Detachable, reversible vehicle seat adjustable lengthwise by controls on its slides

A detachable, reversible vehicle seat adjustable lengthwise by controls on its slides, has a manual locking system for each of the slides, including a manual control handle articulated to one of the ends of each slide near the anchoring area of a leg of the seat, the ends being different on the two slides for a given seat, and a transverse connecting shaft articulated near the front legs below the base of the seat, one of whose ends is designed to cooperate with a manual control handle controlling the unlocking of one of the slides, while the other end of the transverse connecting shaft has a finger able to cooperate with the unlocking means of the other slide in its runner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to a detachable, reversible seat. More particularly, 
this invention relates to a detachable, reversible seat that is adjustable 
lengthwise relative to two runners located on the floor of the vehicle. 
2. Related Art 
Detachable, reversible seats are used, for example, in vehicles whose 
passenger compartments can be converted to adapt to the number of people 
to be carried by adjusting the number of seats and/or the seat spacing, or 
to increase the luggage or cargo space by removing certain seats. This 
applies for example to van-type vehicles in which certain seats are 
reversible. 
In particular, these seats have four legs each provided with latches that 
are spring-locked and manually unlocked, able to cooperate with matching 
anchoring means supported on slides movable lengthwise in the runners but 
equipped with locking means and manually unlockable. 
French Patent 2,700,735 describes a detachable, reversible seat in which 
the means controlling the unlocking of the legs and of the slides are 
disposed below the base of the seat. This arrangement, which has all the 
control means for its finctions below the seat, has the disadvantage of 
making the seat heavier and increasing its cost, and, for an inattentive 
passenger, of making it easier to confuse the lengthwise adjustment 
control with the leg locking control, with the risk of releasing the seat 
from its runners as the vehicle is braking. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A goal of the present invention is to remedy these disadvantages by 
providing a seat in which the slide unlocking control is on the runners. 
For this purpose, in the seat according to the invention, the manual 
unlocking apparatus of each of the slides comprise: 
a manual control handle articulated on one end of each slide, near the 
anchoring area of one leg, this end being different on the two slides of a 
given seat, and 
a transverse connecting shaft articulated near the front legs, under the 
base of the seat, one end of the shaft able to cooperate with the manual 
control handle unlocking one of the slides, while the other end of this 
latch has a finger able to cooperate with the manual unlocking apparatus 
that unlocks the other slide from its runner. 
Thus, whether the seat is set up to face forward or to face the rear of the 
vehicle, the passenger always has an unlocking handle near one of the 
front legs of the seat, located outside the seat and, when operated, 
causing the unlocking of the two slides to function by the transverse 
connecting shaft supported by the seat. 
The invention also provides retracting the handles when the runners are not 
in use to prevent the handles from projecting so that they could snag or 
be damaged or get in the way of loading the seat-free floor and, when a 
seat is set up, that brings only the desired handle to the utilization 
position. 
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in 
or are apparent from the following detailed description of various 
exemplary embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
In one embodiment of the invention, each control handle is mounted 
rotatably freely on a transverse shaft of the slide. Each control handle 
is continuously urged by a torsion spring that tends to push that control 
handle against the central part of the slide and into the runner. Each 
control handle is connected rotatably, with the option of relative angular 
displacement over the unlocking control travel, to a toothed disk. A 
depression in which the toothed disk is able, when the handle has been 
manually repositioned, to cooperate with a locking finger, said finger 
being connected to means that are retractable when the seat is disengaged 
from the slide. In this case, the handle is repositioned manually once the 
seat has been set up and is automatically folded down. 
In another embodiment, each control handle is mounted rotatably freely on a 
connecting shaft of the slide. Each control handle is continuously urged 
by a torsion spring that tends to push that control handle onto the end of 
the slide and into the runner as long as the front leg of the seat, coming 
into the anchoring area adjacent to the handle, has a lateral projection 
that, when the seat is fully engaged, can come to rest on the active end 
of the handle to bring this handle into the utilization position, with its 
free end projecting above the runner. The handle is replaced by the seat 
itself when the seat is set up. The handle likewise automatically folds 
down. 
Other characteristics and advantages will emerge from the description that 
follows with reference to the attached schematic drawings showing two 
embodiments of the device according to the invention as examples. 
