GB1572695A

GB1572695A - Vehicle seat

Info

Publication number: GB1572695A
Application number: GB4749475A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: T I COX Ltd
Current assignee: T I COX Ltd
Priority date: 1976-11-18
Filing date: 1976-11-18
Publication date: 1980-07-30

Description

(54) VEHICLE SEAT (71) We, T.I. COX LIMITED (formerly COX OF WATFORD LIMITED), a British Company of 177 Lenton Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 2DD, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a vehicle seat and one object is to provide a design of seat particularly suitable for use in omnibuses which can be built economically, is readily adapted for use either by itself or built up into a bank of two or more seats side by side, and is easily redecorated in situ.

Accordingly the present invention provides a vehicle seat unit comprising a metal frame defining the outline of a seat portion and a back portion, a rigid seat pan and a rigid back pan mounted on the frame, and upholstery on the pans attached to the frame; said seat and back pans being separately formed and identical.

The pans may be formed of structural plastics material which might be polypropylene foam material which has good compressive strength. When the seat is in use, the pan material will be a compression and the tensile forces will be carried by the metal of the frame so the components will complement each other in carrying the total load to be borne.

Pans of polypropylene may be spray painted with a textured finish or alternatively may be covered with a decorative nylon.

This may be fitted as a screen across the injection moulding die and forced into profile during the moulding process, thus the external surface of the moulding will have a textured finish.

The pans may be of sheet metal, for example, aluminium or steel, and again will be strong enough to withstand the compressive stress is use. Sheet metal can be bought with a trim layer of sheet or woven decorated material bonded to it before or after the sheet is formed to pan shape.

The upholstery conveniently comprises soft plastics foam or the like secured within the underside of upholstery trim whose free edge is engaged in a slot or other fixing means around the edge of the metal frame.

If the trim becomes worn it can be replaced merely by pulling the trim edge away from the frame possibly after releasing a trim edge securing means and replaced by a duplicate set. Also the exposed parts of the frame end/or pans can be resprayed before the damaged upholstery is removed so that re-decoration and maintenance can take place in situ, that is, without taking the seat frame out of the vehicle.

A hand grip or a high back head support, can be fitted at the top of the frame by legs which pass into the frame preferably being secured to spigot tubes forming a part of the frame by means of spring drive pins or other securing means which require a special tool to release them. This tends to make it difficult for vandals to damage the seat by removal or destruction of the support.

The hand rail may be surrounded for part of its length by padding which is conveniently semi-rigid and moulded from selfskinning polyurethane foam. The cushioning may surround part of the horizontal portion of the rail and all of one of the two vertical ends. When two seats are mounted side by side the two cushioned vertical ends are preferably arranged to be adjacent one another.

If the seat unit is used alone in an assembly on a seat support then the seat support will be fixed at each end to opposite side fixing means on the single seat unit, but if there is a bank of two or more seat units side by side, then the seat support will be fixed to two outer side fixing means on the whole bank. Adjacent fixing means of seat units which are side by side can be used for fixing each of those seats to its neighbour by use of an appropriate connecting piece, and it will usually be convenient for such a connecting piece also to be supported from the seat support which may have an intermediate fixing to the floor of the vehicle.

Local Authorities in different parts of Great Britain and in different countries in the world have different reglulations con tolling the positioning of seats in Public vehicles. and this design enables a very wide range of dispositions to be used with simple standard seat components.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways and one embodiment will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 is an exploded view of a seat assembly for an omnibus; Figure 2 is a side elevation of a complete seat assembly of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section on the line A-A in Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a section on the line B-B in Figure 2 through a joint between two support pans.

The seating assembly comprises a seat unit having a metal seat frame 11, two identical support pans. one 12 for the seat cushion and one 13 for the seat back, structural foam padding 14. 15 for each support pan, and a support for the seat unit.

The frame 11 is formed from a hollow elongate metal member with a cross section described in the Applicants' British Patent Specification No. 1,493,112 which is almost rectangular in section and has a slot 21 cut down its length in which a flexible elongate trim strip 22 is positioned to hold the upholstery in place. As shown in Figure 1 the frame has a number of fixing lugs 23 welded to it through which the support pans 12, 13 can be bolted to the seat support.

