GB2151468A - Seat slides - Google Patents

Abstract

Slide for fore and aft adjustment of a vehicle seat includes two relatively slideable slide elements, an inner one 15 bolted to a base of the seat in use and an outer one 16 bolted to the vehicle floor in use. To compensate for fixing surfaces of the floor and/or base being non-planar or non-parallel the elements are provided with one or more fixing bosses, 60, 62; 64, 66, with apertures 18, 21 for receiving attachment bolts and which are convex, e.g. part-spherical or part-cylindrical to provide point or line contact with the fixing surfaces to avoid distortion of the slide elements when they are bolted down. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Seat slides This invention relates to seat slides for permitting forward and rearward adjustment of motor vehicle seats and, in particular, seat slides of the kind comprising inner and outer elon gated slide elements arranged to fit one within the other for relative sliding movement therebetween and releasable locking means for securing the slide elements in a selected position of adjustment.

In practice, the vehicle seat is provided with a seat slide along each side thereof beneath the seat base, one slide element of each seat slide being secured to the underside of the seat base and the other slide element being secured to the vehicle floor.

Where the vehicle seat is fabricated from, for example, pressed metal components suchthat only generally planar surfaces are available at the underside of the seat base for affixing said one slide elements, difficulties have been encountered in achieving satisfactory free sliding movement between the slide elements These difficulties have been traced to deviations of the fixing surfaces from the orientations necessary to ensure distortion-free assembly and hence free sliding of the slide elements. This problem could theoretically be solved by making and assembling the pressed metal components to very close manufacturing tolerances but this is not practicable in terms of motor industry production volumes.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved seat slide which overcomes the above difficulties.

According to the present invention we provide a seat slide of the kind referred to in which at least one of the slide elements is provided with one or more fastener-receiving formations on that face of the slide element which, in use, confronts the fixing surfaces on the seat base and/or the floor, the or each said formation being so shaped and arranged as to allow the slide element to be secured at spaced intervals along its length to generally planar fixing surfaces (which are not truly coplanar or parallel) without creating any significant distortion of the slide element.

Preferably said formation is of generally convex shape at least in transverse section (i.e. transversely of the slide element) so that it will make substantially line or point contact with a flat surface.

Said formations may bear against the corresponding fixing surface through the intermediary of a seating element of which one face is generally complementary to said formation and the opposite face is generally planar so as to make extensive surface contact with the fixing surface.

In the preferred embodiment, one slide element is provided with a first formation as aforesaid at or adjacent one end and a further formation at or adjacent its opposite end, which latter formation presents a generally planar face. This slide element is conveniently intended for attachment to the seat base. In practice, the slide element can be fastened to the seat base by initially bolting said further formation to a fixing surface of the seat base.

If this fixing surface and that to which the first formation is to be bolted are not truly coplanar, it will be understood that the convexity of the first formation allows the latter to be bolted without distorting the slide element.

As a consequence, while the slide element may be affixed to the seat base without any significant distortion, it may nevertheless be incorrectly orientated to make a free sliding fit with the other slide element if the latter is fastened to the floor in the normal way.

However, by providing said other element with formations as aforesaid, it can be fixed to the floor in such a way as to compensate for the "incorrect" orientation of the slide element affixed to the seat base.

Said other element preferably comprises a part spherically shaped formation at or adjacent each end thereof seating on respective intermediary seating elements so as to allow said other slide elements some degree of angular freedom whereby the "incorrect" orientation of said one slide element can be compensated to achieve free sliding movement.

To promote further understanding of the invention, one embodiment will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of the seat rail of the seat slide; Figure 2 is a transverse section adjacent the righthand end of the rail; Figure 3 is a transverse section adjacent the lefthand end of the rail; Figure 4 is a plan view of the floor rail of the seat slide; and Figure 5 is a transverse section through one of the bosses of the floor rail.

The present invention is particularly applicable to a seat slide of the form disclosed in our prior pending patent application No.

