GB2299752A

GB2299752A - Demountable armrest assembly for vehicle seat

Info

Publication number: GB2299752A
Application number: GB9507691A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Francis Flanagan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-04-13
Filing date: 1995-04-13
Publication date: 1996-10-16
Also published as: GB9507691D0

Abstract

A pair of armrests 1,1' are attached to a frame detachably mounted on the vehicle seat. The rests may be independently tiltable and adjusted vertically and the assembly may also include sockets in the ends of the arms for a tray 23, a rear tray 31, a headrest 43 and pouches 46,47.

Description

SEAT ARM REST ASSEMBLY FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a mountable and demountable arm rest assembly for attachment to conventional vehicle seats.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is well known that most conventional vehicular seats, whilst having a base and a back portion to support a seated person, have no provision for arm rests.

Consequently the invention seeks to provide an assembly which is easily mountable and demountable to a conventional vehicular seat as to provide arm rests for a person sitting therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an arm rest attachment for a vehicle seat comprising a support frame provided with a pair of arm rests, and means for securing the frame to the seat such that the arm rests extend to either side of the seat back in the arm rest position.

Clearly as compared to a normal vehicular seat, a seat provided with arm rests will be considerably more comfortable for the person seated therein which, of course, is of particular relevance if that person is the driver of a vehicle.

The arm rests will support the arms and shoulders, thus allowing a considerable reduction of fatigue and will, in particular, encourage the user to adopt and maintain the correct driving position of the hands at "ten to two" or "quarter to three".

The ann rest assembly provided according to the invention is instantly mountable and demountable, with no special installing tools being required.

Furthermore, each arm rest provided according to the invention is independently movable of the other and will tilt back out of the way when not required, allowing easy access to or exit from the vehicle.

A yet further advantage of the seat arm rests assembly according to the invention is that further items may be mounted thereto, including trays, of obvious use in family outings, picnics in bad weather, motorists who for one reason or another prefer to eat their food in their vehicles and so on; head rests, which again may be adjustable to suit the user; and pouches for carrying maps or other personal items.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features and advantages of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein; Fig 1 shows a schematic view of one embodiment of a mountable and demountable seat arm rests assembly according to the invention.

Fig 2 shows a schematic view of the embodiment of a mountable and demountable seat ann rests assembly as shown in Fig 1, provided with driver and passenger trays; Fig 2a shows a schematic view of the construction of the driver's tray shown in Fig 2; Fig 2b shows a schematic view of the construction of the passenger's tray as shown in Fig 2; Fig 3 shows a schematic view of the embodiment depicted in Fig 2 with the aforementioned trays in the stowed position; Fig 3a shows a schematic view indicating the arrangement ofthe trays in the stowed position as shown in Fig 3; Fig 4 shows a schematic view of the embodiment as shown in Fig 1, with the further inclusion of a head rest; and Fig 5 shows a schematic view of the embodiment as depicted in Fig 4, with the further provision of driver and passenger trays, together with pouches.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION A mountable and demountable arm rest assembly for a seat according to one embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings and more particularly in Fig 1.

The assembly comprises a support frame F which is attached to the back of a vehicle seat V as shown, and, for the purposes of illustrative simplification, only one end of these ends of the support frame F which lap the sides of the seat back is shown in Fig 1, since the same structure is repeated at the other hidden end.

Each end of the support frame F is provided with a support shank 4 for carrying respective arm rests 1, 1'. Each of the arm rests 1, 1' is provided with a pair of axially offset passageways 2, 3, with the passageway 2 opening out at the front of a respective rest and whose function will be discussed later on with regard to Fig 2, and the other passageway 3 opening out at the rear of the arm rest and whose function respectively is to receive a portion of the support shank 4 so as to support the arm rests in their desired positions.

Each support shank 4 is held at any desired position in a respective passageway 3 by fastening screws (not shown). In a similar way, any object inserted in passageways 2 may be held therein at any desired position by fastening screws S1 An elbow 5 is formed at the end of the shank 4 distant from the arm rests 1, 1' to provide a further shank 6 at right angles to the shank 4.

The shank 6 is pivotally mounted by means of a bracket 7 to, but at a distance from, a first vertically extending hollow frame member 8 so that the arm rests 1, 1' can be swung upward in a direction indicated by the arrow A so as to remain out of the way when necessary, for example when a person enters or exits the vehicle seat. The distance as between the elbow of the shank 5 and the frame member 8 may be varied by means of an adjustment screw 9.

