GB2023749A

GB2023749A - Seat slide

Info

Publication number: GB2023749A
Application number: GB7904399A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: C Rob Hammerstein GmbH
Current assignee: Johnson Controls Metals and Mechanisms GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1978-02-18
Filing date: 1979-02-07
Publication date: 1980-01-03
Also published as: FR2417411A2; SE7900748L; DE2806998A1; JPS54122524A; SE439466B; FR2417411B2

Abstract

A vehicle seat slide comprises two slide rails, each including an outer arm 42 and an inner arm 41 which are interconnected by an arcuate part to form a U-shaped portion. The rear end of the U-shaped portion of the floor rail 40 is closed by means of element 51 which firmly connects its inner arm to its outer arm. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A slide rail guide The invention relates to a slide rail guide for a vehicle seat, the guide including two slide rail pairs which are arranged parallel to each other and each of which is composed of a guided rail and a guiding rail, which co-operates with the guided rail, each rail including an outer arm and an inner arm interconnected by an arcuate part to form a U-shaped portion, the height of which is approximately double its width, the U-shaped portions being nearly congruent and each extending with its inner arm in the U-shaped portion of the other rail while using up nearly the whole depth of the associated U-shaped portion, only small lateral gaps remaining between the inner arm and the inner faces of the U-shaped portion, the outer arms being extended beyond the length of the inner arms and the outside of the arcuate part of the U-shaped portion of the guided rail being straddled by the outer arm of the guided rail, the latter arm being bent towards the outside of the arcuate part. In use the inner and outer arms of the U-shaped portions are substantially vertical, and preferably the guided rail is attached to the vehicle seat, while the guiding rail is attached to the vehicle floor.

A slide rail guide of that design has been described in our co-pending Patent Application No. 52892/77.

Such a slide rail guide may be exposed to high stresses in vertical direction. It was found, however, that when the safety belts are attached to the seat the rails tend to be torn in the vicinity of the point of attachment of the safety belt to the rail. Such an attachment of the safety belts on the vehicle seat rather than on the body of the vehicle has the advantage that the extension and position of the belts on the body of the passenger remains independent of the adjustment of the vehicle seat. It is advantageous to attach the common central part of the two belts of a safety belt by means of a connection means on the seat rail at the central part of the vehicle. Particularly the rear part of the rail guide of a vehicle seat at the central part of a vehicle is highly stressed during an accident due to the inertia forces acting on the passenger.An obliquely upwardly directed force acts on the point of attachment of the attachment means of the safety belt, and this force brings about tearing and peeling apart. Because after tearing apart of this rail pair the passenger has no connection with the vehicle he may suffer serious injury during the further course of the accident.

The aim of the invention is to improve the slide rail guide so as to avoid, when material of the same thickness is used, tearing and peeling apart of the rail pair in the vicinity of the attachment means for the safety belt.

This is achieved according to the invention in that the rear end of the U-shaped portion of at least one of the guiding rails is closed by means of a connection element which extends across the direction of displacement, i.e. the longitudinal direction, of the rails and firmly connects its inner arm to its outer arm.

The profile of the rails is asymmetrical. The forces which tear apart the rails during an accident act always on the outer vertical walls of the rail pair formed by the outer arm of its rails and causes in the region of the interengaging U-shaped cross-section a torque which brings about bending of the inner free arm and consequently peeling part of the two rails.

The free arm of the floor rail is attached by the connection element to the associated outer vertical arm so that the most highly stressed end region of a rail is reinforced. The connection element may be a pin which is riveted, welded or screwed in the arms. Alternatively the connection element may be formed by a strap which interconnects the arms, the strap being preferably formed by an extension of one of the arms, so that one of its ends is integral with the said one of the arms, and the other is welded to the other arm.

The connection element serves also to limit the path of displacement of the slide rail guide. According to the invention the attachment of the floor rail to the vehicle floor may be significantly improved when an anchoring member is used which connects the connection element to the fixing screw at the rear part of the floor rail. This anchoring member transmits part of the forces directly on to the fixing screw and in addition reinforces the base arm of the floor rail in the region of the hole serving for attachment.

Particularly advantageous situations are achieved when the seat rails are relatively short compared to the floor rails. The thickness or strength of the material of the short seat rail or its engagement into the floor rail may be so chosen that tearing off of the seat rail is avoided, while the relatively long floor rail is made safe by the connection element and additionally by the anchoring member.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective illustration of a rear part of a floor rail, Figure 2 is a longitudinal section through the part of the floor rail shown in Fig. 1, Figure 3 is a side view of an anchoring member, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the rear part of a floor rail, Figure 5 is a perspective view of a pair of slide rails, and Figure 6 is a section through a pair of slide rails.

Figs. 5 and 6 show a slide rail guide including a floor rail 40, to be attached to the vehicle floor, and a seat rail 2 to be attached to the vehicle seat. Both the floor rail 40 and the seat rail 2 has a relatively high-webbed vertical wall 42 which in both the rails is situated on the outer sides of the slide rail guide 1. The outer walls 42 are bent in the shape of the letter U to provide free inner arms 41, so that both the rails 40 and 2 have portions of U-shaped cross-section the height of which is approximately twice as large as their width. Each of the rails 40 and 2 extends with its free arm 41 into the portion of U-shaped cross-section of the other rail. At least one of the two rails 40 and 2 extends with a horizontal arm 23 about the outside of the arcuate part 1 3 of the portion of U-shaped cross-section of the other rail 2 or 40.The horizontal arm 23 has at its free edge a strip 24 produced by bending and extending at right angles thereto. Between the horizontal arm 23 of the seat rail 2 and the outside of the arcuate part 1 3 of the floor rail 40 is provided an elongate channel in which are situated slidable or rollable bodies, particularly balls 1 6 by means of which the rail 2 rests on the other rail 40 and is easily displaceable relative thereto.

