JPH0618063U - Step lock mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a stepped locking mechanism that can be set in multiple stages of use and has excellent practicality and operability. [Arrangement] An arc-shaped long hole 2 is bored in a base material 1, and a concave step portion 3 is formed in the middle thereof. The slider 4 is passed through the long hole 2 and one end of the B link member 7 is axially attached. The other end of the B link member 7 is an A link member 6 whose one end is axially attached to the base material 1.
The other end of the link mechanism is pivotally attached to form the link mechanism 5. The node 8 to which both the link members 6 and 7 are attached is fixed to the three-stage positions 8a, 8b and 8c as the slider 4 moves. The cam 10 axially attached to the base material 1 receives the biasing force of the spring 11, and normally holds the slider 4 locked at the step portion 3 at the set position shown by the solid line.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a stepped locking mechanism that can be used in, for example, a footrest or an armrest incorporated in a vehicle seat.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Seats for automobiles include, for example, front seats with footrests for rear passengers and reclining rear seats with armrests that can be stored in the seatback. Such footrests and armrests need to be able to move (rotate) from the storage position to the use position, and various mechanisms that enable this operation have been proposed.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, it is desirable that the footrests for the rear seat occupants can be set in a plurality of positions so that the footrests can be selected according to the physique and preference of the user. Also, it is preferable that the armrests for the reclining rear seats can be set in multiple stages of use so as to be optimal depending on the seat condition (reclining condition) selected by the occupant.

However, in order to satisfy the above-mentioned requirements, a complicated supporting / operating mechanism (stepped locking mechanism) is required, and if the known technology is used, it looks good by using a limited space, and the cost is low. It was difficult to realize a lightweight product.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a stepped locking mechanism which can set use positions of a plurality of steps, has good practicability and operability, and is excellent in cost, weight, and appearance. is there.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an arc-shaped elongated hole formed in a base material and having a concave step portion formed in the middle thereof, and along the elongated hole. A sliding mechanism, an A link member whose one end is axially attached to the base member, and a B link member whose one end is axially attached to the slider. The stepped lock mechanism is configured to include a cam that receives the slider and holds the slider at the step portion.

[0007]

[Action]

 According to the above-mentioned means, by supporting the footrest (or armrest) at the node between the A-link member and the B-link member, the footrest can be moved from the retracted position where the slider is located at the upper end of the slot to the slider. The A-link member can be moved around the pivot point of the A-link member to the base to the use position located at the lower end of the slot. Also, when the slider is locked in the stepped part in the middle of the long hole, the cam biased by the spring holds it. ) Footrest can be used.

[0008]

【Example】

 An embodiment of a stepped locking mechanism according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, an arc-shaped elongated hole 2 is formed in a base material 1, and a concave step portion 3 is formed in the middle of the elongated hole (on the arc center side). A slider 4 penetrates the elongated hole 2 in the plate thickness direction of the substrate 1, and the slider slides between the elongated hole upper end 2a and the elongated hole lower end 2c. The slider 4 is connected to the link mechanism 5.

The link mechanism 5 includes an A link member (hereinafter referred to as A link) 6 whose one end is axially attached to the base material 1 and a B link member (hereinafter referred to as B link) 7 whose one end is axially attached to the slider 4. A node point 8 in which the other ends of each are pivotally attached, and both link members 6 and 7 are pivotally attached, the sliding point of the slider 4 is the center point of the axial attachment point 9 of the A link 6. The radius is the length between the shaft attachment points. The A-link 6c, the B-link 7c and the node 8c shown by the solid lines are in a state where the slider 4 is located at the lower end 2c of the long hole, and the A-link 6b, the B-link 7c and the node 8b shown by the one-dot chain line are the slider 4 Is located at the step portion 3, and the A link 6a, the B link 7a and the node point 8a shown by the chain double-dashed line are the states where the slider 4 is located at the upper end portion 2a of the long hole.

A cam 10 is rotatably supported on the base material 1 near the step portion 3. One end of this cam 10 is connected to a spring 11 fixed to the base material 1 and is biased by the spring 11. Normally, the tension spring 11 stretched extends the tongue 12 shown by the solid line into the long hole 2. Is located to shut off. In such a state of the cam 10, the slider 4b located on the step portion 3 is biased by the spring 11 via the tongue portion 12, and a substantially upward force that overcomes the bias of the panel 11 acts. Until then, the slider 4b can be held on the step portion 3.

[0012] Fig. 2 shows a stepped lock mechanism having the above-described structure for a footrest. A footrest 22 for a rear seat occupant mounted near a lower rear end of a front seat 21 has at least one side surface. The link mechanism 5 is supported by the node 8. In addition, the other side surface of the footrest 22 is also supported by the link mechanism 23 that draws a locus similar to that of the knot point 8 so that the footrest 22 can be moved from the stored state of FIG. 2 (b) to the used state of FIG. 2 (a). ing. For the link mechanism 23, for example, the step lock mechanism of the present invention without the cam 10 and the spring 11 can be used. In this case, the base material of the step lock mechanism and the link mechanism 23 is a front sheet. The legs 24 of 21 can be used.