The frame 11 is rectangular with rounded corners and is bent through some 76C about a line joining the centres of its two longest sides. It has two spigot tubes 25 welded to the lugs 23 at its upper end and passing through holes drilled in the top of the frame.

These tubes will accept a pre-polished chro mium plated hand rail 26 with sleeves 27, either injection moulded from plastics material or die cast. The hand rail is held in place by spring drive pins 28 passing through rail, sleeves and tubes. The sleeves cover the rail attachment and also retain the elongate strip 22 at its ends so that it is almost impossible to remove the upholstery by vandalism without the necessary tool for removing the sleeves 27.

The two support pans 12, 13 are rigid and identical and are injection moulded for polypropylene. As shown in Figure 3 each support pan has a slot 31 running around its perimeter which houses the seat frame 11.

Each pan has a number of holes drilled near the outer edges of its two sides which correspond with the lugs 23, and through which bolts 32 pass. The pans are concave but have a substantially flat inside surface while the outside surfaces are spray painted with a textured finish. Thus the seating can be re-decorated while the seat is in service by re-spraying the shell and replacing the upholstery by removing and subsequently replacing of the elongate trim strip 22 attaching the upholstery to the frame.

The structural foam padding 14, 15 on the pans 12, 13 having upholstery trim attached to it, is secured to the frame 11 by free edges of the trim being located in the slot 21 and held there by the elongate strip 22.

In use the steel of the frame 11 and the polypropylene of the pans 12, 13 complement each other, the polypropylene which has good compressive strength being in compression.

The support consists of a lateral steel torsion tube 41 welded to two end pieces.

The inner end piece 53 is anchored into a fixing rail 42 located on the vehicle wall, and has a longitudinal bar 54 with lugs 43 corresponding with the lugs 23 on the seat frame 11, whereby the seat frame can be bolted to the support. The outer end piece 55 consists of a front leg 44 and a rear leg 45 joined near their upper ends by a curved cross piece 46 to which the torsion tube 41 is welded. Both legs are angled laterally inwards to the floor and the rear leg 45 is also angled backwards to the floor. Both legs have a flattened upper end 47 with a hole drilled in each flat section to correspond with the lugs 23 on the seat frame 11. Thus, the seat frame can be bolted to the other end of the support.

The bottom ends of the legs are also flattened but are bent over parallel to the floor so that the support can be bolted down. Both the legs 44, 45 and the curved cross piece 46 are all formed from mild steel tube of oval cross section. Such an outer end piece 55 can also be used as an intermediate support by attaching it to the torsion tube 41 anywhere along its length which is necessary when a larger number of the seat units are to be joined together.

When two seat units are to be joined together, two connecting pieces 24 are used, one for the seat cushions one for the seat backs as shown in Figure 4. Each piece is a strip of metal "V" shaped in section but with the "V" inverted and the apex of the "V" flattened. It has holes drilled in it to correspond with the holes in lugs 23 of the seat frames 11 to be joined together. The two frames are each bolted at 32 to the "V" pieces and thus a rigid connection is formed as shown in Figure 4 with the pan 12 sandwiched between the piece 24 and the frame 11. The "V" piece connecting the seat pans 12 has two downwardly extending plates 51 (Figure 1) which are welded on either side of the torsion tube 41.

In another embodiment of the invention, the hand rail 26 is surrounded for part of its length by a cushioning member, (not shown) which is semi-rigid and moulded from self-skinning polyurethane foam. The cushioning surrounds about three-quarters of the length of the horizontal part of the hand rail and all of one of the two vertical ends. tapering so as to be narrowest at its end furthest from the covered vertical end.

Where two seat units are mounted side by side the covered vertical ends of the rail are arranged to be adjacent one another.

In another embodiment of the invention, the hand rail 26 is replaced by a high back support 59 made of self skinning high densitv P.V. foam 61 moulded around a tubular metal frame 62. The spigot tubes 25 accept the high back support in the same way as the hand rail 26 is accepted.

In alternative embodiments, the pans 12 and 13 are moulded of sheet metal such as aluminium or steel which can be lighter than polypropylene with the same compressive stress carrying capacity. A trim sheet cover or other decoration for the outside of the pan applied to the sheet metal before forming the pans in a press, or can be applied subsequently.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A vehicle seat unit comprising a metal frame defining the outline of a seat portion and a back portion. a rigid seat pan and a rigid back pan mounted on the frame, and upholstery on the pans attached to the frame; said seat and back pans being separatelv formed and identical.

