A seat including a first portion; a support member borne by the first portion; and a second portion borne by the support member and disposed in space relation thereto, and wherein the seat is borne by the second portion, and wherein the first portion is positioned in force transmitting relation relative to the support member, and wherein force applied to the seat is transmitted through the first portion to the support member thereby causing the support member to deform and thus dissipate some of the force acting upon the seat.

An integrated child's seat (10) is provided for a motor vehicle seat. The child's seat (10) is displaceable between a low and an unfolded raised position. It has a base portion (12) and a support portion (14) which are pivotably connected by front and rear parallelogram arm devices (16, 18). A diagonal strut device (40) is linearly movably guided with a guide end portion (42) along a guide device (44) provided on the support portion (14) or on the front parallelogram arm device (16). The diagonal strut device (40) is pivotably connected with its second end portion (52) to the rear parallelogram arm device (18) by a pivotal connection (58). The rear parallelogram arm device (18) has a weak crash location (38) so that in the unfolded condition of the child's seat (10) with a corresponding weight on the support portion (14), the rear parallelogram arm device (18) buckles at the weak crash location (38) and the support portion (14) dips downwardly with its rear end part.

A support frame for a seat, in particular an aircraft seat, where the support frame includes a seat support member having an upper surface and a lower surface, a plurality of leg members that each have a first end and a second end, with the first end attached to the lower surface of the seat support member. An angled flexible leg brace capable of stretching to absorb a dynamic load on the frame extends between at least two of the plurality of leg members.

The invention relates to a seat assembly capable of absorbing energy during a crash involving a series of impacts by providing a seat back which is relatively flexible to forward directed forces and relatively inflexible to aft directed forces. The seat back includes a seat back frame having a first and second side member. A first and second elongated member are flexible and have a first end, a second end, and a middle region between the first and second end. The elongated members are able to support a tensile load but are unable to support a compressive load. The first elongated member is disposed on a forward face of the first side member, wherein the first end is attached to a lower portion of the forward face, the second end is attached to an upper portion of the forward face, and the middle region is suspended. The second elongated member is disposed on a forward face of the second side member in a similar fashion. An aft directed force on the seat back frame tensions the elongated members such that the elongated members support the seat back frame, and a forward directed force on the seat back frame compresses the elongated members such that the elongated members are displaced and provide little or no support to the seat back frame.

A passenger seat which includes a seat bottom chassis assembled from a plurality of leg modules attached to fixed, spaced-apart attachment points on a supporting surface, and a plurality of beam elements for being carried by the leg modules. A plurality of clamp joints are positioned on a first side of the leg modules in a first laterally-offset relation thereto in a first spaced-apart relation to the attachment points of the supporting surface and for receiving the plurality of beam elements for defining a ladder frame assembly having a first specified width and seat spacing. The plurality of clamp joints are removable from the first side of the leg modules can positioned on a second, opposite side of the leg modules in a second laterally-offset relation for defining a ladder frame assembly having a second specified width and seat spacing while the plurality of leg modules maintain the same position relative to each other and thus to the fixed, spaced apart attachment points whereby the location of the seats may be altered while using the same beam elements.