JPH07265151A - Seat reclining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the lateral rigidity of an arm at the seat reclining device and enable to change the regulations of front and end reclining positions to be made different by operating angles for the arm with any simple configuration. CONSTITUTION:A lock mechanism unit 24 is constituted by respectively turnably supporting an upper tooth 11 equipped with a circular arc tooth part 11b, lower tooth 12 equipped with a tooth part 12b to be engaged with the tooth part 11b and cam 13 for engaging/deengaging the tooth parts 11b and 12b while being detached from the lower tooth 12 between two holder plates 10, and such a unit 24 is linked to a base plate 25. An arm 27 is arranged outside one holder plate 10, the arm 27 is supported at a hinge shaft 23 of the upper tooth 11, and the arm 27 is linked through a spacer plate 30 to the upper tooth 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seat reclining device for a vehicle seat device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A seat reclining device is a device for setting a desired inclination angle of a seat back in a seat device of an automobile to ensure a comfortable posture or an optimal driving posture of a seated person.

A conventional seat reclining device is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a seat back 4 is fixed to a base plate 2 fixed to a seat cushion 1 via a hinge shaft 3.
An arm 5 to be fixed to is rotatably rotatably supported, and an upper part 6 having teeth 6a formed on a circumference of a predetermined radius centered on the hinge shaft 3 is connected to the arm 5 and is connected to the teeth 6a. A lower tooth 7 having a tooth portion 7a that engages and disengages is pivotally supported by the base plate 2.

A cam 8 for rotating the lower tooth 7 and an operating lever 9 for rotating the cam 8 are rotatably supported by the base plate 2. In addition, in order to hold the hinge shaft 3, the lower tooth 7, the cam 8 and the shafts 7e and 9a of the operating lever 9 on both sides, the holder plate 2a
Are arranged parallel to the base plate 2. And
A spring 9b is mounted between the operating lever 9 and the base plate 2 so that the cam 8 attaches the lower tooth 7 to the upper part 6
It is always urged to press against.

Therefore, when the operating lever 9 is lifted and rotated, the cam 8 rotates and the contact portion 8a moves away from the permanent contact portion 7b of the lower tooth 7 into the cam groove 7c, While lowering the contact portion 7d, the lower tooth 7 separates from the upper part 6 and the meshing therebetween is released, and the upper part 6 is rotatable about the hinge shaft 3.

Therefore, when the seated person sets the seat back 4 at a desired angle and releases the operating lever 9, the operating lever 9 returns to its original state by the force of the spring 9b, and the cam 8 rotates in the opposite direction. Then, the contact portion 8a moves from the cam groove 7c to the permanent contact portion 7
By moving the lower tooth 7 to the upper tooth 6 and pressing the lower tooth 7 against the upper tooth 6, the tooth portions 6a and 7a of the both are engaged with each other, whereby the seat back 4 is locked at a desired inclination angle.

A pin protruding toward the base plate 2 is provided on the upper part 6 or the arm 5, and an arcuate elongated hole for inserting the pin is formed in the base plate 2 about the hinge shaft 3 within a predetermined angle range. Alternatively, a standing bent portion that abuts the pin within a predetermined angle range is provided in a protruding manner.

[0008]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional seat reclining device, the base plate 2 is provided with the arc-shaped long hole 2b, and the pin 6b fitted into the arc-shaped long hole 2b is attached to the upper part 6 or the arm 5. In addition to lowering the strength of the base plate 2,
Since the pin 6b must be provided on the upper part 6 or the arm 5, the number of processing steps increases.

Also, in the case where the base plate 2 is provided with a vertically bent portion, the arm 5 or the upper part 6 is also provided.
Since it directly abuts on the pin projecting from the upper part, there is a high possibility that the standing bending part will be turned over or broken, and there is a defect that some patches require welding to reinforce the standing bending part.

Also, the arm 5 and the upper part 6 are rotatably held by the base plate 2 and the holder plate 2a about the hinge shaft 3, and the holder plate 2a covers the diaphragm and the flange of the arm 5 over the entire operating range. Because of the escape structure, there is a possibility that foreign matter may enter the inside from the escape portion and be caught in the tooth portions 6a, 7a of the upper part 6 and the lower tooth 7 in each operating region.

Further, since the inclination angles of the frontmost inclination and the rearmost inclination of the arm 5 often differ depending on the vehicle type, the notch of the flange portion 2b and the hinge shaft 3 are formed on the base plate 2.
Since it is necessary to form the arcuate elongated hole and the bent portion within a predetermined angle range centered on the vehicle by changing the operating angle according to the vehicle type or the like, it becomes extremely difficult to share the seat reclining device for each operating angle.