2. A seat unit as claimed in Claim 1 in which the frame is formed from a hollow elongate metal member which has a slot formed in it along its length for the attachment of the upholstery.

3. A seat unit as claimed in either of Claims 1 and 2 in which the seat and back pans are injection moulded from polypropylene. or pressed from a sheet metal.

4. A seat unit as claimed in any preceding claim in which the upholstery comprises a soft plastics foam.

5. A seat unit as claimed in Claim 4 in which the foam is secured to the underside of upholstery trim.

6. A seat unit as claimed in Claim 5 in which the free edge of the trim is located in the elongate slot in the frame.

7. A seat unit as claimed in Claim 6 in which the trim edge is secured by means of a flexible elongate strip in the slot.

S. A seat unit as claimed in any preceding claim including a hand rail fitted to the top of the frame by supports.

9. A seat unit as claimed in Claim 8 in which the supports pass into the frame and are secured to spigot tubes on the frame by means requiring a special tool for their release.

10. A seat unit as claimed in either of Claims 8 or 9 in which the hand rail is covered at least partially by padding.

11. A seat unit as claimed in Claim 10 in which the padding is of self-skinning polyurethane foam.

12. A seat unit as claimed in any of Claims 9 to 11 in which the hand rail supports project beyond the upholstery and trim so that the hand rail must be removed to gain access to the trim securing means.

13. A seat unit as claimed in any of Claims 9 to 12 in which the hand rail securing means consist of spring drive pins.

14. A seat unit as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 7 including a high back support locatable on spigot tubes on the frame.

15. One or more seat units as claimed in any preceding claim mounted on a torsion tube, the tube having anchoring means at one end and legs at the other end.

16. One or more seat units as claimed in Claim 15 in which the anchoring means is adapted to be fixable to a rail mounted in a vehicle.

17. A vehicle seat assembly comprising one or more seat units according to any one of claims 1-14, mounted on a seat support.

18. A vehicle seat assembly as claimed in Claim 17, in which each such seat unit is provided with fixing means at each side thereof attached either to the seat support at an outer side of a seat unit in the assembly, or to the fixing means on the side of an adjacent seat unit.

19. A vehicle seat assembly as claimed in Claim 18, in which the fixing means on adjacent sides of such seat units are interconnected through the intermediary of a connecting piece.

20. A vehicle seat assembly as claimed in Claim 17 in which there is one such seat unit provided with fixing means at each side thereof attached to the seat support.

21. A vehicle seat unit as claimed in Claim 1 substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

22. A vehicle seat assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. as shown in Figure 4 with the pan 12 sandwiched between the piece 24 and the frame 11. The "V" piece connecting the seat pans 12 has two downwardly extending plates 51 (Figure 1) which are welded on either side of the torsion tube 41. In another embodiment of the invention, the hand rail 26 is surrounded for part of its length by a cushioning member, (not shown) which is semi-rigid and moulded from self-skinning polyurethane foam. The cushioning surrounds about three-quarters of the length of the horizontal part of the hand rail and all of one of the two vertical ends. tapering so as to be narrowest at its end furthest from the covered vertical end. Where two seat units are mounted side by side the covered vertical ends of the rail are arranged to be adjacent one another. In another embodiment of the invention, the hand rail 26 is replaced by a high back support 59 made of self skinning high densitv P.V. foam 61 moulded around a tubular metal frame 62. The spigot tubes 25 accept the high back support in the same way as the hand rail 26 is accepted. In alternative embodiments, the pans 12 and 13 are moulded of sheet metal such as aluminium or steel which can be lighter than polypropylene with the same compressive stress carrying capacity. A trim sheet cover or other decoration for the outside of the pan applied to the sheet metal before forming the pans in a press, or can be applied subsequently. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A vehicle seat unit comprising a metal frame defining the outline of a seat portion and a back portion. a rigid seat pan and a rigid back pan mounted on the frame, and upholstery on the pans attached to the frame; said seat and back pans being separatelv formed and identical.