FR2468479A1 - ARMREST OR HOLDING HANDLE TO BE MOUNTED IN THE INTERIOR AREA OF VEHICLES - Google Patents

Abstract

Invention relating to a vehicle accessory. Armrest or similar part, intended to be mounted in the interior of the vehicle, in soft elastic material, the body of which has its shape stabilized by an insert. The insert 1 has a limited rigidity, however absorbing all the forces that appear during use and transforms, in the event of intervention of a force greater than that fixed during construction, with a smaller shape and or flatter. Application to the production of armrests and handles.

Description

The invention, relating to a vehicle accessory, relates more

  specifically to an armrest or a holding handle intended to be mounted in the interior space of vehicles, made of soft elastic material, whose body has its own

  form stabilized by insertion.

  Although for a long time already

  kills the armrests and also the hand grips

  Although they are vehicles in the form of padded bodies, they have proved, despite the generally well-developed padding, to be a source of accident risk. Thus there are collisions, and especially serious injuries, such as

  fractures of the bones or tears in the teeth

  human body, when the passengers are thrown, in case of accident, against the parties

  of equipment that are relatively very prominent.

  This stems from the fact that the padding has only a small possibility of being pushed in, since the shape of the armrest or handle body must

  be largely preserved for use, which is

  Holds by a rigid insertion. With this maintenance of the form are actually surfaces quite strongly protruding from the general surface and provided with slight bosses that constitute risks. Even the low-profile armrests have a height difference of at least

  six centimeters from the mounting surface.

  In the experience of a vehicle passenger, on the arm or against the side, it can very easily result in bone breakage due to such a rigid difference in height. But

  Rigid insertion is not only disadvantageous

  from the point of view of the technique of use,

  there are also disadvantages in the manufacture

  cation in particular and when the skin of such part of equipment is prefabricated, closed

  on itself (filming process) and if the

  should be put in place for further

  this part of equipment and for its finishing. With armrests as well as with

  handholds, it is anticipated that

  The gripping tongs themselves are smaller in cross-section than the minimum cross-section fastening base. in order to put this insertion in place, it is however necessary to establish the gripping regions with a cross section larger than that necessary for use. However, it is often necessary, when placing the insertion into the prefabricated skin, to force it to pass, at the cost of a major effort, by the narrow regions of

prefabricated skin.

  The object of the invention is to establish an

  armrest, a holding handle or the like,

  designed to be mounted in the interior space of vehicles

  which can be placed in such a way as to be fully functional from the functional point of view

  it is used and which is transformed when

  that it appears a force substantially greater than

  planned during the service to produce a model

  shape of the body in the sense of a

  killing of the same surface. This superior force

  may appear as an impact force or be applied

  during editing, so that the modification

  form and the restoration of the insertion in its original form satisfy the tecnical safety

  with advantage for the technique of manufacture.

  This result is achieved, according to the invention, due to the fact that the insertion has a limited rigidity, absorbing however all the forces appearing during use and is transformed, when a force greater than that fixed during of construction, with

  a smaller and / or flatter shape. Said

  may be established in the form of armaments

  ture. The corrugated or pleated bodies have been used for quite a long time for

  in the automotive industry and have become

  successfully. In this case it is about bodies which on the one hand have without any inconvenience a form perfectly adapted from the functional point of view

  and in which we also do not observe any

  visible, but which, on the other hand, suffer when forces superior to those

  provided for in normal operation, the pre-

  seen by the construction of undulations or folds

  in order to obtain a general decrease

  progressively of the impact force. This function

  provision with progressive attenuation is also an important advantage of the embodiment according to the invention; but, what is decisive,

  it is the modification of the shape of the body in par-

  so much of a surface protruding from the over-

  face, this protruding surface being generally

  usually a narrow vertex that has a pretty

  low height relative to the mounting surface.

  It can be seen that the risk of accident

  is greatly reduced because the areas

  protruding injuries only result in particularly unfavorable cases. As has already been briefly stated, the functional structure is not affected and even on the doors of hard vehicles, for example those under pressure, without making a change of shape,

  handholds or attachments can be

  armrests of the kind provided in the invention. Also

  the support force of an arm will never suffice to

  to evoke a deformation of the conformation established in the invention. There is no difficulty of construction, because precisely the quantities correspond to the functional fixation and those

  corresponding to the triggering of the wave motion

  lation or folding, even with

  ample position, a particularly important game.

  The advantage of the deformability of the armament

  ture, which is in any case lower for a

  unincorporated reinforcement only for an internal reinforcement

  in the finished part, also produces, from the point of view of the manufacturing technique, an appreciable simplification and an enlarged construction possibility. Simplification consists

  in that we can temporarily bring regions -

  reinforcement, by folding or compression of

  the normal section, to a smaller trans-

  versale and pass them unhindered through passages of the preformed finished skin, smaller in cross section than is possible with the known achievements. On the other hand, there are wider construction possibilities, namely that with small arm or screw application blocks of the same size, gripping regions having a cross-sectional area are formed in such a way that

  small that it was not executable until

  feel by using rigid frames.

