AU606902B2 - Automotive seat - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Form

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Short Title: Int. Cl: 60 690 2 Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification-Lodged: Accepted: Lapsed: Published: Priority: Related Art: ThiI d) urnent cont.ii,-l.

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TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: O 6> 0 TACHI-S CO., LTD.

2-12, MATSUBARACHO 3-CHOME

AKISHIMA-SHI

TOKYO

JAPAN

CLEMENT HACK CO., 601 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.

Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Complete Specification for the invention entitled: AUTOMOTIVE SEAT The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me:- VIl DOLLARS Y SDOLLAR IXTY DLLARS I

I

i.;SGSW^S"'R AUTOMOTIVE SEAT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION oo~ o t c o qe 0 IC Of 4 0 0 a 4 0o o 44 BO 4 00 0 (0 00 O C 0L 5 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seat for automobiles. -at-i 4 pe-ti i to a so-called loosecushion type seat having a decorative a-b cushion member mounted thereon for giving a high aesthetic effect to the seat.

2. Description of the Prior Art In general, a decorative type of cushiony seat having a softer, decoratively effectivej Ab cushion placed thereupon is referred to as a "loose-cushion seat", which has been accepted as a high commercial value product.

Reference is made to Fig. in which a conventional loose-cushion seat of this kind is shown as comprising a main cushion body and a 4A cushion body (11) covered at its upper surface with a covering member such that the latter cushion body (11) is secured to the former one (10) by means DECLARED atTA LT-S CO-r LTD.

i n presiden t.

Takeshiro awakam, resident 2 of an anchor cloth piece (10a), whose one end is sewn to the terminal of a lateral side portion (12a) of the covering member (12) and whose other end passes through the bore of the main cushioh body (10) and S 5 is fixed to a spring member (14) provided in a frame o o0 Numeral denote a decorative button.

00000 0o t Fig. 1 shows another conventional loose- S00 cushion seat structure, in which a4 o cushion body is secured to a main cushion one by means o 10 of a covering member (16) comprising an upper portion a back cloth a first lateral side 0 0 0 portion and a second lateral side protion S(12c'), the upper portion and back cloth (12a') covering the sub cushion body entirely, and g Cr the terminal of the second lateral side portion (12c') being fixed to a frame (13) via a hog ring or the like.

Both of the above-stated prior arts, however, "&ve been with such problems as an increased number of materials and assembling steps involved, and a poor,4eu~A 4ng formation of the lateral surfaces of resultant product. Namely, the first prior art in Fig. 1 requires a great number of assembling and sewing steps by the reason of the anchor cloth piece (10a) being extended internally of the cushion 3 bodies (10) (11) together with special sewing requirements for the covering member which is quite time-consumming, and also no technical design is given to attain a good formation of the lateral surfaces of the seat. The second prior art in Fig. 1 similarly, encounters numerous sewing and assembling steps, resulting in a bar to speed-up of the assemblage, and is deformed unpleasingly in its lateral surfaces due to the fact that the upper portion (12a') is pulled downwardly with the first and second lateral side portions (12b') (12c').

o 0 0: SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 000000 According to the present invention there is :0 0 provided an automotive seat comprising: oS a main cushion body formed in a predetermined shape by use of a mold, the main cushion body being bonded at an edge margin of its upper surface and at its lateral surfaces with a covering member; 0o oa secondary cushion body being made of a slab material, said secondary cushion body being bonded at its upper surface, at its lateral surfaces and at an edge 0000 ooo margin of its bottom surface, with said covering member; Ssaid secondary cushion body being bonded to an upper surface of said main cushion body; and 0 o a recessed groove being defined in a boundary 0'o between the lateral surfaces of said main cushion body and the lateral surfaces of said secondary cushion body.

It is preferred that said main cushion body is formed in an uneven shape at its upper surface by a mold, and the bottom surface of said secondary cushion body is formed in an uneven shape corresponding to the uneven shape of said upper surface of said main cushion body.

It is preferred that said secondary cushion body is formed in an uneven shape, and is covered and bonded at its entire upper surface, at its entire lateral surfaces and at said edge margin of its bottom surface, with said covering L2 5 OCT 1990 4 member, to thereby retain the uneven shape of said secondary cushion body.

