Marine Seat Assembly with Floor Slide Release and Footrest Adjustment

Abstract

A seat assembly includes a seat and a pedestal connected to the seat. A height adjustment mechanism is positioned between the seat and the pedestal for selectively changing height of the seat relative to the pedestal. A footrest is mounted on the pedestal for sliding vertical movement thereon and for pivotal movement between a stored position and a foot-supporting use position. A floor slide is adapted to be connected to a support surface and configured to slidably and pivotally receive the pedestal so as to enable selective fore and aft movement and swivel movement of the seat relative to the floor slide.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application relates to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/294,999 filed Jan. 14, 2010, which is fully incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a vehicle seat structure and, more particularly, pertains to a seat assembly designed for marine application.

BACKGROUND

Marine seats, such as pilot chairs, are known to variously include height adjustments, seat back or backrest tilt settings, swivel positioning, pivotable and height adjustable footrests and fore and aft movement of the seat relative to support structure such as a pedestal or floor slide mounted to a support surface of a boat, a ship or similar marine vessel.

It remains desirable to provide a marine seat assembly which includes a quick release adjustment of the seat relative to the floor slide that can be adjusted by a user while seated. In addition, it remains desirable to provide a marine seat assembly which includes a height adjustment of a foldable footrest that is more easily adjusted for the user of the seat. Further, it is desirable to provide the seat with a swivel adjustment relative to the floor slide.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a seat assembly adapted to be used in a marine application. The marine seat assembly includes a seat having a backrest pivotably mounted relative thereto, and a floor slide adapted to be fixed to a support surface of a marine vessel. A support pedestal is mounted for fore and aft as well as swivel movement on the floor slide, and is provided with a footrest pivotally connected thereto for movement between a stored position and a foot-supporting use position. A height adjustment mechanism is interposed between the seat and the pedestal for establishing a desired vertical height adjustment of the seat relative to the support pedestal. The seat assembly includes a tongue and slot arrangement between the footrest and the support pedestal for providing selective vertical adjustment of the footrest relative to the support pedestal. The seat assembly further includes a quick release lever, cable and spring-biased pin arrangement accessible to a seat occupant while sitting in the seat to selectively permit or prevent fore and aft movement of the seat relative to the floor slide.

The seat assembly includes control arrangements for controlling a recliner adjustment of the backrest, for controlling back and forth movement of the seat relative to the height adjustment mechanism which is secured to the pedestal, for providing lumbar adjustment of the seat, and for providing locking and unlocking of a swivel and fore and aft adjustment of the seat relative to the floor slide. The pedestal includes an upper portion adjustably mounted relative to a lower portion by means of a E-shaped slot arrangement formed in the upper portion. The footrest includes a slide bracket slidably mounted along the pedestal, a mounting bracket pivotally mounted on the slide bracket and an adjustment bracket pivotally mounted to the slide bracket. The pedestal is attached to a carriage structure slidably mounted to the floor slide. The carriage structure has adjustable roller bearings for establishing a proper rolling engagement between the carriage structure and the floor slide.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The best mode of carrying out the invention is described herein below with reference to the following drawing figures:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a marine seat assembly in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the marine seat assembly of FIG. 1 with the seat, backrest and floor slide removed;

FIG. 5 is a top view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the floor slide employed in the marine seat assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a top view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a front view of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is an end view of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary enlarged detailed view of a spring-biased pin mechanism used in the floor slide of FIG. 9; and,

FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 9 including a cover arrangement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1-3 illustrate a marine seat assembly 10 in accordance with the present disclosure. In the embodiment shown, the marine seat assembly 10 is typically adapted to be mounted to a horizontal support surface of a motorized marine vessel such as a boat or ship.

The marine seat assembly 10 is basically comprised of a seat 12, a backrest 14 having a pair of movable arm rests 16, a seat post or pedestal 18 having a movable footrest 20, a height adjustment mechanism 22, and an adjustment track or floor slide 24 which is normally secured to the horizontal support surface of the marine vessel.

The marine seat assembly 10 generally includes a backrest lever 26 for enabling recliner adjustment of backrest 14 and a fore and aft control 28 for permitting back and forth movement of seat 12 relative to the height adjustment mechanism 22. The seat assembly 10 further generally includes a lumbar adjuster 30 (FIG. 2) and a lever 32 (FIG. 2) conveniently accessible from seat 12 for controlling the height adjusting mechanism 22. The seat assembly 10 also generally includes a handle 34 for effecting locking and unlocking of a swivel adjustment for the seat 12 relative to the floor slide 24.

Referring now to FIGS. 4-8, the seat 12 together with backrest 14 is selectively adjusted in vertical increments by the single actuator, spring-assisted scissors-type height adjustment mechanism 22 mounted on an upper portion 36 of the pedestal 18 using suitable fasteners 37 (FIGS. 6 and 7). The structure and operation of the height adjusting mechanism 22 is fully disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,506,932, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.

