Patent ID: 6986175

Claim:
A convertible seat bed mechanism for recreational vehicles having a frame, a seat back and a seat bottom, said seat back and seat bottom shiftable between a seating position and a bed position through movement of interconnected seat and back hinge plates and front and rear swing links, and having a storage compartment under the seat bottom, comprising: a swing bracket that is disposed between the seat and back hinge plates; the seat bottom is adapted to pivot about said swing bracket; the seat bottom is adapted to be raised by rotation of the seat hinge plate about a pivot to the swing bracket; the seat bottom is supported by a ratcheting mechanism which permits the seat bottom to be raised to a storage access position and locked, and raised again to unlock and then lowered to a seating position, the unlocking being accomplished by cyclic motion and without the use of a separate release for lock; the rear swing link and a front swing link are pivotally attached to a leg bracket at the lower ends of the respective links; the back hinge plate is pivotally connected at the upper end of the rear swing link; the bottom end of said back hinge plate is pivotally connected to said swing bracket at the top, rear of said swing bracket; the top of front swing link is pivotally connected to the top, front of said swing bracket; a swing tie link pivotally interconnects said front and rear swing links, and crosses but does not connect to, said swing bracket; said locking mechanism is pivotally connected to said swing bracket and slidably and lockably interconnects said swing bracket and said seat bottom to permit the raising, said swing bracket having an inwardly turning flange; that said flanges face one another; a timing bar connected to said flange; a handle attached to said timing bar such that motion imparted by said handle is directly transmitted to the swing bracket, aiding in the motion of the linkage shifting from a seating to a bed position; the seat bottom and seat back in their open and locked position are angularly displaced from each other by an acute angle substantially greater than a parallel; the angle between the open and locked seat bottom and the seat back, when the seat bottom is in the open and locked position, is maintained by said ratcheting mechanism pivotally connected to the seat hinge plate.