[0012] Therefore, the applicant has proposed to unitize the lock mechanism (upper parts, lower tooth and cam) of the seat reclining device in order to share the seat reclining device for each operating angle. In the case of unitizing, the arm differs depending on the operating angle of each vehicle type, so that the arm is naturally attached afterwards.

When the arm is assembled later, the arm is generally connected to the upper part with two rivets. Then, when applied to a vehicle seat, when the seated person swings due to the inclination of the vehicle or the like and the seat back swings to the left or right, the arm is easily laid on the line connecting the rivets and the lateral rigidity of the arm is reduced. There is an inconvenience that it becomes low.

Further, when the arm is attached later, in order to secure the insertion holes of the rivet as far as possible, when the lower part of the arm is widened, the end of the arm abuts against the holder plate, and an appropriate working angle is obtained. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to cut out a part of the holder plate with which the end portion abuts, or to provide a diaphragm to avoid this, and there is a disadvantage that the manufacturing cost increases.

Therefore, the present invention improves the lateral rigidity of the arm in the seat reclining device, and
It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to change the regulation of the foremost tilt and the last tilted position of the arm that differ according to the operating angle with a simple configuration.

[0016]

To achieve the above object, a seat reclining device according to the present invention is a lower tooth having an upper part having an arc-shaped tooth part and a tooth part meshing with the tooth part of the upper part. And a cam for engaging and disengaging the tooth portion by engaging with and disengaging the lower tooth from each other so as to rotatably pivot between two holder plates, and a lock mechanism unit is connected to the base plate. An arm is arranged outside the holder plate, the arm is pivotally supported on a hinge shaft of the upper part, and the arm is connected to the upper part via a spacer plate.

[0017]

[Operation] Since the arm is connected to the upper part via one holder plate, and the arm and the upper part are supported by the hinge shafts supported by both holder plates, the resistance force against the tilting motion of the arm Is improved, and thus the lateral rigidity of the arm is improved.

Further, when the arm is tilted to the front, the front end of the spacer plate comes into contact with a part of the holder plate located on the side where the spacer plate rotates and regulates it. Further, when the arm is tilted to the end, the rear end of the spacer plate comes into contact with the other portion of the holder plate located on the side where the spacer plate rotates and regulates it.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. 1 and 2 show a seat reclining device,
This seat reclining device is configured using the lock mechanism unit 24 of the lock mechanism portion shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Therefore, the lock mechanism unit 24 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The upper parts 11 and the lower teeth 12 and the cam 13 are provided between the two holder plates 10.
Are rotatably supported by shafts 11a, 12a, 13a, respectively, to form a lock mechanism unit 24. Axis 12
Both ends of a and 13a are holder plates 10
Has a length such that the protruding end portion can penetrate the through hole formed in the base plate and can be caulked.

Both ends of the shafts 12a and 13a are projected by a predetermined length. When the lock mechanism units 24 are arranged on the left and right base plates of the seat device, the lock mechanism units 24 are respectively arranged outside the base plates. Because it must be. In addition, the shaft 11a is shown in FIG.
As shown in (A) and (B), embossed holes 10a are formed in the two holder plates 10, and both embossed holes 10a are formed.
Are formed by being matched with each other. Embossed hole 10a
The hinge shaft 23 is inserted in the.

The upper shaft 11 has a hinge shaft 2
3 has a toothed portion 11b formed on a circumference of a predetermined radius and a through hole 1 for connecting the arm 27 (FIG. 1).
1c is drilled. An arm 27 having a through hole that matches the through hole 11c is superposed on the pin 26 (FIG. 1).
, And pin 26 is caulked to connect. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, the spacer plate 30 is interposed between the upper part 11 and the arm 27, and the pin 2
Tighten together with 6. The spacer plate 30 is prepared with a different length depending on the operating angle such as the vehicle type.

The spacer plate 30 is an arc-shaped plate having a predetermined radius centered on the hinge shaft 23, and is arranged on the same plane as the holder plate 10 as shown in FIG. Abut the plate 10. Therefore, a step portion is formed on the arm 27 to form an offset portion 31, and the holder plate 10 has a circumferential portion 3 centered on the hinge shaft 23 and having a predetermined radius.
2, an inclined portion 34 with which the front end portion 33 of the spacer plate 30 abuts and a contact portion 36 with which the rear end portion 35 abuts.

