JPH08214979A - Reclining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a reclining seat capable of engaging without skipping engagement between outside teeth provided on a latch member and inside teeth provided on a rotation plate when a back rest part is raised from a forward slanting condition. CONSTITUTION: Outside teeth 80 of a latch member 19 is facing to and in contact with a toothless part 61a provided on a rotation plate 16 when a back rest part is in a forward slanting condition. By providing a slant part in raising the back rest part from that condition, the outside teeth 80 are engaged with the inside teeth 61.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reclining device used for a vehicle seat or the like, and more particularly to an improvement of a reclining device for smoothly engaging a locking tooth profile of a reclining device with a latch member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various reclining devices used for vehicle seats have been proposed. For example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 4-61649 discloses a structure in which the tip of the ratchet claw used in a reclining device is securely engaged with a recess provided in a latch so that a tooth skipping phenomenon does not occur.

A reclining device having such a conventional structure will be briefly described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 is a lower bracket fixed to a seat, 2 is an upper bracket fixed to a backrest, and is axially fixed by a shaft 4a, and a recess 3 is formed on an outer peripheral surface of either one of the lower bracket 1 and the upper bracket 2. The latch 4 is provided, and the ratchet 6 having the claw portion 6c that engages with the recess 3 is pivotally attached to the other one by the shaft 6a.

The outer peripheral edge of the latch 4 is formed by an arc-shaped toothless portion 4b centered on the shaft 4a and a recess 3 having notched edges 3a, 3b on both sides formed by notching a part of the toothless portion 4b. To do.

The ratchet 6 is composed of an arm portion 6b extending in the radial direction from the shaft 6a, and a claw portion 6c formed by bending from the tip of the arm portion 6b in the direction of the latch 4.

The shape of the claw portion 6c is such that the inner edge 5 on the side closer to the shaft 6a along a radius r of a small diameter centered on the shaft center of the shaft 6a.
And an outer edge 7 on the side farther from the shaft 6a along a large radius R with the shaft 6a as the center of the axis.

The tip edge 8 of the claw portion 6c is formed in an arcuate surface along the arc of the outer peripheral edge of the latch 4 while being in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the latch 4.

Further, the toothless portion 4b on the side of the shaft 6a adjacent to the recess 3 is gently cut to form a notch 9 so that it becomes deeper as it approaches the recess 3, and a notched edge on the side of the shaft 6a is formed. The height (head position) of 3a is configured to be lower than that of the cutout edge 3b.

With the above structure, when the backrest is tilted forward,
Although the claw portion 6c of the ratchet 6 is in contact with the toothless portion 4b of the latch 4, the tip edge 8 of the claw portion 6c is formed in an arc that is in close contact with the outer peripheral edge of the perfect circle of the latch 4 over the entire width. Therefore, even when the claw portion 6c slides on the toothless portion 4b and faces the concave portion 3, the concave portion 3 faces the concave portion 3 without a gap, so that the concave portion 3 is easily and surely engaged. Since the toothless portion 4b on the shaft 6a side of the toothless portion 4b in the vicinity of the recess 3 is provided with a notch 9 for preventing the tooth jump which gradually becomes deeper as it approaches the recessed portion 3, the claw portion 6c is formed. When the tooth slides on the toothless portion 4b and faces the concave portion 3, the height is slightly lowered, so that the outer edge 7 of the claw portion 6c abuts on the notch edge 3b located at a higher position, so as to engage more reliably. Is made in.

[0010]

To engage the ratchet 6 and the latch 4 of the reclining device described in the above-mentioned conventional structure, the ratchet 6 is rotated around the shaft 6a and fitted into the recess 3 of the latch 4. There is. However, for example, in the configuration of another reclining device, external teeth are provided on the latch member corresponding to the ratchet 6 so as to be slidable up and down, and the external teeth of the latch member are engaged with the internal teeth provided on the rotary plate corresponding to the latch 4. A lock mechanism is provided to match them. In the reclining device having such a configuration, the tooth flying phenomenon appears more remarkably than in the conventional configuration.

