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Leaf spring track latch

Leaf spring track latch description/claims

The invention relates to a seat track assembly for a motor vehicle seat. More particularly, this invention relates to a seat track assembly including a leaf spring for biasing a latch to a locked position and permitting resilient movement of the latch along a linear path between the locked position and an unlocked position.

Automotive vehicles include seats for supporting occupants within the vehicle. Seats typically include a seat track assembly interconnecting the seat to a vehicle structure, such as a floor, to allow selective locking and fore and aft adjustment of the seat along the floor among a plurality of seating positions. The seat track assembly typically includes a fixed track that is fixedly secured to the floor of the vehicle and a movable track that is fixedly secured to a bottom of the seat and slidably coupled to the fixed track.

Often, a manual seat adjuster is provided to actuate the seat track assembly to control the fore and aft adjustment of the seat. Typically, the manual seat adjuster may be a towel bar or other handle which actuates a latching mechanism. The latching mechanism selectively secures the movable track relative to the fixed track, thus preventing further fore and aft adjustment of the seat. Such latching mechanisms typically will include a latch with windows operatively coupled to one track which engage teeth on the other track, or a latch with at least one tooth operatively coupled to one track which engages an opening or notch in the other track. The towel bar typically has a handle portion which is located at a front of the seat, directly below a seat cushion. The towel bar is used to actuate the latching mechanism between a locked position and an unlocked position.

The latching mechanism is ordinarily in the locked position preventing the seat from moving fore and aft relative to the vehicle. When a seat occupant desires to adjust the seat fore or aft, the towel bar is pulled upward and the latching mechanism moves to the unlocked position, thereby permitting fore and aft adjustment of the seat. Once the seat occupant adjusts the seat to the desired position and releases the towel bar, the latching mechanism automatically returns to the locked position, thereby preventing further fore and aft adjustment of the seat.

While such latching mechanisms are common in the vehicle seating art, current designs use numerous parts, which is not conducive to low cost or rapid assembly of the seat track assemblies. It therefore remains desirable to provide a simple and robust latching mechanism having a minimum number of parts, a low cost to produce, and which can be rapidly assembled.

According to one aspect of the invention, a seat track assembly is provided for mounting a seat to a vehicle floor. The seat track assembly includes a track mechanism having a fixed track that is adapted to be mounted to the vehicle floor and a movable track that is adapted to be fixedly secured to the seat and slidably coupled to the fixed track. The seat track assembly also includes a latch that is operatively coupled to the movable track for selectively engaging the fixed track to interlock the movable track relative to the fixed track. The seat track assembly further includes a towel bar that is operatively coupled to the latch for actuating the latch between a locked position coupled with the fixed track to prevent sliding movement between the fixed and movable tracks and an unlocked position decoupled from the fixed track to allow sliding movement between the fixed and movable tracks. In addition, the seat tack assembly includes a leaf spring that extends between the movable track and the latch. The leaf spring biases the latch into the locked position and permits resilient movement of the latch along a linear path between the locked and unlocked positions in response to pivotal movement of the towel bar.

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:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a seat track assembly including a towel bar and a pair of latching mechanisms according to the invention;

FIG. 2A is a fragmentary, cross-sectional side view of the seat track assembly with the towel bar lifted and a latch in an unlocked position;

FIG. 2B is a fragmentary, cross-sectional side view of the seat track assembly with the towel bar in a use position and the latch in a locked position;

FIG. 2C is a fragmentary, cross-sectional side view of the seat track assembly with the towel bar forced downward and the latch in the locked position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, partially cut-away perspective view of a track mechanism illustrating the latch in the locked position;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, partially cut-away perspective view of the track mechanism illustrating the latch in the unlocked position;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 6-6 of FIG. 4.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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