  The frame can also have a structure

  asymmetrical ture. It can be made in fact by a piece of soft or hard foam and have the asymmetrical frame structure that results. But the construction is more mechanical "

  using a frame made of buttresses

  between them, which are constituted with

  shape modification by themselves and / or

  by their angular position. The foothills can

  wind also present wavy surfaces.

  It is useful to form the frame by an envelope having the basic shape of the armrest, substantially in accordance with the mounting surface of the armrest or the like. The buttresses can be angled one or more

  times compared to each other or

  Feel weak places like hinge

  dandruff. With these conformations it is necessary

  from the fact that the envelope, which in itself retains its shape, is nevertheless deformable itself under a strong enough pressure that can appear. The

  envelope surfaces directed in the long-term direction

  which, in order to maintain their shape, are stable

  consolidated for general use by reinforcements

  cross-sections, take a quasi-super-

  when the reinforcements provided for the corrugation

  or folding are forced to work.

  The structure according to the invention can be realized also thanks to buttresses which are

  directed obliquely to the enve-

  loppe and therefore also with respect to the mounting surface. It is useful that the oblique direction

  foothills relative to the vehicle is

  angled from the end at the mounting surface, in the direction of vehicle traffic, to the far end of the mounting surface. To appreciate the advantage of this method of construction, it should be noted that all

  vehicle doors, at least those of the

  for people, fall back in the direction of traffic. But when you pull the doors to close them there is a contrary solicitation

  in the sense of the car, so that the

  strong obliquely against the direc-

  The tensile forces are biased against their oblique position, so that deformation can not occur even with the greatest possible acting force. However, if

  a collision occurs, whether it is perpendicular

  stretching on the mounting surface or with any orientation in relation to it, under a

  certain angle in relation to the direction of the vehicle

  the buttresses turn back as a result of the oblique position, so that it appears

  the height of the armrest or the like.

  In principle, it is possible that

  the armrest or grab handle is weaker

  stability as that corresponding to the mode of use

  tion and is brought, during manufacture, with an additional structural part, the stability necessary for use. The room

  which produces the additional stabilization

  of the reinforcement may be a mass, such as foam, filling the hollow cavity of

  insertion. But also, to obtain stability

  additional reinforcement, it is possible to

  to place the attachment, such as a screw

  for the armrest or the joint holding handle

  on the fixing wall, which achieves a

  lateral shift and / or angular stabilization.

  The deformability of the reinforcement, which, as already indicated, can also be obtained by region with modification of section

  cross-section for the purpose of assembly, may be

  by a device such as a clip or similar

  ford. So it is possible to bring into play a

  long-nose pliers, thanks to which the frame,

  held tight or folded, passes through a skin

close prefabricated closed.

  So far it has been admitted that the frame is

  a structural part of a room and possibly

  forming a unit of the same material. When we

  makes armrests, especially those with

  such as a holding handle and in the case of equipment with pretended skin, it is often not

  It is not possible to introduce the entire armament

  established in one piece. Indeed the part of

  prehension has, vis-a-vis the regions of vis-

  wise, an inner diameter much smaller than that of the regions for screwing, larger

  cross section. In this case it can be

  it is necessary to connect two or more parts of the frame only after insertion into the turned skin. With such an arrangement, it is necessary to add, to the region of coupling

  of the two parties, also a provision to

  tion or folding, or also to provide a surface or a branch of the armature comprising a device for undulation or folding and to establish the other part, to fix, the armature without support in the direction of the surface of assembly, so as to briefly ensure that a corrugation or crease is pocketed by a support against the surface

mounting.

  Thus the armrest according to the invention can

  include a piece of unitary structure of the

  mature, associated with another piece of equipment

  such as a holding handle, ashtray or ana-

  the coupling region of these two parts having at least one corrugating or folding device.

  The invention will be better explained and

  taken from the following description of examples of

  realization, given in a non-restrictive way, with re-

reference to the drawings in which:

  FIG. 1 is the representation of a

  armrest frame with a plug and a coupled holding handle, in perspective and

  FIG. 2, a schematic representation

  than an end portion of an armature in

  folding position (solid line) and position

normal (in dotted line).

2468479 *

  Mark 1 designates a frame that

  forms an insertion piece to stabilize an ac-

  In FIG. 1, there is shown in phantom a holding handle 3 which is coupled.

  Armature 1 is constituted by a

  veloppe 4 having the basic shape of the armrest to

  achieve. Inside the envelope 4 connect

  tooth various buttresses 5. To the right on the

  Figure 1, compared to the region of the

  6, the buttresses 5a have been arranged, angled

  two times. Elbows 7 have a smaller amplitude

  study that the surfaces, lying between the elbows

  7, buttresses 5a. Multiple elbows have been

  in this region because it does not appear

  partially no traction force, the solidi-

  static for functional use that can be

  however determined only by the kind of

material and its thickness.

