Swivel mounting for vehicle front seats

A tilt-away system for front seats of vehicles for permitting the entire front seat to be moved as far as possible out of the entry and exit region of the vehicle includes a seat frame front support assembly including a support stand which supports the front portion of the seat frame, a seat frame rear support assembly including link arms on each side of the seat frame, the link arms having forward ends pivotally secured to travellers which are displaceably mounted in rails and rearward ends connected to the rearward portion of the seat frame and being locked in a use position for the seat by a link arm locking mechanism, the link arms being adapted to be pivoted forwardly and upwardly to tilt the seat forwardly after it has been moved forwardly on the rails to a position intermediate the use and access positions, and a release mechanism for releasing the front portion of the seat frame from the support stand and the link arm locking mechanism in one operation so that the front seat can be moved forward to the intermediate position and then tilted forwardly and upwardly to the access position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is known to tilt the backrests of the front seats of two-door passenger 
cars right forward, possibly as far as the seat, to enable persons to get 
into and out of the back seats, and if necessary to move the whole seat 
forward by means of the adjusting means. However, this operation requires 
considerable effort, since the seat and the backrest also have to be moved 
back into the desired position. 
In addition, the distance the seat can be moved forward is generally too 
short for comfort in getting into and out of the back seats. It generally 
amounts to about 200 mm, and cannot be increased because the seats can 
only be moved forward parallel to the floor. In the case of two-door 
vehicles space for getting in and out is above all particularly limited in 
the foot region. To increase the amount of travel the lower outer 
adjusting rails would have to be made longer, but as metal parts they 
would then be felt to get in the way of the feet of the persons seated 
both in the front and in the back. 
This is generally remedied by extending the doors of such two-door vehicles 
farther back, in the interest of improved access to the back seats, than 
would be necessary only for access to the back seats. However, this object 
is only partly achieved, since limits are set to the increase in size of 
these doors on grounds of manufacture, strength and appearance. If, as is 
generally the case, there is a choice of availability of a particular type 
of vehicle with either two or four doors, there is the further 
disadvantage that two different front doors have to be manufactured for 
the same basic model, with corresponding differences in the bodywork, 
which increases the expense. 
The invention aims to solve the problem of enabling the seats, preferably 
so-called three-legged seats, of a two-door passenger car with two rows of 
seating to be moved in a simple manner so far forward that getting into 
and out of the back seats is facilitated by larger clearances even without 
increasing the door size, so that there is enough room, particularly in 
the foot region, for the persons getting in and out. 
Particular advantages obtained through the invention are that both getting 
into and out of, and also loading and unloading of, the back seats of 
two-door passenger cars with two rows of seating are facilitated at little 
cost in apparatus and operating effort without the front doors having to 
be made larger for the two-door version in the case of types of vehicle 
that are available with two or four doors, since the necessary free space 
is provided by the displacement of the seats by tilting in the way 
proposed. It is particularly beneficial that through the large forward 
displacement and tilting up of the front seat the space for getting into 
the back seats is markedly increased over the whole body region and not 
just for the feet. If on grounds of comfort the size of the access region 
of the front doors is further increased, getting into and out of the back 
seats of the two-door, two-row seating embodiments becomes particularly 
easy and the back seats are easier to load and unload. 
Advantageous embodiments of the invention are set forth in the claims. 
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and 
will now be described more fully.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
A front seat 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is in the form of a so-called 
"three-legged seat" which is connected on both outer sides at the back in 
its lower region, by means of connections 2 of its frame 3, to adjusting 
rails 4 fitted to the vehicle floor, and in the middle in front, through 
an adjusting and locking rail 5 secured to the front seat 1, to a 
supporting and locking stand 10 in which it is slidably and pivotably 
mounted. For this purpose the adjusting and locking rail 5 can be a bar of 
suitable cross section, so that as a result of its open front it can 
easily be inserted into the supporting and locking stand 10. Through 
suitably shaped guide elements of the supporting and locking stand 10 the 
adjusting and locking rail 5 can be mounted for sliding longitudinally and 
also, within adequate limits, pivoting, in the stand 10, so that it is 
also supported in the same way in regions without perforations 6 (see FIG. 