The head of the adjustment screw 9 abuts the frame member 8 and its threaded end engages with the elbow of the shank 5, so that the turning of the adjustment screw 9 will result in a projection of the screw 9 beyond the elbow of the shank 5 to a greater or lesser extent. Consequently, having regard to the pivotal mounting of the shank 6, the angle at which the arm rest 1 is held may be varied.

A first vertically extending support bar 10 is mounted in sliding fashion in the hollow frame member 8 such that the relative displacement of member 8 and bar 10 may be varied and that when a desired relative displacement is achieved, a screw S2 passing through the wall of the frame member 8 and engaging with the support bar 10 is used to hold them firmly together in the desired position.

The first vertically extending support bar 10 is mounted to a first horizontally extending hollow frame member 11 which then has a second vertically extending hollow frame member 12 engaging with a second downwardly extending support bar 13 contained therein, the second bar 13 being attached to a second horizontal frame member 14.

The frame member 11 receives a first horizontal support bar 15 slidably moveable therein and capable of being firmly held at a desired position therein by means of a screw fastening S3.

The first horizontal support bar 15 is provided at its front end with a support pad 16 in such a manner that the support pad 16 extends over a wing portion of the seat back extending in a direction towards the centre of the seat.

The horizontal displacement of the first horizontal support bar 15 is varied until the support pad 16 is in firm engagement with the seat wing portion and then secured using the fastening screw S3 thereby providing a first point of support for the arm rest assembly.

In a similar fashion, the second, lower, horizontal hollow frame member 14 receives a second horizontal support bar 17 which is provided at its front end with a support pad 18 filly to engage the frame ofthe seat (not shown) being adjustable by means of screw fastening S4.

The vertical displacement of the first and second horizontal frame members 11, 14 and thereby the support pads 16 and 18 is adjustable by virtue of the second vertical hollow frame member 12 and the second vertically extending support bar 13 such that the respective support pads 16, 18 may be adjusted in position to suit any particular seat design.

The respective ends of the support frame F, both of which feature the same structure as that just described, are connected together in telescopic fashion by means of a cross-bar 21 slidably mounted in horizontally disposed hollow elements 20, 20' fastened respectively at right angles to the hollow frame member 11, so that they run, with the cross-bar 21, along the back of the seat as shown.

The bar 21 is held at any desired position in the hollow elements 20, 20' by means of screw fasteners Ss so that the spatial distance between the ends of the frame F may be determined in accordance with the width of a representative seat back.

To complete the frame F, support members 19 are provided on the elements 20, 20' which contact the seat back with the assembly in a position to add further stability to the arrangement.

The elements 20, 20' are also provided with upstanding hollow support elements 22, 22' whose function will be explained with reference to Fig 2.

In Fig 2, a tray 23 is shown mounted to the arm rests 1, 1', a pair of support shanks 24, 25 which engage respectively the passageways 2 in the arm rests 1, 1'. Once inserted, the support shanks 24, 25 are secured in position by means of the fastening screws S.

The support shank 24, see Fig 2a, is provided at its end distant from the arm rest with a tubular extension 26 at right angles to the shank proper which engages with another tube of larger diameter 27 mounted to the underside of the tray 23. The tube 27 is provided with projecting elements 28 which extend in a direction from the tube 26 underneath the surface of the tray 23 to the seat, thereby to provide support for the body of the tray 23.

The support shank 25 is provided at its end with such a projecting element 29 as will allow the shank 25 to be secured to the body of the tray 23.

Furthermore, a hollow bracket 30 is mounted to the underside of the tray 23.

The respective outer and inner tubes 26, 27 may be slidingly moved such that the horizontal distance between the shanks 24, 25 matches the horizontal distance between the front recesses 2, 2' in the two arm rests 1, 1' when the horizontal displacement of the arm rests 1, 1' has been adjusted to fit the vehicle seat. This having been done, the respective inner and outer tubes 26, 27 may then be secured with respect to one another by means of a screw fastening S6.

A second tray 31 mounted to the rear of the vehicle seat is also shown in Fig 2 with further constructional details of the tray being illustrated in Fig 2b.

The second tray 31, has a rear hinge 32 provided with three brackets 33, 34, 35 mounted to its underside, the bracket 35 having a horizontal slot 36, such as to slidingly receive a bar 37. The bar 37 is provided at its end distant from the centre of the vehicle seat with a bar extension piece 38 extending downwardly and at right angles to the bar 37. The other end of the bar 37 is provided with a freely rotatable tab 39 and a fixed pin 40.

