Vehicle seat with rear stow pivot assembly
A vehicle seat pivot assembly is provided including a support assembly, an arm, and a first load cam. The arm is supported on the support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position and a second position. The first load cam is pivotally supported on the support assembly to selectively engage a first sector plate. The first load cam engages a first portion of the first sector plate to lock the arm in the first position. The first load cam engages a second portion of the first sector plate to lock the arm in the second position.
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat support assembly and, more particularly, to a vehicle seat rear stow and pivot assembly.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONVehicle markets are extremely competitive, particularly the mini-van and sport utility markets. A growing focus of the competition is the overall utility and comfort of these vehicles. One important utility feature that is gaining much attention includes flexible vehicle interiors and, more particularly, flexible rear or third-row seating assemblies. Flexibility in this sense refers to the ability to modify the configuration of a particular seating assembly. For example, a passenger might desire to fold down a rear or third-row seat to provide a workspace during travel. As such, a passenger could use the rear of the folded-down seatback as a desk. Additionally, a passenger might desire to configure the seat in a manner providing for an open area in the cargo compartment of the vehicle. As such, a customer can use the cargo compartment to load large items on top of a load floor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA vehicle seat pivot assembly is provided including a support assembly, an arm, and a first load cam. The arm is supported on the support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position and a second position. The first load cam is pivotally supported on the support assembly to selectively engage a first sector plate. The first load cam engages a first portion of the first sector plate to lock the arm in the first position. The first load cam engages a second portion of the first sector plate to lock the arm in the second position.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a vehicle seat pivot assembly including a support assembly, an arm, a stop pin, and a first load cam. The arm is supported on the support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position and a second position. The stop pin is disposed on the arm and engages the support assembly when the arm is in said first position to apply a torque thereto in a first direction. The first load cam is pivotally supported on the support assembly to engage a first sector plate. The first load cam engages the first sector plate when the arm is in the first position and applies a torque thereto in a second direction. The second direction is opposite the first direction. The combination of the torque applied by the stop pin and the torque applied by the first load cam locks the arm in the first position.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a vehicle seat assembly including a seating member, an arm, a first load cam, and a second load cam. The arm is attached to the seating member and supported on a support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position and a second position. The seating member is in a seating position when the arm is in the first position. The seating member is in a stowed position when the arm is in the second position. The first load cam is pivotally supported on the support assembly for selectively engaging a first sector plate to lock the seating member in the seating and stowed positions. The second load cam is pivotally supported on the support assembly for selectively engaging a second sector plate to lock the seating member in the seating position.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description of the preferred embodiments are merely exemplary in nature and are in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses.
With reference to
The arm subassembly 20 generally includes an arm member 44, a central pivot pin 46, a stop pin 48, a biasing member 50, and a biasing pin 52. The arm member 44 includes a central aperture 54, a pair of rivet apertures 56, a stop pin aperture 58, a seat flange 60, a seat fixation aperture 62, and a support boss 63 (shown in
The locking subassembly 22 includes a high load sector plate 64, a low load sector plate 66, a high load cam 68, a low load cam 70, a release lever 72, a first biasing member 74, a second biasing member 76, a slide pin 78, and a cam pivot 69. The locking subassembly 22 is adapted to lock the arm subassembly 20 in a first position, shown in
The high load sector plate 64 includes a central aperture 79, a stop pin aperture 80, a pair of rivet apertures 82, a notch 84, and a cammed surface 86. The low load sector plate 66 includes a central aperture 88, a stop pin aperture 90, a pair of rivet apertures 92, a first notch 94, a second notch 96, and a cammed surface 98. The first notch 94 includes an engaging surface 100 (shown in
With continued reference to
As stated above, the high load sector plate 64 and low load sector plate 66 are disposed on the central pivot pin 46. The high load sector plate 64 and low load sector plate 66 are fixedly attached to the arm member 44 via a pair of rivets 65. The pair of rivets 65 are received in the rivet apertures 56 of the arm member 44, the rivet apertures 82 of the high load sector plate 64, and the rivet apertures 92 of the low load sector plate 66. The rivets 65 attach the high and low load sector plates 64, 66 to the arm member 44.
The stop pin 48 of the arm subassembly 20 is disposed in the stop pin aperture 58 of the arm member 44, the stop pin aperture 80 of the high load sector plate 64, and the stop pin aperture 90 of the low load sector plate 66. Therefore, the arm member 44, high and low load sector plates 64, 66, and the stop pin 48 all rotate together upon pivotal displacement of the arm member 44 relative to the support subassembly 18.
The cam pivot 69 is disposed in the pivot aperture 102 of the high load cam 68, the pivot aperture 110 of the low load cam 70, the cam pivot aperture 43 of the first minor support bracket 26, the cam pivot aperture 45 of the second minor support bracket 28, and the central aperture 120 of the release lever 72. Additionally, the first and second biasing members 74, 76 of the locking subassembly 22 are disposed on the cam pivot 69. The first biasing member 74 includes a coil spring having an arm 75 engaging the handle 122 of the release lever 72 to bias the low load cam 70 into the low load sector plate 66. The second biasing member 76 includes a coil spring similar to the first biasing member 74 having an arm 77 engaging the slide pin 78. The slide pin 78 is disposed in the arcuate slots 40, 42 of the first and second minor support brackets 26, 28 of the support subassembly 18. The slide pin 78 is further disposed in the slide pin aperture 104 of the high load cam 68. Therefore, the second biasing member 76 biases the high load cam 68 into engagement with the high load sector plate 64.