In the drawings, a seat 2 has a base that is provided with two front legs 
3d and 3g, and two rear legs 4d and 4g. Each leg 3d, 3g, 4d and 4g is 
associated with latches able to cooperate with corresponding anchoring 
devices supported on a slide 5. Each slide is displaceable in a 
corresponding runner 6. 
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 16, each leg 3d, 3g, 4d and 4g has 
two latches 7 and 8, articulated by first transverse shafts 9 and 10 on 
the corresponding leg and returned to the locking position by springs 12 
and 13, which can be seen in FIG. 1. 
As shown at the right of FIG. 10, these latches 7 and 8 are provided at 
their free ends with hooks 7a and 8a disposed back to back and able to 
catch under the edge of an opening 14 provided in a plate 15 supported by 
a slide 5. As shown in FIG. 1, in a known fashion, the latches 7 of the 
two rear legs 4d and 4g, and the latches 7 of the two front legs 3d and 
3g, are each connected by rods 16 and 17, respectively, to control 
movement of the respective latches 7 and 8. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 to 9, each runner 6 is formed by a metal shape, 
aluminum for example, which in cross section has the general shape of a U 
and has a flat, horizontal web 18 able to rest on the floor of a vehicle 
and able to receive on its interior surface a steel plate 19 having racks 
19a. The runner 6 is connected to the floor by bolts 20 passing through 
its web 18 and steel plate 19, as shown in FIG. 5. Two wings 22 of the 
runner 6 have a straight part 22a and a rounded upper part 22b forming an 
internal groove 23 with a V-shaped cross section and a curved bottom. The 
rounded upper part 22b is extended by a return 22c, turned inward. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the slide 5 includes two lengthwise strips 25 connected 
to each other by the plates 15 and connecting parts 26. More specifically, 
each plate 15 and connecting part 26 have lugs 27 which, after passing 
through cutouts 28 provided in the corresponding strips 25, are riveted to 
these strips 25. Each plate 15 also has a side lug 29 in its central part 
on each side. Each lug 29, after passing through a cutout 30 in the 
corresponding strips 25, receives a slider 32. As shown in FIG. 5, each 
slider 32 has a semicircular cross section and is able to slide in the 
groove 23 of the runner 6. FIG. 5 also shows that connecting part 26 has 
two side lugs 33 that abut the runner 6 below shoulders 34 of the runner 6 
to ensure that the slide 5 is prevented from making vertical movements 
relative to this runner 6. 
The slide 5 includes two levers 35 that lock it into the runner 6. The 
levers 35 are disposed outside of the strips 25 of the slide 5. Each lever 
35 is articulated on a cross pin 36 supported by the corresponding strip 
25. Each lever 35 is provided at one of its ends with teeth 37 able to 
cooperate with the corresponding rack 19a. At its other end 35a, each 
lever 35 is urged by a return spring 38 that biases the teeth 37 to engage 
in the rack 19a. 
These levers 35 are unlocked and relocked by an unlocking mechanism in the 
slide 5, a return mechanism positioned between the slides 5 and a manual 
control mechanism mounted in each of the slides 5. 
In this embodiment, the manual control mechanism mounted in each slide 5 
includes a rocker 40 disposed between the anchoring areas of the legs 3d, 
3g, 4d and 4g. The rocker 40 has a second transverse shaft 42 positioned 
approximately halfway along the rocker 40. The second transverse shaft 42 
is slidably mounted vertically in vertical oblong holes 43 formed in the 
strips 25. The ends of the second transverse shaft 42 extend beyond the 
strips 25 to penetrate bores 44 provided at the non-toothed ends 35a of 
the levers 35. At each of the free ends and on each side, the rocker 40 
has a structure that limits its vertical movement, for example, 
projections 45. The projections 45 protrude laterally outward from the 
rocker 40 and slide vertically in notches 46 provided in the strips 25. 
The notches 46 terminate at the bottom of the strips 25. As shown in FIG. 
