WO2001074620A1

WO2001074620A1 - Manual actuating means

Info

Publication number: WO2001074620A1
Application number: PCT/EP2001/003898
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pierrot Noel Germaine Catry
Original assignee: Youngflex A.G.
Priority date: 2000-04-03
Filing date: 2001-04-03
Publication date: 2001-10-11
Also published as: GB0220982D0; AU2001254782A1; GB0008130D0; GB2376732A; GB2376732B

Abstract

A manual actuating means comprises a pair of lead screw and nut devices (8, 9) mounted within a common housing (10, 11). The housing (10, 11) includes a carrier member (5) containing a gear wheel shaft (6). The gear wheel shaft (6) is coupled to a control knob (3) by means of a shaft (4), and a coaxial shaft (2) couples a further rotary knob (1) to the carrier (5). Rotary movement of the knob (1) causes axial translatory movement of the carrier (5) to bring respective gear wheel shaft (6) into driving engagement with one or other of the lead screws (9) via corresponding bevel gears. Rotary movement of the control knob (3) can thus effect actuation of one or other of the lead screw and nut devices in accordance with the position of the rotary knob (1).

Description

MANUAL ACTUATING MEANS

This invention concerns improvements in manual actuating means, more especially for use in the adjustment of vehicle seats.

Recent developments in vehicle seats have provided for so-called 4-way lumbar adjustment. That is to say the lumbar adjustment provided in the seat can be adjusted firstly in a horizontal direction to increase or reduce the degree of support provided in the lumbar region of the seat, and, secondly, in a vertical direction to adjust the vertical height at which lumbar support is provided.

Hitherto various forms of actuating means have been provided to enable such 4-way adjustment. Adjustment may be effected by electric motors, or, where economy is of importance, manual actuating means may be provided, for example comprising control knobs that can be turned to effect the required adjustment.

A particularly effective known construction providing such lumbar adjustment utilises Bowden Cables for transmission of movement from lead screw and nut devices to the supporting element. To enable a single knob to provide both horizontal and vertical adjustment, an arrangement has been provided wherein the manual control knob can be selectively engaged with each one of two actuating mechanisms. Such known arrangements, however, suffer from the disadvantage that engagement of a single knob with each of the two transmission mechanisms cannot be reliably maintained during manual actuator thereof, and there is a tendency for the manual actuating knob to become disengaged from the selected mechanism.

Accordingly, there is a requirement for a more simply constructed and reliable selectable manual actuating means.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a manual actuating mechanism comprising a pair of lead screw and nut devices, and a manual actuating means for selective engagement with each one of the said devices, characterised in that a supplementary actuating means is provided for causing translatory movement of an intermediate transmission mechanism coupled to said manual actuating means, said supplementary actuating means being arranged to be retained stably in two alternative setting positions, in each of which said intermediate transmission mechanism occupies a corresponding position of engagement with a respective one of said lead screw and nut devices.

Further provide features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a manual actuating mechanism in accordance with the invention,

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the device shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation on the line IN-IV of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, a device in accordance with the invention comprises an actuating lever 1 that is keyed to a shaft 2, and a rotary control knob 3 that is keyed to an actuating shaft 4 that is rotatably arranged coaxially within the shaft 2.

An external housing of the device is formed in two halves 10 and 11 that are secured in engagement with one another by means of fastening screws 13. As can be seen more clearly from Figs. 2 and 3, the two halves 10 and 11 of the housing enclose between them a pair of lead screw devices 9, each of which is formed integrally with a bevelled gear wheel at its inner end, and carries a nut 8 guided within the outer housing. The nuts 8 are arranged for coupling in known manner to the inner cores of Bowden cables 20 that extend from the outer housing as shown more clearly in Fig. 1, and are retained upon the lead screws 9 by end stops 7 that fit within openings at the free ends of the lead screws 9 and, in turn engage within apertures 22 formed in partitions 23 of the half 10 of the outer housing. Further partitions 24 engage within grooves 25 of the leads screws 9 to restrain the latter axially.

The concentric shafts 2 and 4 are located within an upper sleeve 21 formed by the two halves of the outer housing, and the lower end of shaft 4 as viewed in Fig. 2 has a cruciform portion 4a that is arranged for sliding engagement within a correspondingly shaped recess 6a of a gear wheel shaft 6. The gear wheel shaft 6 is rotatably mounted within a carrier member 5 formed in two halves that are secured together by means of fastening screws 12. The carrier member 5 is rotatably and vertically slidably arranged within a generally cylindrical internal cavity 26 of the outer casing, and has oppositely protruding cam pegs 27 that engage in corresponding cam slots 28 in each half 10, 11 of the outer housing. The carrier 5 also has upwardly projecting pegs 29 that engage within corresponding recesses 30 at the lower end of the actuating shaft 2, in such a manner that the carrier 5 is keyed to the shaft 2 and constrained to rotate therewith whilst being relatively axially movable with respect thereto.

