Vehicle seat with headrest movement responsive to seat back tilting

Claim 2

In a vehicle passenger seat having a seat section, seat support framing and a reclining seat back, the improved construction to provide a movable headrest section, which comprises in combination, a. an elongated tilting seat back section having a hinged connection at its lower end to a fixed location on non-moving seat support framing, b. a relatively short tilting headrest section having a hinged connection from its lower portion to the forward part of the upper end portion of said seat back section and forming an extended portion for the latter, c. a fixed length, stiff linking member connectIon to a fixed position, non-translating, lower pivot means on the non-moving seat support framing at a location rearward of said hinged connection for said back section, and said linking member extending upwardly to an upper pivot means on said headrest section which is spaced from and positioned rearward of the hinged connection between the upper part of said seat back section and said headrest section, and d. said linking member positioned to be generally parallel to the tilting seat back section, such that as the latter is tilted from a generally upright position to a recline position there is a lowering of the top end portion of the seat back section relative to said upper pivot point means between said linking member and said headrest section and a resulting forward tilting of the latter section with respect to the back section.

Claim 3

The seat of claim 1 further characterized in that said seat back section has forwardly projecting non-translating connection means at the lower portions of side framing for such section to thereby have its lower hinge connection to said seat support framing forward from the connection between the latter and the lower end of the linking member.

Claim 4

In a vehicle passenger seat having a seat section, seat support framing and a reclining seat back, the improved construction to provide a movable headrest section, which comprises in combination, a. an elongated tilting seat back section having a hinged connection at its lower end to fixed seat support framing, b. a relatively short tilting headrest section having a hinged connection from its lower portion to the forward part of the upper end portion of said seat back section and forming an extended portion for the latter, c. fixed length, stiff linking members along each side portion of said seat back section connected to said headrest section and connected to respective lower pivot means on the fixed seat support framing at locations rearward of said hinged connection for said back section, said linking members extending upwardly to upper pivot means on said headrest section, said pivot means being spaced from and positioned rearward of the hinged connection between the upper part of said seat back section and said headrest section, d. said linking members being positioned to be generally parallel to the tilting seat back section, such that as the latter is tilted from a generally upright position to a recline position there is a lowering of the top end portion of the seat back section relative to said upper pivot means between said linking members and said headrest section and a resulting forward tilting of the latter section with respect to the back section, and e. a transverse lumbar support bar extending across the lower portion of said tilting seat back section in the zone of the lumbar region of a seat occupant, said support bar having fixedly connected arm members extending inwardly to pivotally connect with the side of said linking members to provide for arcuate movement of said support bar about the connecting points to said linking members, longitudinal slot means in the midportions of each of said arm members from said lumbar support bar to said linking members, and fixed pin means from each side portion of said seat back section positioned to extend through respective slot means for said arm members, whereby tilting movement of said seat back section provides a relative movement between the seat back framing and said linking members causing said fixed pin members in said slot means to move said arm members and said connecting lumbar support bar in an arcuate movement about the pivot connection means to said linking members.

Claim 5

In a vehicle passenger seat having a seat section, seat support framing and a reclining seat back, the improved construction to provide a movable headrest section, which comprises in combination, a. an elongated tilting seat back section having a hinged connection at its lower end to fixed seat support framing, b. a relatively short tilting headrest section having a hinged connection from its lower portion to the forward part of the upper end portion of said seat back section and forming an extended portion for the latter, c. fixed length, stiff linking members along each side portion of said seat back section connected to said headrest section and connected to respective lower pivot means on the fixed seat support framing at locations rearward of said hinged connection for said back section, said linking members extending upwardly to upper pivot means on said headrest section, said pivot means being spaced from and positioned rearward of the hinged connection between the upper part of said seat back section and said headrest section, d. said linking members being positioned to be generally parallel to the tilting seat back section, such that as the latter is tilted from a generally upright position to a recline position there is a lowering of the top end portion of the seat back section relative to said upper pivot means between said linking members and said headrest section and a resulting forward tilting of the latter section with respect to the back section, and e. a transverse lumbar support bar extending across the lower portion of said tilting seat back section in the zone of the lumbar region of a seat occupant, said support bar having fixedly connected arm members extending inwardly to pivotally connect with the side of said linking members to provide for arcuate movement of said support bar about the connecting points to said linking members, longitudinal slot means in the midportions of each of said arm members from said lumbar support bar to said linking members, and fixed pin means from each side portion of said seat back section positioned to extend through respective slot means for said arm members, whereby tilting movement of said seat back section provides a relative movement between the seat back framing and said linking members causing said fixed pin members in said slot means to move said arm members and said connecting lumbar support bar in an arcuate movement about the pivot connection means to said linking members.

Claim 6

The seat of claim 3 still further characterized in that the fixed pin means from the side portions of said seat back section are generally in line with the pivot connections of the arm members to the linking members when the seat back section is in a generally upright position such that the arm members are at substantially rIght angles with the linking members, and there is a resulting downward movement of the connecting lumbar support bar from the movement of the arm members when the seat back section is tilted backwardly into a recline position to cause relative movement between linking members and the sides of the seat back section, whereby the transverse lumbar support bar in turn reduces its projection effect upon the lumbar portion of the seat back section.

Claim 7

The seat of claim 3 further characterized in that a stiff but movable pressure distributing member is used in combination with said lumbar support bar to move seat back cushioning in and out responsive to the degree of projection of said lumbar support bar.