Seat mounting apparatus

A seat mounting apparatus which has a base which has a cylindrical upright post extending therefrom forming a first pivot axis. An elongated member having a longitudinal center axis is pivotally mounted on the upright post with the longitudinal center axis being located substantially perpendicular to the first pivot axis. The elongated member is pivotally mounted on a second post forming a second pivot axis. The second pivot axis is spaced from the first pivot axis. The second post is fixedly secured to an attaching plate which is to be attached to the bottom of a seat. Fixing means are to be connected to the elongated member for fixing the position of the elongated member with respect to each post. A supportive tray, as a separate attachment, is to be pivotally mounted with respect to the attaching plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The field of this invention relates to seat mounting apparatuses and more 
particularly to a seat mounting apparatus for confined quarters, such as 
within the inside of a vehicle wherein it is desired to have the seat to 
be movable to face in different directions. 
Within vehicles, commonly known as recreational vehicles, the passenger and 
driver's seats are normally located so as to position the occupant along 
with the forward direction of movement of the vehicle. When the vehicle is 
not moving, it would be desirable to have the seat be positionable in a 
different position, such as to the rear of the vehicle. 
Previously, it has been known to swively mount such a vehicle seat. 
However, recreational vehicles frequently have an enlarged raised console 
located between the passenger seat and the driver's seat. Also, there may 
be other structure adjacent the seats which makes it difficult to swivel 
the seat and position the seat in the rearwardly facing direction. 
There is a need to incorporate seat mounting structures for such a confined 
quarter situation, in which not only does the seat swivel, but it also 
swings so that a wider degree of movement is achieved so that the seat can 
be moved around the aforementioned obstacles to be located in a particular 
desired location. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The structure of this invention is summarily described in the Abstract of 
the Disclosure and reference is to be had thereto. 
The primary objective of this invention is to provide a seat mounting 
apparatus for a vehicular seat wherein the seat can be readily swiveled 
and swung to a substantially rearward facing position within the vehicle 
opposed to its normally forwardly facing position toward the direction of 
movement of the vehicle. 
Another objective of this invention is to construct the seat mounting 
apparatus with few parts which can be readily assembled and connected to 
existing vehicular seat structure requiring no special installing skills. 
Another objective of this invention is to construct a seat mounting 
apparatus which can be optionally located in either the right handed 
position or left handed position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SHOWN EMBODIMENT 
Referring particularly to the drawings, there is shown a supportive surface 
10, such as of a floor of a vehicle such as a recreational vehicle. A seat 
12 is located within the vehicle and is to be mounted on the supportive 
surface 10. Seat mounting apparatus 14 of this invention is to mount the 
seat 12 upon the supportive surface 10. 
The apparatus 14 includes a planar base 16. The planar base 16 includes a 
plurality of apertures 18 formed therein. Each aperture 18 is to cooperate 
in a conventional manner with a conventional fastener 21 to secure the 
base 16 to the supportive surface 10. 
Centrally mounted and fixedly secured to the base 16 is an upright post 
assembly 20. The upright post assembly 20 includes a smaller diametered 
section 22. An opening 24 is formed within the smaller diametered section 
22. A flange 26 is formed between the enlarged section of the upright post 
assembly 20 and the smaller diametered section 22. 
The smaller diametered section 22 is to be telescopingly mounted within a 
first sleeve 28. The sleeve 28 is to abut flange 26. Sleeve 28 is to be 
pivotal with respect to the upright post assembly 20 about a first pivot 
axis. The first pivot axis is located perpendicular with respect to the 
plane of the base 16. It is to be noted that the sleeve 28 can be mounted 
on the smaller diametered section 24 from either direction and from either 
end. When it is so mounted, the cap 30 is employed to close off the open 
end of the sleeve 28. 
A first means in the form of a threaded member 32 is threadably secured 
within a hole 34 formed within the side wall of the sleeve 28. The 
threaded member 34 is to be manually movable by means of a knob 36 mounted 
on its outer end thereof. The threaded member 32 is to be movable into 
engagement with the opening 24 to securely lock together the sleeve 28 and 
the upright post assembly 20. Disengaging the threaded member 32 from the 
opening 24 permits pivoting of the sleeve 28 with respect to the upright 
post assembly 20. 