The upper portion 36 of pedestal 18 has a forwardly and downwardly projecting front end 38 and rearwardly extending side plates 40 which are formed with a pair of E-shaped slots 42. The front end 38 is formed with a pair of slide channels 44 and a front plate 46 configured with a series of spaced apart slots 48 that define a number of adjustment positions for the footrest 20. The channels 44 slidably receive a set of slide blocks 50 mounted on protruding rod ends 51 (FIG. 8) of a slide bracket 52 that slides up and down in front end 38. Footrest 20 has a mounting bracket 54 that is pivotally mounted to slide bracket 52 and is permitted to move between a folded up, substantially vertical storage position adjacent the front end 38, and a folded down foot-supporting use position (shown in the drawings in solid lines) by means of a spring-biased pull pin 56 provided on the slide bracket 52. The pull pin 56 is engageable and disengageable with a hole 53 in mounting bracket 54.

The footrest 20 also includes an adjustment bracket 58 associated with the slide bracket 52 and the mounting bracket 54. The adjustment bracket 58 is pivotally mounted to the lower rod ends 51 of slide bracket 52. The adjustment bracket 58 has an actuator bar 60 and a pair of tongues, one of which is seen at 62 (FIG. 8). Tongues 62 are biased into engagement with slots 48 and are selectively engageable and disengageble with slots 48 in front plate 46 upon manual movement of actuator bar 60 to incrementally adjust the vertical height position of the footrest 20 relative to the pedestal 18.

The pedestal 18 has a lower portion 64 with a front plate 66 and side plates 68 which are attached to side plates 40 of upper portion 36 via the E-shaped slots 42 using suitable fasteners 70 (FIGS. 6 and 7). It should be understood that the height of upper pedestal portion 36 relative to lower pedestal portion 64 may be varied by positioning the E-shaped slots 42 accordingly relative to the lower portion 64 before securing the fasteners 70. The lower pedestal portion 64 also includes a thrust washer 72 and a swivel plate weldment 74 upon which the washer 72 swivels or pivots. As best seen in FIGS. 1-3, the swivel plate weldment 74 is attached by suitable fasteners 76 to a carriage structure 78 which is releasably moved back and forth along floor slide 24. The seat 12 mounted on pedestal 18 may be selectively swiveled relative to floor slide 24 by actuating handle 34 that controls selective locking and unlocking of swivel or pivoting movement of washer 72 relative to weldment 74.

Referring now to FIGS. 9-14, the carriage structure 78 includes a pair of side plates 90 welded upon a bottom plate 92 and forming a slide carriage. The side plates 90 have upper ends 91 formed with apertures 93 for facilitating attachment of swivel plate weldment 74 thereto.

As best see in FIG. 14, the bottom plate 92 has downwardly extending side portions 94 provided with laterally extending cylindrical protrusions 96 upon which a plurality of washers 98 and slide blocks 100 are mounted. The design also includes an adjustment for laterally adjusting slide blocks 100 (opposite lock pin 130) to reduce clearance between carriage 78 and floor slide 24. A first fixed mounting plate 102 (FIG. 13) extends outwardly from each side plate 90 and serves as a bearing surface for a set of adjustment screws 104 threaded into jam nuts 106 and holders 108 on toggle arms 110 that are pivotally attached by fasteners 112 passed through washers 113 to the side plates 90. Outer ends of the toggle arms 110 have laterally extending cylindrical protrusions 114 for rotatably mounting stainless steel roller bearings or other suitable roller element bearings 116 and washers 118 held in place by retaining pins 120. As will be better understood hereafter, adjustment of the screws 104 will cause the arms 110 to pivot about fasteners 112 so as to adjust the position of the roller element bearings 116 relative to bearing surfaces of the floor slide 24.

Turning to FIGS. 13 and 14, one of the side plates 90 is provided with a cable hook or support bracket 122 held in place by fasteners 124 and is also provided with a second fixed mounted plate 126 spaced beneath the cable support bracket 122. A coil spring 128 is retained between the mounting plates 102 and 126, and serves as a biasing device for a lock pin 130. That is, the coil spring 128 is designed to receive the lock pin 130 using a retainer 132 such that the bottom of the lock pin 130 is normally biased beneath the mounting plate 102 and into engagement with one of a series of holes 134 formed in longitudinally extending slide rails 136 of the floor slide 24. The slide rails 136 have external upper bearing surfaces which are engaged by rollers 116, and internal bearing surfaces which are engaged by the slide blocks 100. An upper end of lock pin 130 is attached by a clevis pin 138 to a retainer 140 at a bottom end of a flexible cable 142. The cable 142 extends upwardly through the cable support bracket 122 and, as seen in FIGS. 1-3, wraps around the pedestal 18 with an upper end connected to a release handle 144 pivotally mounted relative to the height adjustment mechanism 22 as best seen in FIG. 2. Pivotal movement of the handle 144 causes cable 142 to pull lock pin 130 upwardly against the bias of spring 128 so as to disengage lock pin 130 from selected slide frame hole 134 enabling the carriage structure 78 to slide along the rails 136 of floor slide 24. FIG. 14 shows that the floor slide 24 includes a flat insert 146 disposed between the slide rails 136, and a pair of slide end brackets 148 attached by fasteners 150 to insert 146 and fasteners 152 to slide rails 136. Cover arrangement 154, as shown in FIGS. 1-3 and 14, can then be secured between weldment 74 and carriage structure 78 to protect and shield the screws 104, arms 110, rollers 116 and spring-biased lock pin 130.

