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US 12,162,437 B2Granted
Lid retaining pendulum
AssigneeLear Corporation
InventorsMark Allen Karges, Patrick Michael Mackowiak, Nizar Freijy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An armrest assembly for use on a vehicle seat and a method of manufacturing an armrest assembly that includes a co-extruded pendulum having a rigid core and at least one soft bumper. The pendulum operatively engages armrest components to selectively restrict opening of a lid on the armrest assembly.
Claims20
An armrest assembly comprising:
- a housing, pivotable between a deployed position where the housing extends in a generally horizontal direction, and a retracted position where the housing extends in a generally vertical direction, and including a hollow interior portion;
- a lid mounted to the housing such that the lid is selectively movable between a closed position and an open position;
- a hinge pin mounted to the housing and extending in a generally horizontal direction;
- a latch assembly operatively engaging the housing such that the latch assembly is selectively movable between an engaged position where the latch assembly retains the lid in the closed position and a release position where the latch assembly allows the lid to be moved from the closed position to the open position, the latch assembly including a latch arm having a contact surface;
- and
- a pendulum having a rigid core co-extruded with at least one bumper formed of a more resilient material than the rigid core, the rigid core mounted to the hinge pin for rotation about the hinge pin, having a latch mating surface that faces downward due to gravity causing rotation of the pendulum about the hinge pin, the latch mating surface configured to engage the contact surface to prevent the latch assembly from moving to the release position.
3 more elements
A method of manufacturing an armrest assembly, the method comprising:
- co-extruding a pendulum having a rigid core co-extruded with at least one bumper formed of a more resilient material than the rigid core, the rigid core including a pin engagement recess;
- and
- mounting the pin engagement recess of the pendulum on a hinge pin, for relatively free rotation about the hinge pin, the hinge pin being secured relative to a housing of the armrest assembly adjacent to a contact surface of a latch assembly, wherein the latch assembly is configured to allow a lid on the armrest assembly to be moved from a closed position to an open position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.