Patent ID: 6935691

Claim:
A vehicle seat with a seat cushion tip-up structure comprising: a slide rail means comprising a lower rail means and an upper rail means slidably engaged with said lower rail means, allowing said upper rail means to be slidingly movable along said lower rail means in a forward direction to a side forwardly of said vehicle seat and a backward direction to a side backwardly of said vehicle seat; a base frame means fixedly connected with said upper rail means; a seat cushion rotatably connected with said base frame means so as to be able to be tipped up from a generally horizontal use position to a generally upright non-use position, said seat cushion having a forward end portion facing to said forward direction; a lock mechanism for locking and unlocking said upper rail means to and from said lower rail means, said lock mechanism comprising: a lock means provided in said upper rail so as to be movable in one of a locking direction to lock said upper rail to said lower rail means and an unlocking direction to unlock said upper rail from said lower rail; and a rotary actuator means which is rotatably disposed above said lower rail means and operatively connected with said lock means; and a lock/unlock actuator mechanism for actuating said lock mechanism to cause locking and unlocking of said upper rail means to and from said lower rail means, said lock/unlock actuator mechanism being provided between said seat cushion and said lock mechanism, and comprising: an unlocking lever movably provided under said forward end portion of said seat cushion, said operation lever being normally set at a locking position and operable therefrom to an unlocking position; a first connecting link extending along a longitudinal direction of said seat cushion and being movable along said longitudinal direction, said first connecting link being at one end thereof operatively connected with said operation lever; a first rotary arm rotatably provided between said seat cushion and said base frame means, said first rotary arm being at one end thereof operatively connected with another end of said first connecting link; a second rotary arm fixedly connected at one end thereof with another end of said first rotary arm; and a second connecting link operatively connected between another end of said second rotary arm and said rotary actuator means of said lock mechanism; wherein, when said unlocking lever is set at said locking position, said lock means is retained in said locking direction so that said upper rail is locked to said lower rail, and wherein operation of said unlocking lever to said unlocking position causes movements of said first connecting link, said first rotary arm, said second rotary arm and said second connecting link, so as to rotate said rotary actuator means to move said lock means in said unlocking direction, so that said upper rail is unlocked from said lower rail.