The disclosure contemplates that the floor slide 24 may be a single unit or a number of units interconnected in series to increase travel of the seat 12 and pedestal 18 relative thereto.

The present disclosure thus provides a tongue and slot arrangement 62, 48 for vertically adjusting the position of the footrest 20 along with a pull pin device 56 for enabling movement of the footrest 20 between folded up and folded down positions relative to pedestal 18. In addition, the present disclosure provides for a quick release lever, cable and lock pin arrangement 144, 142, 130 that conveniently enables a seat occupant to selectively engage or disengage the marine seat assembly for fore and aft movement relative to an elongated floor slide 24 while in a seated position. Such arrangement is particularly desirable when a marine seat is mounted in a confined environment within the marine vessel.

Various alternatives are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention.

Claims

1. A seat assembly comprising:

a seat;

a pedestal connected to the seat;

a height adjustment mechanism positioned between the seat and the pedestal for selectively changing height of the seat relative to the pedestal;

a footrest mounted on the pedestal; and

a floor slide adapted to be connected to a support surface and configured to slidably receive the pedestal so as to enable selective fore and aft movement of the seat relative to the floor slide.

2. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein a backrest is pivotally mounted to the seat.

3. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the seat is mounted for back and forth movement relative to the height adjustment mechanism which is secured to the pedestal.

4. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the height adjustment mechanism is a spring-assisted, scissors-type construction.

5. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the pedestal has an upper portion adjustably mounted to a lower portion connected to the floor slide.

6. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the footrest is vertically adjustable relative to the pedestal.

7. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the foot rest is pivotally mounted to the pedestal for movement between a storage position and a foot-supporting, use position.

8. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the pedestal is mounted for selective swiveling movement relative to the floor slide.

9. The seat assembly of claim 1, wherein the pedestal includes a carriage structure which is slidably mounted for back and forth movement along the floor slide.

10. A seat assembly adapted to be used in a marine application comprising:

a seat having a backrest pivotally mounted thereto;

a pedestal connected to the seat;

a height adjustment mechanism positioned between the seat and the pedestal for selectively changing height of the seat relative to the pedestal;

a footrest mounted on the pedestal for sliding vertical movement thereon and for pivotal movement between a stored position and a foot-supporting use position; and

a floor slide adapted to be connected to a support surface and configured to slidably and pivotally receive the pedestal so as to enable selective fore and aft movement and swivel movement of the seat relative to the floor slide.

11. The seat assembly of claim 10, including a control arrangement for controlling a recliner adjustment of the backrest.

12. The seat assembly of claim 10, including a control arrangement for controlling back and forth movement of the seat relative to the height adjustment mechanism which is secured to the pedestal.

13. The seat assembly of claim 10, including a control arrangement for providing lumbar adjustment of the seat.

14. The seat assembly of claim 10, including a control arrangement for providing locking and unlocking of a swivel and fore and aft adjustment of the seat relative to the floor slide.

15. The seat assembly of claim 10, wherein the pedestal includes an upper portion adjustably mounted relative to a lower portion by means of an E-shaped slot arrangement formed in the upper portion.

16. The seat assembly of claim 10, wherein a tongue and slot arrangement is provided between the pedestal and the foot rest for vertically adjusting the footrest on the pedestal.

17. The seat assembly of claim 10, wherein the footrest includes a slide bracket slidably mounted along the pedestal, a mounting bracket pivotally mounted on the slide bracket, and an adjustment bracket pivotally mounted to the slide bracket.

18. The seat assembly of claim 10, including a quick release lever, cable and lock pin arrangement enabling a seat occupant to selectively engage and disengage the seat and the pedestal for back and forth movement relative to the floor slide.

19. The seat assembly of claim 10, wherein the pedestal includes a carriage structure slidably mounted to the floor slide, the carriage structure having adjustable roller bearings for establishing a proper rolling engagement between the carriage structure and the floor slide.

20. The seat assembly of claim 10, wherein the pedestal includes a thrust washer mounted for swivel movement on a swivel plate weldment.