In the lower tooth 12, a cam portion 15 is formed on the other end side opposite to the shaft supporting end portion, a tooth portion 12b is formed on the upper side of the cam portion 15, and a spring hook is formed on the shaft supporting end portion side. The protrusion 16 is formed. An arcuate portion 17 is formed between the cam portion 15 and the spring hooking protrusion portion 16.

The cam 13 is the cam portion 1 of the lower tooth 12.
5 and the pin insertion hole 19 formed in the end portion 14 facing the contact portion 18 with the shaft 13a interposed therebetween.
And a spring hooking projection 20 is formed on the end portion 14.

A compression spring 21 is elastically mounted between the spring hooking projection 20 of the cam 13 and the spring hooking projection 16 of the lower tooth 12, and biases the cam 13 counterclockwise about the shaft 13a. There is. An operating lever 28 is coaxially and rotatably supported on the shaft 13a of the cam 13 as shown in FIG.
The pin 29 protruding from the operation lever 28 is inserted into the pin insertion hole 19.

The holder plate 10 includes the shafts 11a and 12
is a substantially triangular plate body formed by connecting a and 13a,
In order to prevent the compression spring 21 from falling off, as shown in FIG. 4C, each holder plate is bent into an arc shape having a substantially semicircular cross section, and the compression spring 21 is attached to the cylindrical guide covers 22 facing each other. Unauthorized deformation (deformation in a direction other than axial expansion / contraction) when inserted and compressed is restricted.

Needless to say, one of the holder plates 10 of the lock mechanism unit 24 may be replaced with a base plate to form a seat reclining device.

Therefore, the lock mechanism unit 24 is
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the protruding ends of the shafts 12a and 13a are inserted into the holes formed corresponding to the specific base plate 25, and the ends are caulked to be connected,
The arm 27 and the spacer plate 30 are connected to the through hole 11c of the upper part 11 via the pin 26. The arm 27 has a through hole into which the hinge shaft 23 is fitted.
It is formed in a. By determining the length of the spacer plate 30 for each operating angle and selecting and assembling it appropriately, a reclining device for each operating angle can be easily manufactured.

An operating lever 28 is coaxially attached to the shaft 13a, and a pin 29 projecting from the operating lever 28 is inserted into the pin insertion hole 19 of the cam 13 so that the two can rotate integrally and the seat reclining. Form the device. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the spiral spring 3 is attached to the hinge shaft 23.
7, the outer end portion of the spiral spring 37 is lengthened to one of the pins 26, and is locked to the arm 26.
7 is always urged to rotate forward.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, when the operation lever 28 is rotated clockwise in the figure around the shaft 13a, the cam 13 rotates clockwise while compressing the compression spring 21 around the shaft 13a, as shown in FIG. As shown, the contact portion 18 separates from the cam portion 15.

Therefore, the lower tooth 12, which is urged to rotate in the clockwise direction by the compression spring 21, rotates in the illustrated clockwise direction about the shaft 12a. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5B, the meshing between the tooth portions 11b and 12b starts to be released.

Therefore, the contact portion 18 of the cam 13 is replaced by the cam portion 1.
5 is separated from the tooth portion 11 as shown in FIG.
b, 12b are completely disengaged, and the cam portion 15 has the contact portion 1
Move to the side of 8.

Therefore, the upper part 11 has the shaft 11
It becomes rotatable about a. Lower tooth 1
2 does not become completely free from the cam 13,
It constantly contacts with the cam 13 to maintain the engagement relationship.

Therefore, the arm 27 is tilted forward by the force of the spiral spring 37 that is rotationally biased, and the front end portion 33 of the spacer plate 30 abuts the inclined portion 34 of the holder plate 10 to regulate the forward tilt. On the contrary, when the arm 27 is finally tilted through the seat back, the spacer plate 3
The rear end portion 35 of 0 abuts on the abutting portion 36 of the holder plate 10 to regulate the rearmost inclination.

Further, when the seat back is tilted at a desired angle and the operation lever 28 is released, the operation lever 28 returns to its original state by the force of the compression spring 21, and the cam 13 rotates in the opposite direction.

