GB2051569A - Improvements in or relating to vehicle seats - Google Patents

Abstract

A vehicle seat (12) the front end of which is supported on a pair of parallel links (16) pivotally connected at (17) to the underside of the vehicle seat and by pivots (18) to lugs (19) on the vehicle floor and the rear end of which is supported on legs (20) having guides (21) at the lower ends thereof slidably engaged in fore and aft extending fixed guideways 22. The legs (20) can be fixed in any position of adjustment along the guideways by means of latches (24) engageable in notches (23) in the upper face of the guideways at the required position of adjustment. In order to provide greater access to the part of the vehicle behind the seat, the guideways (22) extend forwardly beyond the position which would provide a normal range of adjustment of the seat to enable the seat to be moved by an additional forward amount sufficient to pivot the links (16) downwardly into a horizontal position thus lowering the front end of the seat and tilting the seat back forwardly. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to vehicle seats This invention relates to vehicle seats.

It is normal for the front seats of a vehicle for both the driver and a passenger to provide a range of fore and aft adjustment of the seat to enable the driver or passenger to find a comfortable seating position. It is also known to provide a vehicle seat which has a normal range of adjustment and can be moved forwards by an additional amount to provide better access to a rear seat of the vehicle, such arrangements being particularly important in two door vehicles. Some arrangements have been proposed in which tilting of the seat back forwardly in respect to the seat base simultaneously slides the seat base forwardly to provide the additional forward movement of the seats. Such arrangements require a relatively complex and expensive mounting of the seat involving multiple slideways and a mechanism operated by pivoting of the seat back to effect the forward movement of the seat base.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple and therefore cheaply manufactured arrangement for this normal fore and aft adjustment of a vehicle seat and additional forward movement when required.

The invention provides a vehicle seat having a mounting mechanism comprising, adjacent the front end of the seat, link means pivotally connected at one end to the seat about an axis extending transversely of the seat and having at the other end a pivotal connection for attachment to a part of the vehicle, and, at the other end of the seat, guide means engaging guideway means extending fore and aft with respect to the seat for mounting on the vehicle, the guideway means permitting the seat to be moved from a normal position in which the link means supporting the front end of the seat extends generally downwardly from the front end of the seat and a forward position in which the seat is pivoted forwardly over the link means so that the link means extend generally horizontally rearwardly from the connection to the seat to tilt the seat forwardly and simultaneously lower the front end of the seat.

The following is a description of one embodiment of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of the vehicle showing a front seat for the vehicle driver in a normal position; Figure 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1 showing the seat tilted forwardly and downwardly for access to a rear seat; Figures 3 and 4 are similar views to Figures 1 and 2 showing a second embodiment of the invention; and Figures 5 and 6 are similar views to Figs. 1 and 2 showing a third embodiment of the invention.

The drawings show part of a two door motor vehicle 10 including the driver's door way 11, driver's seat 12, steering wheel 13, door pillar 14 and rear seat 15.

The normal range of adjustment of the driver's seat 1 2 and the corresponding pas senger seat on the other side of the vehicle is indicated between the full line and chain dotted line positions and the seats can also be moved further forward and tilted until, in the case of the driver's seat, the back of the seat comes up against the steering wheel as shown in Fig. 2. The arrangement thus provides greater access for passengers to the rear seat of the vehicle from either side of the vehicle.

The arrangement for supporting the seats to move as shown will now be described.

Adjacent the front end of the seat, two links 1 6 are pivotally mounted at spaced locations across the seat to pivot about an axis extending transversely of the seats on pivots 1 7. The links 1 6 extend generally downwardly from the front end of the seat in the normal posi tion of the seat and the lower ends of the links are pivotally connected at 1 8 on fixed brackets 1 9 mounted on a vehicle floor. Two rigid legs 20 extend downwardly from the rearward end of the seat at locations spaced across the seat, the lower end of each leg 20 carrying a guide 21 in the form of a roller which is held captive in a guideway 22 ex tending fore and aft of the seat on the vehicle floor.In the example shown, the guideway 22 adjacent the floor of the vehicle is mounted on the inner side of the door sill and the other guideway 22 is mounted on the vehicle floor.

The upper side of the guideway 22 over the rearward part thereof is provided with a series of spaced notches 23 and a spring loaded catch 24 is mounted on one or both legs 20 having a detent end 25 to engage in a selected notch 23 to lock the seat 1 2 in the required position of the normal range of ad justment.

When the seat is in the full line position as shown in Fig. 1, the links 16 supporting the forward end of the seat are inclined rear wardly of the vertical and the guides 21 are located adjacent the rearward ends of the guideways 22. When the latches 24 are re leased and the seat 1 2 is moved forwardly, the front of the seat 1 2 initially rises as the links 1 6 move to the vertical and then drops again as the seat reaches the forward limit of its normal travel with the links extending forwardly of the vertical. In this position the guides 21 have moved part way along the guideway 22 from the rearward ends thereof.

When it is required to give access to the rear seat, the latches 24 are released and the rear seat is moved forwardly from its normal range of adjustment until the seat back, comes up against the steering wheel as shown in Fig. 2 As the seat moves forwardly, the links 1 6 swing downwardly until they reach the horizontal position as shown in Fig. 2 thus lowering the front of the seat and pivoting the seat back forwardly. The guides 21 reach the limit of travel along the guideways 22 with the links 1 6 in the horizontal positions and the seat back against the steering wheel. There is then clear access behind the seat for access to and from the rear seat for a passenger.

