Seat assembly having an actuator member

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9731632-B2
Application number	US-201514595567-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2015
Priority date	Jan 17, 2014
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

A seat assembly having a seat back pivotally disposed on a seat bottom. The seat assembly may include an actuator member that may be configured to rotate about a first axis and a cam member that may be configured to rotate about a second axis that may be spaced apart from the first axis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seat assembly comprising:
a seat bottom;
a seat back pivotally disposed on the seat bottom and configured to rotate about a first axis, the seat back having a stop member;
an actuator member configured to rotate about the first axis; and
a cam member that is configured to rotate about a second axis and that includes a first cam arm and a second cam arm, wherein the first cam arm continuously engages the actuator member and the second cam arm has a cam member hook portion that hooks onto the stop member when the seat back is in an easy entry position;
wherein the actuator member and cam member rotate in opposite directions when the actuator member actuates the cam member.

2. The seat assembly of claim 1 wherein the seat bottom has a seat bottom frame and the seat assembly further comprises a seat track and a lower bracket, wherein the lower bracket extends between the seat bottom frame and the seat track, and the actuator member and cam member are disposed proximate the lower bracket.

3. The seat assembly of claim 1 wherein the cam member has a stop surface that extends at least partially around the second axis, wherein the stop member engages the stop surface to inhibit rotation of the seat back about the first axis away from the seat bottom.

4. The seat assembly of claim 1 wherein the cam member rotates toward the first axis to allow the stop member to disengage the cam member hook portion to allow the seat back to rotate from the easy entry position to a table fold position.

5. The seat assembly of claim 4 wherein the cam member has a cam member arcuate surface disposed proximate the cam member hook portion, wherein the stop member moves along the cam member arcuate surface when the seat back rotates from the easy entry position to the table fold position.

6. The seat assembly of claim 4 wherein the stop member does not engage the cam member when the seat back is in the table fold position.

7. A seat assembly comprising:
a seat bottom having a lower bracket;
a seat back;
a recliner mechanism that rotatably couples the seat back to the seat bottom and facilitates rotation of the seat back about a first axis; and
an actuator member that is disposed outside the recliner mechanism and on an opposite side of the lower bracket from the recliner mechanism, the actuator member being rotatable about the first axis, wherein the actuator member includes:
an actuator body that has a bore; and
an actuator ring that is received in the bore;

wherein the actuator ring rotates in the bore with respect to the actuator body when the recliner mechanism is actuated from a locked position in which the recliner mechanism inhibits rotation of the seat back about the first axis to an unlocked position in which the recliner mechanism permits the seat back to rotate about the first axis.

8. The seat assembly of claim 7 wherein the recliner mechanism has a center hub that is rotatable about the first axis, wherein the actuator body is coupled to the center hub.

9. The seat assembly of claim 7 further comprising a synchronization tube, wherein the synchronization tube extends through the actuator body and the actuator ring is fixedly disposed on the synchronization tube.

10. The seat assembly of claim 7 wherein the actuator body has a first wall and a second wall that are spaced apart from each other and that cooperate to at least partially define the bore and inhibit movement of the actuator ring along the first axis.

11. The seat assembly of claim 10 wherein the first wall has a tab slot and the actuator ring has a tab, wherein the actuator ring is insertable into the bore when the tab is substantially aligned with the tab slot.

12. The seat assembly of claim 10 wherein the actuator body has a first step surface that is disposed between the first wall and the second wall and the actuator ring has a tab that is disposed proximate the first step surface when the recliner mechanism is in the locked position.

13. The seat assembly of claim 12 wherein the actuator body has a second step surface that is disposed between the first wall and the second wall and is spaced apart from the first step surface, wherein the tab is disposed proximate the second step surface when the recliner mechanism is in the unlocked position.

14. The seat assembly of claim 13 wherein the actuator body has a first arcuate surface and a second arcuate surface, wherein the first step surface extends from the first arcuate surface to the second arcuate surface, and wherein the second arcuate surface is disposed closer to the first axis than the first arcuate surface.

15. The seat assembly of claim 14 wherein the first arcuate surface extends from the first step surface to the second step surface.

16. A seat assembly comprising:
a seat bottom;
a seat back that rotates about a first axis with respect to the seat bottom;
a cam member that is disposed proximate the seat bottom and rotates about a second axis; and
an actuator member that rotates about the first axis and has a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm that is disposed between the first arm and the second arm, wherein the first arm is operatively connected to an easy entry lever and the third arm is operatively connected to a release lever that is disposed on the seat assembly;
wherein the second arm rotates the cam member about the second axis when force is exerted on the first arm to rotate the actuator member about the first axis.

17. The seat assembly of claim 16 wherein the first arm and the second arm extend away from the first axis and the second arm is offset from the first arm such that the second arm is disposed closer to the seat back than the first arm.

18. The seat assembly of claim 16 wherein the seat back includes a stop member and the cam member includes a first cam arm and a second cam arm, wherein the first cam arm engages the actuator member and the second cam arm has a cam member hook portion that hooks onto the stop member when the seat back is in an easy entry position.

19. The seat assembly of claim 16 further comprising a recliner mechanism that rotatably couples the seat back to the seat bottom and is rotatable about the first axis.

20. The seat assembly of claim 16 further comprising an actuator member spring that biases the actuator member to rotate in a first direction about the first axis and a cam member spring that biases the cam member to rotate in a second direction about the second axis.

Assignees

• Lear Corp

Inventors

• Kajale Vikrant
• Tarade Kishore

Classifications

• B60N2/22

  the back-rest being adjustable {(B60N2/2878 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B60N2/20

  the back-rest being tiltable, e.g. to permit easy access (B60N2/04, B60N2/22 {, B60N2/3002} take precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/206 Primary

  to a position in which it can be used as a support for objects, e.g. as a tray · CPC title