Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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DESCRIPTION
This invention refers to the upholstering for
motor vehicles in general, and especially to an
elastic cushioning band, of the type usually
positioned on the metallic framework under the
padding and the upholstery fabric of the seats,
provided with end plates for coupling to the seat
frame and inclusive of a plurality of coupling
systems for upholstery accessories.
The seats of modern motor vehicles, usually
formed by the seat back and the cushion, are
covered by padding materials and fabric or
leather upholstery, under which some elastic
cushioning bands are transversally aligned. At
present, the elastic bands are also used as
clasping means to hook the stretching wires of
different accessories such as upholstery fabrics,
protection covers, mats to ease transpiration in
summertime, as well as other upholstery
accessories usually in commerce.
The coupling of said devices is now rather
difficult, due to the lack of specific coupling
points. As mentioned before, said accessories are
directly fastened to the elastic bands or to the
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seat frame in an approximate manner.
This invention provides a type of elastic
band which eliminates the aforesaid
inconveniences by equipping said bands and the
traditional plates, which allow the coupling of
the band to the seat frame, with various systems
for the coupling of the different upholstery
accessories.
Another purpose of the invention is to
obtain an elastic cushioning band for motor
vehicle seats, which offers a universal anchorage
for any kind of upholstery accessory stretching
wire.
For these and other purposes and
advantages, which will be better understood later
on, this invention proposes the realization of an
elastic cushioning band for motor vehicle seats
of the type provided with plates attached at its
ends and suitable to couple the band to the seat
framework, characterized in that it includes a
plurality of anchorage housings for the
corresponding means for coupling seat upholstery
accessories.
The structural and functional features of
some preferred, but not l~imitative, embodiments
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of the band according to this invention will be
now described with reference to the enclosed
drawings, in which:
figure 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of
the band according to the invention;
figure 2 is a cross section view taken along line
II-II of figure 1,
figure 3 is a cross section view taken along line
III-III of figure l;
figure 4 is a cross section view of an
alternative embodiment with respect to
figure 2;
figure 5 is a partial plan view of a further
embodiment of the invention;
figure 6 is a cross section view taken along line
J,
~Y-~ of figure 5;
figure 7 is a plan view of a still different
embodiment of the invention itself;
figure 8 is a cross section view taken along line
VIII-VIII of figure 7;
figure ~ is a plan view of an embodiment of the
band, further modified according to the
invention, especially suitable for
fastening onto the back of a motor
vehicle seat ; and
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igure 10 is a detail view according to arrow A
of figure 9.
With reference to figures 1 and 2, an
elastic band for the cushioning of a motor
vehicle seat is generally indicated with the
reference number (10). At both ends of the band
~10) there are two molded plates (14) firmly
attached through a set of rivets (12), which
plates are suitable to realize the coupling of
the band (10) to the seat frame (16) by means of
a hook (17) purposely folded along two levels, so
that an end (18) thereof can be inserted into a
bushing (20) machined from the plate (14),
perpendicular to the longitudinal axis X which
coincides with the centerline of the band (10)
and of the plate (14); the other end (19) of the
hook is inserted into a hole (21) in the tubular
framework (16) forming the structure of the
cushion or of the back of a motor vehicle seat.
According to the invention, besides the
realization of the coupling to the frame (16),
the plate (14) holds many anchorage housings for
other seat upholstery accessories, which can be
coupled and/or fastened to the plate (14), and so
to the band (10), thro'ugh various linking
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systems. Again, with reference to figures 1 and
2, the plate is equipped, in its center, with a
substantially funnel-shaped bushing (22) provided
with convergent elastic tongues (23) which can
open wide elastically during the insertion of the
conic head at the end of a wire (not shown for
reasons of simplicity) and then to close after
the insertion thereof, thus blocking one end of
the wire. The other end can be fixed onto the
upholsteries or onto the padding in order to keep
them firmly tightened in the right position.
Furthermore, the plate (14) is provided
with two opposite pairs of side openings (42),
each forming a circular recess (25) which can be
used as a grasp for an open hook (not shown)
provided that the ends of the wire tightening the
upholstery are equipped with such means.
