Heat-retaining air-filled seat cover for lumbar support

A seat cover for an automotive vehicle which has inflatable, transversely extending columnar portions for providing support to the seated individual, especially to the lumbar region, and heat-retaining portions, filled with a heat-retaining agent such as polyethylene glycol, interspersed among the inflatable columnar portions for accumulating ambient heat derived from sunlight and for giving off said heat when the ambient temperature drops. Means for inflating the columnar portions manually are provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to improvements in a seat cover for use in 
automotive vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to an 
automotive vehicle seat cover which makes use of air-filled chambers for 
providing support for the lumbar region of the driver and passengers, and 
heat-retaining portions for giving off heat accumulated during the day. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Individuals who drive or ride in automotive vehicles during the winter 
months have often experienced the unpleasant sensation of sitting down in 
the driver or passengers seat when the surface whereof is extremely cold. 
To alleviate such driver and passengers discomfort, it is conventional 
practice to attach a seat cover made of a mixture of wool and other fibers 
to the surface of the seat to provide a warmer surface. While such an 
arrangement represents an improvement over the bare vehicle seat, the 
expedient is essentially a passive one which does not effectively exploit 
whatever ambient heat is available in the passenger compartment of the 
vehicle during the day, as when the vehicle is left parked in an area 
exposed to direct sunlight. 
Another requirement demanded of a vehicle seat is firm support for the 
lumbar region of the driver and passengers, an especially important 
requirement for long journeys. Although many designs have been adopted for 
this purpose and have provided a partial solution, some means for freely 
adjusting the lumbar supporting contour to fit the individual posture or 
frame of the driver or passenger is needed. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a seat cover, 
for use in automotive vehicles, which makes active use of thermal energy 
from the sun by accumulating solar heat and retaining such heat for an 
extended period of time even after the ambient temperature drops, thereby 
providing a comfortable riding environment for the driver and passengers 
in the winter and in normally cold climates. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a seat cover which 
makes use of air-filled columnar chambers formed in the seat cover face to 
provide lumbar support for less driver and passengers fatigue, 
particularly during extended periods of driving. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a seat cover in 
which the lumbar supporting structure can be simply adjusted by the driver 
or passengers to fit his particular posture or frame. 
According to the present invention, these ends are achieved by providing a 
seat cover comprising a pliable synthetic resin sheet member which is 
impermeable to air for being attached to the front surface of a vehicle 
seat, a plurality of first inflatable columnar portions formed in the 
sheetmmember transversely thereof and spaced apart longitudinally thereof, 
a plurality of second inflatable columnar portions, larger in diameter 
than the first inflatable columnar portions, formed in the sheet member 
transversely thereof and so spaced longitudinally thereof as to be 
positioned at the lumbar region of an individual seated in the seat, a 
third inflatable portion formed in the sheet member for interconnecting 
the first and second inflatable columnar portions, means communicating 
with the third inflatable portion for inflating the third inflatable 
portion as well as the first and second columnar inflatable portions, and 
a plurality of heat-retaining portions each formed in the sheet member 
transversely thereof between adjacent ones of the first and second 
inflatable columnar portions. 
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be 
apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the 
accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the 
same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Before proceeding with a detailed description of the preferred embodiment, 
reference will be had briefly to FIG. 1 which shows a seat cover according 
to the prior art. Here a seat 1, affixed to the floor of the vehicle by a 
fixture 3, has its surface covered by a conventional seat cover 2 
consisting of a mixture of wool and other fibers to provide a surface 
which is warmer than the surface of the bare seat in winter. 
