Arrangement in adjustable seats - Patent Review 4884840

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The present invention relates to an arrangement in adjustable seats, in which the back support and seat part are mutually pivotably joined, and where the back support is pivotably connected to the rear portions of arm rests included in the substructure of the seat, and the front portion of the seat part is pivotable at at least one pivoting point on the underside of the seat part, from which extends at least one slide bar in the longitudinal direction of the seat for coaction with a fixed locking sleeve projecting from the lower part of the substructure, for enabling an adjustment of the mutual angular positions of back support and seat part to a setting desired by the user, said slide bar being telescopically displaceable and lockable in its longitudinal direction in the locking sleeve.

Adjustable seats of the above-mentioned type are known in many different variations, in which the back support and seat part are suspended in a frame, or carried by the latter in a way such that the mentioned chief parts can be caused to assume a desired mutual angular position. Different solutions have been proposed for this, and for locking in a desired position. Several such solutions depend on friction provided by an operating wheel or lever turning a screw into engagement against a suitable abutment, enabling infinitely variable positional fixation of the back support and seat part in relation to the frame. These structures often result in that a previous user has tightened down the operating wheel so hard that a later user is unable to free it for changing the seat adjustment without the use of a special tool, or when operation is by a lever, it has been broken off, leading to subsequent repair costs. In addition, there have also been difficulties in operating the wheel or lever during adjustment of the seat.

The object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement of the kind mentioned in the introduction, which is easy to adjust and which results in the mitigation of the disadvantages in known, similar structures. The distinguishing features of the invention are disclosed in the following claims.

Due to the invention, there has now been provided an arrangement, with the aid of which adjustment of a seat can be performed readily and comfortably. Because of the perfect balancing of the seat by the attachment at pivoting points in its substructure, the mutual angular positions of back support and seat part can easily be changed to desired positions after releasing a locking device, which is actuatable by an operating means on one of the seat arm rests. There are no wheels or levers to be tightened too hard or broken due to carelessness. The operating handle is also very easily accessible, and since it is only movable a short distance between a locking and free position for a locking pin in the locking device, it is very difficult to destroy or make unserviceable by careless handling. The adjustment of the seat can be made in a plurality of fixed, closely placed locking positions providing the best comfort. There is also achieved, via telescopic function of the slide bar and locking sleeve, which regulate the seat adjustment in combination with the low-torsion, balanced attachment of the seat to the substructure, a very compact substructure with concealed slide details and very good seat balance at the same time.

The invention will now be described in more detail, and with reference to the accompanying drawing, where

FIG. 1 is a schematic, partial side view of an adjustable seat in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic, partial front view of the seat illustrated in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a schematic, partial side view, partly in cross section, of the seat locking device without locking pin,

FIG. 3A is a side view of a locking pin belonging to the locking device illustrated in FIG. 3 and

FIG. 3B is a side view of the locking pin illustrated in FIG. 3A turned 90.degree..

As will be seen from the drawings, a preferred embodiment of an adjustable seat in accordance with the present invention comprises a back support 1 and a seat part 2 connected pivotably to the support via a joint 3, both these chief parts being carried by a substructure or frame 6. Via joints 4 the back support is pivotably attached to the rear edge portions 5 of arm rests 7 included in the substructure 6. The front portion 8 of the seat part 2 is pivotably attached to the substructure 6 at least one pivoting point 9 on the underside of the seat part 2 via a slide bar 10. The slide bar 10 extends in the longitudinal direction of the seat part 2, towards the back support 1 and is in lockable coaction with a fixed locking sleeve 11 projecting from the lower part of the substructure 6. The bar 10 enables an angular setting of the back support 1 relative the seat part 2 by its telescopic coaction with, and displaceable location in, the locking sleeve 11, in which the bar is fixable in at least two predetermined, distinct locking positions. This is achieved by a locking pin 14, which can be inserted via a hole 12 in the surface of the sleeve 11 into a bore 13 in the bar 10 for positionally fixing the bar in relation to the sleeve 11 when the bore 13 is in register with the hole 12. The pin 14 is spring biassed towards the bar 10 in the sleeve 11, and is operable from an operating means 15 on one of the arm rests 7, with the aid of a Bowden cable 16. The fixed locking sleeve 11 projecting from the substructure preferably forms an angle to the horizontal plane attaining to approximately 30.degree.. The free end of the locking pin 14 is tapered 17 to facilitate its entry into one of the bores 13 disposed one after the other in the bar 10. The locking pin and its hole 12 in the sleeve 11 are preferably disposed in a region, at the middle of the sleeve 11, to provide the greatest stability. The sleeve 11 is provided with a plastics bushing 18 for reducing friction between sleeve and bar. The number of bores 13 in the bar 10 for coaction with the locking pin 14 is suitably 8-12 bores, which give just as many adjusting positions of the seat.

By placing the pivoting joints 4 on the back support 1 low down in relation to the pivoting point 9 for the attachment of the slide bar 10 to the front portion of the seat part 2, there is achieved very balanced suspension of the back support 1 and seat part 2 in the substructure 6. There is then obtained a mechanical advantage with a lever action which gives very little resistance when adjusting the seat into a desired position.

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