Seat back of a vehicle seat with a seat back frame in the form of a pressed piece of sheet iron

• US 6,607,247 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2001
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: C ROB Hammerstein GmbH & Company KG (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: C ROB Hammerstein GmbH & Company KG (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Strenger, Martin, Becker, Burkhard, Houston, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuomo, Peter M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARRIS, STEPHANIE N
• Application Number:
  US09/903,043
• Publication Number:
  US 20020024248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 297/452.17, 297/216.13, 297/452.18, 297/452.2, 297/216.14
• US Class Current: 297/452.18
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4228 due to impact coming from the rear
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/4256 the shape of the seat being specially adapted for a particular purpose or for particular vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/68 Seat frames

Abstract

A seat back frame of a vehicle seat is formed out of a sheet iron blank into a pressed piece of sheet iron. The seat back frame is provided with a main region and with a border oriented transversely to the main region. The border is composed of merging portions, and has a top border, a left and a right bent corner border and a left and a right lateral border. A left and a right stiffening bead is provided and located in an upper end region of the corresponding lateral border and in a portion of the main region a) that is directly adjacent the upper end region and that is b) in the neighborhood of the corresponding corner border.

Claims

1. A seat back of a vehicle seat, said seat back having a seat back frame in the form of a pressed piece of sheet iron, which pressed piece of sheet iron has been formed out of a sheet iron blank by a pressing process, said seat back frame being provided with a main region and with a border, said border being oriented transversely to said main region, said border being composed of the following merging border portions:

a left lateral border, a left bent corner border, a top border, a right bent corner border, and a right lateral border, said left lateral border and said right lateral border each having an upper end region, the seat back frame further comprising a left stiffening bead and a right stiffening bead, said left stiffening bead being located both in the upper end region of the left lateral border and in the main region, namely in a portion of the main region that is a) directly adjacent said upper end region and that is b) in the neighborhood of the left bent corner border, said right stiffening bead being located both in the upper end region of the right lateral border and in the main region, namely in a portion of the main region that is a) directly adjacent said upper end region and that is b) in the neighborhood of the right bent corner border.

2. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein the left stiffening bead forms a bead edge, which bead edge is located between the upper end region of the left lateral border and the directly adjacent portion of the main region, said bead edge being oriented offset with respect to an edge between the main region and the left lateral border underneath the upper end region of the left lateral border, and the right stiffening bead forms a bead edge, which bead edge is located between the upper end region of the right lateral border and the directly adjacent portion of the main region, said bead edge being oriented offset with respect to an edge between the main region and the right lateral border underneath the upper end region of the right lateral border.

3. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead are each offset in the main region in the same direction in which the border protrudes and are each inwardly offset in the region of the left and right lateral borders.

4. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein an arch-shaped strip of the main region is provided for between the left and right bent corner borders and each of the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead.

5. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein in the form pressed sheet iron each of the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening beads are offset by 3 to 30 mm relative to the sheet iron blank and the border.

6. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein each of the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead has, in a direction transversal to the top border, that is from the top downward, an extension in length which is about double the length of the upper end region of the left and right lateral border.

7. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein the border has a free end, said free end of the border being located outside each of the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead.

8. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein each of the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead is adjacent the corner border but does not extend into said left and right bent corner borders.

9. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein at the left and the right side respectively underneath each of the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead, there is provided a side bead that is spaced from the left stiffening bead and the right stiffening bead and that is realized both in the left and right lateral borders and in an adjacent portion of the main region.

10. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein the border has a free end, the free end of the border being bent back outward to form a shoulder.

11. A seat back according to claim 9, wherein the border has a free end, said free end of the border being located outside the side bead.

12. A seat back according to claim 9, wherein the side bead is located in a region of the upper half of the left and right lateral borders.

13. A seat back according to claim 1, wherein the sheet iron blank in the left and right stiffening beads is offset by fifteen mm, relative to the sheet iron blank and the border.