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the seat cover according to a preferred embodiment 
of the present invention. The seat cover, indicated generally at numeral 
4, consists of a soft, pliable synthetic resin sheet or of a synthetic 
resin sheet stretched and affixed to a fabric. The resin is so formed as 
to be impermeable to air, assuring an air-tight structure. The seat cover 
4, attached in a conventional manner to the entire front surface of the 
seat 1, is formed in such a manner that the sheet includes suitably 
spaced-apart transversely extending air-tight compartments 5a through 5p 
defining inflatable portions which are substantially columnar in shape, 
transversely extending air-tight compartments 6a through 6c for lumbar 
support, these also defining inflatable portions which are columnar in 
shape but larger in diameter that the compartments 5a through 5p and so 
disposed as to abut against the lumbar region of the seated individual 
when the seat cover 4 is attached to the seat 1, transversely extending 
heat-retaining portions 7a through 7s, each disposed between, adjacent 
ones of the air-tight compartments 5a through 5p and 6a through 6c, and 
filled with a heat-retaining agent which will be described in more detail 
hereinbelow, and an air-tight border compartment 10 comprising 
interconnected transversely extending portions 10a, 10d and longitudinally 
extending portions 10b, 10c. Furthermore, the seat cover 4 is formed in 
such a manner that the air-tight compartments 5a through 5p, 6a through 6c 
and 10 are interconnected to define a unitary hollow body capable of being 
inflated with air. This is accomplished by providing a manually operated 
air pump 8, shown in FIG. 3, communicating with the border compartment 10 
through a flexible hose 9. Thus, pumping air through the hose 9 by 
manually squeezing the pump 8 permits the seated individual to inflate the 
interconnected air-tight compartments mentioned above so that these 
compartments, particularly the lumbar supporting compartments 6a through 
6c, may be inflated to exactly fit the contour of the seated individual, 
especially his lumbar region. The inflating operation can be performed by 
the driver with facility even while he is operating the vehicle. 
The heat-retaining agent referred to above may be a material such as 
polyethylene glycol or soda of acetic acid. Polyethylene glycol is 
especially preferred as it assumes a liquid state at temperatures of 
35.degree. to 40.degree. C. or above, and changes from a soft pliable 
state to a solid or powdery state at temperatures lower than that stated, 
depending upon the temperature drop, i.e., upon the amount of heat given 
off. The heat-retaining agent, as best shown in FIG. 2, is packed into the 
superficial area of the heat-retaining portions 7a through 7s of the seat 
cover 4, as indicated by the black regions in the sectional view 2A and by 
the dotted regions in the front view 2B and the perspective view 3. 
In accordance with the above arrangement, the heat-retaining agent, which 
is packed in the inventive seat cover attached to a vehicle seat in 
winter, rises in temperature as it absorbs the solar heat that builds up 
in the passenger compartment of the vehicle when it is parked during the 
daytime in the sunny area of a parking lot or at any location having good 
exposure to sunlight. When contact with sunlight is lost, or when the sun 
sets, the heat-retaining agent retains the accumulated thermal energy for 
several hours, giving off the heat slowly over said period of time to give 
the seated individual a very comfortable ride even after the ambient 
temperature within the passenger compartment drops because of the winter 
weather prevailing outside. Meanwhile, introducing air into the air-tight 
compartments by operating the air pump allows the seated individual to 
form columnar bulges in the surface of the seat cover to fit the surface 
exactly to his posture. In particular, the lumbar-supporting compartments 
6a through 6c when inflated in this fashion reduce driver fatigue that 
might otherwise occur over an extended driving period. 
Thus, as described and illustrated above, the heat-retaining add air-filled 
lumbar-supporting seat cover of the present invention is possessed of a 
simple construction which makes active use of thermal energy derived from 
sunlight to store heat in a heat-retaining agent which gives off heat when 
the ambient temperature falls. By exploiting this heat-accumulating and 
heat-radiating action and the heat-retaining effect of the invention, the 
seat can be kept warm for several hours even after a drop in the 
temperature inside and outside the passenger compartment of the vehicle. 
Moreover, the air-filled compartments also contribute to a comfortable 
ride, particularly those compartments disposed to support the lumbar 
region of the seated individual. Such an arrangement greatly reduces 
driver fatigue. 
As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention 
may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to 
be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific 
embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.