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Foldable vehicle seat from a use position to a stowed position and related layout of a seat assembly

Foldable vehicle seat from a use position to a stowed position and related layout of a seat assembly description/claims

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/468,972 filed Nov. 15, 2005, which is a U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371(c) of PCT/GB02/00732 filed Feb. 22, 2002, which claims priority to Great Britain patent application Serial No. 0104504.6 filed Feb. 23, 2001, the entire disclosures of such are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

The present invention relates to a vehicle seat support mechanism.

In particular, but not exclusively, one aspect of the present invention relates to a vehicle seat having a seat cushion and a seat back which are movably connected to another by said vehicle seat support mechanism and which are also both movably mounted to a supporting floor by said mechanism.

Preferably the mechanism is arranged to enable the seat cushion to be moved between a normal use position and a stowed position, the seat cushion in its normal use position being located generally horizontally to enable an occupant of the vehicle to sit thereon and in its stowed position being located in an upright orientation.

Preferably on movement of the seat cushion between its normal use and stowed positions, the mechanism is operable to simultaneously move the seat back between an in-use upright position to a stowed upright position. Preferably the in-use upright position and the stowed upright position of the seat back have the same general vertical orientation.

Preferably the seat back, when in its stowed position is located at a lower height than when in its in-use upright position.

Preferably the mechanism includes a support mount adapted to be fixedly mounted on a support floor, such as the vehicle floor, and on each side of the seat, a first link for pivotally connecting the seat back to the mount and a second link for pivotally connecting the seat back to the mount, the seat cushion being fixedly connected to one of said links such that said seat cushion is pivotally connected to said mount by said one link.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a seat assembly for a vehicle, the seat assembly including at least two side by side seats, a first of said seats being movable to a stowed position and a second of said seats being movable rearwardly and inwardly of the vehicle body when said first seat is located in its stowed position.

Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:—

FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle seat frame according to an embodiment of the invention, showing its seat cushion in its normal use position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the seat frame shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the vehicle seat frame of FIG. 1 showing the seat cushion in its stowed position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the vehicle seat shown In FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the vehicle seat of FIG. 1 showing the seat cushion at a mid-position between the positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 3;

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• Utility Patent

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