WO2000029252A1

WO2000029252A1 - Vehicle foam trim with textile surface

Info

Publication number: WO2000029252A1
Application number: PCT/CA1999/001109
Authority: WO
Inventors: Donald F. Marfilius; Colin G. Neale
Original assignee: Magna Seating Systems Inc.
Priority date: 1998-11-18
Filing date: 1999-11-18
Publication date: 2000-05-25
Also published as: AU1255500A

Abstract

An electrostatic process deposits pile fibers (34) directly upon a three-dimensional interior trim article (30) made of foam (32), such as a headrest. The process uses a substrate (35) and an adhesive (36) for adhering the pile fibers (34) directly to the complex contoured surface.

Description

VEHICLE FOAM TRIM WITH TEXTILE SURFACE

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a vehicle trim piece having a textile surface, such as a headrest or armrest.

Description of the Prior Art

Certain zones of the automotive interior that are typically in regular or occasional contact with the passengers are finished by a soft-trim process to provide comfort and a soft tactile impression. These zones can include the seat cushion, seat back, headrests, armrests on the seat and armrests on the door. These parts of the automotive interior are typically covered in a similar fashion visually to convey a common impression of comfort and tactile satisfaction. Two major images prevail.

The first is the leather image that is usually effected by having either leather or leather grain vinyl seating surfaces with vinyl borders. Other components may also be trimmed with vinyl or leather. All molded components utilize gloss and grain effects to emulate the appearance of genuine leather.

The second is the textile image that includes a broad range of textiles for trimming seats, headrests, seat mounted armrests and doors. The most common automotive textiles are knitted or woven pile fabrics, or velours, in which cut fibers extend vertically from the warp of the textile to provide a soft touch. As previously discussed, molded components, including highly contoured ones, can readily be matched to leather by reproducing the grain and gloss in the mold. This provides an economical means for a desired appearance. However, a pile fabric, or velour, appearance cannot be reproduced in a molding process. In addition, if this image is required on a highly contoured component such as a halo-type headrest, it is necessary to trim the part by hand.

Trimming the part by hand involves cutting complex patterns out of either backed or plain back coated fabric and assembling them over a molded form with many difficult sew joints or seams. This operation is expensive, difficult and operator sensitive. The resulting appearance is a compromise involving any number of arbitrary joint seams all with the potential for misalignment, stretching, wrinkling and unsightly contours. Present methods to "hide" such flaws, including the addition of tactile and visual effects to a cover, are costly, especially for trim pieces having complex contours, such as the halo- type headrests.

Summary of the Invention

The subject invention provides an improved vehicle trim assembly that comprises a support for attachment to an automotive vehicle with a three-dimensional foam article supported on the support. The article consists of a homogeneous and porous block having an outer substrate defining a three-dimensional surface. Pile fibers are disposed continuously over the surface. An adhesive secures the pile fibers directly to the surface of the foam-article.

Accordingly, the foam article presents a continuous pile fiber surface without seams or other irregularities associated with the cut and sew methods.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Other advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a headrest constructed in accordance with the prior art;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a headrest constructed in accordance with the subject invention;

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the subject invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

A prior art vehicle seat headrest is generally shown at 10 in Figure 1 and is supported on a pair of rods 11 that attach to the seat back in an automotive vehicle. As alluded to above, the manufacture of the headrest 10 typically includes patterning a material, cutting the material into many pieces 12-26, and sewing or molding the pieces together at seams 28 to form an independent cover. The multi-piece 12-26 cover may then be enveloped over a preformed foam pad, or filled by a foam injection molding process, as is commonly known in the art. The many pieces and complex contour typical of a halo-type headrest 10, as shown in Figure 1, result in a trim piece having many aesthetic or visible defects. These aesthetic defects or flaws include misaligned seams 12 and 14, a stretched seam 16, wrinkled material, and a poor piece fit, which is uneven and widely gaped. The pre-sewn cover approach is also costly and often results in undesirable appearance and quality.

A vehicle trim assembly in the form of a headrest is generally indicated at 30 in Figure 2. The headrest 30 is coupled to a vehicle seat back by the conventional method of a single mounting post, or a pair of mounting posts 1 1, which are slidably received in corresponding collars (not shown) recessed in the seat back. The headrest 30 is a three- dimensional foam article supported on the rods 11. The foam of the headrest 30 at least partially encapsulates the support and, in this case, completely encapsulates a base which integrally connects the rods 11 within the headrest.

This article consists of a homogeneous and porous block of foam 32 having an outer substrate 35 defining a three-dimensional surface, i.e., the surface extends three hundred and sixty degrees about the article. The outer substrate 35 is further defined as a blow molded vinyl skin 35 surrounding the three dimensional foam article. As appreciated, the substrate 35 may be any suitable material preferably having similar characteristics as vinyl. The preferred method of manufacture for the foam 32 and substrate 35 is discussed in greater detail hereinbelow.

