Vehicle seat suspension system with height and ride indicator

Claim 2

An automotive seat comprising an upper and a lower stanchion member interconnected for vertical motion by a linkage and an elongated resilient means movably supported by said linkage, means associated with one end of said resilient means and said movable support for adjustably fixing the angular displacement of said means, means associated with the other end of said resilient means for adjustably preloading said resilient means for fixing the resilience of said means, means for separately and independently adjusting the movable support and the preloading means at the two ends of said resilient means to change the angular displacement and the resilience of said resilient means, thereby separately and independently adjusting the height and ride qualities of said seat, and means responsive to said separate and independent adjustments at said two ends for separately and independently indicating the height and ride qualities of said seat.

Claim 3

The automotive seat of claim 1 wherein said linkage comprises upper and lower spaced parallel arms pivotally attached to and extending between said upper and lower stanchions, and said resilient means extends at a predetermined angle between at least one of said arms and the upper stanchion, and means for varying the angle to thereby vary said ride qualities, one of said indicating means being coupled to read out the angle of said resilient means.

Claim 4

The automotive seat of claim 2 wherein said resilient means is a compression spring mounted for travel along said arm to vary said angle, and said one indicator comprises a pointer means moving as a function of said travel.

Claim 5

The automotive seat of claim 3 wherein said one arm and another arm spaced parallel therefrom form tracks, said movable support for said resilient means comprising a yoke means moving along tracks formed by said arms, one end of said compression spring being attached to and riding on said yoke for changing said angular displacement, and said one indicator means comprises a pointer coupled to move with said yoke.

Claim 6

The automotive seat of claim 4 and means comprising a threaded rod extending perpendicularly across said tracks with a control handle at the end of said rod for rotating it, scissor linkage means for positioning the movable yoke means in said tracks, said scissor linkage being attached to threaded nuts which move together or apart as said threaded rod is turned, and means for moving said yoke and said angular displacement of said resilient means responsive to the movement of said scissor linkage.

Claim 7

The automotive seat of claim 1 wherein said linkage comprises upper and lower spaced parallel arms pivotally attached to and extending between said upper and lower stanchions, and said resilient means extends between at least one of said arms and the upper stanchion, means for pre-loading said resilient means to alter the deflection thereof under weight, and means responsive to said pre-loading for indicating the height of said seat.

Claim 8

The automotive seat of claim 6 wherein said resilient means comprises a compression spring, adjustable means including at least one other spring for pushing down upon and pre-loading said compRession spring by a selected amount, and said seat height indicator comprising means movable responsive to said adjustable means.

Claim 9

An automotive seat comprising means including a first stanchion for attachment to an auto floor, means including a second stanchion floatingly mounted above said first stanchion, said floating mount comprising a plurality of linkage arms formed into a pivotally interconnected parallelepiped frame which enables said second stanchion to move between positions which are above and behind said first stanchion, means comprising a threaded rod extending parallel to the pivotal interconnections of said parallelepiped frame with a control handle at the end of said rod for rotating it, scissors linkage means attached to threaded nuts riding on said threaded rods, said nuts moving together or apart as said threaded rod is turned, compression spring means interconnected between said parallelepiped frame and said second stanchion, said compression spring means comprising two opposing springs angularly disposed with respect to said linkage arms, one of said springs being an elongated member having an angular displacement with respect to said parallelepiped frame, means for changing said angular displacement responsive to the movement of said scissors linkage, means associated with one of said springs for movement of said one spring relative to the other spring whereby the opposition of said springs is varied, and indicator means for indicating the opposing relationship of the two springs whereby a first indicator indicates the eye level of an occupant of the seat, and a second indicator indicates the amount of said angular movement of said one spring means, thereby indicating the ride quality of the seat.

Claim 10

An automotive seat comprising means including a first stanchion for attachment to an auto floor, means including a second stanchion floatingly mounted above said first stanchion, said floating mount comprising a plurality of linkage arms formed into a pivotally interconnected parallelepiped frame which enables said second stanchion to move between positions which are above and behind said first stanchion, means comprising a threaded rod extending parallel to the pivotal interconnections of said parallelepiped frame with a control handle at the end of said rod for rotating it, scissors linkage means attached to threaded nuts riding on said threaded rods, said nuts moving together or apart as said threaded rod is turned, compression spring means interconnected between said parallelepiped frame and said second stanchion, said compression spring means comprising two opposing springs angularly disposed with respect to said linkage arms, one of said springs being an elongated member having an angular displacement with respect to said parallelepiped frame, means for changing said angular displacement responsive to the movement of said scissors linkage, means associated with one of said springs for movement of said one spring relative to the other spring whereby the opposition of said springs is varied, and indicator means for indicating the opposing relationship of the two springs whereby a first indicator indicates the eye level of an occupant of the seat, and a second indicator indicates the amount of said angular movement of said one spring means, thereby indicating the ride quality of the seat.

Claim 11

The seat of claim 8 wherein said first and second stanchions are shaped to recede from the edge of a seat cushion positioned on said second stantion back under said seat to provide heel room for a person sitting on said cushion.

Claim 12

The seat of claim 8 wherein said second indicator means comprises one pointer moved responsive to movement of said scissors means for indicating the angle between at least one of said arms and said first indicator comprises a second pointer for indicating a preloading on said spring caused by the opposition of said springs.