It will thus be understood that rotation of the actuating shaft 2 via the lever 1 has the effect of turning the carrier 5 in order to cause translatory axial movement thereof in a vertical direction as viewed in the drawings as a result of interengagement of the pegs 27 of the carrier and the cam slots 28 of the outer housing. Axial movement of the carrier 5 transmits corresponding axial movement to the gear wheel shaft 6 so that in each of two end positions defined by the respective ends of the cam slots 28 in the outer housing, one of the gear wheels of the shaft 6 is in engagement with a corresponding gear wheel of one the lead screws 9. Thus, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4, it will be seen that when the lever 1 is turned fully anticlockwise in the direction of the arrow A of Figs. 2 and 3, the carrier 5 and gear wheel shaft 6 are in the lowermost position wherein the upper gear wheel of the shaft 6 is in engagement with the gear of the left hand lead screw 9 as viewed in Fig. 4.

Rotation of the lever 1 in the clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 3 is thus effective to cause upward translatory movement of the carrier 5 and gear wheel shaft 6 in order to bring the lower one of the two bevel gears of the shaft 6 into engagement with the gear wheel of the right hand lead of Fig. 4.

It will be appreciated that the two lead screws 9 are arranged with their longitudinal axes in a common vertical plane, but with their axes vertically spaced with respect to one another as shown more clearly in Fig. 4.

Thus, in each of the two end positions of the carrier 5, the manual actuating knob 3 is effective to transmit rotary movement to the gear wheel shaft 6 via the actuating shaft 4.

The lever 1 is retained stably in each of its two end positions by engagement of a projecting pip 2a on each of two diametrically opposite sides of the shaft 2, with a corresponding one of two circumferentially spaced recesses 14 on the internal surface of the sleeve 21 defined by each half of the outer housing. Only one such projecting pip 2a and recess 14 is visible in Fig. 2.

It will be appreciated that the components of the device illustrated in the drawings are formed by injection moulding from suitable synthetic plastics material, the shaft 2 and/or the halves 10 and 11 of the outer housing being sufficiently resiliently deformable that the shaft 2 can be rotated within the outer housing in order to bring the pips 2a of 'the shaft 2 respectively into snap engagement with the corresponding recesses 14 in the sleeve 21 of the outer housing.

Thus it will be appreciated that an arrangement as described in above in accordance with the invention provides a simple and effective manually actuatable means wherein the transmission mechanism can reliably be set into each of two positions wherein the control 3 can transmit rotation to corresponding one of the two lead screws 9 in a reliable manner.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A manual actuating mechanism comprising a pair of lead screw and nut devices, and a manual actuating means for selective engagement with each one of the said devices, characterised in that a supplementary actuating means is provided for causing translatory movement of an intermediate transmission mechanism coupled to said manual actuating means, said supplementary actuating means being arranged to be retained stably in two alternative setting positions, in each of which said intermediate transmission mechanism occupies a corresponding position of engagement with a respective one of said lead screw and nut devices.

2. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 1, wherein said lead screw and nut devices have a common housing in which the lead screws are mounted for rotation about axes that are spaced apart in a direction perpendicular to the respective axes of said lead screws, and said intermediate transmission mechanism comprises a gear wheel shaft mounted for rotation about an axis extending in said perpendicular direction and supporting two relatively fixed axially spaced bevel gears, the said gear wheel shaft further being mounted for translatory movement along its own axis between respective end positions in each of which one of said bevel gears meshes with a corresponding bevel gear fixed with respect to a respective one of said lead screws.

3. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 2, wherein said gear wheel shaft is mounted for rotation within a carrier member with respect to which it is relatively axially fixed, said carrier member being mounted within said common housing for sliding movement in a direction parallel to the axis of the gear wheel shaft, and for rotational movement coaxially with the gear wheel shaft, the said carrier member and the common housing engaging one another by cam means, whereby relative rotation thereof is converted to relative axial translatory motion.

4. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein a manually actuatable rotary shaft is mounted for rotation relatively to said common housing and is axially fixed relatively thereto, said manually actuatable rotary shaft being keyed to said gear wheel shaft whereby the two shafts are relatively rotationally fixed and relatively axially movable.

5. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 4 when appended to Claim 3, wherein a second manually actuatable rotary shaft is arranged coaxially with the first manually actuatable rotary shaft, said second manually actuatable rotary shaft being keyed to said carrier member in such a manner that said carrier is relatively rotationally fixed with respect thereto whilst being relatively axially movable.

6. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 5, wherein said second manually actuatable rotary shaft is mounted for rotation within said common housing and is axially fixed relatively thereto, said common housing and said second manually actuatable rotary shaft comprising interengaging means for restraining said second manually actuatable rotary shaft in each of two relative angular positions corresponding to the respective end positions of said gear wheel shaft.

7. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 5 or 6, wherein said first and second manually actuatable shafts are respectively coupled to coaxially rotatable control knobs located adjacent one another.

8. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 3 or any one of Claims 4-7 as appended thereto, wherein said carrier member is formed as a shell in two halves assembled together to contain said gear wheel shaft therein, and said common housing is likewise formed as a shell in two halves assembled together to contain said lead screw and nut devices and said carrier member.

9. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 8 as appended to Claim 6, wherein said two halves of said common housing are further arranged to contain said first and second manually actuatable shafts therebetween.

10. A manual actuating mechanism according to Claim 9, wherein said common housing and said carrier are formed by injection moulding from synthetic plastics material.