1, each of rockers 40 of the slides 5 of the two runners 6 associated with 
a given seat 2 is operated simultaneously with the other rocker 40 by a 
connecting shaft 48 disposed transversely under the seat. In this 
embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the connecting shaft 48 includes a tubular 
shaft 49 mounted freely rotatably under the seat 2. One of the ends of the 
tubular shaft 49, for example, its left end, is provided with a bent lever 
50, while the other end is integral with a control finger 52. The bent 
lever 50 has a leg 50a corresponding to the finger 52, and is able to rest 
on the corresponding end of the rocker 40 beneath it. Another leg 50b of 
the bent lever 50 is able to cooperate with a manual control handle 53. As 
shown in FIG. 1, tension springs 54 located on either runner between the 
seat frame and the leg 50a and the seat frame and the finger 52 
respectively confer a return torque on the connecting shaft 48 that 
applies the leg 50b of the bent lever 50 against the handle 53. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the handle 53 of each slide 5 is mounted freely 
rotatably on a shaft 55. In the slide 5 traveling in the runner 6 on the 
left, relative to a seat facing straight ahead, this shaft is on the front 
end of the slide 5, while on the slide traveling in the right-hand runner 
6, this shaft is at the rear end of the slide 5. 
The handle 53 is associated with a tension spring 56 which urges the handle 
53 continuously in the direction of the arrow 57, tending to apply the 
handle 53 against the slide 5, in such a way that the gripping handle 53a 
is substantially in the central part of this slide 5, where the gripping 
handle 53a fits into a recess 58 in the rocker 40. The handle 53 is 
rotatably linked to a disk 59 having a depression 60. The disk 59 is 
mounted freely rotatably on the shaft 55 of the handle 53 but is linked 
rotatably to the handle 53 with the possibility of relative angular 
displacement limited between the disk 59 and the handle 53 by a transverse 
lug 62 projecting laterally from the handle 53 and penetrating an oblong 
circular hole 63 provided in this disk 59. 
The locking mechanism that locks the handle 53 in the utilization position 
comprises a bent lever 64 and a control plate 65 disposed between the 
articulation of the control handle 53 and the anchoring area of the 
corresponding leg, namely the plate 15. As shown in greater detail in FIG. 
11, the bent lever 64, which is articulated near its bend on a bent lever 
shaft 66, has, at the end of its substantially horizontal leg 64a, a 
locking finger 67 projecting upward and able to penetrate the depression 
60 of the disk 59 under the influence of a torsion spring 68. 
The horizontal leg 64a also has a transverse lug 69 projecting in the 
direction of the control plate 65. This control plate 65 is traversed by 
an opening 70 surrounding the bent lever shaft 66 and by an opening 72 
surrounding the lug 69. Because of this, the control plate 65 can move 
relative to the bent lever 64, both rotationally and in transverse 
translation. A tension spring 73 is located between the plate 65 and 
securing means b1 of the substantially vertical leg of the lever 64. 
Finally, this control plate 65 has a detector finger 65a that extends 
below the anchoring plate 15 such that, in the absence of a seat leg, its 
end, provided with upper and lower bevels 74 on its edges, is below the 
opening 14 in the plate 15 and in the engagement trajectory of the 
corresponding seat leg 3d, 3g, 4d or 4g. 
Finally, and according to another important feature of the invention, one 
of the seat legs 3d, 3g, 4d or 4g, in this case the front left leg 3g, has 
a groove 76 that can be seen in FIGS. 12 to 16, able to cooperate with the 
detector finger 65a. 
With this arrangement, in the absence of a seat 2, the two runners 6 do not 
provide an obstacle because, in each of them, the control handle 53 is in 
the folded-down position on the slide 5, and inside the runner 6, as shown 
in FIGS. 3, 4, and 8. Before mounting the seat 2 on the runners 6, the 
operator must bring the handle 53 cooperating with the front left leg 3g 
of the seat 2, namely the handle 53 of the left runner 6, into the 
utilization position if the seat 2 is to be placed in the normal position. 
Alternatively, the handle 53 of the right-hand runner 6 must be brought 
into the utilization position if the seat 2 is to be placed in the 
reversed position. This placement maneuver is done by causing the handle 
53 to pivot in the reverse direction of the arrow 57 in FIG. 3, until the 
depression 60 of the disk 59 engages the locking finger 67. In this 
position, as shown for example in FIG. 12, a protuberance 53b of the 
handle 53 rests on the anchoring plate 15 and the handle 53 projects 
upward, while the handle 53 is beside the opening 14, provided in this 
plate 15. When the front legs 3d and 3g of the seat 2 are inserted into 
their anchoring plates 15, the lower edge of the left front leg 3g 
encounters the end of detector finger 65a and pushes the detector finger 
65a back in the direction of arrow 80 in FIG. 12. As a result, the control 
plate 65 moves, assisted in this by the openings 70 and 72 that enable the 
control plate 65 to move relative to the second transverse shaft 66 and 
the lug 69, respectively. As shown in FIG. 13, as soon as groove 76 of the 
left front leg 3g reaches the end of the detector finger 65a, the end of 
the detector finger 65a penetrates into this groove 76 under the influence 
of the tension spring 73 and remains in this position as long as the seat 
2 is on the runners 6. 
