Vehicle seat slide mechanism

Claim 1

A vehicle seat slide mechanism comprising: two seat slide pairs, each comprising a first elongate slide member adapted to be connected to the floor of the vehicle and a second elongate slide member adapted to be connected to the body of the vehicle seat and in sliding relationship with the first member; a trigger member mounted on each said second slide member and normally urged by a spring into a locked position where it is in engagement with at least one of a series of apertures or notches in the first slide member to prevent relative sliding movement of the two slide members; a release member co-operating with each of the two trigger members and arranged to move each of the two trigger members from the locked position to an unlocked position where each is out of engagement with the at least one aperture or notch in the first slide member; a memory member carried by the first slide member and moveable parallel thereto; first and second engagement members carried by the second slide member and engageable with the memory member to effect movement thereof parallel to the first slide member; a coupling member linked to the release member; a forwardly tiltable lever to which the coupling member is linked and which, when tilted forwardly operates the release members through the coupling members to move the trigger members to the unlocked position; an actuator associated with the coupling member which co-operates with the first engagement member on said forward tilting of the lever to move the first engagement member out of engagement with the memory member which thus remains stationary as the seat is moved forwardly; and a locking member which co-operates with the memory member and is so constructed and arranged that when the seat is moved forwardly and the memory member remains stationary, the locking member moves to a position where it co-operates with the actuator whereby when the lever is returned to its untilted position the coupling member is prevented from returning to a position in which each trigger member may return to the locked position, but when the seat is moved rearwardly the locking member engages the memory member and returns to its original position thereby permitting the coupling member to return to its original position whereafter each trigger member returns to the locked position thus locking the seat in its original position.