AU2003231595B2 - Vehicle seat assembly - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s): BAYCORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD Invention Title: VEHICLE SEAT ASSEMBLY The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: -2 VEHICLE SEAT ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly and in particular to a customised replacement rear seat 5 for a motor car. Background of the Invention Mass produced domestic vehicles are often used by 10 the police, armed forces or other security organisations. These vehicles are used to transport prisoners under guard and require the provision of important safety and operational features. Mass produced vehicles are used because of their availability and competitive pricing. 15 Unfortunately conventional domestic vehicles have a number of features that do not lend themselves to the most efficient and safe transportation of prisoners. Additionally, the vehicles used in transporting 20 prisoners are normally leased vehicles, that after the expiry of the lease are resold as used vehicles. The sound operation of such vehicles requires attention to a number of features such as: 25 1. Means to protect the interior fittings from all body fluids. 2. Elimination of potential areas for contraband secretion. 3. The provision of a safe seating position 30 for an occupant whilst restrained. 4. An increase of the dimensions of the vehicle including head area, leg room and door egress. 5. The provision of a hard wearing and easily 35 washable interior. 6. A mechanism for housing additional wiring looms that are necessary to customise the \\melbfiles\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03 - 3 vehicle for specific use. It is these parameters and needs that have brought about the present invention. 5 Summary of the Invention According to the present invention there is provided a replacement rear seat assembly for a vehicle, 10 the assembly comprising a seat and a foot plate adapted to be attached to the seat, the seat being moulded in one piece and having attachment points that correspond to the existing attachment points of the vehicle, the moulding defining a squab and a back support with no bite 15 therebetween, the foot plate being adapted to sit on the floor of the rear of the vehicle and including a pair of spaced foot wells defined by a raised lip. Preferably, seat belt mounting points are 20 provided that correspond to existing seat belt components in the vehicle. Preferably, the moulding is shaped to be insertable into the vehicle through the rear door of the 25 vehicle. The back portion of the seat preferably includes a recess. Preferably, the seat includes detachable liquid impervious cushioning pads that are detachably secured to 30 the squab and back support. In a preferred embodiment, the moulding of the seat defines a high knee bolster so that, in use, an occupant sits low in the seat to reduce the likelihood of 35 submarining should the vehicle be involved in a frontal impact. 21504061 (GHMatters) 18/01/10 - 4 Preferably, the seat squab has a low hip point with no centreboard seating. The seat is preferably constructed in reinforced 5 fibreglass. Alternatively the seat could be vacuum formed from suitable plastics, preferably polycarbonate. Brief Description of the Drawings 10 An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the front of a replacement rear seat assembly for a vehicle, 15 Figure 2 is a similar perspective view of the vehicle seat assembly in an exploded configuration; and Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 1. 20 Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment The replacement rear seat assembly 10 illustrated in the accompanying drawings has been specifically designed to fit into a current (2002) model of the Holden 25 Commodore. In particular, the replacement rear seat is designed for use in conventional police cars for the transportation of prisoners. The seat assembly 10 is designed to replace the 30 existing rear seat in a vehicle but without leaving any residual impact on the chassis or to the general integrity 2150406_1 (GHMatters) 18/01/10 -5 of the vehicle. Accordingly, the rear seat assembly 10 is engineered to duplicate the characteristics of a vehicle to make use of pre-existing features of the original rear seat and vehicle chassis. 