  In the region of the passage 2 the armature 1 has buttresses 5b directed substantially

  transversely, in which a lateral surface

  It is straight and the other lateral surface is bent once inwards. For this realization we

  started from the idea that the collision is very rare-

  perpendicular to the mounting surface and

  generally more or less strongly inclined in the direction of the traffic, so that the

  buttresses 5b turn around. But during a collision

  such as that which can occur during the lateral stamping of a vehicle, the buttresses 5b are however folded from

from the place of the elbow.

  The coupling 8 serving to connect the armature

  1 and the armature of the holding handle 3 is, in the exemplary embodiment, an interlocking device in which the two side surfaces of the center are transversely fixed relative to the direction of the mounting surface with a shape zig-zag, so that during a collision in this place there occurs a fold such as that already described for buttresses a. To better understand Figure 2 is still in Figure 1 buttresses provided with the following marks: an envelope buttress 9 on

  which is articulated, from a certain angle, a

  fastening trestle 10 and also an external stiffener 11 belonging to the fixing block 6. The envelope buttress 9 and the external stiffener 11 are connected by a transverse buttress 12,

  established himself from a certain angle.

  In the embodiment shown as a line

  in Figure 2, it is a view of

  FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the left-hand end of the armature 1, the representation in FIG. 1. The solid line represents a folding position of this region, which can be done by hand or by tools, such as

than tongs or the like.

  It can be seen that the envelope buttress 9 and the external buttress 11 are close to the

  straight line of the side surfaces of the socket 2.

  Folding is possible only because the

  transverse trestle 12 is more strongly bent than normal and that the fixing buttress 10 can form, with respect to the envelope buttress

  9, a larger angle and, compared to the counter

  11, a considerably larger angle

tit. 10.

- EENDI) ATIONS

  1. Armrest or grab handle, des-

  designed to be mounted in the interior space of vehicles

  cules, of soft elastic material, whose body has its shape stabilized by an insertion, characterized in that the insertion (1) has a limited rigidity, however absorbing all the forces that appear during use and is transformed , in case of intervention of a force greater than that fixed during the construction, with a more

small and / or flatter.

  2. Armrest according to claim 1,

  characterized in that it comprises a piece of inserts

  tion (1) established as an armature.

  3. Armrest according to claim 2,

  characterized in that the armature (1) is constituted by buttresses connected to each other (4, 5, 5a, 9, 11, 12), which are shaped with possibility of shape modification by themselves and / or by their

mutual angular positions.

  4. Armrest according to claim 3,

  characterized in that the armature (1) is formed by a casing (4) having the basic form of the armrest, substantially in accordance with the mounting surface of the armrest or the like, which is connected in the interior volume to foothills

  (5, 5a, 5b) which have a conformation in on-

dulations or aepliures0

  5. Armrest according to claim 4,

  in that the buttresses (5a, 5b) of Ar-

  mature are bent one or more times by

  compared to others or form ripples.

  6. Armrest according to claim 4,

  characterized in that the buttresses (5a) of the frame have weak places of the hinge type

pellicle (7).

  7. Armrest according to claim 4,

  it is tererized as the buttresses of the frame (1)

  are inclined with respect to the mounting surface.

  Armrest according to claim 7,

  characterized in that the inclined direction of the con-

  reinforcements of the frame (1) is oriented with respect to the vehicle from the end at the mounting surface, inclined in the direction of flow, towards the far end of the mounting surface

  9. Armrest according to one of the claims

  1 to 8, characterized in that the insertion is

  made of an armature (1), made for the manufacture

  the armrest or grab handle with less stability than required

  use and another piece of structural ap-

  during manufacture, the stability required

to use.

  Armrest according to claim 9,

  characterized in that the additional structural part

  is a mass, such as foam,

  wrinkling the hollow cavity of the insertion0

  Armrest according to claim 9,

  characterized in that the additional structural part

  is a fastening device, such as a screw for the armrest or for the holding handle, mounted on the fixing wall0

  12. Armrest according to one of the claims

  characterized in that the armature (1) is constituted temporarily, as for manufacture and / or assembly, by a device such as a clamp, which can be of shape or section

  reduced, at least in one region.

  13. Armrest according to one of the claims

  characterized in that it comprises a piece of unitary structure of the armature (1), associated with another piece of equipment such as a holding handle (3), ashtray or the like, the

  region of coupling (8) of these two parts pre-

  sensing at least one corrugating or folding device.

  14. Armrest according to one of the claims

  1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises a

* piece of unitary structure of the frame (1), as-

  associated with another piece of equipment such as a holding handle (3), ashtray or the like, the

  piece of equipment being attached to the frame of the

  armrest in the remote part of the mounting surface and being itself without support with respect to

the mounting surface.