EP2718145A1

EP2718145A1 - A reclining collar headrest with rotatable block ends

Info

Publication number: EP2718145A1
Application number: EP12724714.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mirko MARTINO
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-06-10
Filing date: 2012-04-18
Publication date: 2014-04-16
Also published as: WO2012168804A1; ITPI20110064A1

Abstract

The present invention concerns a headrest (1) comprising a central part (2) that assembles, on each one of its two sides, an arm (4) provided with an end (10). The two arms (4) are assembled in a rotatable manner with respect to the central part (2) between a lifted position, in which they result rotated towards the central body (2), and a lowered position in which they are rotated so as to be protracting externally from the central part (2) so that they can be placed on the shoulders of an underlying user and vice-versa In accordance with the invention, the ends (10) are rotatable with respect to the arm (4). Moreover, the headrest further includes rotation means (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10') configured to cause a contextual rotation of the ends (10) in correspondence of an arm rotation (4) in such a way that, during a rotation towards the lowered position of the arm (4), each end (10) rotates contextually with respect to the arm (4) towards a block position for realizing a security constraint against the body of the user.

Description

TITLE

RECLINING COLLAR HEADREST WITH ROTATABLE BLOCK ENDS

Technical field

The present invention refers to the technical field relative to the accessories for transport vehicles in general, in particular automobiles.

In particular, the invention refers to an innovative headrest with functions both of rest collar and safety collar in case of impact.

Background art

Everybody knows that the seats of the means of transport in general, for example automobiles, have been studied so as to guarantee safety and at the same time comfort. Comfort must be such as to allow even sleep when it results necessary.

Although current car seats guarantee a comfortable and safe driving by means of the use of innovative shapes and materials, they are still absolutely inadequate in terms of comfort in case there is the need to rest.

Current solutions in fact include reclining seats provided with headrest with ergonomic shapes, the most idoneous to hold the head of the passenger. Nevertheless, it is known that, despite such solutions, the headrests currently in use do not allow to maintain the head still in position. The consequence of this is evidently clear, that is the impossibility to rest comfortably. During sleep it is in fact frequent to suffer sudden break downs of the neck, due to muscle relaxation, and that cause sharp movements of the head with the consequent rude awakening. In other cases, instead, the muscles of the neck are continuously and involuntarily tense, determining an absolutely inadequate rest which is often the cause of painful muscle stiffening.

In order to solve said technical inconveniences, different solutions have been proposed.

For example, the US document US3722951 describes a reclining collar which can be lowered in such a way as to surround entirely the neck of the user and ensure the driver's safety in case of impact. It is anyway clear that this solution is particularly directed to safety against impacts but adapts badly to the comfort of the passenger that wants to rest. Such a solution does not integrate at all to the ergonomic shape of the headrest and limits the freedom of the user, in case it is a passenger, to assume a comfortable rest position.

The user is also obliged to insert each time the head into the ring delimited by the collar itself with evident unease. Moreover, this solution is particularly complex from the structural point of view and, above all, very cumbersome, since the collar that must be realized as a whole piece limits too much the mobility and the view of the user, especially in reverse manoeuvres.

A similar solution is for example presented in German patent DE2925484, wherein two arms are reclining to serve as restraint. Nevertheless, to render such solution functional, it is necessary to realize long reclined arms in such a way that, when reclined, they result close to the body to impede that it jolts in case of impact. This solution, even if safe, limits excessively the mobility of the user which, if it is a passenger, cannot assume an adequate comfortable rest position. An alternative solution, described always in the same German document, includes also in this case the use of a collar, therefore with all the technical inconveniences described above.

Disclosure of invention

It is therefore the aim of the present invention to provide a headrest for a seat of a vehicle that solves at least in part said inconveniences.

In particular, it is the aim of the present invention to provide a headrest that maintains, in case of impact, the neck still in position and that, at the same time, results comfortable in case the user falls asleep, structurally simple and that lends a certain mobility though maintaining a good degree of safety.

These and other aims are therefore reached through the headrest as per claim 1.

