The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 10, 1996
Jimmy Lee, Woodland Hills, CA (US);
P. L. Porter Co., Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
The lockout mechanism selectively prevents passengers from reclining an airplane seat even though they activate the seat's recline input button. Instead of a single cable extending from the recline button to the recline actuator, the invention has separate input and output cables. The input cable attaches to a cylindrical input fitting, and the output cable attaches to a cylindrical output fitting. The input fitting telescopes within the output fitting. A ball, which is adjacent the output fitting, moves between a lockout and a normal position. In the normal position, the ball secures the input and output fittings together so that the input and output cables move together. Therefore, pushing the recline button activates the recline actuator. When the ball is in the lockout position, the fittings telescope relative to each other. Therefore, pushing the seat recline button does not activate the recline actuator. A remotely activated piston cam moves the ball between the normal and lockout positions.