Unlike the prior art, the article of the present invention includes pile fibers 34 disposed continuously over the surface to present a seamless texture continuously about the entirety of the surface. As appreciated, the pile fibers 34 may be applied to only the front surface of the headrest 30 while the substrate 35 is exposed on the back surface.

An adhesive 36 secures the pile fibers 34 directly to the surface of the article 30. Preferably, the adhesive 36 is first applied to the substrate 35 and then the pile fibers 34 are applied to the adhesive 36. The pile fibers 34 are deposited by an electrostatic deposit process that constructs a pile fabric, or velour, surface that has a desirable soft surface. The process uses the adhesive 36 for adhering the pile fibers 34 to directly to the contoured surface of the three dimensional article. The surface of the article is of a consistent texture continuously therearound, i.e., the pile fibers 34 present a seamless texture continuously about the surface. The electrostatic process which may be used is disclosed in U.S. Patents 4,362,773 to Shikinami; 4,588,629 to Taylor; 4,721,642 to Yoshimi et al and 5,008,130 to Lenards. However, the prior art does not suggest depositing the pile fibers 34 directly on the surface of a complex three-dimensional interior article for an automotive vehicle.

Unlike the prior art headrest 10 shown in Figure 1, the halo-type headrest 30, shown in Figure 2, has a smooth, uniform, high quality appearance. Although the headrest 30 extends in an endless ring to define a hole in the center thereof, it should be appreciated that the headrest may be other than a halo-type headrest as shown. The headrest 30 as shown includes the contoured foam block 32 enveloped or covered by the substrate 35 and textile or pile fibers 34 to form a front face for supporting the head of a vehicle seat occupant. The headrest 30 further includes an outer peripheral edge and an inner peripheral surface 38 defining the halo-type headrest design. The pile fiber material

34 of the headrest 30 is typically a nylon, polyester, polypropylene, or the like, which provides a textile surface or textile cloth appearance to the headrest 30.

Electrostatic depositing is a process which deposits the short synthetic fibers 34 directly onto the surface to provide a uniform and luxurious textile surface and appearance. The foam 32 is an open or closed cell foam, polyurethane, high density polyethylene, fiber filled polypropylene, neoprene, or the like. While electrostatic depositing has been used for many purposes, including anti-squeak, sound dampening, insulation, friction reduction, fire retardant, surface protection, and graphic design purposes, it has not been used to provide a textile surface directly upon the outer surface of a three-dimensional article of interior trim for an automotive vehicle.

The headrest 30 is preferably manufactured by placing the vinyl skin 35 in a casting tool (not shown) and blow molding the skin 35 to conform to the interior of the tool. The foam 32 is then injected into the blow molded skin 35 and allowed to cure. The contoured foam 32 having the skin 35 is then removed from the tool. The substrate

35 or skin 35 of the foam 32 is then coated with the adhesive 36 which is capable of bonding with the fibers 34. The electrostatic deposit process is applied by electrostatically applying the short fibers 34 of nylon, polypropylene, polyester, or the like, directly to the article to bond or fuse to the adhesive 36 to the substrate 35 and create a textile surface and appearance. Thus, the textile surface simulates a fabric cover appearance, while eliminating the pre-sewn and multi-piece cover as previously utilized and as shown in Figure 1.

As can been seen in Figure 2, the headrest 30 of the subject invention does not display the aesthetic defects or flaws (i.e. misaligned seams, stretched seams, wrinkled or lumpy material, and poor piece fits) of the prior art headrest 10 shown in Figure 1. The electrostatic deposit process has eliminated the assembly seams, concealed wrinkles and lumps typically associated with the prior art.

It should also be appreciated that this electrostatic deposit process that deposits short fibers 34 directly onto the three-dimensional outer surface of the headrest 30 to provide a uniform textile surface and appearance may also be utilized on other interior components of a vehicle such as armrests.

Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle trim assembly comprising; a support for attachment to an automotive vehicle, a three dimensional foam article supported on said support, said article consisting of a homogeneous and porous block of foam having an outer substrate defining a three dimensional surface, pile fibers disposed continuously over said surface, an adhesive securing said pile fibers directly to said surface of said foam article.

2. An assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said foam of said article at least partially encapsulates said support.

3. An assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said article defines a headrest and said support extends downwardly from said article for attachment to the seat back in a vehicle.

4. An assembly as set forth in claim 3 wherein said article extends in an endless ring to define a hole in the center thereof.

5. An assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said surface of said article is of a consistent texture continuously therearound.

6. An assembly as set forth in claim 5 wherein said pile fibers present a seamless texture continuously about said surface.

7. An assembly as set forth in claim 5 wherein said surface extends three hundred and sixty degrees about said article and said pile fibers present a seamless texture continuously about the entirety of said surface.

8. An assembly as set forth in claim 5 wherein said outer substrate is further defined as a blow molded vinyl skin surrounding said three dimensional foam article.