The headrest (1) comprises a central part (2) that assembles, on each one of its two sides, an arm (4) provided with an end (10) .

The two arms (4) are assembled in a rotatable manner with respect to the central part (2) between, a lifted position, wherein they result rotated close to the central body (2), and a lowered position, wherein they are rotated in such a way as to be protruding externally from the central part (2) to be able to be placed on the shoulders of a user seated on the seat and vice-versa.

In order to guarantee further safety in case of impact, and to avoid that the user is jolted away, said ends (10), rotatable with respect to the arm (4), are then further included.

In such a sense, the headrest includes rotation means (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10') configured to cause a contextual rotation of the ends (10) in correspondence of a rotation of the arms (4) in such a way that, during a rotation towards the lowered position of the arm (4), each end (10) rotates contextually with respect to the arm (4) towards a block position for realizing a security constraint against the body of the user.

In this way, when the user lowers the collar to rest, the appendixes are arranged automatically in a safety position for the user itself.

Further advantages are deduced from the dependent claims .

Brief description of drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the present headrest, according to the invention, will result clearer with the description that follows of some embodiments, made to illustrate but not to limit, with reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:

- Figure 1 shows a lateral section of the present headrest in accordance with the invention;

- Figure 2 shows a top view section;

- Figure 3 shows in view the block/unblock system of the arms 4 ;

- Figures from 4 to 7 show the stages of function of the present headrest.

Description of a preferred embodiment

Figure 1 and figure 2 describe a headrest 1 in accordance with the invention. The headrest includes a central part 2 on which the user, according to normal use, can rest his head as per the background art.

In accordance with the invention, the headrest includes, as shown in the section of figure 1 and in the top section of figure 2, a U-shaped collar-like rotatable element comprising a central rotation axis 3 integral to the two lateral arms 4.

The central axis 3 therefore results inserted in a rotatable manner into a passing seat 10, for example of circular shape, found in the central part 2 of the headrest .

The lateral arms 4 are engaged in a fixed manner to the rotation axis 3 in such a way that they rotate integrally to the axis itself. In this way, by acting manually on the arms 4 to lift or lower them, the axis 3 is brought contextually in rotation.

The axis 3, as shown in figure 2, is a transversal axis .

In particular, the central axis 3 is rendered integral to the arms 4 through a keying 25 and externally through fixing screws 20.

The arms 4 are hollow inside in such a way as to realize the internal space necessary for lodging the kinematism described right below.

As in fact shown in figure 2, the central axis 3 brings fit to its ends two dented wheels 5 which are in fact lodged inside the arm 4, each one into the terminal parte of an arm 4 itself. The dented wheel 5 engages with a planet wheel 6, always arranged into the arm 4, which brings fit to it on one side a dented gear 7 (visible also in figure 1) . The dented gear 7 (similarly to that of the gears of a bicycle) serves for the passage of. a chain 8 that transmits its motion to a second dented gear 9.

The arm 4 (see for example figure 1) includes an end 10 which, through the axis 10' , is assembled in a rotatable manner with respect to the remaining part of the arm 4. The shaft 10' (of axis 10') brings fit to it a second . dented gear 9 in such a way that the rotation of such a gear 9 causes the rotation of the end 10 with respect to the remaining fixed part 4.

The axis of rotation 10' is transversal as well, that is parallel to the axis 3.

In this way, as will be better explained in detail below, the rotation of the first gear 7 transmits a rotation to the second gear 9 through the transmission chain 8, therefore causing the consequent rotation of the end 10 with respect to the arm 4.

Figure 1 better represents block means (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35) that serve to engage in two extreme positions the arms 4 (figure 1 shows for descriptive clarity- purposes with a dotted line a lifted position and an intermediate position, while with a continuous line the lowered engaged position on the user) .

The block system, as better shown in figure 3, includes an actuating pin 30 inserted into a vertical seat found in the central part 2 (see top section of figure 2). The seat serves as lodging for a return spring 31 that brings in a lifted position the pin once it is released.

The pin 31 acts on a leverage comprising a tooth 32 hinged to a fixed support 33.

