Vehicle seat

• US 8,632,128 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TS Tech Company Limited
• Original Assignee: TS Tech Company Limited
• Inventors: Omori, Misao
• Primary Examiner(s): Nelson, Jr., Milton
• Application Number:
  US12/377,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20110148164A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,346 Days
• Field of Search: 297/341, 297/378.12, 297/367.R, 297/342, 297/354.13
• US Class Current: 297/341
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/12 slidable and tiltable
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/123 and provided with memory locks
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2358 and provided with memory locks
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/236 linearly movable

Abstract

A vehicle seat includes a reclining mechanism having a lock member, which is engaged with a ring member when it is pressed by a cam body, and a walk-in mechanism. A rotating arm, which is rotated by operation of a reclining lever or a walk-in lever, is secured to a center shaft. The reclining lever operates the rotation of the rotating arm by a link lever having a slot. The walk-in lever operates the rotation of the rotating arm independently of the reclining lever. When a seatback is tilted forward by the operation of the walk-in lever, the slide mechanism of the vehicle seat is unlocked, and the entire seat is moved forward.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat comprising:

a seat bottom movable forward and backward by a slide mechanism;

a seatback installed to the seat bottom to be adjustable in tilt angle on a center shaft by a reclining mechanism;

the reclining mechanism configured in a manner such that an arc gear is formed at the inner circumference of a perfectly circular ring member, a lock member having a lock gear unit is provided on the inside of the ring member, the lock member is locked and unlocked in and from the arc gear by a cam unit, and the cam unit is configured to be engaged with and disengaged from the arc gear by rotation of the center shaft disposed inside the ring member; and

a rotatable arm that is installed to the center shaft and rotates by manipulation of a reclining lever or a walk-in lever so as to unlock the reclining mechanism,

wherein the reclining lever rotates the rotatable arm by a link lever having a slot,

the walk-in lever is configured to be able to manipulate the rotatable arm independently of the reclining lever, and

the slide mechanism is unlocked to advance the whole seat, resulting in a walk-in state when the walk-in lever is manipulated in a manner of tilting the seatback forward.

2. The vehicle seat according to claim 1,

wherein the reclining lever is installed to a bottom bracket,

the rotatable arm is connected to a cable transmitting the manipulation of the walk-in lever,

the bottom bracket is provided with a memory lever which has a memory hook engaged with an unlock engagement surface of the rotatable arm to maintain an unlocked state of the reclining mechanism that is made by the rotatable arm,

the memory hook is configured to be movable in and out of a movement track of the unlock engagement surface,

the memory hook is engaged with the unlock engagement surface when the walk-in lever is manipulated, and

the memory hook is caused not to be engaged with the unlock engagement surface of the rotatable arm by manipulation of the reclining lever.

3. The vehicle seat according to claim 2,

wherein the seatback is provided with an abutting member including an operation protrusion that moves a switch operation portion when the seatback is tilted forward and a returning protrusion that moves the switch operation portion when the seatback is raised, and

the abutting member is brought into contact with the switch operation portion such that the memory hook is disengaged from the unlock engagement surface at the time of walk-in.

4. The vehicle seat according to claim 2,

wherein a cam protrusion is provided at a predetermined position of the memory lever, and

the cam protrusion is configured to cause the memory hook to leave from the movement track of the unlock engagement surface when being brought into contact with a switch operation portion.

5. The vehicle seat according to claim 4,

wherein the seatback is provided with an abutting member including an operation protrusion that moves the switch operation portion when the seatback is tilted forward and a returning protrusion that moves the switch operation portion when the seatback is raised up, and

the abutting member is brought into contact with the switch operation portion such that the memory hook disengages from the unlock engagement surface at the time of walk-in.

6. The vehicle seat according to claim 5,

wherein the rotatable arm always applies a force to the reclining mechanism to lock the reclining mechanism with use of a spring, and

the memory lever always applies a force to the memory hook with use of a spring to cause the memory hook to engage with the unlock engagement surface.

7. The vehicle seat according to claim 2,

wherein the memory lever is configured such that the memory hook is movable in and out of the movement track of the unlock engagement surface by a switch operation portion,

the switch operation portion is provided at a leading end of a switch lever which is rotatably provided to the bottom bracket,

the bottom bracket is provided with a bent hole in which the switch operation portion moves,

the bent hole is formed to include a guide hole allowing movement therein when the memory hook is engaged with or disengaged from the unlock engagement surface and an engagement hole engaged with the switch operation portion to prevent the memory hook from being engaged with the unlock engagement surface, and

the switch lever includes an operation restriction surface allowing movement such that the switch operation portion is engaged with the engagement hole of the bent hole by means of a restriction protrusion of the reclining lever.

8. The vehicle seat according to claim 7,

wherein a cam protrusion is provided at a predetermined position of the memory lever, and

the cam protrusion is configured to cause the memory hook to leave from the movement track of the unlock engagement surface when being brought into contact with the switch operation portion.

9. The vehicle seat according to claim 7,

wherein the seatback is provided with an abutting member including an operation protrusion that moves the switch operation portion when the seatback is tilted forward and a returning protrusion that moves the switch operation portion when the seatback is raised up, and

the abutting member is brought into contact with the switch operation portion such that the memory hook is disengaged from the unlock engagement surface at the time of walk-in.