When the seat 2 is in this position, as shown in FIG. 10, to adjust the 
seat position lengthwise relative to the runners 6, the handle 53 must be 
pivoted in the direction of the arrow 81. It will be noted that, because 
of the hole 63 provided in the disk 59, this pivoting has no effect on the 
toothed disk 59, which can thus continue to hold the handle 53 in the 
utilization position. Pivoting the handle 53 about connecting shaft 55 
causes the lever 50 to pivot by means of the leg 50b of the lever 50, and 
by the connecting shaft 48, causes the finger 52, disposed on the other 
side of the seat 2, to pivot. As a result, the two rockers 40 are made to 
pivot in the direction of the arrow 82, relative to their projections 45 
which, disposed at their other ends, rest on the bottoms of the notches 46 
of the strips 25 of the slide 5. By means of the shaft 42, this rocking is 
transmitted to the two toothed levers 35 of each rocker 40. The levers 35 
then pivot in the direction of the arrow 83 in FIG. 10, disengaging their 
teeth 37 from the corresponding racks 19a. After adjusting the lengthwise 
position of the seat 2, by slides the slides 5 in the runners 6, the 
operator releases the handle 53, which enables the springs 38 to bring the 
toothed levers 35 back into the slide 5-locking position and to return the 
rockers 40 to the resting position, with the springs 54 returning the 
connecting shaft 48 to its starting position. 
It should be noted that, because of its position on one of the runners 6, 
the handle 53 which controls the lengthwise displacement cannot be 
confused with the rod 17 controlling the unlocking of the front legs 3d 
and 3g. Moreover, with this configuration, and except for the connecting 
shaft 48 which is very light and very simple, the seat 2 has no slide 
unlocking control mechanism and no control handle that could be damaged by 
handling the seat 2 outside the vehicle. 
When the seat 2 is extracted from the slides 5, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 
15, disengagement of the front left leg 3g first causes the detector 
finger 65a to pivot upward (arrow 86). Next, and as soon as the lower edge 
of the groove 76 provided in the front left leg 3g encounters the lower 
bevel 74 of the detector finger 65a, it forces the detector finger 65a and 
the whole of the control plate 65 rearward in the direction of the arrow 
85, as shown in FIG. 15. The rocking of the control plate 65 in the 
direction of the arrow 86 in turn impacts, by its lug 69, the bent lever 
64, whose finger 67 disengages from the depression 60 of the disk 59 that 
is rotationally linked to the handle 53. As a result, as shown in FIG. 16, 
the handle 53 is freed and, under the influence of its torsion spring 56, 
can be folded down against the slide 5, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 8, to 
rid the floor of the vehicle of any obstacles. FIG. 16 shows that the 
disengaging movement of the finger 67 does not affect the movements of the 
control plate 65 because of the openings 70 and 72 provided in the control 
plate 65. 
It is obvious that, when the seat 2 is reversed, the handle 53 disposed on 
the rear end of the slide 5 positioned in the right-hand runner 6 folds 
down in the same way, because that handle 53 is locked by the same 
elements which react in the same manner to insertion and extraction of the 
front left leg 3g of the seat. 
The embodiment shown in FIGS. 17 to 19 is distinguished from the previous 
embodiment by the leg locking mechanism, by the return mechanism that 
returns the control handles to the utilization position, and by the 
control mechanism of the toothed levers that lock the slides relative to 
the runners. 
In the following description, parts that have different shapes but which 
fulfill the same functions as those of the first embodiment will have the 
same reference numerals plus 100, and the numbering of new parts will 
start at 200. 
