Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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SWIVEILABLE SEAT FOR MOTOR VEHICLES
This invention relates to swivellable seats for motor
vehicles.
A conventional motor car has forwardly facing seats with
access provided through side doors. Entry lnto and exit
from such vehicles can be difficult, even impossible,
for elderly or disabled persons.
To enable a passenger to enter or leave a vehicle with
greater ease it has been proposed to provide vehicles
with swivellable front seats of the type comprising a
seat bearing for supporting a seat for rotation about a
vertical swivel axis. When a passenger enters or leaves
the vehicle the front seat is swivelled so that it faces
laterally outwardly. Once the passenger is seated the
seat is swivelled into its forwardly facing position and
locked.
Even where a vehicle is provided with a swivelling front
seat of the type referred to, however, a disabled
passenger can still have some difficulty in getting into
the seat when it is in its laterally outwardly facing
position, particularly where the headroom in the vehicle
is restricted. The present invention seeks to overcome
this difficulty by providing an improved swivellable
seat for a motor vehicle
According to the invention there is provided a
swivellable seat for a motor vehicle of the type
referred to, characterised in that the seat bearing is
itself carried by a cantilevered support having a hinge
for attachment to the vehicle body to enable the seat
when mounted to be moved between a stowed position
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inboard of the vehicle and an outwardly projec-ting
position in which the seat is outside the vehicle body.
passenger can get into or out of the seat when it is
supported in its outwardly projecting position outside
the vehicle. The seat can be swivelled into any
convenient position for access by the passenger. Once
the passenger is seated -the seat support is moved into
its stowed position and the seat swivelled on the
bearing in-to its forwardly facing position for normal
use.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the seat
bearing is carried by a cantilever arm one end of which
is provided with a hinge for connection to the vehicle
body, permitting rotation of the cantilever arm about a
hinge axis substantially parallel to and spaced from the
swivel axis, so that the seat can be swung on the arm
through a door opening of the vehicle.
In some passenger cars the floor of the passenger
compartment is formed by a well in the underbody of the
vehicle, so that the door openings in the body have
deep sills. To enable the cantilever support arm of
the swivellable seat of the present invention to swing
over such a sill it may be desirable in practice to
arrange the cantilever arm for pivotal movement about a
horizontal axis, in addition to its swinging movement
about the hinge axis, so that the arm can be lifted
sufficiently to pass over the sill of the associated
door opening. E'or example, the hinge may be connected
to the vehicle body through a pivot connection having a
pivot axis perpendicular to the hinge axis, actuator
means being provided for rotating the hinge, and
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therefore the cantilever arm, about the said pivot axis
so as to raise and lower the seat bearing selectively.
It addition, the cantilever arm may be cranked
vertically to allow the seat to occupy a horizontal
position on a floor well of the vehicle when the seat is
lowered.
The swivellable seat according to the inven-tion would
normally be provided with releasable locking means for
locking the seat in its inboard forwardly facing
position, for normal use of the vehicle. Where the seat
bearing is carried by a cantilever arm the locking means
for the seat may include interengageable locking
elements provided on the floor of the vehicle and on
the seat, these elements interengaging when the arm has
been swung inwardly into its stowed position.
The seat bearing employed in the present invention may
take a number of different forms. In a preferred
embodiment the seat bearing comprises a bearing plate or
ring carried by the support and concentric with the
swivel axis, and a swivel plate attachable to the seat
and resting upon the bearing pla-te or ring for rotation
about the swivel axis.
The invention will be further described, by way of
example only, with reference to the accompanying purely
diagrammatic drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a plan view of a motor vehicle provided with
a swivellabl.e seat according -to one embodiment of the
invention, shown in its stowed first posi-tion for normal
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use;
Figure 2 is a plan view similar to Figure 1, showing the
seat in a laterally outwardly projecting second
position;
Figure 3 is a plan view similar to Figure 1 showing the
seat in its laterally outwardly projecting third
position, facing rearwardly, and
Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the support
for the swivellable seat shown in Figures 1 to 3,
according to the present invention.
