Patent Abstract:
A cover for a seat in a motor vehicle or plane. The seat cover is made of a leather material which is provided with a braided area consisting of cord-like or strip-like elements in at least one point which comes under particular stress.

Full Description:
This is a nationalization of PCT/EP01/04411 filed Apr. 18, 2001 and published in German. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a seat cover for all types of car and airplane seats. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   In the automobile industry, it is known in relation to seat covers made of leather to provide perforations in the leather material for improving the air circulation. However, a problem exists in the fact that the number of perforation holes is limited, because the stability of the punched leather material is reduced with an increasing amount of perforation holes. Another problem exists in the fact that the so-called processing of the leather, which determines the characteristics of the leather material, such as with regard to UV resistance, the form stability, and the abrasion resistance, is no longer maintained in the area of the cutting surfaces of the punched holes. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The task of the invention at hand is therefore in creating a seat cover for all types of car and airplane seats that has a relatively high stability at a comparatively high air and steam permeability. 
   This task is solved by a seat cover of a leather material having a plaited area made of cord or ribbon-shaped elements arranged in at least one location in the leather material. 
   The essential advantage of the seat cover according to the invention is that it contains an area made of plaited leather strips, or cords, respectively, or similar, which effects a high air and steam permeability at a high stability for achieving a comfortable seating climate. The related steam permeability of the flexible and punched surface structures creates ideal conditions for the discharge of body sweat into the absorbing material (non-woven fabric, foam material, felt, etc.) located beneath the weave. 
   The permanent air exchange ensures that moisture and temperature traps are avoided, and therefore the comfort feeling compared to a closed surface is substantially improved. Without a doubt, this also contributes to comfort and safety, since it is known that body parts that are wet with sweat in the areas of the back and bottom can lead to unconcentrated driving due to a lack of comfort feeling by the driver of an automobile. 
   Particularly preferred, the seat cover consisting of leather material at hand therefore contains plaited areas in those areas, in which a driver, or passenger, respectively, seated on the seat cover has particularly heavy contact with the seat. This is true especially for the essential area of the seat surface, and/or of the back surface. 
   An additional, very essential advantage of the invention at hand is that the cord or ribbon-like elements, from which the plaited area of the seat cover at hand is fabricated, is designed so that its lateral edges are created during the fabrication of the cord or ribbon-like elements from leather material that is equipped with the so-called overlay, or of a leather skin. Due to the special embodiment of the cord or ribbon-like elements, they are rounded or folded over by means of cutting or perforation operations in such a way that the so-called overlay remains intact, which for example is the determining factor for UV resistance, form stability, and abrasion resistance of the elements of the plaited area. With the contact of, for instance, a pair of jeans worn by a passenger, or a driver sitting on the seat cover at hand, these rounded lateral edges of the elements mentioned are therefore not mechanically stressed in any substantial way due to their rounded of shape by means of rough seams, or sharp edges, such as by attached pockets, or jeans rivets. Additionally, due to the rounding, the so-called overlay of the elements also remains intact even during use, i.e. during the entire life span of the seat cover according to the invention. 
   A further essential advantage exists in the fact that due to the arrangement of the plaited areas in a seat cover embodied in the manner at hand, particularly in the previously mentioned contact areas, the entire seat cover can be equipped with a completely novel decor (such as a checkerboard pattern, or something similar), if the individual cord or ribbon-like elements contain different colors (such as black and silver-gray). In order to achieve a coordinated look of the interior of the airplane or automobile with the seat covers, areas in the automobile roof, the dashboard, in the side casings, the back rests, covers, and such of the vehicle or airplane that correspond to the plaited areas of the seat covers. 
   It is particularly advantageous if the seat covers at hand are used both as the initial covers and as retrofitted covers, i.e. slip covers. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention and its embodiments are explained in context with the figures is explained in more detail as follows. They show: 
       FIG. 1  a schematic illustration of a seat cover (initial cover or retrofitted cover) that contains plaited areas in the contact surfaces of the driver or passenger; 
       FIG. 2  a section of the plaited area of a seat cover of  FIG. 1  in an enlarged illustration; 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  preferred embodiments of the cord or ribbon-like elements of the plaited areas, and 
       FIGS. 5 and 6  further embodiments of the invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. 