Front legs 103g and 103d, and rear legs 104d and 104g are equipped with 
latches 200 and 201, respectively, which straddle a another shaft 202 
disposed in a well of the slide 105. This type of latch is well known and 
is described, for example, in U.S. Patent 4,700,989, which is incorporated 
herein by reference in its entirety. FIG. 18 shows that, under these 
conditions, each another shaft 202 passes through the wings 204 of the 
U-shaped body of slide 105. At each of its ends, this anchor shaft 202 has 
a roller 205 traveling in a lengthwise groove 206 defined by the inside 
surfaces 207 of the runner 106. The anchoring well 208 is made of 
synthetic material. FIG. 19 shows that each slide 105 has two toothed 
levers 135, articulated on pivots 136 and cooperating with a rack 209, 
created by perforating the bottom of the runner 106. FIG. 17, which shows 
the slide 105 of the left runner 106 in lengthwise section, shows that 
both of the levers 135 are oriented with their teeth 137 facing rearward 
and their non-toothed parts 135a below the active part 153d of the control 
handle 153. This control handle 153 is articulated on a shaft 155 and is 
constantly urged by a torsion spring 156 so that its grip 153a is folded 
down against the front end of the slide 105. The two toothed levers 135 
are connected at their toothed parts by a third transverse shaft 210 which 
is essentially disposed in the transverse median plane Pm of the slide 
105. This third transverse shaft 210 is straddled by a fork 213 of a 
matching lever 214 which is pivotably mounted on a pivot shaft 215 on the 
slide 105. The other end 216 of this lever 214 extends in the direction of 
the anchoring area of the rear leg 104g or 104d in order to form a point 
of application which is symmetrical to that formed by the non-toothed part 
135a of lever 135 relative to the transverse median plane Pm of the slide 
105. In the slide 105 of the right-hand runner, this end 216 of the 
matching lever 214 comes under the active end 153d of control handle 153, 
as shown in dot-dashed lines in FIG. 17. 
In other words, the slide 105 traveling in the left-hand runner 106 has, 
listed from front to back, the anchor shaft 202 to anchor the front leg 
103g, the shaft 155 for the articulation of the control handle 153, the 
pivots 136 for articulation of the toothed levers 135, the pivot shaft 215 
for the matching lever 214, and the anchor shaft 202 for anchoring the 
rear leg 104g. In contrast, the slide 105 for the right-hand runner 106 
has the anchor shaft 202 for anchoring the front leg 103d, the pivots 136, 
the anchor shaft 215 for the matching lever 214, the shaft 155 for the 
articulation of the handle 153, and the anchor shaft 202 anchoring the 
rear leg 104d. 
The front part of the base of the seat 2 has a connecting shaft 148 whose 
left end is provided with a lever 150 able to cooperate with the control 
handle 153 and whose right end is provided with a finger 152 able to 
cooperate with the non-toothed portion 135a of the lever 135 of the other 
slide 105. 
According to another characteristic of particular embodiments of the seat 2 
according to the invention, the seat 2 has a lateral projection 220 
projecting to the rear of its left front leg 103g. The lateral projection 
220, when the seat 2 is engaged, abuts the active part 153d of the control 
handle 153 to cause the control handle 153 to pivot into the utilization 
position shown in FIG. 17. 
Thus, when the seat 2 is in the normal position on the runners 106, its 
position is adjusted lengthwise by actuating the control handle 153 of the 
left runner 106. The control handle 153 acts directly on the non-toothed 
portion 135a of levers 135 of the left slide 105, and indirectly by the 
connecting shaft 148, on the toothed levers 135 of the right-hand slide 
105. When the seat 2 is in the reversed position, actuation of the control 
handle 153 mounted on the right-hand slides 105 relative to the direction 
of travel, acts indirectly on the levers 135 disposed in the right-hand 
slide 105 by the matching lever 214. This movement is transmitted by the 
connecting shaft 148 to the matching lever 214 disposed in the left slide 
105. 
When the seat 2 is removed, the control handle 153 is freed from the 
projection 220 and returns automatically to its folded-down position under 
the influence of its return spring 156. 
It emerges from the foregoing that, in particular embodiments of the seat 2 
of this invention, as in the embodiments described in the drawings, the 
slide 105 unlocking mechanisms are actuated by the connecting shaft 
located under the seat by a control mechanism located on one of the 
slides, the control mechanism retracting after the seat has been extracted 
so that it does not project and impede vehicle loading or snag when the 
vehicle moves.