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[0001] The present application is related to the application titled Mechanical Attachment of Anchorage, to Medvecky, et al., file______; and to the application titled Mechanical Attachment of Anchorage and Bracket, to Adams, et al., filed______, which are incorporated herein by reference.
[0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of securely anchoring child safety seats or other articles to a vehicle seat. More particularly the present invention relates to a robust way of mechanically attaching the wire rod anchorage to the vehicle or vehicle seat.
[0003] Anchoring of various articles to vehicle seats is becoming increasingly important as new products, rules, regulations and laws begin to transform prior practices. For example, until recently car seats for infants, toddlers and small children were held in place using the available shoulder and lap belt which were, of course, designed for protection of much larger passengers and their effectiveness at retaining an article in a vehicle seat vary greatly from vehicle to vehicle and from article to article.
[0004] Some modifications were made to what will hereinafter be referred to as “child safety seats,” such as providing belt notches to guide the factory installed vehicle seat belt across the child, and even as of the filing date of this specification, law enforcement personnel, child seat manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers and sellers, and various safety advocates are trying to teach parents and other child care givers about the best ways to attach child safety seats and snug them into compressive engagement with the seat cushion and seat back.
[0005] In addition to child safety seats, it is also desirable to be able to securely attach other articles and devices to vehicle seats, e.g., play or activity centers, auto-office products, and entertainment centers (such as those which include VHS, DVD or CD input to a monitor or screen). It is important to ensure that such articles and devices do not come loose and injure passengers, e.g., in the event of a severe vehicle impact.
[0006] In numerous foreign countries (e.g., Australia and Canada), and recently in the United States, a new system for child safety seat attachment has been developed and mandated for use. This system is known in the United States as L.A.T.C.H. (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) The system involves providing anchorage at the bite line of a vehicle seat (i.e., the area between the seat cushion and the seat back) to which straps, belts or a linkage from a child safety seat are attached. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards relating to Crash Worthiness as set forth in 49 C.F.R. Parts 571 and 596, which are incorporated herein by reference, require a pair of wire rod anchorage to be spaced apart from one another by a specific distance, and in use a child safety seat is placed on the seat cushion between them. In particular, it is required that the child safety seat anchorages be standardized and independent of the vehicle seat belts. Two straps secured to the child safety seat (or a single strap passing through the child safety seat) have hooks or other connectors attached to their free ends. The hooks are placed over the wire rods, and slack is taken out of the straps using length adjustment devices which, in and of themselves, are of the types used with passenger lap belts. The child safety seat is then held in place by a system which ultimately depends on the robustness of wire rods.
[0007] It can also be mentioned here that a third point of anchoring the child safety seat is also being required, namely a package shelf anchorage (for the rear seat of a vehicle which has a package shelf) or a third anchorage at the base of the back of a seat (such as captain, bucket, or bench seats in SUV's, vans and the like). The latter allows a third strap or tether attached to the top of a child safety seat to be secured to this third anchorage to assist in preventing forward tilting of the child safety seat in the event of an impact. The applicability of the present invention to such third anchorages will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the background and the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention continue.
[0008] The number of ways in which the wire rods used in the aforementioned system are construed varies widely, due to the style of seat and vehicle, and the available seat frame or vehicle frame locations for attachment of the wire rods are numerous. In most cases, however, the wire rods are attached by welding them to a seat frame or vehicle frame component such as a tube connected to the seat. The type of connection may also depend upon the type of seat that the anchorage is being connected such as a bench seat, a captain's chair or other alternative seat. Therefore, the robustness of the load bearing performance of the wire rod anchorage is dependent on many factors including the wire rod material, geometry, weld materials, weld design and workmanship, and many events subsequent to wire rod installation which could affect the integrity of the welds.
[0009] Several examples exist which demonstrate types and designs of connections for attaching a wire rod anchorage to a vehicle seat. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,354,648; 6,196,628; 6,030,046; 5,941,601; 5,918,934; 5,816,651; 6,361,115; 6390,560; and 6,276,754 all disclose a variety of designs for attaching an anchorage to a vehicle seat and all of which have significant drawbacks in that they either require the wire rod anchorage be directly welded to another seat device or they require a manufacturing process that is overly complex and costly.
[0010] A primary feature of the present invention is to provide a mechanical attachment design and method of manufacturing for attaching a wire rod anchorage to a vehicle seat component such as a recliner mechanism wherein the mechanical attachment relies primarily on mechanical coupling rather than welding to transfer loads applied to the wire rod to the vehicle seat structure or to the vehicle frame.
[0011] Another feature of the present invention is to provide a technique for mechanically coupling a wire rod anchorage to a vehicle seat which may readily be adapted to a wide variety of vehicles and vehicle seat styles.