     FIG. 1  shows the seat cover of an automobile or an airplane of the invention at hand identified by  1 . The seat cover  1  is essentially comprised of the cover component  3  covering the seat component, as well as a cover component  5  covering the back rest. In a recognizable way, a plaited area  31 , or  51  is provided in all, or only part of the contact surfaces of a person sitting on the seat, for example in the center area of the cover component  3 , and/or the cover component  5 , which consists of plaited, intersecting elements  71  and  72  that are positioned at an angle of, for example, 90° to one another in lateral, or longitudinal direction of the cover components  3  and/or  5 . 
   It is obvious that the entire seat cover receives a special optical appearance or design from the arrangement of the plaited areas  31 ,  51 . This is especially true if the elements  71 ,  72  of the plaited areas  31  or  51  differ in their optical appearance. An example of such a difference would be, in particular, if they were dyed two different colors. The elements  72  positioned in lateral direction, for instance, can be dyed black, and the plaited elements  71  positioned in longitudinal direction can be dyed silver-gray. The optical appearance can also be designed by the type of plaiting of the elements  71 ,  72 . 
   Reference is therefore made to the fact that in order to achieve a harmonic total impression in an automobile or airplane passenger area, plaited areas corresponding to the plaited areas  31  and/or  51  can also be provided in the interior casing of the automobile or the airplane (such as in the roof, the side casing, the casing of the dashboard, etc.). 
   The plaited areas are attached to the edges of recesses, preferably stitched, that are located in the leather material of the seat cover  1 . 
   An enlarged section of the plaited areas  31  or  51  is schematically illustrated in FIG.  2 . The intersecting elements  71  and  72  are arranged or stitched on a base  73  that consists of an air permeable material. For example, the base  73  consists of a felt, non-woven fabric, batting, or foam material, while the elements  71 ,  72  consist of leather. The material of the base  73  ensures an air permeability of the plaited areas  31 ,  51 . 
   An essential characteristic of the invention at hand consists in the fact that the elements  71 ,  72  are made in such a way that they possess the so-called overlay of the leather material surface also in their edge areas, from which they are manufactured. This so-called overlay relates to the surface treatment of the leather base material from which the elements are processed, for example by means of perforating or cutting. Normally, this overlay is lost in the cutting or perforation operations in the area of the resulting cutting or punching edges, because the leather in this area is cut or punched vertically to the treated surface. The invention at hand provides that, for example according to  FIG. 3 , which shows a cross section through a band-shaped element, the element is rounded along its longitudinal edges, because the lateral areas of the cut or punched elements are folded over so that the longitudinal edges formed show the surface and overlay of the leather. Preferably, the lateral areas of the elements  71 ,  72  are folded so far that their edges are butted against each other at the rear side of the elements at the location  75 . In order to keep the lateral areas that are folded and butted against each other at the location  75  in the shape illustrated in  FIG. 3 , they are preferably attached to the interior surface of the elements, particularly glued. In an alternative embodiment, the folded lateral areas can also be attached by stitching (seams  76 ). 
     FIG. 4  shows an embodiment in which the elements  71 ,  72  are designed like a rope, and have an approximately circular cross section. The ends of the folded lateral areas of the initially stripe-shaped elements are also attached by butting against each other at a location  75 , preferably glued. 
   Reference is made to the fact that other, such as triangular, or oval cross section shapes of the elements  71 ,  72  are also possible. 
   According to  FIGS. 5 and 6  it is also conceivable to instead of producing the rounded edges of the elements  71 ,  72  by folding, to cut or punch the rope or ribbon-shaped elements from a base leather material in such a way that the edges receive a slant during the punching operation (FIG.  5 ), or a rounded shape (FIG.  6 ), which serves as protection from excessive mechanical wear when the driver or passenger sits on the plaited area ( 31  or  51 ). Due to the fact that the overlay is lost in this case, it should be reconstructed after the cutting or punching operation in individual process steps performed on the cutting surfaces. 
   With regard to the invention at hand, it is also important that a substantially better use of base material (skins) can be achieved by means of the arrangement of the plaited areas ( 31 ,  51 ) in seat covers made of leather. While a mere 60% to 65% use of base materials is normally possible with the punching of relatively large surface leather pieces for the production of seat covers, because they contain damaged areas, and for instance, undesired pores, or other intolerable fault characteristics, the punching of the elements ( 71 ,  72 ) at hand, which are relatively small, achieves a substantially larger use by means of a suitable arrangement of the punching knives by avoiding damaged areas or pores, etc. This achieves a sensible and economic use of available resources. 
   The invention being thus described, it will be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be recognized by one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 3