Patent ID: 8146988

Claim:
Apparatus comprising: a seat frame; a seat pan supported on the seat frame for pivotal movement relative to the seat frame in a first direction and in a second direction opposite the first direction; and an energy absorber coupled between the seat pan and the seat frame, the energy absorber including: a wire gripper fixed for movement with the seat pan; a mandrel fixed for movement with the seat frame; a deformable wire wrapped around the mandrel and extending through the wire gripper and being movable in a single direction only around the mandrel and through the gripper, and a spring connected between the wire and the seat pan and pulling on the wire in the single direction of movement of the wire; pivotal movement of the seat pan relative to the seat frame in the first direction moving the gripper in a direction that causes the gripper to pull the wire across the mandrel to deform the wire and absorb energy, without the wire moving through the gripper in either direction; the seat resetting by pivotal movement of the seat pan relative to the seat frame in the second direction; and the spring pulling the wire through the gripper in the single direction of movement of the wire during the resetting movement of the seat.