[0012] A further feature of the present invention is to provide a wire rod anchorage having improved reliability.
[0013] A different feature of the present invention is to provide a method for coupling a wire rod anchorage to a vehicle seat mechanism wherein the method of coupling reduces assembly time and cost.
[0014] A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a mechanical attachment for connecting a wire rod anchorage to a vehicle seat having improved load transfer characteristics in the event of a rapid change in acceleration of the vehicle.
[0015] How the foregoing and other features of the present invention are accomplished individually, collectively or in various sub-combinations will be described in the following detailed description of the preferred and alternate embodiments taken in conjunction with the attached FIGURES. Generally, however, they are accomplished by mechanically coupling the wire rods to a seat component, such as a recliner or folding mechanism. Welds may be employed, especially for ensuring a proper location of the anchorages relative to the seat, but with the mechanical coupling system of the present invention, such welds do not play a substantial role in the transfer of loads from the car seat (or other device) to the load bearing component of the seat.
[0016] In the preferred embodiment, the wire rod is generally U-shaped and includes curled ends on the leg portions of the “U” and a 90° bend in each leg. The portion of each leg between the bend and its curled end is bent in a generally curved manner so that the curled ends lie generally adjacent or even touching one another. The bend is configured so that the bent portion will abut a collar of a retainer having preferably a circular shape. The retainer includes a plate extending about the collar and several, preferably three, down-turned tabs. In the illustrated embodiment, a tab extends about each bent portion of the rod, and another tab extends between the two legs of the “U” at the location of the rod bends. A fastener, for example a rivet, extends through the collar to attach the retainer to a seat component, e.g., a folding seat mechanism. The bottom or connection portion of the “U” is thus properly located for attachment of a connector from a child seat or other device, and if loads are suddenly imposed on the connector, they are transferred to the component and the vehicle seat, without the need for welds contacting the wire rod. It is possible to provide a spot weld to maintain the location of the wire rod anchorage about the axis of the opening of the retainer.
[0017] Other ways in which the above-referenced features are accomplished will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they have read this specification, and such other ways are deemed by the present inventors to fall within the scope of the present invention if they fall within the scope of the claims which follow.
[0018] In the attached FIGURES and description below, like reference numerals will be used to designate like components, wherein:
[0019]
[0020]
[0021]
[0022]
[0023]
[0024]
[0025] Initially provided are several general comments about the applicability and scope of the present invention. First, the materials used for the wire rods and other structural components shown in the FIGURES can be selected from those known to the art, including steel, various other alloys, or high strength metals such as stainless steel and steel alloys. In particular, the wire rod is preferably made of steel consistent with ASTM A510 standard—steel grade 1018 which is reduction hardened to have a minimum yield strength of at least 80 k.s.i. using any known or appropriate manufacturing process or what may be mandated by other regulation or standard.
[0026] Second, the number of anchorages will vary with the type of vehicle, application and seat design. The spacing between a pair of anchorages remains substantially constant according to standards and regulations but may be of any known or appropriate distance. There will typically be a single pair of anchorage for a given passenger seat. Thus, for a bench seat having multiple passenger seats, two or three pairs of seat anchorage may be included. Further, it should be noted that the particular syntax and usage of the term anchorage herein is intended to be interpreted as appropriately applicable to either a given passenger seat and a given child safety seat or a plurality of same regardless of the correct grammatical context.
[0027] Third, the mechanical attachment feature of the present invention is primarily illustrated in connection with seat bite line anchorages. It is understood that any anchorage for a vehicle seat, including a tether anchorage, can also benefit from the teachings set forth herein.
[0028] Fourth, the child safety seat anchorages are illustrated for use with passenger vehicles, such as automobiles, light trucks, SUV's, vans and the like. However, the principles of the present invention are readily adaptable to install anchorages at other locations with in a particular vehicle as well in any appropriate application including such as in airplanes, trains, buses and even in strollers with detachable seats.
[0029] Referring now generally to all of the FIGURES and in particular to FIGS.
[0030] The retainer
[0031]
[0032] It will be appreciated that the wire rod
[0033] An opening
[0034] While one embodiment of the invention has been described in connection with the illustrations, and various modifications thereto have been referred to in the written text, the present invention generally relates to the mechanical attachment of a wire rod to various vehicle seat support structure, and the shift away from using welds as the primary mechanism by which loads are imparted to the supports. Accordingly, the invention may be variously embodied using this basic principle without departing from its intended scope. The invention is therefore not to be limited to the materials, shapes, orientations and proportions illustrated and described, but it is to be limited solely by the scope of the claims which follow.