That is, a cam provided rotatably in a blank groove provided between the base plate arranged on the seat side and the rotary plate 16 arranged on the backrest side, and this cam together. And a latch member 19 having external teeth 80 that are vertically slidable in the blank groove by movement, and the latch member 19 is attached to the lower end of the rotary plate 16 forming the blank groove when the backrest is locked. Internal teeth 6 that mesh with the external teeth 80 of the
1 and an edentulous part 6 that contacts the external teeth 80 when the backrest is tilted forward
In the reclining device provided with 1a, the relationship between the toothless portion 61a provided on the rotary plate 16 and the internal teeth 61, and the external teeth 80 of the latch member 19 is configured as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, a boundary portion c between the toothless portion 61a and the inner tooth 61 formed on the rotary plate 16 stands vertically. Therefore, in the state in which the backrest portion is in the forward tilted state, the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19 are in contact with the toothless portion 61a of the rotary plate 16 as in the conventional configuration, but when the backrest portion is raised, the latch member is raised. The outer teeth 80 of 19 are the rotating plate 1
6, the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19 are brought to a position where they mesh with the first teeth of the inner teeth 61 of the rotating plate 16. The outer teeth 80 and the inner teeth 61 actually mesh with each other until the latch member 19 has not completely moved down the blank groove within a predetermined period of time from the initial meshing position by a few teeth.

This is of course the gap L between the inner teeth 61 and the outer teeth 80.
Is large. Also, if the gap L is large,
When the inner teeth 61 and the outer teeth 80 are meshed with each other, the teeth are damaged or broken.

The present invention is intended to provide a reclining device which eliminates the above-mentioned adverse effects. The object of the present invention is to eliminate the tooth skipping phenomenon and to smoothly mesh the outer teeth 80 and the inner teeth 61. Thus, there is provided a reclining device which does not cause tooth spillage or the like due to impact at the time of meshing.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, a reclining device of the present invention comprises a latch member having external teeth, and a rotating plate having toothless portions and internal teeth continuously provided. In a reclining device comprising an outer tooth of a latch member, and a toothless portion and an inner tooth of a rotating plate facing each other so as to be slidable, the toothless portion provided on the rotating plate and the inner tooth It is characterized in that the connecting portion with the tooth is formed by an inclined surface descending from the toothless portion to the inner tooth.

Further, the reclining device of the present invention includes a base plate arranged on the seat side, and a cam rotatably provided in a blank groove provided between rotating plates arranged on the backrest. , A latch member having external teeth slidable in the vertical direction in the blank groove in cooperation with the cam, and when the backrest portion is locked at the lower end of the rotating plate forming the blank groove. In a reclining device having internal teeth that mesh with the external teeth of a latch member and toothless parts that come into contact with the external teeth when the backrest part is tilted forward, the connection between the toothless parts provided on the rotating plate and the internal teeth The part is formed by an inclined surface that descends from the toothless part to the inner teeth.

[0017]

According to the reclining device of the present invention, the latch member having the external teeth is in contact with the toothless portion of the rotary plate when the backrest is tilted forward to the seat side, but the backrest is raised upright. At this time, the outer teeth of the latch member are slid along the inclined portion, and the distance L ₁ between the outer teeth of the latch member and the inner teeth of the rotating plate can be gradually narrowed to smoothly mesh with the inner teeth of the rotating plate. It is surely prevented, and the impact when the latch member descends is small so that the gear teeth are not damaged.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. The reclining device 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 7 includes a first reclining unit 11 provided on one side of left and right side portions connecting a seat portion and a backrest portion of a vehicle seat, and a reclining unit 11 on the other side. It is a so-called double-sided rock recliner provided with the provided second reclining unit 12.

First, the first reclining unit 11
Will be described with reference to FIGS. The first reclining unit 11 includes a base plate 15 fixed to the seat frame side of the seat, a rotating plate 16 fixed to the back frame side, a shaft 17 fixed to the base plate 15, and a rotation about the shaft 17. An operation lever 18, a latch member 19, a cam member 20 and the like which are freely provided are provided. The sub plate 24 is fixed to the base plate 15 by pins 23 and the like, and the rotating plate 16 is sandwiched between the base plate 15 and the sub plate 24.

The shaft 17 has a cylindrical end portion 28 provided with a slit 27, a retaining ring mounting groove 29, a portion 30 having a non-circular cross section, a cylindrical intermediate body portion 31, a terminal portion 32 and the like. I have it.