Referxing first to Figure 1, a vehicle body 1 has a
front door opening 2 and a front passenger seat 3 which
is swivel-mounted in accordance with the invention.
The seat 3 is supported for rotation about a vertical
swivel axis S at one end of a centilever support arm 4.
The other end of -the arm 4 is connected to the vehicle
body 1 through a hinge the axis H of which is parallel
to and spaced from the swivel axis S.
The hinge axis H of the cantilever arm 4 is located
close a door pillar 5 at the rear of the door opening 2,
the positioning of -the hinge axis H, and the shape of
the cantilever arm 4, being such that the entire seat 3
can be swung ou-twardly -through the door opening 2 from
the forwardly facing inboard or stowed first position of
normal use, shown in Figure 1, to an ou-tboard second
position shown in Figure 2, in which the seat 3 is
located wholly outside the vehicle body.
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The seat 3 is lockable against swivel movement about the
swivel axis S but can be released for swivelling both in
its stowed position within the vehicle hody 1 and in its
laterally outwardly disposed position outside the
vehicle body 1. In particular, when the seat 3 is
outside the vehicle body 1 it may be swivelled about its
axis S between a laterally outwardly-facing
position, shown in Figure 2, which is the orien-tation
of the seat 3 after it has been swung through the door
opening 2 on the arm 4, and a rearwardly-facing
position, shown in Figure 3.
Access to the seat 3, for example by a disabled
passenger, is easily possible with the seat 3 in
its outwardly-facing position of Figure 2 or its
rearwardly-facing position of Figure 3. The seat 3 may
be locked against swivelling movement about the axis S
in both of these positions.
With the seat 3 disposed entirely outside the vehicle
body and facing rearwardly (Figure 3) it is a relatively
easy matter for a person to sit on the seat. Moreover,
if the person is disabled, it is much easier for a
helper to assist the person into the seat 3 -than would
be the case if the seat were inside the vehicle, whether
facing forwardly or latera]ly outwardly.
Figure 4 shows one example of the mounting arrangement
for the seat 3, the seat itself being omitted for ease
of illustration.
The cantilever arm 4 is cast in metal, for example
aluminium or aluminium alloy, and has a hinge 6 defining
the hinge axis H at one end of the arm 4. The hinge 6
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has a vertical hinge-pin which is rotatably supported in
brackets 7 projecting horizontally from a vertical
mounting plate 8 affixed to the door pillar 5 on the
inside of the vehicle body. The upper bracket 7 carries
a spring-loaded locking pin 9 which can engage
selectively in holes 10 provided in -the cantilever arm 4
near the hinge axis H to define specific locked
positions in which the arm 4 can be locked angularly
relative to the vehicle body 1.
In the example illustrated three locked positions of the
arm are defined by respective holes 10, namely an
inboard fowardly-facing stowed first position, shown in
Figure 1, an outboard second position, shown in Figure
2, in which the seat 3 is outboard of the door opening
2, and an outboard third position, shown in Figure 3,
in which the arm 4 has been swung fur-ther outwardly
from the second position shown in Figure 2 to a
position in which the seat 3 has been displaced
rearwardly relative to the door opening 2.
Release of the locking pin 9 can be effected under
remote control by solenoid-operation or by a Bowden
Cable connecting the pin 9 to an operating handle or
lever (not shown).
In an alternative locking arrangement for the cantilever
arm 4 a locking pin may be engageable in a hole in the
arm 4 and in a selected one of a number of holes in one
of the fixed hinge brackets 7 oE the hinge.
In the illustrated example the locked positions of the
arm 4 are such that the arm 4 can be swung through an
arc of substantially 180 between its first position and
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its third position, as can be seen by a comparison of
Figures 1 and 3. This wide arc of movement is permitted
by the shape of the cantilever arm 4, which has a root
portion 4A adjoining its hinge axis H such that, when
the arm 4 is in its Eirst position (Figure 1) the root
portion 4A extends rearwardly from the hinge axis H
while when the arm 4 is in its third position (Figure 3)
the root portion 4A extends forwardly from the hinge
axis H. The root portion 4A is joined to the remainder
of the support arm 4 by a curved portion 4B which 'wraps
around' the door pillar 5 when the arm 4 is disposed in
its third position, permitting the remainder of the arm
4 to project outwardly and rearwardly from the door
opening 2. This arrangement also affords a compact
stowed position for the arm 4 when the seat is in its
inboard position (Figure 1).