Elongate grooves 14 are stamped in the outside of the arcuate part 1 3 of the Ushaped portion of the floor rail 40 in the embodiment according to Figs. 5 and 6 for better guiding of the balls 1 6.

Holes 47 are made in the base arm 54 of the floor rail 40 through which may extend fixing bolts 48 (Fig. 2). Corresponding holes are made also in the seat rail 2.

At the rear end of the seat rail 2 is situated a safety belt attachment 26 and at the rear end of the floor rail 40 is situated a connection piece 51 which rigidly interconnects the vertical wall 42 and the free arm 41 of the floor rail 40.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the horizontal arm 23 and the strip 24 of the seat rail 2 straddle, at a distance, the outside of the arcuate part 1 3 of the U-shaped portion of the floor rail 40. As can be easily seen the slide rail guide 1 can operate with the same advantages when it is turned through 180 about its longitudinal axis and the seat rail 2 rests via the outside of the arcuate part 1 3 of the U-shaped portion on the balls 1 6 guided in the floor rail 40.

The free arm 41 of the floor rail 40 is in Fig. 1 firmly connected to the vertical wall 42 via a pin-shaped connection element 43. The ends of the pin-shaped connection element 43 are riveted, grooved or welded to the walls 41, 42. A loop member 46 of an anchoring member 44 is slid around the connection element 43. This anchoring member 44 has two eye rings 45, which are connected to each other by means of the loop member 46. This anchoring member 44 may be made as an element stamped from a metal sheet.

The width of the profile of the floor rail 40 and of the seat rail 2 is small. In order to enable the fixing screw 48 to transmit high forces from the floor rail 40 to the vehicle floor, the rear part of the floor rail 40 is made arched by stamping. It is therefore wider in the region of the hole 47 for fixing.

It is apparent from Fig. 2 that the extension of the loop member 46 of the anchoring member 44 is adapted substantially to the extension of the lines of force during a headon collision.

Fig. 3 shows an anchoring member which is an extrusion, or a casting or a forging 49.

That member has a hole 50 for a pin-shaped connection element 43 and a hole 50' for the fixing screw 48, the axis of the hole 50' extending at right angles to the axis of the hole 50, as is apparent from Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 shows a connection element consisting of a steel sheet bridge 51 which is connected in one piece with the free arm 41 and which is welded to the vertical wall 42 of the floor rail 40. Such a connection element may also be combined with an anchoring member 44 according to Figs. 1 and 2.

The anchoring element 44 or 49 connects the connection element 43 directly to the fixing screw 48, outward tipping of the outer vertical wall 42 and bending of the free arm 41 being thereby avoided. The arrangement of the connection element 43 and of the anchoring member 44 is advantageous when the safety belt is attached to only one seat rail. The same profile may be used for both rail pairs of the slide rail guide. The rail pair which is more loaded, is arranged on the inner side of the vehicle and is provided with attachment means for the belt, is in its rear part so reinforced by the connection element 43 and anchoring member 44 that its strength is sufficient to meet the higher requirement on this rail pair.

Claims

1. A slide rail guide for a vehicle seat, the guide including two slide rail pairs which are arranged parallel to each other and each of which is composed of a guided rail and a guiding rail, which co-operates with the guided rail, each rail including an outer arm and an inner arm interconnected by an arcuate part to form a U-shaped portion, the height of which is approximately double its width, the U-shaped portions being nearly congruent and each extending with its inner arm in the Ushaped portion of the other rail while using up nearly the whole depth of the associated Ushaped portion, only small lateral gaps remaining between the inner arm and the inner faces of the U-shaped portion, the outer arms being extended beyond the length of the inner arms and the outside of the arcuate part of the U-shaped portion of the guided rail being straddled by the outer arm of the guided rail, the latter arm being bent towards the outside of the arcuate part, wherein the rear end of the U-shaped portion of at least one of the guided rails is closed by means of a connection element which extends across the direction of displacement of the rail guide and firmly connects its inner arm to its outer arm.

2. A slide rail guide according to Claim 1 wherein the connection element is a pin riveted or screwed in the arms.

3. A slide rail guide according to Claim 1 wherein the connection element is a strap interconnecting the arms.

4. A slide rail guide according to Claim 3 wherein the strap is made of a steel sheet and is welded to the arms.

5. A slide rail guide according to Claim 3 or 4 wherein the strap is integral with one of the arms.

6. A slide rail guide according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 including an anchoring member connecting the connection element with a fixing bolt or screw of the guiding rail.

7. A slide rail guide according to Claim 6 wherein the anchoring member is stamped from a metal sheet and has two ring-shaped eyes interconnected by a loop-shaped interconnecting element extending about the connection element.

8. A slide rail guide according to Claim 6 wherein the anchoring member is an extrusion, a casting or a forging which has a hole for receiving the connection element and a hole for receiving the fixing bolt or screw.

9. A slide rail guide according to Claim 8 wherein the axes of the two holes are skew and extend at right angles to each other in projection on to a plane parallel to both the axes.

10. A slide rail guide for a vehicle seat constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in, any of the Figures of the accompanying drawings.

11. A vehicle seat assembly including a slide rail guide according to any one of Claims 1 to 10.

1 2. A vehicle including a slide rail guide according to any one of Claims 1 to 10 or a vehicle seat assembly according to Claim 11.