Patent ID: 8002357

Claim:
An adjustable armrest assembly for use with a vehicle seat, the vehicle seat comprising a seat frame, the seat frame having a seat cushion support portion and a seat back portion; the armrest assembly comprising: a full travel stop spool with a pivot axis secured to seat back portion; a memory gear pivotally mounted for rotary adjustment about the pivot axis; the memory gear and the stop spool having locking features on adjacent surfaces in the memory gear and the stop spool; a memory plate forming pivot of the armrest assembly that is mounted for pivotal movement of the armrest assembly between an active armrest assembly position and a stowed, inactive position; the memory plate and the memory gear having locking features on adjacent surfaces of the memory gear and the memory plate; a spring normally biasing the memory gear into engagement with the memory plate; and an operator actuated release wedge between the memory plate and the memory gear to selectively shift the memory gear into and out of engagement with the stop spool and to simultaneously shift the memory gear out of and into engagement, respectively, with the memory plate; the memory plate being a part of the armrest assembly that supports an arm of the operator.