The operation of the stepped locking mechanism of the footrest 22 described above will be described below. In the use state of the footrest shown in FIG. 2A, the slider 4 and the link mechanism 5 are in the positions shown by the solid lines (indicated by adding c to the reference numeral of each member). That is, since the slider 4c is supported by the lower end portion 2c of the long hole, the link mechanism 5 does not operate even when the downward force that is applied when the occupant places his / her foot on the footrest 22 and the knot point 8c is fixed. Held in position. At this time, the cam 10 is in the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1A (hereinafter referred to as the set position) under the bias of the spring 11, and the tongue portion 12 blocks the elongated hole 2. .

Next, when the footrest 22 is pushed up from the use state in which the knot point is located at 8c, the link mechanism 5 causes the slider 4 to be locked at the stepped portion 3 (indicated by a chain line and indicated by b in the symbol of each member). Move to (Addition). Even in this state, the downward force acting when the foot rests on the footrest 22 can be received by the step portion 3, and the knot point 8b is held at a predetermined position to be in the footrest use position having different heights. The cam 10 in the set position is used so as to guide the slider 4 sliding from bottom to top to the step portion 3.

Further, when the unnecessary footrest 22 is stored at a predetermined position as shown in FIG. 2B, the footrest 22 is further pushed up from the use position where the slider 4 is locked by the step portion 3. . Then, the slider 4 overcomes the bias of the spring 11 and pushes up the tongue portion 12 of the cam 10, and is guided to the elongated hole 2 to move to the upper end 2a of the elongated hole. In order to facilitate such movement, it is preferable that the upper portion of the stepped portion 3 be smoothly continuous with the elongated hole 2. Then, when the slider 4a moves to the vicinity of the upper end portion 2a of the elongated hole, the tongue portion 12a is released from the engagement with the slider 4a, and is returned to the set position shown by the solid line by the bias of the spring 11. The state of this storage position is indicated by a chain double-dashed line, and a is added to the reference numeral of each member.

Finally, when the stored footrest is brought to the use position, the slider 4 is moved from the long hole upper end 2a to the long hole lower end 2c by pulling out the stored footrest 22 at an appropriate position. At this time, the tongue portion 12 that blocks the elongated hole 2 near the step portion 3 is pushed downward by the slider 4 as shown in FIG. 1 (b) to prevent the slider 4 from entering the step portion 3. While forming a passage to the lower end 2c of the long hole. After the slider 4 has passed, the tongue portion 12 of the cam 10 is returned to the set position again by the bias of the spring 11.

As described above, since the step portion 3 is formed at one position in the arc-shaped long hole 2 and the cam 10 is provided in combination, it is possible to obtain the use position of two stages in addition to the storage position. However, a special operating lever is not required to change these operating positions, and the self-locking mechanism reduces the number of parts and provides excellent operability.

In the above embodiments, the case where the stepped locking mechanism is adopted in the footrest has been described, but in other embodiments, it can also be adopted in the armrest of the reclining rear seat. In FIG. 3, a retractable armrest 27 is attached to the seatback 26 of the rear seat 25, and the armrest is stored in the recess 28 of the seatback 26 when not in use. By adopting the above-described stepped locking mechanism on the side surface of the lower end portion of the armrest 27, it is possible to select the two-stage use position shown by the solid line and the dashed line. Therefore, when the angle of the seat back 26 is changed by the reclining mechanism, the position of the armrest 27 can be changed accordingly, and the usability can be improved.

Further, although a tension spring is used as the spring 11 in the above embodiments, in other embodiments, the torsion spring 29 shown in FIG. 4 and the torsion bar 30 shown in FIG. 5 may be used. It is possible. When the torsion bar 30 is used, it is necessary to pay attention to the surface shape of the cam 10 which the torsion bar 30 contacts and presses.

It is also possible to provide two or more combinations of the step portion 3 and the cam 10, and thereby the use position may be further multistage.

[0021]

[Effect of device]

 According to the stepped locking mechanism of the present invention described above, the following effects can be obtained. (1) The lock mechanism can be built-in by effectively utilizing the small space, and the operation lever is not required, so the appearance is good. (2) Practicality and operability are improved due to the stepped structure and self-locking. (3) Since the number of parts is small, it is advantageous in reducing cost and weight.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are views showing an embodiment of a stepped locking mechanism according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a diagram showing the position of a link mechanism in each stage, and FIG. It is a figure.

2A and 2B are perspective views in which the stepped locking mechanism of FIG. 1 is adopted in a footrest, in which FIG. 2A is a use state and FIG. 2B is a storage state.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example in which the stepped locking mechanism of FIG. 1 is adopted in an armrest.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another embodiment in which a torsion spring is used to urge the cam 10.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment in which a torsion bar is used to urge the cam 10.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base material 2 Slot 3 Step part 4 Slider 5 Link mechanism 6 A link member 7 B link member 8 Nodal point 10 Cam 11 Spring 12 Tongue part

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An arc-shaped elongated hole having a concave step formed in the base material, a slider sliding along the elongated hole, and an A link having one end pivotally attached to the base material. A link mechanism formed by pivotally connecting the other end of a member and a B-link member whose one end is pivotally attached to the slider, and a cam that holds the slider to the step portion by the bias of a spring. A stepped lock mechanism characterized by being configured as follows.