5 Designing a one piece moulded rear seat that uses the existing fastening and occupant restraining points in a vehicle means that the vehicle chassis is left unmodified so that the vehicle c,an be on-sold once the 10 replacement rear seat is removed and the original seat is re-attached. The seat assembly can fit through the rear door of a vehicle without the need to remove the rear door or 15 the front seats. The attachment points of the seat assembly correspond with the existing bolt holes in the vehicle chassis to which the original rear seats are attached. The rear seat assembly is also designed to accommodate the existing seat belt points of attachment 20 without the need to modify these in any way. The seat belt fasteners themselves, however, may be re-arranged or replaced with other fasteners. The seat assembly 10 is moulded in KEVLAR" M 25 reinforced fibreglass and essentially comprises three main components, namely the seat 20, a foot plate 30 and a cable cover 65. The seat 20 is constructed from 1 x 225GSM, 2 x 30 600GSM fibreglass to have a thickness of between 3.5 to 4mm. KEVLAR TM is used to reinforce the fastening points. It is however understood that the seat could be vacuum formed from polycarbonate. The seat 20 is essentially in one piece (excluding padding) defined by a substantially 35 horizontal squab 21 that merges into an upwardly extending back support 22. \\melb-files\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03 -6 As shown in the cross sectional view of Figure 3, the back support 22 terminates in a rearwardly trailing upper ledge 33 that is bolted to a bracket (not shown) that is in turn attached to the parcel tray T under the 5 rear window of the vehicle. The back support 22 extends downwardly to join an elongate rectangular recess 24 that extends across the back of the seat 20. This recess 24 includes two apertures 25, 26 that constitute mounting points. Suitable bolts (not shown) are passed through the 10 apertures 25, 26 to screw into captive nuts (not shown) held by the frame F of the vehicle. The back support 22 then merges with the seat squab 21 in a smoothly curved join 27 with no bite. 15 The seat squab 21 is inclined upwardly, as shown in Figure 3, to terminate in a upwardly extending knee bolster 28 at the front edge of the seat. The knee bolster 28 has a peripheral vertically extending wall 29 that terminates in a forwardly projecting mounting flange 20 31. The side edges 32, 33 of the seat 40, as shown in Figure 1, define an in turned lip that is arranged to be flush with the upholstery of the vehicle. The recess 24 is positioned slightly below.the 25 halfway point of the back support 22 in a position in which a handcuffed occupant can place the handcuffs so that they do not press against the spine of the occupant seated in the vehicle. The occupant sits low in the seat 20 with the portions of the back support 22 above and 30 below the recess 24 providing the necessary spinal support. As shown in Figure 2, a series of liquid impermeable padding members are secured to the seat 20 by 35 use of plastic fasteners 51 to provide a small degree of cushioning. Two substantially rectangular cushion support members 52, 53 are fastened to the squab 21 and lower back \\melb_files\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03 - 7 portion on either side of a slightly raised center portion 60. Two back cushions 54, 55 are then secured to the rear of the seat 20 through use of five fasteners 51. A pair of thin neck/head cushioning members 56, 57 extend across 5 the upper ledge 23 of the seat. The cushioning members provide a limited degree of cushioned comfort but are designed to be replaceable, removable and washable. The padding members are made of 10 plastics foam material with vinyl trimming. The angle of seat squab 21 and the knee bolster 28 ensures a lower seating position where the hip point is below the knees. This increases the draft angle under the 15 thigh and knee areas and prevents what is called submarining in case of a frontal impact. Submarining is the tendency of the passenger to slide down and then out of the seat on a frontal impact. Aside from taking into consideration passenger safety, the lower positioning of 20 the hip point ensures the passenger assumes an ergonomic seating position, particularly when the hands are cuffed behind the back. Furthermore, it is much less likely in this position that the passenger will shift about the seat. 25 The design of the seat of this invention keeps a handcuffed occupant in an erect and proper seating position. The recess 24 accommodates the cuffs and also prevents cuff "crush down" that can be caused where 30 loosely fitting cuffs and unlocked cuffs are snapped into a closer closed position by pressure against the rear of the seat. The provision of the recess 24 reduces the likelihood of this eventuality. 35 The seat 20 is specifically designed to accommodate two occupants and not three as is conventional in most rear seats of vehicles. To this end a raised \\melbfiles\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03 - 8 portion 60 is positioned centrally to separate the two passengers. The vehicle seat belt mounting points 61, 62 correspond in position to the existing seat belt component and allow the seat belt component to extend through 5 recesses 63, 64 in the base of the back support 22. The other seat belt location points remain in a conventional format with the vehicle. The seat assembly 20 also includes a foot plate 10 30 that comprises a pair of spaced foot wells 41, 42 interconnected by a raised hump 43. The foot wells 41, 42 are bordered on their rear side by an upwardly extending wall 44 that merges into a horizontal mounting flange 45 that sits under the forward projecting flange 31 on the 15 seat 20. The flanges 31, 45 can be reinforced with

