Impact energy absorbing system for a row of vehicle seats

Claim 1

An energy absorbing system for controlling the deceleration movement of a longitudinal row of interconnected seats in a vehicle should the vehicle be subjected to a longitudinal impact force wherein said row of seats is mounted on slidable guide means arranged so that the seats will slide, longitudinally, in a fore and aft direction with respect to said vehicle and an energy absorbing means having a fixed component mounted on the vehicle and a movable component attached to said row of seats to attenuate any movement of said row of seats resulting from a sudden acceleration movement of the vehicle as when the vehicle is subjected to an impact so as to cushion the impact force transferred to passengers occupying said seats, the improvement comprising in the combination set forth: a. a plurality of compression springs between the fixed component and the movable component of the energy absorbing device, with at least one spring having a length such as to resist any movement between the said components and at least one shorter spring having a length such as to resist movement between the components only after the first mentioned component has been compressed to a substantial degree by movement between the two components whereby to increase the resistance to further movement between the components to a degree exceeding the resistance by continued compression of the first mentioned spring; and b. damper means to attenuate the rebound effect of the compressed springs after the impact force terminates; said slidable guide means includes a pair of parallel guide rails which are arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, each of said guide rails includes a stationary section fixedly attached to said vehicle and a slidable section upon which said row of seats are mounted, the slidable portion of said guide rails being positioned above the stationary portion and having longitudinal side edges turn downward and under the edges of said stationary sections to maintain the relative position of the sections and prevent dirt and debris from entering the areA between said sections which could retard the slidable movement of said seats.