Finally, under the plate (14) and (fig. 2)
near the plate attachment to the band (10), the
plate forms a hook (26) which has a transversally
widened shape (fig. 1), which elastically blocks
one side of a strap buckle or of a string (not
shown for reasons of simplicity) forming the
border part of the upholstery to be tightened or
firmly located on the seat:
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~ .
Referring once again to figure 2, according
to the invention it is possible to equip the
elastic band (10) with further means of coupling
by inserting or by molding a hook (28) into a
hole (30) provided on the centerline of the band
(10). As necessary, the hook (28) can be inserted
or molded straight up or upside down (position
28'}. Into this hook it is possible to snap
insert a iron rod (not shown) of a suitable
diameter, on which the various tie wires of the
upholsteries can be fixed, or vice versa the
cushioning characteristics can be changed, since
it would bind together the different elastic
bands.
The hook (28), in order to be blocked into
position, is equipped with two circular, parallel
basis (29) which clamp the elastic fabric of the
band (10).
A first alternative embodiment is shown in
figure 4; compared to the example of figures 1
and 2, the plates (14') now have no funnel-shaped
bushings (22), which are instead located in the
holes (30) of the band. As it can be seen, into
each of said holes a funnel-shaped bushing (22')
can be inserted or molded straight up or upside
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-
down, which is equipped with elastic tongues
(23') and is similar to the bushing (22)
previously described, but purposely equipped with
parallel basis (31) which clamp the elastic
fabric of the band (10) along the hole (30) edges
in order to firmly hold the bushing (22') after
it has been inserted into the hole (30).
With reference to figures 5 and 6, a second
embodiment of the present invention provides,
instead of the funnel-shaped bushing (22), a
circular hole (32~ in the middle of the plate
(34), otherwise identical to plate (14), from
which a thin sharp tongue (35), realized in steel
and molded to the plate, juts out. Said tongue is
lifted from the hole by means of a special lever
(not shown), then an edge of the upholstery is
taken and hooked; the operation is completed by
putting back the tongue into the housing with the
same lever, thus avoiding possible accidents.
Said realization avoids the insertion of ropes,
strips and tie rods in the peripheral zones of
the upholsteries with notable savings in costs.
Figures 7 and 8 show how it is possible to make
further modifications, according to the
invention, to the shape oflthe connecting plates
-
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between the framework and the elastic band,
providing them with yet different anchorage
housings.
The plates (44) which can be seen in these
two figures differ from those of the previous
examples in that they form a blocking hook (45)
for fabrics, of the type with rounded anti-rip
end (4g) located under the cylindrical bushing
(20); moreover, the plates (44) have, in the
middle, a blocking clip (46) for a strip (not
shown). Said clip, preferably realized of molded
sheet, is made of a fixed tab (47) and a rotating
tab (48) which can clamp onto the first one and
block the previously inserted strip. Even in this
case it is possible to locate, in the holes (30)
of the band, both the hooks (28) and the bushings
(22'), according to the user's needs.
The last example, shown in the figures 9 and 10,
refers to a plate (54) which differs from the
previous ones because of the system of coupling
to the main frame structure of the seat. In this
case, the plate is shaped so that it can bind the
elastic band (10) to the frame of the seat back,
made of metal sheet (50). To this aim the plate
(54) forms, at its free en~, a substantially T-
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shaped bracket (56) provided with transversetongues (57). For the coupling to the frame (50),
the bracket (56) (together with the whole plate
54) is first rotated by 90 around the
longitudinal or center axis X, then inserted
through a slot (55) provided in the framework
metal sheet (50) of the seat back. As shown in
figure 10, the slot (55) is so shaped that it
allows the bracket (56) to pass if it is aligned
with the Y axis, but it hinders the return
thereof, blocking the tongues ~57), once the
bracket has been rotated again by 90 , i.e.
taken to the starting position determined by the
X and Y axis.
As it can be seen, the elastic band acccording to
the invention offers many anchorage housings for
the various linking systems, allowing the various
upholstery accessories to be quickly fitted or
removed, for instance to carry out either a
simple cleaning or the replacement of the
upholstery.
Of course the invention is not limited to
the embodiments here described and shown, which
only illustrate the best ways of carrying out the
invention, and which can be modified in their
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.
shapes, dimensions, component disposition and
manufacturing and working details. The invention
can instead cover any modified embodiments
obtainable according to its technical field, as
defined in the following claims.
