Patent ID: 8162374

Claim:
A mine blast and slam down protective vehicle safety seat system comprising: (a) a vehicle seat; (b) a frame supporting the vehicle seat; (c) a support surface supporting the frame, the frame and support surface being movable with respect to each other between a rest position, wherein the frame and support surface are a first distance apart, and an attenuated position, wherein the frame and support surface are a second distance apart, the second distance being less than the first distance; (d) a biasing mechanism biasing the frame and support surface to the rest position between a blast phase and a slam down phase; and (e) a variable resistance damper operatively coupled between the frame and the support surface, the damper having a blast resistance setting to account for variable loading and a rebound recovery resistance setting, the blast resistance setting being automatically set prior to the blast phase to a predetermined value based on a weight of an occupant of the vehicle seat, the damper being configured to i) during the blast phase where the support surface and frame move toward each other, resist respective motion between the frame and the support surface based upon the blast resistance setting until the frame and support surface reach the attenuated position, and (ii) after completion of the blast phase, resist respective motion between the frame and the support surface caused by the biasing mechanism based upon the rebound recovery resistance setting until the frame and support surface reach the rest position prior to the slam down phase.