Vehicle seat having height adjustment, automatic weight adjustment and protected ride zone

Claim 1

A suspension type vehicle seat of the type having a lower seat base, an upper seat base, linkage means for supporting said upper seat base and permitting it to move in a restrained manner and generally vertically relative to said lower seat base, gas spring means for biasing said upper seat base upwardly, a vertically slotted member mounted on said lower seat base, a complementary contact member movable vertically within said slotted member between an up-stop and a down-stop so as to define a protected ride zone for the upper seat base, said contact member being mounted at the lower end of a vertical link whose upper end carries a height adjustment locking pin which may be selectively positioned in locking engagement with one of a plurality of teeth in a vertical height adjustment rack member mounted on said upper seat base, said locking pin being further supported by one end of a first link which is pivotally attached at said one end relative to said vertical link and locking pin and at its other end to a second link which is pivotally attached to said upper seat base, a manually operated height control lever having a manually engageable handle at one end and a pivot attachment to said first link at its other end, said height control lever having a pin and slot connection intermediate its ends to said upper seat frame, a resilient spring member being attached to said height control lever and to said upper seat base to normally bias said locking pin into engagement with one of the teeth on said rack member, said height control lever being manually longitudinally movable against the bias of said spring member to remove said locking pin from said one tooth so that said height control lever can be pivoted at said pin and slot connection to move said first link and the locking pin attached thereto into engagement with a different tooth on said rack member, valve means connected to said gas spring means for controlling the flow of gas to or from said gas spring means in order to raise or lower said upper seat base, activator means connected to said valve means and mounted on said seat so as to move in response to vertical movement of said vertical link above or below a "mid-ride" position wherein said contact member carried by said vertical link is centered in said protected ride zone between said up-stop and said down-stop, and time delay means for preventing said valve means from being actuated by said activator means to control the flow of gas to or from said spring when said contact member is moving within said protected ride zone in response to normal vehicle vibrations.