The seat 3 is supported by a circular bearing plate 11
(Figure 4) affixed to the free end of the cantilever arm
4, which in this example is bifurcated to give
distributed support to the plate 11. The bearing plate
11 carries on its upper surface a number of bearing
blocks 12 arranged circumferentially on a circle
concentric with the centre of the plate 11, which
defines -the swivel axis S.
A swivel plate 13 ac-tachable to the underside of the
seat rests upon the bearing plate 11 through the bearing
blocks 12 and is pivotally connected to the plate 11 by
a pivot pin 14 passing through central aligned holes 15,
16 in the bearing plate 11 and the swivel plate 13
respectively. The pivot pin 14 engages in a bearing
bush 17 which is located in the holes 15, 16 and is
anchored by a nut 18.
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Where the invention is adaptecl to an existing vehicle
seat the swivel plate 13 may conveniently be attached
to a pair of channel section guides 19 on the underside
of the vehicle seat.
A base frame 20 is mounted on the floor of the vehicle
passenger compartment on which the channel section
guides 19 would normally be mounted. The base frame 20
is provided with a backs-top 21 and with an inboard
longitudinal member 22 which is raised relative to the
remainder of -the frame 20. The longitudinal member 22
has an upstanding stop edge or flange 23 on its inboard
edge and has a bevelled ramp surface 24 on its opposite
edge, facing towards the door opening.
When the seat is moved into its forwardly-facing stowed
first posi-tion within the vehicle the swivel plate 13 is
located over the base frame 20 and the inboard
longitudinal edge 25 of the swivel plate 13 rides over
the ramp surface 24 and abuts the stop flange 23. Once
the arm 4 has been locked by engagement of the locking
pin 9 in the appropriate hole 10 the abutment of the
edge 25 and the stop flange 23 prevents angular movement
of the swivel plate 13~ and therefore of the seat 3,
about the swivel axis S.
In an alternative arrangement (not shown) the base frame
20, for example, the longitudinal member 22, may be
provided with a spring-loaded locking element (not
shown) engageable in a hole or detent in the swivel
plate 13 to lock the latter relative to -the bearing
plate 11. The locking element may be released by means
of a manual le~7er (not shown) acting against a biassing
spring, in a conventional manner.
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Where the vehicle has a floor well such that the lower
edge of the door opening -to is bound by a deep sill,
provision may be made for lifting the seat 3 within the
vehicle body sufficiently to enable the seat and its
supporting cantilever arm 4 to clear -the sill of the
door opening when it is swung outwardly. For example,
the hinge 6 of the cantilever arm 4 may be attached to
the vehicle body through a pivot connection (not shown)
having a horizontal axis which is perpendicular to the
hinge axis so that the hinge 6 can be rotated about the
horizontal axis in order to lift the cantilever arm 4.
Such rotation may be effected by an hydraulic actuator
(not shown) supported on the mounting plate and operable
by a small hand pump.
The seat 3 carried on the swivel plate 13 may be
provided with a forwardly-projecting footrest 26 for
supporting the feet of the seat occupant as the seat 3
is swung on the cantilever arm 4 or swivelled about the
axis S.
The movable parts of the seat as described, including
the swivel plate 13 and the cantilever support arm 4,
may in practice be power-operated, for example by
electrical servomotors, or power-assisted.
The size and shape of the cantilever arm 4 and the
position of its hinge axis H may be chosen to fit the
size of the vehicle door opening 2 and the depth of the
floor of the passenger compartmen-t, although in prac-tice
it is envisaged that a standard assembly with a shallow
seat 3 mounted on the swivel plate 13 will be suitable
for installation in a variety of makes of vehicle.
