Head restraint adjustment mechanism

Claim 1

A mechanism for enabling a head restraint pad to be moved with respect to a seat, comprising: at least one post connected to and supporting the head restraint pad, said post forming a plurality of spaced detent notches on its outer surface, said notches being generally Vshaped and extending transversely of said post forming upper and lower inclined ramp surfaces, said post further forming a locking notch spaced below said detent notches, said locking notch having an upper inclined ramp surface similar to said detent notch upper ramp surfaces and a radially extending lower surface spaced below said inclined upper surface; a tubular bushing mounted to the seat and having an inside bore for receiving said post; a spring retainer carried by said bushing, said retainer having a body portion and a cantilevered retaining arm extending from said body portion, aid retaining arm including a V-shaped contacting portion having upper and lower inclined legs, the outer surafces of said legs forming upper and lower engaging surfaces of said retaining arm, said arm being resiliently biased into said bore and said legs being sized to enable said upper and lower engaging surafces to concurrently contact said upper and lower ramp surfaces respectively when one of said detent notches is aligned with said V-shaped contacting portion whereby said post is held in place, said ramp surfaces forcing said arm radially outward in response to longitudinal forces on said post to adjust the position of said head restrain; and said lower inclined leg of said V-shaped contacting portion having a cut out portion forming an upper edge engagable with the radially extending lower surface of said locking notch simultaneous with engagement of the upper inclined leg with the upper ramp surface of the locking notch to prevent unintended removal of said post from the seat.