KEVLAR'

m so that they can be bolted together. The side of each well has a vertically extending wall 46 terminating in a flexible lip 47 that engages the door frame of the vehicle (not shown). The forward edge of the well is also 20 provided with an upturned lip 48 to ensure that the wells 41, 42 can accommodate a small degree of liquid without spillage. The foot plate 30 allows no penetration of liquids and is easily washable. 25 The hump 43 accommodates a bridge member 40 that is an external cable cover in the form of a small U-shaped channel 65 that sits directly on top of the hump 43, which itself sits above the propshaft tunnel of the vehicle. The gap 49 between the cable cover 65 and the upper side 30 of the hump 43 defines room for an additional cable loom that extends under the rear of the seat to the rear of the vehicle. The additional cable loom is important for police 35 vehicles that include considerable extra instrumentation including computers, cameras, satellite tracking systems .et al. The wiring for these equipment often requires a \\melb-files\home\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03 - 9 supplementary loom and much of the componentry is located in the boot of the vehicle. The external U-shaped cable cover 65 sits between 5 the front of the seat base and the screen (not shown), which is positioned behind the vehicle's front seats. The cover is riveted to the top 43 at the centre of the foot plate 30 and locates in arcuate cutouts in the seat front and screen base. 10 The foot plate 30 is designed to sit directly on the existing floor covering the vehicle (usually carpet). The seat 20 is used to replace the existing rear seat of the vehicle. Thus, the upholstered seat squab and back 15 portion of the conventional vehicle seat is removed and the replacement seat 20 is positioned in the vehicle through the door of the vehicle and then bolted to the vehicle through the existing mounting points. The thin wall of the seat 20 results in the seat taking up 20 considerably less room than the conventional seat, thus increasing the head and leg room in the rear of the vehicle. The seat described abovp has a number of 25 advantages: a) It is impermeable to fluids and thus can be simply washed down. b) It provides a safer and more ergonomic seating position for a handcuffed 30 individual. c) There is less likelihood of submarining in a frontal collision. d) It is bolted through the vehicle through the existing mounting points and requires 35 minimal modification of the vehicle. e) It is in one piece and there is no bite between the back support and the squab. \\melbfiles\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03 - 10 f) There are no other places to secrete items. g) The seat increases the head room and leg room of the vehicle and is designed to be installed by insertion through the rear 5 door of the vehicle. h) The seat and foot plate provide location for an additional wiring loom. i) The seat utilises the existing seat belts of the vehicle. 10 j) The seat can be removed and then replaced with the conventional seat for resale of the vehicle without any residual effect to the integrity of the vehicle chassis. 15 The present seat assembly provides ergonomic positioning of the passenger in the vehicle and can be easily fitted into the rear compartment of a vehicle without the need to heavily modify the vehicle. Retaining the existing attachment points, seat belt fastening 20 points, and the like, further ensures that the seat assembly does not contravene any local vehicle design rules, particularly with regard to safety rules. In the claims which follow and in the preceding 25 description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but 30 not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. \\melb_files\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\BAYCORP.doc 1/08/03

Claims (17)

1. A replacement rear seat assembly for a vehicle, the assembly comprising a seat and a foot plate adapted to be 5 attached to the seat, the seat being moulded in one piece and having attachment points that correspond to existing attachment points of the vehicle, the moulding defining a squab and a back support with no bite therebetween, the foot plate being adapted to sit on the floor of the rear 10 of the vehicle and including a pair of spaced foot wells defined by a raised lip.

2. The rear seat assembly according to claim 1 further provided with seat belt mounting points that correspond to 15 existing seat belt components in the vehicle.

3. The rear seat assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the moulding is shaped to be inserted through the rear door of the vehicle. 20

4. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the back support has a recess.

5. The rear seat assembly according to claim 4 wherein 25 the recess is in the lower half of the back support and extends across a substantial part of the back support.

6. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims including liquid impervious cushioning 30 pads that are detachably secured to the squab and back support.

7. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the moulding of the seat defines 35 a low hip point and a high knee bolster so that, in use, an occupant sits low in the seat. 2150406 1 (GHMatters) 18/01/10 - 12

8. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein there is no centreboard seating such that the seat accommodates two passengers. 5

9. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the side of the foot plate includes a flexible lip which provides a seal against the vehicle.

10 10. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the foot wells are separated by a raised hump that sits over the propshaft tunnel of the vehicle. 15

11. The rear seat assembly according to claim 10 wherein a U-shaped channel is provided over the hump, whereby the space between the hump and U-shaped channel defines a cable tunnel. 20

12. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the foot plate is bolted to the front edge of the seat using steel reinforced mounting points. 25

13. The rear seat assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the seat is constructed in reinforced fibreglass.

14. The rear seat assembly according to any one of claims 30 1 to 12 wherein the seat is vacuumed formed from plastics.

15. The rear seat assembly according to claim 14 wherein the plastics is polycarbonate. 35

16. The rear seat assembly according to any one of claims 13 to 15 wherein the seat has a thickness of between 3.5mm to 4mm. 2150406_1 (GHMatters) 18/01/10 - 13

17. A replacement rear seat assembly for a vehicle substantially as herein before described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 5 2150406_1 (GHMatters) 18/01/10