Vehicle seat with height adjustable seat cushion

• US 5,997,083 A
• Filed: 08/19/1997
• Issued: 12/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Araco Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Araco Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Yoshikawa, Yasushi, Ono, Daisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuomo, Peter M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Allred, David E.
• Application Number:
  US08/915,302
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 297/338, 297/339, 297/284.3, 297/284.9, 297/237, 297/236, 297/284.11, 297/235, 297/234, 297/75
• US Class Current: 297/237
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/3086 Disappearing in a recess of the cushion
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/309 rods

Abstract

A vehicle seat, the seat cushion of which is divided into front and rear cushions in a fore-and-aft direction. The front cushion is rotatably mounted at its front-side lower end on a front end of a cushion frame of the vehicle seat to be tilted forward or backward. The rear cushion is placed behind the front cushion and supported by a lift mechanism mounted on a rear portion of the cushion frame. The lift mechanism is interlocked with the front cushion to raise the rear cushion to an upper position when the front cushion is tilted forward and to lower the rear cushion and place it behind the front cushion on the cushion frame in a horizontal condition when the front cushion is tilted backward and placed on the cushion frame.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat having a seat cushion that comprises a front cushion pivoted at its front-side lower end on a front end of a cushion frame of the vehicle seat so as to be pivotally tilted forward or backward, and a rear cushion positioned behind said front cushion and supported by a lift mechanism mounted on a rear portion of said cushion frame,

wherein said lift mechanism is composed of a pair of laterally spaced link mechanisms mounted in parallel on a base plate fixedly placed on said cushion frame, said base plate having a pair of laterally spaced upward side flanges each formed with front and rear guide grooves in the fore-and-aft direction of said cushion frame, and

wherein said link mechanisms each include front and rear link members rotatably connected at their upper ends in parallel to a side portion of said rear cushion and supported at their lower ends in parallel on each upward side flange of said base plate in such a manner as to be displaced forward or backward along said front and rear guide grooves, a support leg rotatably connected at its lower end to a front end of each upward side flange of said base plate and at its upper end to the side portion of said rear cushion together with the upper end of said rear link member, a support arm rotatably connected at its rear end to the lower end of said front link member and connected at its front end to a side portion of said front cushion at a position behind a rotation fulcrum of said front cushion, and a connecting member rotatably connected at its front end to the lower end of said front link member and at its rear end to the lower end of said rear link member.

2. A vehicle seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said link mechanisms are interconnected by means of a lateral connecting rod fixed to each lower end of said front link member at its opposite ends, and wherein said retention mechanism includes a lateral support rod rotatably supported on each upward side flange of said base plate at its opposite ends at a position spaced forward from said lateral connecting rod, a hook fixed to said lateral support rod for rotation therewith to be brought into engagement with said lateral connecting rod by abutment therewith, a spring for resiliently engaging said hook with said lateral connecting rod, and an operation member connected with said hook to move said hook against a bias of said spring.