2). To conform to the respective spatial conditions the adjusting and 
locking rail 5 is bent downwards in its rear region 11, so that it does 
not collide with the floor in front. The front seat 1 is located axially 
of the vehicle and locked in the use position by means of this supporting 
and locking stand 10 in cooperation with a known locking means including 
pin 7 and perforations 6, into which the pin 7 projects. 
A backrest 8 can, in known manner, be connected to the frame 3 and be 
adjustable in its angular position relative to the seat 1 by means of 
adjusting gears 9. 
In FIG. 2 position 12 indicates, by showing only the rear outline of the 
front seat 1, a position for use by the passenger in which its backrest 8 
is in the middle to rear tilting region. Position 13 shows the location of 
this front seat 1 when moved forward, and in position 14 the whole seat is 
shown tilted about the supporting and locking stand 10 relative to 
position 13, as is desired for getting into and out of the back seats. 
A door opening 17 in the bodywork of the vehicle is bounded by the chain 
line 16, and the cross-hatched area 18, bounded in front by a line 19, 
shows the increase in the free space for getting in and out that is gained 
by the displacement of the front seat 1 from position 13 to position 14 
according to the invention. 
In position 14 the backrest 8 on the driver's side comes close to the 
steering wheel 20, and it can be seen that there is still room to tilt the 
backrest 8 further forward. 
Tilting from position 13 to position 14 is made possible by fitting the two 
rear connections 2 of the frame 3, of which the left-hand part is shown in 
detail in FIG. 3, with travellers 22 that can travel back and forth on 
both sides in the adjusting rails 4 that surround them. One possible 
section for these rails is indicated by the chain line 21. 
A link arm 23 is fitted pivotably on the inner side of the traveller 22 by 
means of its axle 24, and has fixed to its other end a pivot pin 25 on 
which a bearing bracket 26 of the frame 3 (see also FIG. 4) is journalled. 
Also connected to the bearing bracket 26 is a pin 28 on which a hook 30 
can pivot to a limited extent. When the hook is in its position 33, for 
use of the front seat 1, as shown in FIG. 3, it engages round a locking 
pin 32 fixed to the traveller 22, thus providing, together with the fixed 
seating part 31 of the bearing bracket 26 in said frame, a firm connection 
of the frame 3 to the traveller 22 and thus to the adjusting rails 4 fixed 
to the vehicle floor. The hook 30 is secured in its locking position 33 by 
a tension spring 34 having one end connected to it and the other end to an 
arm 35 of the bearing bracket 26. 
To move and tilt the front seat 1 from position 12 into position 13 and 
finally into position 14 the hook 30 is pivoted into a free position 38 by 
an actuation transmitted through a traction element 37, and at the same 
time by an actuation element 39 (FIG. 1), the locking of the adjusting and 
locking rail 5 by the pin 7 is also released. The front seat 1 can then 
first be moved forward until traveller 22 meets stops 40, so that 
continued actuation of the forward movement of the front seat 1 
immediately initiates pivoting of the link arm 23 from its lower, 
backward-pointing starting position 29 into an end position 41, assisted 
by the kinetic energy imparted to the front seat 1 and released on meeting 
the stop 40. The end position 41 of the link arm 23 is determined by stops 
27 connected to the axle 24. 
Such actuation of the locking means for the hooks 30 and for the supporting 
and locking stand 10 can advantageously be effected by means such as that 
proposed in German patent application P 41 42 924.9-16. 
In FIG. 4 the connection 2 of the frame 3 is shown in an intermediate 
position between the approximately horizontal starting position of the 
link arm 23 in the position of use of the front seat and its end position 
41. 
In the end position 41 (see FIG. 2) the pivot pin 25 of the link arm 23 is 
in front of a vertical through its lower axle 24, and this, together with 
the weight of the front seat 1, provides sufficient support for the seat 
in position 14 for the time needed for getting in and out or the like, and 
likewise it can conveniently be returned to the rear position for use. An 
additional resilient catch can also be employed in this end position. 
