Air-controlled lumbar support device

Claim 1

A lumbar support device for a vehicle seat having a seat frame and a backrest comprising: an inflatable chamber mounted within said backrest and including at least one partition; tube means connected at one end to said inflatable chamber for transferring a flow of pressurized air to and from said inflatable chamber; valve mechanism adapted to be attached to the seat frame and connected to another end of said tube means opposite from said end connected to said inflatable chamber, said valve mechanism including: a housing having s base portion and an upper portion, a conduit for transferring air through said valve mechanism and into said tube means, said conduit having a first passage located along said base portion of said valve mechanism and a second passage in communication with said first passage and extending along said upper portion, a hand pump mounted on said housing along said first passage for manually pumping air into said conduit, a check valve seated within said second passage for normally restricting air from escaping from said tube means and said inflatable chamber, said check valve being unseated in response to the flow of pressurized air generated by actuation of said hand pump to permit transfer of air from said hand pump to said inflatable chamber, and a manually operable switch mounted on said housing substantially adjacent said hand pump, said switch having a control valve extending coaxially with said check valve within said second passage, said control valve being slidably positioned by depression of said switch to unseat said check valve to release air from said inflatable chamber when the amount of air within said inflatable chamber exceeds a desired level, thereby enabling regulation of the amount of air within said inflatable chamber; and a secondary relief valve mounted along said housing and adapted to exhaust air within said conduit to the atmosphere automatically when the air pressure within said conduit exceeds a predetermined pressure.