Translatable head restraint for automotive seat backrest

• US 6,767,064 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2002
• Issued: 07/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2002
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lear Corporation
• Inventors: Veine, Eric C., Mulvihill, James C., Fowler, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuomo, Peter M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCPARTLIN, SARAH BURNHAM
• Application Number:
  US10/083,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20030160481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 297/391, 297/406, 745/005, 745/016, 745/02, 745/022
• US Class Current: 297/391
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/865 providing a fore-and-aft movement with respect to the occupant's head
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/888 with arrangements for protecting against abnormal g-forces, e.g. by displacement of the head-rest

Abstract

An occupant seat of a motor vehicle includes a backrest, and a headrest mounted atop the backrest on a pair of posts. The headrest includes a base portion supported by the posts, and an occupant-engaging contact portion that is supported by the base portion for relative translational movement along a pair of tracks defined on the base portion. In response to a suitable control signal, such as the tensioning of a Bowden cable in response to an applied force, the contact portion moves under the control of an articulated linkage against a return spring bias and away from the base portion. The translational movement of the contact portion relative to the base portion serves to control contact surface inclination throughout the range of movement of the contact portion relative to the base portion.

Claims

1. A backrest for an occupant seat of a motor vehicle comprising:

a backrest frame;

a headrest including a base portion supported atop the backrest frame, an occupant-engaging contact portion supported for relative translational movement on the base portion, an articulated spread-lever arrangement linking the base portion and the contact portion and operative to displace the contact portion away from the base portion upon relative rotation of a first link of the arrangement relative to a second link of the arrangement, and a tension spring extending between the contact portion and the base portion urging the contact portion toward the base portion;

an actuator for imparting a rotation of the first link of the arrangement relative to the second link of the arrangement, whereby the contact portion is controllably translated relative to the base portion, the actuator including a Bowden cable operative to impart a rotation of the first link relative to the second link when tensioned; and

a cam that is eccentrically mounted on the backrest frame for rotation in response to an occupant inertial force applied against the backrest frame, and wherein the Bowden cable is secured to a surface of the cam such that the Bowden cable is tensioned upon relative rotation of the cam.

2. The vehicle backrest of claim 1, wherein the base portion of the headrest includes a track, and wherein the contact portion of the headrest is translated within the track.

3. The vehicle backrest of claim 2, wherein the track is integrally formed in the base portion.

4. The vehicle backrest of claim 1, wherein the arrangement includes an overcenter condition, whereby the contact portion locks at or near a maximally deployed position away from the base portion upon maximum rotation of the first link relative to the second link.

5. A backrest for an occupant seat of a motor vehicle comprising:

a backrest frame;

a headrest including a base portion supported atop the backrest frame, an occupant-engaging contact portion supported for relative translational movement on the base portion, an articulated spread-lever arrangement linking the base portion and the contact portion and operative to displace the contact portion away from the base portion upon relative rotation of a first link of the arrangement relative to a second link of the arrangement, and a tension spring extending between the contact portion and the base portion urging the contact portion toward the base portion;

an actuator for imparting a rotation of the first link of the arrangement relative to the second link of the arrangement, whereby the contact portion is controllably translated relative to the base portion, the actuator including a Bowden cable operative to impart a rotation of the first link relative to the second link when tensioned, the Bowden cable having a first end secured to the first link and a second end secured to the backrest frame;

a receiving block mounted on the backrest frame, the receiving block defining a pocket; and

a lever arm, mounted on the backrest frame for rotation in response to an occupant inertial force applied against the backrest frame, operative to increasingly urge a length of the Bowden cable laterally into the pocket of the receiving block with increasing applied force.

6. The vehicle backrest of claim 5, wherein the base portion of the headrest includes a track, and wherein the contact portion of the headrest is translated within the track.

7. The vehicle backrest of claim 6, wherein the track is integrally formed in the base portion.

8. The vehicle backrest of claim 5, wherein the arrangement includes an overcenter condition, whereby the contact portion locks at or near a maximally deployed position away from the base portion upon maximum rotation of the first link relative to the second link.