Ikeda Bussan Co. Ltd.

Ohi Seisakusho Co., Ltd.

Isamu Chinomi

Yuji Tanaka

Isao Kuwabara

Kiyohiko Munakata

Masao Sebata

Harufumi Terasawa

Shinzi Arakawa

Takami Suzuki

Wataru Ishii

Shinji Arakawa

Masahiro Tachibana

A powered seat slide device comprises upper and lower guide rails slidably fitted to each other, and a rail drive mechanism with a reversible motor and a reduction gear box. The drive mechanism includes a screw-threaded shaft being rotatable about its axis through the motor and the gear box and installed on one of the upper and lower guide rails, and a nut member being installed on another rail and screwed into the screw-threaded shaft for a relative axial motion of said screw-threaded shaft with respect to said nut member. An elastic shock-absorbing damper assembly (including essentially annular elastomeric damper) is supported on the screw-threaded shaft in front and in rear of the nut member. The damper assembly includes at least a plastic washer interposed between the nut member and the damper. The plastic washer has a radially and inwardly tapered and circumferentially curved face to define a substantially frusto-conical hollow facing to the flat side wall of the damper, and thus provide an elastic-deformation permissible space of the damper.

Powered seat slide device

A lifter mounting structure for mounting a seat lifter on a seat slide rail unit consists of a lower stationary guide rail rigidly mounted on an automotive floor panel and an upper slidable guide rail having a sliding-contact section slidably fitted to the lower stationary guide rail, comprises a mounting bracket tightly fitted to the upper slidable guide rail and having a pair of opposing side wall section. A laterally extending shaft member is provided beneath a bottom of the seat and rotatably linked to the upper slidable guide rail through the mounting bracket. A seat support link is disposed between the laterally extending shaft member and the bottom of the seat for moving the seat upwardly and downwardly and has a substantially C-shaped member formed with a pair of opposing side wall sections. The lifter mounting structure includes a positioning structure for positioning the seat support link to the mounting bracket. The positioning structure includes a pivotal hole formed at one of the side wall sections of the mounting bracket and one shaft end of the laterally extending shaft member, which is inserted into the pivotal hole.

Lifter mounting structure on seat slide rail

A seat adjuster for a vehicular seat is provided with a seat lifting mechanism which includes a front lifting unit, a rear lifting unit and a lifting drive unit. The three units of the seat lifting mechanism are independently connected to a seat rail of a seat slide mechanism. The front and rear lifting units are connected to front and rear portions of the seat, respectively, and move them downward and upward. The lifting drive unit is disposed between the front and rear lifting units. Various parts of the front side of the seat lifting mechanism are formed exactly the same as those of the rear side. Therefore, this seat adjuster realizes reduction in weight and manufacturing cost.

Vehicular seat adjuster

A support shaft has an integral protrusion which is abuttingly engageable with an arcuate portion of a support panel for limiting rotation of the support panel relative to the support shaft. A protrusion is provided at each axial end of the support shaft, while an opening with a slit-like opening portion is provided on each side panel of a seat back frame. The protrusion at each axial end of the support shaft and the opening at each side panel are constructed and arranged so that each axial end is capable of passing through the opening only when the support shaft is held in a particular position. The support shaft is put out of the particular position when in use such that each axial end is prevented from slipping out of the opening.

Lumbar support for seat

An automotive vehicle headrest arrangement in which a headrest body is attached to a seat back so as to be controllably movable in a vertical direction and in a front-and-aft direction by driving mechanisms. The headrest arrangement comprises an outer stay and an inner stay which are vertically disposed in the seat back and vertically movable respectively by the driving mechanisms disposed in the seat back. The outer and inner stays are pivotally attached to a headrest body so that the headrest body is movable in a vertical direction and a front-and-aft direction under the vertical movement of the outer and inner stays. With this arrangement, since the headrest body is kept in a desired position without a fixing mechanism, the head rest arrangement is relatively simplified, thereby lowering a production cost. Additionally, since the driving mechanism of the headrest body is disposed in the seat back, the headrest body can be made relatively small-sized and light in weight, thereby realizing an improved safety upon reducing impact force from the headrest body to a passenger head without degrading passenger's comfortableness.

Headrest arrangement

A power seat drive mechanism for an automobile has a motor which drives a worm which in turn drives a worm wheel at a given speed. The worm wheel is connected to a threaded shaft which it drives to rotate. Rotation of the threaded shaft forces it through a nut which is fixed to the body of the vehicle. This drives the threaded shaft which is connected to the sliding frame of the seat longitudinally with respect to the vehicle. In order to prevent force exerted on the seat in the direction of its travel, from causing the threaded shaft to rotate faster than it is being driven and thus overrun the worm gear, a resilient governor member is included which provides a limited braking effect and tends to resist the rotation of the shaft. With this configuration, backlash in the drive mechanism is eliminated.

Power seat slider driving mechanism

A seat lifter for a vehicular seat comprises spaced side base members; and front and rear lift mechanisms which are mounted on front and rear portions of the side base members for adjusting the heights of front and rear portions of a seat cushion respectively. Each lift mechanism comprises a pivot shaft extending across the side base members, brackets secured to the pivot shaft to rotate therewith, arm members pivotally connected to the brackets and connected to the seat cushion, a sector gear pivotally connected to one of the side base members and pivotally moved together with the pivot shaft, a pinion meshed with the sector gear, and a handling knob mounted on the side base member and having the pinion connected thereto.

Seat lifter

A vehicular seat is disclosed, which comprises a seat portion, a seatback portion and a reclining device for varying an angular position of the seatback portion relative to the seat portion. The seatback portion includes a rectangular frame which has a lower horizontal portion bent rearward with respect to a major portion of the frame.

Vehicular seat

Herein disclosed is a vehicular seat which comprises a rectangular seatback frame; a side plate secured to one side lower portion of the seatback frame; a reclining device having a pivotal arm; two sets of bolts and nuts for detachably connecting the side plate and the pivotal arm; a hook member defined by one of the side plate and the pivotal arm; and a catch structure defined by the other of the side plate and the pivotal arm. The hook member is latchingly and detachably engaged with the catch structure when the side plate is secured to the pivotal arm by means of the bolts and nuts.

A seat slide device is disclosed which comprises a stationary rail securedly mounted on a fixed member; a movable rail slidable on and along the stationary rail while keeping an interlocking engagement with the stationary rail, the movable rail mounting thereon a set and slidable to a given position wherein a longitudinal end portion of the movable rail is projected considerably from a corresponding end of the stationary rail; a leg member having one end secured to the corresponding end of the stationary rail and the other end secured to the fixed member; and a structure defined by the leg member, the structure having a projected portion which is placed above the longitudinal end portion of the movable rail when the movable rail comes to the given position.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Isamu Chinomi