A blank groove 35 is formed in the base plate 15 by pressing. This blank groove 35 is
The surface facing the rotating plate 16 has a concave shape, and a pair of linear guide walls 36 and 37 extending in the vertical direction is provided in the lower half of the blank groove 35. Further, arcuate guide walls 38 and 39 are provided in the upper half portion of the blank groove 35.

A non-circular shaft mounting hole 40 is provided at the center of the arc-shaped guide walls 38, 39. This shaft mounting hole 4
The non-circular cross-section portion 30 of the shaft 17 is fixed to 0 in a fitted state. Around the shaft mounting hole 40, arcuate connecting pin insertion holes 41, 42 centered on the hole 40.
Is provided.

A spring locking portion 4 is provided on a part of the base plate 15.
5 is provided, and one end 47 of the tension spring 46 is locked to the spring locking portion 45. The other end 48 of the tension spring 46 is locked to the operating lever 18, and the elastic force of the spring 46 urges the operating lever 18 in the direction of the lock position shown by the solid line in FIG.

The operating lever 18 is rotatably attached to the shaft 17. That is, a circular hole 51 is provided at the base of the operation lever 18, and a retaining ring 52 such as an E ring is mounted in the retaining ring mounting groove 29 with the end 28 of the shaft 17 inserted into the hole 51. As a result, the operating lever 18 is prevented from coming off the shaft 17. The base of the operating lever 18 has pin insertion holes 54, 5 around the hole 51.
5 is drilled.

A blank groove 60 is also formed in the rotary plate 16 by pressing. This blank groove 60 is
The surface facing the base plate 15 has a concave shape. An inner tooth 61 and a toothless portion 61 a are provided below the blank groove 60 along an arc centered on the shaft 17. An inner tooth 61 is provided at the center of the rotating plate 16.
A circular bearing hole 62 is provided at the center of the arc. The intermediate barrel portion 31 of the shaft 17 is rotatably inserted into the bearing hole 62. In addition, the bearing hole 6 is formed around the bearing hole 62.
An arc-shaped elongated hole 63 centered at 2 is provided.

A spring hook portion 65 is provided on the upper portion of the rotating plate 16.
Is provided. An outer end 67 of a spiral spring 66 (shown in FIG. 2) is locked to the spring hook portion 65. The inner end 68 of the spiral spring 66 is fitted in the slit 27 of the shaft 17, and the elastic force of the spring 66 causes the rotary plate 1 to move.
6 acts so as to cause a backrest.
The convex portion 71 provided on the upper portion of the rotating plate 16 contacts the stopper wall 72 of the base plate 15 when the rotating plate 16 is rotated forward by a predetermined angle, and the rotating plate 16 is moved backward by a predetermined angle. By contacting the stopper wall 73 when it falls, the rotation range of the rotation plate 16 is regulated.

In the space between the blank groove 35 of the base plate 15 and the blank groove 60 of the rotary plate 16,
A latch member 19 and a cam member 20 are housed. The latch member 19 is provided on the linear guide wall 3 of the base plate 15.
It has linear side surface portions 75 and 76 slidably contacting with 6, and 37, and can be moved in the vertical direction along the linear guide walls 36 and 37. External teeth 80 that can be engaged with and disengaged from the internal teeth 61 provided on the rotary plate 16 are provided below the latch member 19. Further, on the upper side of the latch member 19, a hook portion 81 and an inclined cam receiving surface 82 are formed.
Is provided.

The cam member 20 has an outer peripheral portion 85 having a radius of curvature that can be fitted into the arcuate guide walls 38 and 39 of the base plate 15. Therefore, the cam member 20 can freely rotate along the arc-shaped guide walls 38 and 39. Moreover, the rotation center of the cam member 20 is provided with a through hole 86 for insertion, which is sufficiently larger than the outer diameter of the shaft 17, so that the rotation of the cam member 20 is not restricted by the shaft 17. There is.

On one side of the cam member 20, integral connecting pins 87 and 88 as a connecting member are provided, and on the other side of the cam member 20, an interlocking pin 89 is projected. The connecting pins 87, 88 project toward the operating lever 18 through the connecting pin insertion holes 41, 42 of the base plate 15, and the tips of the connecting pins 87, 88 are fitted into the pin insertion holes 54, 55, respectively.