It is preferred that a terminal end of said main cushion body is turned over backwardly by virtue of said secondary cushion body with its covering member bonded thereto lying on said main cushion body and being anchored at a back side of said seat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS o 0 o In order that the present invention may be more fully understood, embodiments of the invention will be described •by way of example only with reference to the accompanying 0 °0 drawings in which: 0° Fig. 1 is a longitudinally sectional view of a known seat; Fig. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional view of another known seat; o000 Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a seat in o000O accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 0 4 Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line r, III-III in the Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in the Fig. 2; 0 0o' Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a secondary cushion 00 0 0 body in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in the Fig. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a main cushion body in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line

VI-VI.

y

O^

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE

INVENTION

Referring to Fig. 2, illustrative is an automotive seat in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Designations and represent a seat back and seat cushion, respectively. Both of them are of such structure that a secondary cushion body 0 0 0 o C C

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00 0 o 00o 00000 with a cover member (31) bonded thereto is integrally bonded to the upper surface seating area) of a main cushion body (20) which is also bonded with another cover member Thus, those two cushion 5 bodies (20)(30) are each cov-red with their respective cover members and there is clearly defined a recessed groove in the boundary between the cushion bodies (20)(30) at both lateral surfaces thereof, giving a decorative effect in the seat.

10 Reference characters in the illustrated emdodiment denote transverse recessed grooves each extending transversely of the s*iw cushion bodies respectively of the seat back and seat cushion Figs. 3 and 4 shows a structure in section, of the foregoing seat back It is to oe seen that the main cushion body (20) is, only at its peripheral and lateral surfaces, covered with and bonded to the 'overing member and not so done at its central upper surface. The main cushion body (20) is supported by a pipe frame (22) having a spring member (23) (for example, a zig-zag spring) extended therein, and so formed that its upper end portion is turned backwardly around the upper bar section of the frame (22) in such a fashion as to represent a substantiallly

U-

1 7 8- shaped configuration. The terminal end of the covering member (21) bonded to the main cushion body (20) is securely anchored by a hog ring (25) fixed to a wire member (26) provided at the bottom side of the seat cushion Numeral (24) denotes a back board.

Sec-=nAoi The4s-- cushion body (30) is bonded by an adhesive to the upper surface of the main cushion body in conformity with the uneven recessed) contour thereof. The upper end portion of the Agt cushion body (30) is bent over along that of the main cushion body (20) to extend a short distance over the rear side of the seat back The terminal I0 4 end of the covering member (31) bonded to the sub cushion body (30) is securely anchored by a hog ring (25) fixed to a wire member (27) which is welded to the frame (22) in a manner extending transversely of the seat back In Figs. 5 and 6, illustrated specifically is Lthe sw cushion body (30) with its own covering member se-Cj-9 to.f' Y, (31) bonded thereto. The cushion body is made of a slab urethane foam material. In this particular embodiment, it is formed in a shape corresponding to that of the upper surface of the main cushion body For that purpose, in accordance with the present invention, a flat shape 11. 11_11 t-W;IC o o 0~ 0 C 00 q 0 04 0 0 O 00 0* att 00 4 o 44 04 DO 40 0 00 00040 0 .0I 04 Q 4 0 Se.c- in. r'j of slab seC cushion body (30) is formed by a press working process into such shape corresponding to that of the upper surface of the main cushion body and thereafter, the covering member (31) is scer-acx r 5 bonded to the upper surface of theIsb cushion body It is then understood that the bonding of the covering member (31) to thus-formed s- cushion body (30) restricts and retains the shape of the body per se. Next, the non-bonded remainder of the 10 covering member (31) is bonded to the lateral surfaces and lower pBeripEap surfaces of the sub cushion body as best seen in Fig. 6, whereupon the shape of the body (30) is retained from many angles, and thus retained more positively, thereby ensuring to prevent its recovery into an original flat shape.