The pin 40 is formed so as to co-operate with the slot 36 provided in the bracket 35 mounted to the rear hinge 32 of the tray, such that when the bar 37 is moved slidingly to engage the pin 40 within the said slot 36, rotation of the tray 31 with respect to the bar 37 is prevented.

In this way, as depicted in Fig 2, if the proximal downwardly extending bar 38 is then engaged with the upstanding hollow support element 22', and the tray 31 and bar 37 have been arranged such that the pin 40 has engaged with the slot 36, then the tray 31 will be, as indicated in Fig 2, fmnly mounted to the arm rest assembly and extended for use.

Furthermore, the angle at which the tray 31 is extended may be altered by virtue of the hinge mounting 32 and the adjustable tab 39 which may be swung out to engage with the desired portion of a multilevel block 41 mounted to the underside of the body 31.

Turning now to Fig 3, the respective trays 23, 31 may be seen in their stowed position.

The front or driver's tray 23 is stowed by means of the engagement of the tray shanks 24, 25 with the upstanding support elements 22, 22'. When in this position, it will be seen that the hollow bracket 30 mounted to the underside of the front tray 23 will be in such a position as to receive the downwardly extending bar 38 mounted to the distal end of the bar 37 of the tray 31, and thereby, the tray 31 is mounted upon the first tray 23 in "piggy-back" fashion, as explicitly illustrated in Fig 3a.

Fig 4 depicts the seat arm rest assembly as illustrated in Fig 1, provided with a seat headrest.

This seat headrest comprises a cushion 42 forming the headrest proper which is adjustably mounted by means of a connecting element 43 projecting from the rear of the cushion 42 for insertion within a long vertically extending hollow element 44 being secured thereto by means of an adjustable fastening screw S7.

The connecting element 44 is secured to the seat arm rest assembly by means of sliding engagement with a vertically extending support bar 45 mounted to the horizontal support bar 21 and secured in position by means of an adjustable fastening screw Sg.

Fig 5 depicts the seat arm rest assembly of Fig 4 as with the addition of a seat headrest, further provided with the trays 23, 31 in the extended position of Fig 2.

Yet further, a pair of pouches 46, 47 has been added, a first pouch 46 dependingly mounted from one of the arm rests 1 and a second pouch 47 dependingly mounted from the horizontally extending hollow elements 20, 20'.

Claims

1. An arm rest attachment for a vehicle seat comprising a support frame provided with a pair of arm rests, and means for securing the frame to the seat such that the arm rests extend to either side of the seat back in the arm rest position.

2. An attachment as claimed in claim 1 wherein the support frame is formed of two frame halves with an adjustable connecting member between the two frame halves thereby to secure the frame halves to the respective sides of the seat back.

3. An attachment as claimed in claim 2 wherein each frame half is provided with an arm rest support bar which is adjustable thereon to raise and lower the position of the arm rests.

4. An attachment as claimed in claim 3 wherein each arm rest is pivotally mounted to its associated support bar for pivotal movement from a normal arm rest position to a set aside position to allow user access to the vehicle seat.

5. An attachment as claimed in claim 4 wherein the arm rest support bar is provided with an adjustment screw for adjusting the angle of pivot of the arm rests with respect thereto.

6. An attachment as claimed in claim 5 wherein the arm rests are formed of a main arm rest support body slidably mounted for selected positioning on a support shaft pivotally mounted to said support bar, the arm rest support being provided with internal passageways for insertion of the support limbs of a seat tray.

7. An attachment as claimed in any preceding claim wherein each support frame half is provided with first and second spaced securing arms provided with support pads, the securing arms being length adjustable to bring the support pads into firm engagement with a seat back, thereby to anchor the frame thereto.

8. An attachment as claimed in claim 7 wherein the first and second securing arms are coupled together by a connecting member which is length adjustable to vary the distance between the securing arms.

9. An attachment as claimed in claim 6 wherein the adjustable connecting member is provided with upstanding hollow elements for accepting the limbs of the seat tray for storage purposes.

10. An attachment as claimed in claim 9 wherein an elongate support bar is attached to the connecting member for mounting a head cushion for the back of the vehicle seat.

11. A vehicle seat harness for providing one or more additional seat facilities such as an arm rest, a head rest and a meal tray support comprising a support frame, one or more of said facilities provided on the support frame, and means for securing the support frame to the seat such that the or each said facility is available for use.

12. A vehicle seat harness substantially as described hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

13. An arm rest attachment for a vehicle seat substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.