The interlocking pin 89 passes through the elongated hole 63 of the pivoting plate 16 and projects to the outside of the pivoting plate 16, and the terminal part 93 of the connecting rod 92 is connected to the tip of the interlocking pin 89. The connecting rod 92 has a rod body 94 that extends horizontally in the width direction of the seat. Rod body 9
The one end side opening 95 of 4 is rotatably supported by the terminal portion 32 of the shaft 17. As shown in FIG. 7, the other end side opening 96 of the rod body 94 is rotatably supported by the terminal portion 132 of the shaft 117 of the second reclining unit 12 described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cam member 20 has a locking portion 98 having a shape capable of being hooked on the hook portion 81 of the latch member 19, and a cam surface having a shape capable of contacting the cam receiving surface 82. 99 is provided. Cam surface 99
Pushes the cam receiving surface 82 of the latch member 19 in the direction of arrow A in the figure when the cam member 20 is in the lock position shown in FIG. It has become.

The engaging portion 98 of the cam member 20 is formed by the cam member 2
When 0 is rotated to the unlocked position, the latch member 19 is pulled up in the arrow B direction by rotating while hooking the hook portion 81 of the latch member 19.

Further, when the backrest is tilted forward, the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19 are the inner teeth 61 of the rotating plate 16.
Is abutted on the toothless portion 61a that is connected to.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main portion showing the relationship between the inner teeth 61 of the rotary plate 16 and the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19. The position of the latch member 19 shown by the solid line is on the verge of becoming the locked position shown in FIG. 4, and the position of the latch member 19 'shown by the phantom line is the state in which the backrest is tilted forward and the latch member 19' is shown. The outer teeth 80 'are contacted with the toothless portion 61a.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 which is an enlarged view of the portion C in FIG. 4, the toothless portion 61a and the inner tooth 61 are connected by the gentle descending slope portion 61b. It is formed so as to be engraved below the lowermost position of the inclined portion 61b.

In FIG. 5, the right end of the inclined surface 61b is in contact with the radius 61c of the tooth tip of the first gear of the internal tooth 61, and the angle θ swung from the tooth surface 61d is selected to be 40 ° to 60 °.

As described above, when the gently inclined portion 61b is provided at the boundary between the toothless portion 61a and the inner tooth 61, when the backrest is raised, the latch member 19 is gradually lowered from the early position along the inclined portion 61b. The gap L ₁ between the inner tooth 61 and the outer tooth 80 immediately before meshing with the first-stage tooth of the inner tooth 61 can be made sufficiently smaller than the conventional gap L. Therefore, the falling of the latch member 19 is not delayed with respect to the returning speed of the rotating plate 16 and the tooth jump phenomenon can be avoided by properly engaging with the teeth of the first stage.

In FIG. 6, the outer teeth of the latch member 19 are toothless portions 61.
The tip circle 61e of the outer tooth 80 of the latch member 19 and the inner tooth 61 of the rotating plate 16 are slid down from the inclined portion 61b.
It shows an enlarged view of a state in which the tooth tip circle 61e of is overlapped with and is just before meshing, and the meshing is completed by descending in the direction of the arrow. In this way, the force of the latch member 19 jumping into the rotating plate 16 at the time of meshing can be reduced, and the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19 mesh with the inner teeth 61 of the rotating plate 16 at substantially the same time, so the impact on the gear is small. I can.

In the conventional example and the present example, when the seat back was erected 10 times under the same conditions, tooth skipping occurred twice in the conventional example, but not in the present example. .

Next, the second reclining unit 12
Will be described with reference to FIG. 7. The second reclining unit 12 is the first reclining unit 11
The components other than the operation lever 18 described above have the same configuration as that of the first reclining unit 11.

The same reference numerals are used for the corresponding parts in FIG. 7 and FIG.
The number 0 is added and shown, and duplicate description is omitted. Next, the operation of the reclining device 10 having the above configuration will be described by taking the first reclining unit 11 as a representative. In the locked state shown in FIG. 3, the cam member 20 presses the latch member 19 toward the inner teeth 61, and the inner teeth 61 and the outer teeth 80 mesh with each other, whereby the rotating plate 16 is fixed to the base plate 15. ing. That is, the backrest is fixed.