In Figs. 7 and 8, there is shown the structure of the main cushion body in which a pair of covering members (21) are bonded to the respective 4-;BrF a. and lateral surfaces of the main cushion body except that they are not bonded to its central upper portion (20a). The main cushion body is made of urethane foam material, and so formed that its central upper portion (20a) is recessed, with the right and left p 4-74 portions being raised, thus representing shaped con- 4

II

L~ 9 figuration.

Thus, after applying the adhesive to the central upper portion (20a) of the main cushion body the bottom surface of the secondary cushion body (30) is pressed against and bonded to the portion Accordingly, from the above description, it will be appreciated that, the formation of the seat in the present embodiment is based upon the bonding of two separate main and secondary cushion bodies with their own covering member Fe" being previously bonded thereto, which eliminates a sewing o Oo operation and avoids the provision of internal anchoring means. Further, since the secondary cushion body is bonded with the covering member in advance before being bonded to the main cushion body, the shape of the secondary cushion 0 body is retained in its original shape against deformation in contrast to the prior arts stated above, so that the lateral surfaces of the seat are free from any deformation and undesired creases. In addition, the lamination of the secondary cushion body upon the main cushion one permits production of a loose-cushion seat with a high commercial

*O

value.

"a It is accordingly appreciated that, because of the individually bonding of a cover member to each of the main and sub cushion bodies, the original outer contours Sa respectively of the main and secondary cushion bodies are retained as they are, whereupon the resultant seat with those main and secondary cushion bodi(.s bonded together is free from deformation in its lateral surfaces, and thus in the course of assembly, the seat is produced without any deformation in its lateral surfaces, and without need for sewing process as required in the prior arts stated above, which makes simplified the seat assembling processes.

Another advantage of at least one embodiment of the present invention is that a vehicle seat of such structure is provided in which its central seating portion is recessed with both right and left peripheral raised portions formed there-around, for improved comfort, the S structure being particularly designed so that a slab 9A secondary cushion body is easily bonded to a like-wise unevenly formed main cushion body in a manner conforming to the outer uneven upper surface of the main cushion body.

To this end, in accordance with at lease one embodiment of the present invention, the slab secondary cushion body is bonded with a covering member except for the central part of its bottom portion. The _ab secondary cushion body is previously formed from its flat state into an uneven shape corresponding to that of the main cushion o s body, and therefore, since the recessed portions of the secondary cushion body are at the bottom side thereof not 00 n0 bonded to the covering member, the elastic recovery force oa o into an original flat shape, of the secondary cushion body S" is reduced, thus not merely preventing the flat-shape oo recovery of the sub cushion body, but also allowing the of the uneven shape of the same. Accordingly, the slab secondary cushion body can be bonded as it is to the unevenly formed main cushion body, and as such, there oOo4 is eliminated any undesired deformation of the sub cushion "004body.

a o0 04 0 The embodiments have been advanced by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

0 0 0040 00 4 0 0 0 7 1

Claims (3)

1. 2. The automotive seat as defined in Claim i, wherein said main cushion body is formed in an uneven shape at its upper surface by a mold, and the bottom surface of said secondary cushion body is formed in an uneven shape corresponding to the uneven shape of said upper surface of said main cushion body.
2. 3. The automotive seat as defined in either Claim 1 or 2, wherein said secondary cushion body is formed in an uneven shape, and is covered and bonded at its entire upper surface, at its entire lateral surfaces and at said edge margin of its bottom surface, with said covering member, to thereby retain the u- en shape of said secondary cushion body.
3. 4. The automotive seat according to any one of the preceeding claims wherein a terminal end of said main cushion body is turned over backwardly by virtue of said secondary cushion body with its covering member bonded thereto lying on said main cushion body and being anchored at a back side of said seat. OCT 1990 11 An automotive seat substantially as hereinbef ore described and illustrated with reference to Figures 2 to 8 of the accompanying drawings. DATED THIS 25TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1990. Go S. o 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 CO n..r4,000 0 S. 0 4 C 0 I o 4 TACHI-S CO. LTD By Its Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK CO. Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia. I' 'I'S. II S. IS. S. C C C S.C St S. C I S. I CS. S. I.. IJ