Vehicle seat back mounting
AssigneeKeiper U.S.A., Inc.
InventorWolfgang Osterhold
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle seat back mounting having a latch pivotably mounted for a limited swinging movement with a recessed catch shaped for engaging a projection on the stationary seat part to prevent forward tilting. The center of gravity of the latch is located laterally and below the pivot point so that during manual tilting of the seat back the force of gravity releases the latch from the projection; and so that during sudden deceleration of the vehicle an inertial force counteracts the force of gravity and prevents unlatching.
Claims7
A pivotal seat back mounting for use in a vehicle seat having a forwardly tiltable back to facilitate rear seat passenger entry and exit, comprising spaced angularly fixed pivot and latch engageable means adapted for fixed attachment to an untilting seat component, back mounting means pivotally engaging said pivot means for movement between normally erect and forwardly collapsed back positions, latch means pivotally mounted on said back mounting means movable between normal back erect latching and forward tilting positions, said latch means having a center of gravity vertically and horizontally spaced from its pivotal center to provide a gravity actuated latch release couple on said latching means when said seat back is manually tilted forward, to provide a predominant inertial activated latch retention force on said latch means during sudden deceleration of the vehicle, and to provide an inertia actuated supplemental release couple increasingly responsive to increasingly sudden manually initiated forward seat back movement when the vehicle is stationary.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.