8312758, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference. The construction and functioning of the seat slide is described fully in the prior application and the description herein will therefore be limited to the modifications arising out of the present invention. Where applicable, the reference numerals used herein correspond to those used in the prior application.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, the top portion of the inner slide element or seat rail 1 5 is provided with a pair of raised bosses 60,62 in which the bolt-receiving apertures 1 8 are formed. The boss 60 is of generally oval configuration and its upper surface is of sub stantially part-cylindrical configuration so that, in use, it will make substantially line contact with a flat surface, the contact line extending longitudinally of the axis of elongation of the rail 1 5. The boss 62 is generally circular and has a substantially planar upper surface so that, in use, it will make extended surface contact with a flat surface.

In practice, the slide element 1 5 is secured to the seat base by initially passing a bolt (or other fastener) through aperture 1 8 in boss 62 and tightening the bolt to bring the boss 62 into face-to-face contact with the fixing surface. In many cases, the fixing surface against which the boss 62 is clamped will not be truly co-planar with the fixing surface against which the boss 60 is to be clamped and if the boss 60 were also flat, twisting of the rail 1 5 would result.However because of the convexity of the boss 60, it will be seen that the boss 60 may be clamped against its fixing surface without introducing any significant twist into the rail 1 5 although the rail 1 5 may, as a result, be "incorrectly" orientated but this can be compensated for, as explained below.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5, the outer seat slide or floor rail 1 6 is provided with two pairs of raised bosses 64,66 adjacent each end. In practice, only one boss of each pair will be used. Each boss 64.66 is of part spherical configuration and is formed with bolt receiving apertures 21. The floor rail 1 6 is affixed to fixing surfaces on the vehicle floor through the intermediary of annular seating pads or washers 68 which are used in conjunction with those bosses 64,66 selected to receive the securing bolts. Each pad 68 is generally planar on that face which will confront the fixing surfaces and is formed with a concave part-spherical surface on its opposite face to seat the respective boss 64,66. In this way, the rail 1 6 is permitted a certain amount of angular adjustment both about its longitudinal axis and also about a transverse axis.

Thus, in practice, the rail 1 6 can be bolted to the floor so that its orientation corresponds to that of the seat rail 1 5 even though the latter may be "incorrectly" orientated with respect to the fixing surfaces on the floor.

Claims (11)

1. A seat slide for permitting selective forward and rearward adjustment of the positioning of a vehicle seat relative to fixed structure on which the seat is mounted in use comprising a first slide element operatively mounted on a fixing surface on the underside of a base of the seat and a second slide element operatively mounted on a fixing surface on the upper side of the floor or other fixed structure of the vehicle, said elements fitting one within the other for relative sliding movement therebetween and at least one said element being provided with one or more fastener-receiving formations on a face of that element which, in use, confronts the associated fixing surface, the or each said formation being so shaped and arranged as to allow the slide element to be secured at spaced intervals along its length to a fixing surface which may not be truly planar or truly co-planar or parallel to a fixing surface on which a second spaced parallel slide of the seat is to be operatively fixed without creating any significant distortion of the slide elements.

2. A slide as in Claim 1 wherein at least one said formation is of generally convex shape at least in section transversely of the slide element so that it will make line or point contact with a flat fixing surface.

3. A slide as in Claim 2 wherein said at least one formation is a raised boss having a bolt receiving aperture and of generally oval shape with a substantially part-cylindrical upper surface to make line contact longitudinally of the element with said flat surface.

4. A slide wherein said at leat one element has a formation as in Claims 2 or 3 towards one end and a formation in the form of a raised boss having a generally planar upper surface towards the other end.

5. A slide as in any preceding claim wherein said one element is operatively affixed to the seat base.

6. A slide as in Claim 2 wherein said at least one said formation is a raised boss of generally part-spherical convex shape, the slide further including intermediate seating pieces having a generally planar face for abutment with the associated fixing surface and a concave part-spherical surface in which the said formation seats in use.

7. A slide as in Claim 6 wherein said one element is operatively affixed to the vehicle floor or other fixed structure.

8. A slide as in any preceding claim including releasable locking means for securing the slide elements in a selected position of adjustment.

9. A seat slide substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

1 0. A seat assembly for a vehicle including at least one seat slide as in any preceding claim.

11. A vehicle including a seat assembly as in Claim 10.