient displacement of said seat after seat pan deformation whereby impact forces on a user'"'"'s body do not exceed the user'"'"'s ability to withstand abdominal pressure and muscular skeletal stress.

25. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said lumbar support portion is positioned to engage the lumbar region of a person seated on said seat, and said back mounting assembly is positioned to engage the lumbar region of said person during arcuate tilting of said seat during movement along said path.

26. The seat and lumbar motion chair assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein,

said seat mounting assembly includes a U-shaped frame with a transverse portion extending under said seat and two side post portions extending upwardly from said transverse portion on opposite sides of said seat to a position above said seat, said seat mounting assembly further including a pivotal mounting assembly on an upper end of each of said post portions mounting said seat to said post portions for pivotal movement about a substantially horizontal axis, and said seat mounting assembly further includes a mounting assembly for mounting said transverse portion of said frame to a base frame.

27. The seat and lumbar support assembly as defined in claim 26 wherein,

said back support is movable mounted to said post portions, and

a securement assembly releasably securing said seat back in a selected fixed relation to said post portions.

28. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 27 wherein,

said back support is mounted to said posts for selective adjustment of the reclining angle between said back support and said posts.

29. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 27 wherein,

said back support is movably mounted to said seat frame, and further comprising a selective securement assembly

for selective securement of the height of said back support relative to said frame members.

30. The seat and lumbar motion chair as defined in claim 27;

and

arm rest means mounted to said back support.

31. The seat and lumbar motion chair as defined in claim 1 wherein,

the seat assembly and auxiliary seat members are positioned proximate a periphery of said seat for engagement by the person'"'"'s buttocks, sides and thighs and said seat assembly and auxiliary seat members are mounted by said seat mounting assembly to be in a fixed relation relative to said seat.

32. A seating apparatus for humans comprising:

a. a seat;

b. a seat mounting assembly mounting said seat in a near horizontal orientation relative to a support surface for a movement of said seat along an upwardly arcuate path;

c. a back support mounted in a stationary generally vertical orientation proximate said seat; and

d. a lumbar support pivotably mounted to said back support proximate one end of said lumbar support and coupled to said seat proximate another end of said lumbar support for movement of said another end in a fore and aft direction and pivoting of said one end in response to movement of said seat in a fore and aft direction along said path said back support remaining in its stationary vertical orientation during movement of said lumbar support.

33. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 32 wherein,

a vertically extending back frame mounted to said seat frame;

and said back support is slidably mounted to said back frame.

34. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 32 wherein,

said back support is coupled to said seat by rod means and follower means.

35. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 34 wherein,

said rod means is positioned in parallel to the rear frame member of said seat, and said follower means is provided at each side lower frame member of said lumbar support formed with an opening therein dimensioned to pivotally receive said rod.

36. The seating apparatus as defined in claim 32 wherein,

said seat is mounted by said mounting assembly to a seat frame,

said seat frame includes a pair of load supporting posts extending upwardly to a position proximate said seat on opposite sides of said seat,

and said mounting assembly pivotally couples said seat to said post means at positions about said seat.

37. A method of reducing injury to a person seated in a seat of a vehicle during stopping of said vehicle at a high rate of deceleration comprising the steps of:

mounting a seat in said vehicle for movement in a direction oriented substantially parallel to a fore-aft axis of said vehicle along an upwardly arcuate path mounting a back support in a stationary, near vertical orientation proximate said seat;

pivotally coupling an upper portion of a lumbar support member to said back support; and

coupling a lower portion of said lumbar support member to said seat for movement with said seat.

38. The method as defined in claim 37 wherein,

said employing step is accomplished by mounting said seat and lumbar support for movement along an upwardly arcuate path having a center of curvature below the head of said person as seated on said seat.

39. The method as defined in claim 37, and the step of

mounting a passenger restraining means formed to engage said person proximate said seat mounting assembly maintaining contact of said person'"'"'s lumbar and buttocks with said lumbar support and seat and substantially preventing submarining of said person'"'"'s torso and legs relative to said seat and lumbar support.

40. The method as defined in claim 37 wherein,

said employing step is accomplished by mounting said seat for pivotal movement.

41. The method as defined in claim 40 wherein,

said employing step is accomplished by mounting said seat for curvilinear movement about two centers of curvature having two different radii of curvature.

42. The method as defined in claim 37, and the step of:

absorbing deceleration loading on said seat and lumbar support by shock absorber assembly which is resiliently displaceable at a deceleration force over a known threshold.

44. The method as defined in claim 37, and the step of

mounting a passenger restraining means formed to engage said person'"'"'s torso proximate said seat.

45. The method as defined in claim 37, further comprising the step of:

absorbing deceleration loading on said seat and lumbar support by shock absorber means which are resiliently displaceable at a deceleration force over a known threshold.

46. The method as defined in claim 37, and the step of:

coupling a movable portion of a back rest mounted proximate said seat for forward displacement when said seat moves in a forward direction.

47. The method as defined in claim 37, further comprising the step of:

controlling movement of said seat along said arcuate path by control means.

43. A method of reducing injury to a person seated in a seat of a vehicle during stopping of said vehicle at a high rate of deceleration comprising the step of:

employing a seat mounted in said vehicle for movement in a direction oriented substantially parallel to a fore-aft axis of said vehicle and mounted for movement in said direction along an upwardly concaved arcuate path having a center of curvature proximate the center of mass.