When the operating lever 18 is rotated in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 2, the rotating force of the operating lever 18 causes the connecting pin 87,
88 is directly transmitted to the cam member 20,
The engaging portion 98 moves in the direction of pulling up the hook portion 81 of the latch member 19, so that the inner teeth 61 and the outer teeth 80 are disengaged from each other. Therefore, the restraint of the rotary plate 16 by the latch member 19 is released, and the rotary plate 16 becomes rotatable with respect to the base plate 15 about the shaft 17. That is, the rotating plate can be tilted backward (in the direction of arrow R) as much as possible, or conversely, the backrest can be tilted forward. In this state, the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19 are in contact with the toothless portion 61a.

When the operating lever 18 is rotated in the direction of the arrow R, the rotational movement of the cam member 20 is transmitted to the connecting rod 92 via the interlocking pin 89, and the connecting rod 92 rotates, so that the second movement is made. The cam member 120 of the reclining unit 12 rotates in the same direction as the cam member 20. Therefore, also in the second reclining unit 12, the engagement between the inner teeth 161 of the rotating plate 116 and the outer teeth 180 of the latch member 119 is disengaged, so that the rotating plate 116 becomes rotatable.

After the tilt angle of the backrest is adjusted in the above unlocked state, the operating force of the operating lever 18 is released, so that the operating lever 18 receives the elastic force of the tension spring 46.
While returning to the position shown by the solid line in FIG.
When the cam member 20 returns to the lock position shown in FIG. 3 in conjunction with, the outer teeth 80 of the latch member 19 mesh with the inner teeth 61 of the rotating plate 16, and the rotating plate 16 is fixed. Also in this case, the cam member 120 of the second reclining unit 12 is interlocked with the cam member 20 via the connecting rod 92.

[0045]

As described in detail above, according to the reclining device of the present invention, the outer teeth of the latch member are in the toothless portion of the rotating plate when the seat back of the backrest portion is tilted forward, and the seat back When standing up, the external teeth gradually fall along the sloped part provided between the toothless part and the internal teeth, and in the meshing state, the correct meshing state with both tip circles of both gears contacting each other Therefore, the tooth skipping phenomenon at the time of meshing can be prevented, and the cutting of the gear teeth can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a part of a reclining device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a part of the reclining device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing in cross section a part of the reclining device shown in FIG. 1 when it is in a locked state.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view for explaining the meshing state of the outer teeth and the inner teeth used in the reclining device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged explanatory view of the non-toothed portion and the inner teeth of the rotary plate used in the reclining device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the meshing state of the inner teeth of the rotating plate and the outer teeth of the latch member used in the reclining device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a second reclining unit of the reclining device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a main part of a conventional reclining device.

FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged view for explaining a meshing state of external teeth and internal teeth used in a conventional reclining device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Reclining device 11 1st reclining unit 12 2nd reclining unit 15,115 Base plate 16,116 Rotating plate 17,117 Shaft 18 Control lever 19,119 Latch member 20,120 Cam member 36,37,136,137 Straight line -Shaped guide wall 38, 39, 138, 139 Arc-shaped guide wall 41, 42, 141, 142 Connecting pin insertion hole 61, 161 Internal tooth 61a Non-toothed portion 61b Inclined portion 80 External tooth

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A latch member having external teeth, and a rotating plate in which toothless portions and internal teeth are continuously provided, and external teeth of the latch member and toothless portions of the rotating plate. In a reclining device configured such that internal teeth face each other and are slidable, a connecting portion between the toothless portion and the internal tooth provided on the rotating plate is
A reclining device formed by an inclined surface descending from an edentulous portion to an internal tooth. 2. A base plate disposed on the seat side,
A cam that is rotatably provided in a blank groove provided between turning plates provided in the backrest and a cam that is movable in cooperation with the cam are vertically slidable in the blank groove. And a latch member having outer teeth, the inner teeth meshing with the outer teeth of the latch member when the backrest is locked at the lower end of the rotating plate forming the blank groove, and the forward tilt of the backrest. In a reclining device that is provided with a toothless portion that is sometimes in contact with the external tooth, a connecting portion between the toothless portion and the internal tooth provided on the rotating plate is
The reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the reclining device is formed by an inclined surface that descends from the toothless portion to the internal teeth.