Headrest guide-tube with interlacing
OwnerAlfred D. Napolitano JR., Jeffrey John Thomas +1inventors
InventorsAlfred D. Napolitano JR., Jeffrey John Thomas, Matthew Richard Gleiser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Guide-tubes for supporting the headrest of an automobile seat are lock-beaded into the top-rail of the seat-frame. The guide-tubes are formed from pieces of sheet metal, folded over to form cylindrical tubes. The edges of the sheet are interlaced, by means of dovetailing tabs and sockets, which are stamped into the side-edges of the sheet. The interlacing tabs and sockets are not present over the middle portion of the guide-tube, where the lock-beads are formed.
Claims12
Headrest guide-tube for an automobile seat, wherein:
- the tube has walls, which comprise a single sheet of metal, having left and right side-edges;
- the walls comprise the sheet metal in a bent-over condition, in which the sheet has the configuration of a cylindrical tube;
- the left and right side-edges of the sheet include respective upper-, middle-, and lower-, portions;
- the upper-portion of the left side-edge carries a series of tabs and sockets, and the upper-portion of the right side-edge carries a corresponding series of sockets and tabs;
- the bent-over tube is of a configuration in which the series of tabs and sockets carried on the upper-portion of the left side-edge lie interlaced with the series of sockets and tabs carried on the upper-portion of the right side-edge, thereby defining an interlaced upper-portion of the tube;
- the middle-portions of the left and right side-edges of the sheet are plain and substantially free of tabs and sockets, whereby, in the bent-over configuration of the tube, the middle-portions of the side-edges are not interlaced, thereby defining a non-interlaced middle-portion of the tube;
- the tube includes a first ring-bead, in which the sheet metal wall of the tube lies buckled radially outwards;
- and the first ring-bead lies in the non-interlaced middle-portion of the tube.
Procedure for manufacturing a headrest guide-tube for an automobile seat, including:
- providing a piece of sheet metal, having left and right side-edges;
- providing, along an upper-portion of the left side-edge of the piece of sheet metal, a series of tabs and sockets;
- providing, along an upper-portion of the right side-edge, a corresponding series of sockets and tabs;
- the series of tabs and sockets on the left side-edge corresponds to the series of sockets and tabs on the right side-edge in that, when the side-edges are brought together, the upper-portions of the left and right side-edges become interlaced together;
- providing, along a middle-portion of the left side-edge, a left plain-edge, free of tabs and sockets;
- providing, along a middle-portion of the right side-edge, a corresponding right plain-edge, free of tabs and sockets;
- bending the piece of sheet metal into the form of a cylindrical tube;
- the tube, thus formed, includes an upper-portion of the tube in which the upper-portions of the side-edges are interlaced together, and includes a middle-portion of the tube in which the middle-portions of the side-edges are not interlaced together;
- placing the tube between dies;
- the dies include a middle-portion of the dies, and the middle-portion of the dies is formed with a recess, into which the metal of the tube can expand radially outwards;
- the recess is so positioned that only metal from the middle-portion of the tube, in which the edges are not interlaced, can enter the recess;
- compressing the cylindrical tube axially with enough force to cause the metal of the tube to buckle axially, and expand outwards radially, into the recess, thereby forming a first ring-bead in the middle-portion of the tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.