The following steps describe the transition between the seating and stowed positions for the stow pivot assembly 16. With the stow pivot assembly 16 in the seated position, as shown in
To return the stow pivot assembly 16 to the seated position illustrated in
In light of the foregoing it should be appreciated that the stow pivot assembly 16 of the present invention provides the ability to lock the seating apparatus 10 in both the seated and stowed positions. It should further be appreciated that while the above-described embodiment includes a high load sector plate 64 interacting with a high load cam 68 and a low load sector plate 66 interacting with a low load cam 70 to achieve this multi-locking feature, a stow pivot assembly 16 including a single sector plate and load cam is intended to be within the scope of the present invention. It is envisioned that an alternative embodiment of the stow pivot assembly 16 only includes the low load sector plate 66 and the low load cam 70. The interaction and engagement between the low load sector plate 66 and low load cam 70, as described above in accordance with the first embodiment, would sufficiently deter loads being applied to the arm subassembly 20 by maintaining the stow pivot assembly 16 in a locked state.
The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A vehicle seat pivot assembly, comprising:
- a support assembly;
- an arm supported on said support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position and a second position; and
- a first load cam pivotally supported on said support assembly to selectively engage a first portion of a first sector plate to lock said arm in said first position and a second portion of said first sector plate to lock said arm in said second position.
2. The seat pivot assembly of claim 1 wherein said first sector plate includes a first notch for receiving a portion of said first load cam when said arm is locked in said first position and a second notch for receiving a portion of said first load cam when said arm is locked in said second position.
3. The seat pivot assembly of claim 1 wherein said first sector plate is fixed for rotation with said pivotal displacement of said arm.
4. The seat pivot assembly of claim 1 further comprising a biasing member biasing said first load cam into engagement with said first sector plate.
5. The seat pivot assembly of claim 1 further comprising a second load cam pivotally supported on said support assembly to selectively engage a second sector plate and lock said arm in said first position.
6. The seat pivot assembly of claim 5 wherein said second sector plate includes a notch for receiving a portion of said second load cam when said arm is locked in said first position.
7. The seat pivot assembly of claim 5 wherein said second sector plate is fixed for rotation with said pivotal displacement of said arm.
8. The seat pivot assembly of claim 1 further comprising a stop pin disposed on said arm for engaging said support assembly and preventing said arm from pivoting beyond said first and second positions.
9. A vehicle seat pivot assembly, comprising:
- a support assembly;
- an arm supported on said support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position and a second position;
- a stop pin disposed on said arm and engaging said support assembly when said arm is in said first position to apply a torque thereto in a first direction;
- a first sector plate supported for rotation with said pivoted displacement of said arm; and
- a first load cam pivotally supported on said support assembly and operable to lock said arm in said first position through engagement with said first sector plate and apply a torque to said arm in a second direction that is opposite said first direction.
10. The seat pivot assembly of claim 9 wherein said first sector plate includes a first notch for receiving a portion of said first load cam when said arm is in said first position and a second notch for receiving a portion of said first load cam when said arm is in said second position.
11. The seat pivot assembly of claim 9 wherein said first sector plate is fixed to said arm.
12. The seat pivot assembly of claim 9 further comprising a biasing member biasing said first load cam into engagement with said first sector plate.
13. The seat pivot assembly of claim 9 further comprising a second load cam pivotally supported on said support assembly to engage a second sector plate and lock said arm in said first position.
14. The seat pivot assembly of claim 13 wherein said second sector plate includes a notch for receiving a portion of said second load cam.
15. A vehicle seat assembly, comprising:
- a seating member;
- an arm attached to said seating member and supported on a support assembly for pivotal displacement between a first position wherein said seating member is in a seating position, and a second position wherein said seating member is in a stowed position;
- a first load cam pivotally supported on said support assembly for selectively engaging a first sector plate to lock said seating member in said seating and stowed positions; and
- a second load cam pivotally supported on said support assembly for selectively engaging a second sector plate to lock said seating member in said seating position.
16. The seat assembly of claim 15 further comprising a stop pin disposed on said arm and engaging said support assembly when said seating member is in said seating position to apply a torque thereto in a first direction.
17. The seat assembly of claim 16 wherein said first load cam applies a torque to said first sector plate in a second direction that is opposite said first direction when said seating member is in said seating position.
18. The seat assembly of claim 15 wherein said first sector plate includes a first notch for receiving a portion of said first load cam when said seating member is in said seating position and a second notch for receiving a portion of said first load cam when said seating member is in said stowed position.
19. The seat assembly of claim 15 wherein said second sector plate includes a notch for receiving a portion of said second load cam when said seating member is in said seating position.
20. The seat assembly of claim 15 wherein said first and second sector plates are fixed for rotation with said pivotal displacement of said arm.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 12, 2004
Publication Date: Mar 23, 2006
Inventor: Christopher Ryan (Fraser, MI)
Application Number: 10/889,653
International Classification: A47C 1/02 (20060101);