The contact portion 18 of the cam 13 has a shaft 13a.
When the lower tooth 12 is rotated about the shaft 12a in the counterclockwise direction as shown in the drawing, the lower tooth 12 is rotated around the shaft 12a in the counterclockwise direction by being pressed by the force of the compression spring 21. 12b meshes with the tooth portion 11b of the upper part 11. Therefore, the seat back inclination angle set by the seated person is maintained.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the arm 27 and the holder plate 1 are shown.
0, Upper parts 11, Lower tooth 12, Cam 13
An example in which the lock mechanism unit 24 in which the shape of the operation lever 28 is slightly changed is completed as a seat reclining device is shown. The arm 27 is composed of a single plate whose center is fitted to the hinge shaft 23.
An arc portion centered on 3 covers the tooth portion 11b. 41
Is a spiral spring whose inner end is locked to the hinge shaft 23. The operation lever 28 and the cam 13 are connected by a pin 29.

Both ends of the spring 21 are the holder plate 10
And the spring hooking projections 16 and 2 formed on the cam 13, respectively.
0, and as in FIG. 4 (C),
Guide covers 22 and 22 having a semicircular cross section are provided on a part of the two holder plates 10 and 10, and the guide covers 22 and 22 are inserted into a cylindrical space formed on the matching inner surface side and are deformed when compressed (axial direction). Deformation in directions other than expansion and contraction) is regulated. The spring hooking projection 16 is formed by forming a notch 42 for separating the holder cover 10 from the guide cover 22 so as to be located at the center of the end of the spring 21. Further, one guide cover 22 is formed with a notch 43 into which the pin 29 of the cam 13 is inserted by operating the operation lever 28.

[0040]

According to the present invention described above, an arm is arranged on the outside of one holder plate to pivotally support the arm on the hinge shaft of the upper part.
Since the arm is connected to the upper part via the spacer plate, the lateral rigidity of the arm is improved, the collision between the arm and the holder plate can be avoided, and the need to change the shape of the holder plate can be eliminated. .

Further, the regulation of the foremost tilt and the last tilt which differ depending on the operating angle of the seat reclining device is performed by the spacer plate interposed between the upper part and the arm and tightened together with the pin, and the holder plate fixed to the base plate. , The spacer plate can be assembled by selecting the one whose length is changed according to the operating angle as appropriate, and thus providing the base plate with a notch or an arc long hole,
The seat reclining device can be commonly used with a very simple configuration without providing pins or standing bent portions on the upper parts and the arms.

Moreover, the arm is rotatably engaged with the hinge shaft, and is rotatable in a position in which one side portion of the arm is substantially in contact with the flange portion without providing a notch portion in the flange portion of the base plate. Therefore, since a gap for dropping foreign matter is not formed between the arm and the base plate, it is possible to prevent an unexpected situation such as foreign matter being caught in the teeth of the upper part and the lower tooth.

Furthermore, since the arm covers the teeth of the upper part, the teeth of the upper part can be hidden and the teeth can be protected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a lock mechanism unit.

4 is a sectional view (A), a sectional view (B) and a sectional view (C) of FIG.

FIG. 5 (A) to (C) are explanatory views of action.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Holder plate 11 ... Upper parts 12 ... Lower tooth 13 ... Cam 15 ... Cam part 21, 26 ... Compression spring 27 ... Arm 27a ... Shaft support part 28 ... Operation lever 30 ... Spacer plate

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 28, 1994

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0038

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the arm 27 and the holder plate 1 are shown.
0, Upper parts 11, Lower tooth 12, Cam 13
An example in which the lock mechanism unit 24 in which the shape of the operation lever 28 is slightly changed is completed as a seat reclining device is shown. The arm 27 is composed of a single plate whose center is fitted to the hinge shaft 23.
An arc portion centered on 3 covers the tooth portion 11b. 41
Is a spiral spring whose inner end is locked to the hinge shaft 23. The operation lever 28 and the cam 13 are connected by a pin 29. Even in this embodiment, similar to the above embodiment
A spacer plate 30 is attached.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 6

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 6]

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An upper part tooth having an arcuate tooth part, a lower tooth having a tooth part meshing with the tooth part of the upper part tooth, and a cam for engaging and disengaging the tooth part by engaging and disengaging with the lower tooth. A lock mechanism unit, which is rotatably supported between two holder plates, is connected to a base plate, and an arm is arranged outside one of the holder plates, and the arm is attached to the hinge shaft of the above parts plate. A seat reclining device which is axially supported and which is formed by connecting the arm to the upper part via a spacer plate. 2. The seat reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the arm covers a tooth portion of the upper part. 3. The seat reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the spacer plate is provided as a stopper for restricting a rotation angle of the arm.