Patent ID: 7677666

Claim:
A seat recliner assembly established at a hinge location between a seat bottom and a pivotally associated seat back, comprising: a base plate secured to a first selected one of the seat back and seat bottom; an inwardly teethed and package supporting sector secured to a second selected one of the seat back and seat bottom, said base plate and said package supporting sector being sandwichingly engaged in selectively rotatable fashion relative to one another to define a component receiving space therebetween; a shaft projects through said base plate and supporting sector, a cam including an aperture through which said shaft extends, said cam being supported within said component receiving space in a selected and rotationally biased and slaved fashion relative to said shaft; a pair of locking pawls each exhibiting an outer arcuate and exteriorly toothed surface and which are selectively displaceable to engage with inwardly teethed locations associated with said package supporting sector; a pair of anti-chuck pawls associated with further locations of said component receiving space said anti-chuck pawls being inter-disposed between said cam and said locking pawls in spaced and non-contacting fashion relative to said inwardly teethed and package supporting sector; and said cam being biased in a first rotational locking condition in order to influence said anti-chuck pawls outwardly against said locking pawls to maintain said locking pawls in teethed engagement with said inwardly teethed sector, said cam being rotated in an opposite and counter-biasing direction, thereby directly contacting said locking pawls and pivoting the same such that said exteriorly toothed surfaces are inwardly disengaged from said teethed sector, permitting rotation between said base plate and package supporting sector; arrangement of said cam, locking pawls and anti-chuck pawls further providing enhanced distribution of necessary sector clearances across the package defining space to reduce the incidences of chucking and locking of package components.