A variant 42 of an adjusting and tilting system for a front seat 1 shown in 
FIG. 5 has connections 45 on both sides for the frame 3 in which the 
connecting elements employed are collar pins 47 that form pivot axles 
connecting the frame 3 to the link arms 43. These link arms 43 are 
connected through pivot axles 50 to travellers 51 mounted slidably in 
adjusting rails 4 and have at their other ends extension regions leading 
to the collar pin 47 and having slots 44 into which the supports of the 
frame 3 are slidably fitted by means of the collar pins 47. By this means, 
at the end of the first phase of the tilting up of the front seat 1 
increased tilting of the front seat about the supporting and locking stand 
10 can take place after reaching the position 48 by subsequent upward 
travel in the region of the slot 44 as far as the position 49. These 
positions 48 and 49 can be secured sufficiently for the full tilting by 
engagement of known spring catches or the like that can be overridden in 
operation. 
In place of a link arm 43 with a slot 44 a different form of linkage could 
be used, e.g. a telescopic one made up of tubular parts or the like. 
FIG. 6 shows a variant 54 of an adjusting and tilting system for a front 
seat in which a double link arm 58 is used to connect the frame 3 to 
travellers 56, making increased tilting of the front seat 1 possible. A 
first part 59 of the linkage is journalled on a pin 60 fitted to the 
traveller 56 and can be brought into the end position 61 by tilting the 
front seat 1. In doing so, as is shown by an intermediate position 62, a 
second part 63 of the linkage, fitted to the first part 59 by means of an 
axle 57, folds out by pivoting in the opposite sense to the first part 59 
so that the pivot axle 64, and with it the frame 3, arrives at a 
particularly elevated position 66. The length 67 of the double linkage 58 
in its lower, approximately horizontal position for the use position of 
the front seat 1 does not correspond to the fully extended length in 
position 66, and thus does not cause any trouble down below. 
In the variants 42 and 54 the components such as the travellers 22, 56 or 
hooks 30 are used correspondingly to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 
4, as are stops and locking means (not illustrated) for stabilizing the 
link arms 43 in their pivoted-up position and the double linkage 58 as 
such and in its working and raised position 66. 
In a further variant 67, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, of the embodiments of a 
passenger car seat moving and tilting system shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, link 
arms 68 on each side are arranged to pivot about respective pivot points 
69 lying behind the connection 73, as shown by the position 70 of the link 
arm 68, represented by chain lines. The travel of collar pins 72 mounted 
in slots 71 in the link arm 68 along these slots backwardly from the 
position shown in FIG. 7 assists the possibility of horizontal adjustment 
of the position of the front seat 1 for use, employing the adjusting and 
locking rail 5; a section of the slot 71 forward from the position of the 
connection 73 shown in FIG. 7, as shown, also assists in this. The 
remaining section of the slot up to the end position 75 is employed for 
further forward travel in the slots 71 and for tilting the front seat 
higher about the supporting and locking stand 10. 
The collar pins 72 are fitted securely to the frame 3, and in the region of 
these pins outside the link arm 68 travellers 77 are fixed to them that 
are mounted in adjusting rails 78 and thereby secure the front seat 1 
against moving upwards or sideways in its position of use. To reach the 
forward raised position, corresponding to position 14 shown in FIG. 2, the 
adjusting rails 78 have openings 79 on top at the front through which the 
travellers 77 pass for tilting up. Likewise these travellers pass back 
into the adjusting rails through these openings on moving the front seat 
back into its position of use. 
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 the position 70 of the link arm 68 
and the position of the collar pin 72 can again be secured in the end 
position 75 by retaining means such as resilient clips or the like that 
automatically engage and disengage during the tilting. 
The invention is also applicable in the same way in the case of front seats 
whose front support and axial locking is effected bilaterally in adjusting 
rails, which in this case can either be integral with the rear adjusting 
rails or be separate adjusting rails seated in front at the side on the 
floor of the vehicle.