The action of pressure on the pin 30 brings the end of the pin in contact against the end of the tooth 32 which rotates around its hinging axis 33' (horizontal as well) . Such a rotation, in that case anti-clockwise, makes that the tooth releases a block disc 34 rendered integral to the shaft 3 (such a disc is also marked in figure 2). In this way, the shaft 3 is free to rotate.

The disc presents two block shoulders 38 and 39 that serve as stops for the two extreme rotation positions of the arms 4, that is the position of the arms all lifted and the position all lowered. The shoulders are in fact in contrast with an L-shaped fixed block 35.

The release of the pin 30, thanks to the action of the spring 31, brings the pin back in a lifted position, not in contact with the tooth 32 anymore. Thanks to a further torsion spring 36 arranged in the hinging 33' the tooth rotates in clockwise sense, grasping the disc in a block position (see figure 3).

Having described the basic structural elements of the invention, we now pass onto a functional description for clarity purposes .

Figure 4 shows an initial condition in which the arms 4 of the headrest are all lifted upwards. In this embodiment, preferably, the arms 4 and the appendix 10 are inserted in a rollaway manner into a complementary seat cut-out on the central part 2. In this way, the headrest assumes the traditional shape of an ordinary headrest commonly assembled on a motor vehicle, for example an automobile. As better shown in the enlargement of figure 5, in this embodiment the appendix 10 is arranged in such a way as to form a right angle with respect to the arm 4, forming a substantially L-shaped element.

Subsequent figure 6 (equivalent to figure 1) shows the subsequent lowering phases until the arms 4 reach an extreme block position in which they are close to the shoulders of the user and the appendixes 10 arranged in an orthogonal manner so as to form a securing L that engages against the moving apart of the seat of the user.

In particular, figure 6 shows, just as a way of example and therefore not limiting, three subsequent positions, that is the lifted position 1, an intermediate position with a dotted line 2 and the block position 3.

During the lowering motion of the arms 4 (clockwise rotation as per figure 6) the rotation system described above causes the contextual and progressive rotation of the appendix 10 with respect to the arm on which it is assembled, therefore passing from an L embodiment, in which it goes in a rollaway manner into the central body 2 of the headrest, and a further L position rotated of 270° with respect to the preceding one and in which the appendix goes in contrast against the body of the user. The function kinematism is therefore the following one.

Initially, the system is blocked in a lifted position, as for example in figure 5. A pressure on the pin 30 causes the lifting of the lever 32 which unblocks the disc 34, now free to rotate in clockwise sense up to when the shoulder 38 stops against the block 35. In this position, the arms will be lowered on the shoulders of the user. Once this extreme positions is reached, the pin 30 can be released and it returns in a lifted position, making that the lever 32 blocks the disc 34 again.

During the rotation, which is that of figure 6, the appendix 10 of each arm 4 rotates progressively and proportionally to the rotation of the arms 4 in such a way as to be brought from the rollaway position 1 to the position indicated with the number 3_.

To that aim (see for example figure 1), through the progressive rotation from position 1 to position 2 up to position 3, the axis 3 is conducted in rotation, bringing with it in rotation the wheel 5. The wheel 5 engages with the planet wheel 6 arranged into the arm 4 that brings integral to it the gear 5. The rotation of the gear 5 puts in motion the chain (exactly as in the pedal transmission system of a bicycle) that brings in rotation the wheel 9 integral to the shaft 10' . In this way, the appendix 10 rotates with respect to the fixed part 4.

It is clear that, by adequately choosing the number of teeth of the gears and the diameters, it is possible to select the desired turn ratio.

It is also clear that, in said rotation transmission element (5, 6, 7, 8, 9), the chain 8 can be constituted of an equivalent dented belt 8. In that case, the dented gears (7, 9) are substituted by equivalent dented wheels on which the teeth of the belt engage.

In a further embodiment of the invention, particularly simple, the chain 8 can be substituted by an ordinary transmission belt that acts in such a case by dragging on two normal pulleys.

