Tempress, Inc.

Mannesmann Tally Corporation

Kevin J Talbot

William C Quan

Charles K Lau

Mark A McLean

Michelle J Pillers

Mikal B Greaves

Ferdinand J Van Engelen

Foldable seat with panels

A seat (10) is disclosed that includes a seat back (14) hingedly attached to a seat base (12) such that the seat back can be folded from an upright, vertical position to a closed, horizontal position with the lower surface of the seat back overlying the upper surface of the seat base throughout the seat's range of motion. For ready upholstering, in one embodiment, the foldable seat includes a removable seat base panel (20) and a removable seat back panel (22) attached to the seat base and back, respectively.

Foldable seat having removable panels

Foldable seat

A rotary/linear shuttle mechanism, particularly suitable for use in shuttling the carriage of a dot matrix line printer, is disclosed. The rotary/linear shuttle mechanism includes a pair of stiff, thin bands--one long and one short (35,41). The bands are formed of an inelastic material, such as steel or titanium. Each band has a centrally located loop (formed by a necked down portion of the band passing through a window in the band), and a pair of outwardly extending arms. The loop (67) in the long band (35) is wrapped around, and affixed to a motor pulley (33). The pulley is mounted on the shaft of a low inertia motor (31), such as a moving coil type DC brush motor. The ends of the arms (66,68) of the long band (35) are affixed to the periphery of a large diameter pulley (37). The large diameter pulley is mounted on a shaft (75) that also supports a small diameter pulley (39). The loop in the short band (41) is wrapped around, and affixed to, the small diameter pulley (39); and, the arms of the short band are affixed to the carriage (11) to be shuttled. AC power of a suitable frequency, magnitude and waveform is applied to the low inertia motor, causing the shaft (43) of the motor to oscillate. The resultant oscillatory movement of the motor pulley (33) causes the large diameter pulley (37) to oscillate resulting in the oscillation of the small diameter pulley (39). The rotary oscillation of the small diameter pulley (39) causes linear oscillation of the arms of the short band (41) and, thus, causes linear oscillation of the carriage (11).

Rotary/linear shuttle mechanism

Growing community of inventors

Mercer Island, WA, United States of America

Kevin J Talbot