In the forward most position of the seat 12, the legs 20 reach the forward end of their guideways 22 beyond the length of the guideways over which notches 23 are provided.

There is therefore no provision for locking the seat in the forwardmost position and so when the seat can be returned to its normal position, it is merely drawn rearwardly until it reaches the normal range of adjustment and the latches 24 are then held disengaged until the seat is located in its required position of adjustment. The latches 24 are then released to lock the seat. A spring arrangement may also be provided for assisting the return movement of the seat.

The arrangement of latching means between the legs 20 and guideways 22 enables a simple and robust mechanism to be provided for locking the seat in position. However, the simple lever and pawl arrangement shown in the drawings is given by way of example only and many other forms of mechanism could be used. In particular a "follow up" could be provided which moves with the seat legs during normal fore and aft adjustment but is released from the legs when moving and tilting to the forward most position and remains latched to the guideways. The device then provides an abutment against which the seat can be returned to define the original position.

Further, the guideways for the seat guides attached to the legs 20 could curve convexly upwards in side elevation to maintain the attitude of the seat substantially constant as it is moved over its normal fore and aft adjustment.

Further modifications to the above arrangement include the connecting together of the links 1 6 at the front of the seat and also the connecting together of the legs 20. Further, the seat may have a backrest which is rigidly fixed with respect to the seat base or an adjustment mechanism may be provided for adjusting the rake of the seat back with respect to the seat base.

The following advantages are obtained with the seat arrangement provided for the driver and passenger's seats as described above: (a) A much superior entry and exit space to the rear compartment.

(b) A clear floor space behind and under the seat.

(c) Use of a simple front seat with non folding squab, i.e. common with a four door variant.

(d) Space for bulky items of luggage behind the front seat on passenger side if used in the 'kneeling' position.

(e) Improved access to the rear compartment of a two door vehicle of estate or hatchback type for loading or unloading.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings there is shown a second embodiment of the invention in which the fixed brackets 1 9 on the vehicle floor for receiving the pivotal links are omitted and, instead, the guideways 22 for the guides 21 have forward extensions 22a fixed to the vehicle floor and the links 1 6 are pivotally connected at 18 to the forward extension 22 of the guideways. The arrangement is otherwise similar to the first described embodiment.

Reference is now made to Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings which show still further embodiments. In the arrangement of Figs. 5 and 6, the links 1 6 at the forward end of the seat are pivotally connected to forward extensions 22a of the guideways 22 as in the second embodiment illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. In addition the multiple notches 23 in the upper side of the rearward part of the or each guideway 22 are replaced by a single notch 23 for locking the seat in a single fore and aft position where selective fore and aft adjustment is not required. When the catches 24 are released from the notches in the guideways the seat can be moved forward to the position illustrated in Fig. 6 in which the front end of the seat is tilted downwardly and the back of the seat is tilted forwardly and upwardly to engage the steering wheel to provide access behind the seat. The arrangement is otherwise similar to those hereinbefore described.

Claims (11)

1. A vehicle seat having a mounting mechanism comprising, adjacent the front end of the seat, link means pivotally connected at one end to the seat about an axis extending transversely of the seat and having at the other end a pivotal connection for attachment to a part of the vehicle, and, at the other end of the seat, guide means engaging guideway means extending fore and aft with respect to the seat for mounting on the vehicle, the guideway means permitting the seat to be moved from a normal position in which the link means supporting the front end of the seat extends generally downwardly from the front end of the seat and a forward position in which the seat is pivoted forwardly over the link means so that the link means extend generally horizontally rearwardly from the connection to the seat to tilt the seat forwardly and simultaneously lower the front end of the seat.

2. A vehicle seat as claimed in claim 1 wherein the guideway means has a rearward part over which the guide means is movable to provide a normal range of adjustment of the seat through which the link means of the front end of the seat moves in a generally vertical arc and a forward part through which the guide means is movable to tilt the link means generally horizontally to tilt the seat forwardly and the front end of the seat downwardly.

3. A vehicle seat as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the link means have a pivotal connection at said other end for mounting on a fixed part of the vehicle structure.

4. A vehicle seat as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the link means have a pivotal connection for attachment to a forward end of said guideway means.

5. A vehicle seat as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 wherein the link means have a pivotal connection to a bracket or brackets for attachment directly to the vehicle floor.

6. A vehicle seat as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the guideway means comprise two guideways for mounting on the vehicle structure extending fore and aft of the vehicle seat and the guide means comprise two guides engaging respectively in the two guideways and the link means comprise a pair of links pivotally mounted adjacent the front of the seat.

7. A vehicle seat as claimed in claim 6 wherein the seat has two downwardly extending legs adjacent the rearward end thereof and the guides are mounted at the lower ends of the legs.

8. A vehicle seat as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7 wherein locking means are provided between the seat and at least one of the guideways for locking the seat in the required position of adjustment with respect to the guideway.

9. A vehicle seat as claimed in claim 8 wherein the locking means comprise a latch mounted on the seat and the guideway has one or more notches to receive the latch for locking the seat in one or more positions of its adjustment with respect to the guideway.

1 0. A vehicle seat as claimed in any of claims 6 to 9 wherein an adjustable stop is provided on one of the guideways to provide an abutment defining the required position of the seat against which the seat can be returned after being moved forwardly before the seat is locked in position.

11. A vehicle seat substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

1 2. A vehicle seat substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 or 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.