Loading patent…
AssigneesToyota Shatai Kabushiki Kaisha, Kabushiki Kaisha Matsunaga Seisakusho
InventorsYoshiro Suehiro, Masamitsu Iwatani, Takafumi Hijikata, Kenji Murabayashi, Mineki Ninomiya, Yoshiyuki Miura, Tomoyuki Kuroda, Takeshi Toda, Shigeyuki Matsunaga
Estimating the term…
A lift-up mechanism (50, 150) installed inside a vehicle serves to move a seat unit (10, 110) into or out of the vehicle. The seat unit (10, 110) is used as a passenger seat inside the vehicle and as a wheelchair outside the vehicle. Connecting plates (56, 156) are disposed on the lift-up mechanism (50, 150) permit the lift-up mechanism (50, 150) to be connected to the seat unit (10, 110) by inserting the connecting plates into connecting recesses (40, 140) formed in the seat unit (10, 110). Front wheels (60, 160) and rear wheels (70, 170) of the seat unit (10, 110) can be retracted and extended. A drive unit having an electric motor or similar drive may be provided to retract and extend the front wheels (60, 160) and the rear wheels (70, 170). An attitude changing arrangement may be provided to automatically change the attitude of the front wheels (60, 160) when the front wheels (60, 160) and the rear wheels (70, 170) are retracted.
A method of moving a seat unit from outside of a vehicle to inside of the vehicle, the seat unit being adapted to support a person and to be utilized as a wheelchair outside of the vehicle and as a seat inside of the vehicle, the seat unit having a pair of retractable front wheels with a rotational axis and a pair of retractable rear wheels with a rotational axis, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.