Fixedly secured to the side wall of the sleeve 28 and extending 
transversely therefrom is a center member 38. The free end of the center 
member 38 connects to a second sleeve 40. The second sleeve 40 also 
includes a hole 42 formed in the side wall thereof. A threaded member 44, 
which is secured at its outer end to a knob 46, is threadedly mounted 
within the hole 42 in a manner similar to threaded member 32. It is to be 
noted that the threaded members 44 and 32 and mounted on the same 
longitudinal side of the elongated member constructed of sleves 28 and 40 
and center member 38. 
A smaller diametered section 48 of the second post 50 is to telescopingly 
interconnect with the sleeve 40. An opening 52 is formed within the 
smaller diametered section 48. A flange 54 is formed between the enlarged 
of the upright post assembly 50 and the smaller diametered section 48. The 
flange 54 is to abut against an end of the sleeve 40. The upright post 
assembly 50 is pivotally mounted with respect to the sleeve 40 by a second 
pivot axis. The second pivot axis is located parallel to the first pivot 
axis but is spaced therefrom. The threaded member 44 is to be connectable 
with the opening 42 to fixedly secure together the second upright post 
assembly 50 to the sleeve 40. 
The second post assembly 50 is fixedly mounted to an attaching plate 56. 
The plane of the plate 56 is located at an inclined angle with respect to 
the second pivot axis as is clearly shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. This 
inclination is so as to locate the seat 12 at a desirable angle to 
facilitate a most comfortble usable position of the seat 12. 
The attaching plate 56 includes a plurality of holes 58 each of which is to 
cooperate with conventional fastener 60. The fastener 60 is to be secured 
to channel members 62 and 64 which are secured to the bottom of the seat 
12. Channel members 62 and 64 are deemed to be conventional portions of 
the seat structure and does not form any direct part of this invention. 
In using the seat mounting apparatus of this invention, the user may 
initially establish at his option whether to locate the knobs 36 and 46 on 
the right hand side of the seat 12 or on the left hand side of the seat 
12. This can be readily accomplished by either locating the sleeve 28 in a 
position shown within FIG. 2 of the drawing or by turning over the sleeve 
28 so that the threaded fasteners 32 and 44 extend in the opposite 
direction on the opposite side of the seat 12. By securing the threaded 
fasteners 32 and 44 into contact with the respective smaller diametered 
portions 22 and 48, the seat 12 can be fixedly mounted with respect to the 
supportive surface 10. By loosening of the threaded fasteners 32 and 44, 
the seat 12 can be swiveled with respect to the sleeve 40 and swung with 
respect to the upright post assembly 20. 
Referring particularly to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawing, there may be 
optionally employed the use of a tray attachment 66. The tray attachment 
66 includes a tray 68 which has a tubular member 70 fixedly mounted on its 
undersurface thereof. The tubular member 70 includes a hole 72 therein. 
The tubular member 70 may include a wing nut assembly 74. 
A rod 76 is to be capable of extending through the hole 72 and the tray 68 
may be fixedly secured in respect to the rod 76 by operation of the wing 
nut assembly 74. Tubular member 70 is to be fixedly secured to the bottom 
surface of the tray 68 by means of conventional threaded fasteners 78. 
Threaded fasteners 78 are to be located in place by each passing through a 
respectively enlarged opening 80 formed within the tubular member 70. 
When it is desired to not employ the use of the tray attachment 66, the rod 
76 may be removed from the hole 72 and located in the tubular member 70 so 
that the longitudinal center axis of the rod 76 is positioned parallel to 
the plane of the tray 68. This position is shown in the dotted lines 
within FIG. 4 of the drawings. This arrangement facilitates storage of the 
tray 68. 
The lower end of the rod 76 includes an upwardly extending member which is 
shown to be a key such as a cotter key 82. This cotter key 82 is to 
function as a stop with respect to rod 84. The lower end of the rod 76 
cooperates within an opening formed within the outer end of the rod 84. 
The inner end of the rod 84 is attached by means of a conventional fastener 
86 to the undersurface of attaching plate 56. The fastener 86 is tightened 
just sufficiently so as to permit pivotal movement of the rod 84 in 
respect to the attaching plate 56. The usable extended position of the rod 
84 as shown in solid lines in FIG. 4 and the stowed position of the rod 84 
is shown in dotted lines of FIG. 4.