Seat sliding apparatus and resin slider

• US 6,478,280 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2000
• Issued: 11/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji KIKO Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji KIKO Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Saitoh, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): WHITE, RODNEY BARNETT
• Application Number:
  US09/725,275
• Publication Number:
  US 20010024058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 297/344, 297/11, 248/429, 248/430
• US Class Current: 248/429
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0705 omega-shaped
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0715 C or U-shaped
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/075 roller-less

Abstract

A seat sliding apparatus has left and right rail pairs each including an upper rail for supporting a seat and a lower rail for fixing to a vehicle body. In each of the left and right rail pairs, left and right resin sliders are attached to lateral edges of the upper or lower rails, to facilitate sliding motion of the upper rail along the lower rail. Each resin slider has a larger engaging portion and a smaller engaging portion. The left and right resin sliders are arranged in parallel to each other, but extended in opposite direction, so that the larger engaging portion is ahead of the smaller engaging portion in one of the left and right resin slider whereas, in the other resin slider, smaller engaging portion is ahead of the larger engaging portion.

Claims

1. A seat sliding apparatus comprising:

at least one rail pair of first and second rails engaged with each other so that one is slidable on the other, each of the first and second rails extending longitudinally from a first longitudinal rail end to a second longitudinal rail end along each other, one of the first and second rails being a lower rail adapted to be fixed to a vehicle body, the other of the first and second rails being an upper rail adapted to be fixed to a seat, the first rail comprising first and second side portions each extending along the first rail and each comprising first and second unequal engaging holes which are spaced from each other along the first rail and which are unequal in size, the first engaging hole being located in front of the second engaging hole in the first side portion whereas, in the second side portion, the second engaging hole is located in front of the first engaging hole; and

two pairs of first and second resin sliders interposed between the first and second rails, and attached, respectively, to the first and second side portions of the first rail, each of the first and second resin sliders comprising first and second unequal engaging portions which are unequal in size, which are spaced along the first rail, and which are engaged, respectively, with the first and second engaging holes of one of the first and second side portions, the first engaging portion in the first resin slider being located in front of the second engaging portion along the first rail whereas, in the second resin slider, the second engaging portion is located in front of the first engaging portion along the first rail.

2. The seat sliding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first engaging holes are so sized to each accept one of the first engaging portions whereas the second engaging holes are so sized to reject each of the first engaging portions.

3. The seat sliding apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first and second resin sliders are substantially identical in size and shape, each of the first and second resin sliders extends longitudinally from a first longitudinal slider end to a second longitudinal slider end, the first engaging portion of each resin slider being located, along a longitudinal direction of the resin slider, between the first longitudinal slider end and the second engaging portion, and the second engaging portion of each resin slider being located, along the longitudinal direction of the resin slider, between the first engaging portion and the second longitudinal slider end, and the first and second resin sliders are placed in parallel to each other but in opposite directions.

4. The seat sliding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first engaging holes are longer, as measured a long the first rail, than the second engaging holes, and the first engaging portion s are longer, as measured along the first rail, than the second engaging portions.

5. The seat sliding apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the resin sliders has a U-shaped cross section, and comprises a thick wall section and a thin wall section which are placed on opposite sides of one of the first and second side portions of the first rail, and each of the engaging portions of each resin slider comprises an inward projection projecting from one of the thick wall section and the thin wall section toward the other and fitting in one of the engaging holes, and the inward projections of the first engaging portions of the resin sliders are longer, as measured along the first rail, than the inward projections of the second engaging portions of the resin sliders.

6. A resin slider for interposition between first and second rails of a seat sliding apparatus, the resin slider comprising:

first and second unequal wall sections defining a groove therebetween for receiving a rail edge of the first rail of the seat sliding apparatus, the first and second unequal wall sections being unequal in size; and

first and second unequal engaging portions which are spaced from each other along a longitudinal direction of the resin slider and which are unequal in size, the first engaging portion being adapted to engage with a first engaging hole formed in the rail edge of the first rail, the second engaging portion being adapted to engage with a second engaging hole formed in the rail edge of the first rail.

7. The resin slider as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first engaging portion is larger in size than the second engaging portion.