Claims

A headrest (1) comprising a central part (2) that assembles, on each one of its two sides, an arm (4) provided with a terminal end (10), the two arms (4) being assembled in a rotatable manner, through a transversal rotation axis (3), with respect to the central part (2) between a lifted position, in which they result rotated towards the central body (2), and a lowered position in which they are rotated so as to be protracting externally from the central part (2) so that they can be placed on the shoulders of an underlying user and vice-versa and characterized in that the terminal end (10) is fixed in a rotatable manner to the arm (4) through a further transversal rotation axis (10') passing by the arm (4) on the opposite part to the transversal rotation axis (3), the headrest further including rotation means (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10') configured to transmit to said terminal end (10) a rotation in correspondence of an arm rotation (4) in such a way that, during a rotation towards the lowered position of the arm (4) around its transversal rotation axis (3), the terminal end (10) rotates contextually with respect to the arm (4) around its transversal rotation axis (10') towards a block position for realizing a security constraint against the body of the user.

A headrest (1), according to claim 1, wherein, in said block position, the terminal end (10) is rotated towards the bottom with respect to the arm (4) in such a way that both arm and terminal end (10) assume a substantially L-shaped conformation.

3. A headrest (1), according to claim 2, wherein in said L position the arm (4) is arranged at about 90° degrees with respect to the terminal end (10).

4. A headrest (1), according to one or more of the preceding claims from 1 to 3, wherein in correspondence of a clockwise rotation of lowering of the arm (4), the terminal end (10) rotates in clockwise sense.

5. A headrest (1), according to one or more of the preceding claims from 1 to 4, wherein the terminal end (10) rotates progressively in anti-clockwise sense in correspondence of an anti-clockwise lifting rotation that brings the arm (4) back to the lifted position.

6. A headrest (1), according to claim 5, wherein during said anti-clockwise rotation the terminal end (10) rotates of about 270° with respect to its L block position so as to be brought in an L position opposed to the preceding one.

7. A headrest (1), according to claim 1, wherein said rotation means (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10') comprise:

- A first rotation axis (3) integral to both arms (4) ;

- A second rotation axis (10') with respect to which each end (10) is assembled in a rotatable manner with respect to each arm (4) and;

- A rotation transmission element (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) arranged into a seat obtained in each arm (4) and interposed between the first (3) and the second rotation axis (10') so as to transmit the rotation of - li the first axis (3) to the second axis (10').

8. A headrest (1), according to claim 7, wherein the said rotation transmission element (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) comprises :

- A dented wheel (5) integral to the axis (3) ;

- A planet wheel (6) that engages with the dented wheel (5) so that the rotation of the dented wheel (5) through the rotation of the axis (3) causes the rotation of the planet wheel (6), said planet wheel being further provided with a dented gear (7);

- A dented gear (9) integral to the axis (10') and;

- A transmission chain (8) arranged in a closed-ring manner around the gear (9) and the gear (7) so that the rotation of the gear (7) is transmitted through the chain (8) to the gear (9), causing the contextual rotation of the axis (10') integral to the gear (9).

9. A headrest (1), according to claim 7, wherein said rotation transmission element (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) comprises:

- A dented wheel (5) integral to the axis (3);

- A planet wheel (6) that engages with the dented wheel (5) so that the rotation of the dented wheel (5) though the rotation of the axis (3) causes the rotation of the planet wheel (6), said planet wheel being further provided with a pulley (7);

- A second pulley (9) integral to the axis (10') and;

- A transmission belt (8) arranged in a closed-ring manner around the pulley (9) and to the pulley (7) in such a way that the rotation of the pulley (7) is transmitted through the belt (8) to the pulley (9), causing the contextual rotation of the axis (10') integral to the pulley (9).

10. A headrest (1), according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein block means (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35) are included to fix the arms (4) in the relative lowered or lifted position.

11. A headrest (1), according to claim 10, wherein said block means (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35) comprise a plate (34) integral to the shaft (3) and a tooth (32) that can be activated between a blocking position in which it is constrained on the plate, being impeded to rotate, and an unblock position in which it is lifted from the plate (34), allowing it to rotate.

12. A headrest (1), according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein the axis (3) has the shape of a transversal shaft.