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Swivel seat with hydraulic connectionsSwivel seat with hydraulic connections description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080042480, Swivel seat with hydraulic connections. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001]This invention relates generally to seats for work vehicles. In particular it relates to swivel seats having hydraulically adjustable components. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002]Work vehicles, such as agricultural machines and construction machines, including such vehicles as tractors, harvesters, road graders, backhoes, skid steer vehicles, telehandlers, and others are often provided with swivel seats to permit the operator to move to more than one working position. In recent years, many of the seats have been provided with spring loading systems, whether mechanical springs, air springs, or hydraulic springs, to make the ride for the operator more comfortable. [0003]There are problems with the seat arrangements, such as the limited amount of room for the operator's feet, which is exacerbated by the need to provide additional connections to the seat which may include electrical wires, pneumatic lines, or hydraulic lines, to provide the springing, control the seat movement, and provide connections to additional seat features such as intelligent armrests having a plurality of controls. [0004]Providing enough slack to permit the seat to be swiveled through a significant angle results in a tangle of cables, wires, conduits and other connections that get in the way of the operator's feet and legs. [0005]What is needed, therefore, is an improved swivel seat base that has a central passageway for routing the various connections from the vehicle to the swiveling seat portion. It is an object of this invention to provide such a seat. This is provided by routing the operative connections through a more central passageway or aperture in the seat swivel, which permits the length of the connections to be reduced. This is enhanced by providing a swivel in the connections which reduces the twisting in the connections that (in the case of stiff connections such as hydraulic lines) can cause the seat to swivel back to its original position. It is an object of the system described herein to provide one or more of the foregoing advantages. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006]In accordance with the first aspect of this invention, a swiveling seat is provided having a seat swivel with a central passageway disposed adjacent to the swivel axis of the seat and through which operative connections are carried from the seat to the vehicle. These connections may include hydraulic connections. The connections may include hydraulic swivel fittings in the hydraulic connections. The seat may be supported on a plurality of rollers. The rollers may be mounted to rotate about axes that intersect the swivel axis of the seat. The hydraulic swivel fittings may include two plates coupled together swivel about the swivel axis in which two hydraulic channels are provided that are configured to conduct two separate flows of hydraulic fluid therethrough. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0007]FIG. 1 is a partial fragmentary plan view of a swivel seat base. [0008]FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side view of a swiveling seat using the swivel seat base of FIG. 1. A hydraulic actuator for dynamically controlling the position of the seat is coupled to the seat and is driven by hydraulic fluid provided through a hydraulic swivel fitting disposed in the center of the seat. [0009]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the swivel seat base and hydraulic swivel fitting of the foregoing figures as viewed through section line 3-3 in FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT [0010]Referring now to FIG. 2, a swivel seat 100 for work vehicles is shown. The seat includes an operator seat mounted on a seat base 102, which is mounted on scissor arms 104, 106. The scissor arms are arranged to raise and lower the operator seat portion of the swivel seat 100 when hydraulic cylinder 108 is extended and retracted, respectively. [0011]Scissor arms 104, 106 are mounted on pedestal 110. Hydraulic cylinder 108 is mounted to and between seat base 102 and pedestal 110. [0012]Pedestal 110 is mounted to seat swivel 112. Seat swivel 112 includes a top plate 114 which is coupled to a bottom plate 116 to swivel with respect thereto about a swivel axis 118 that extends vertically and perpendicular to the planar extent of top plate 114 and bottom plate 116. [0013]A swivel mechanism 118 is disposed between and fixed to top plate 114 and bottom plate 116 to permit the top and bottom plates to swivel with respect to each other about swivel axis 118. Both the top plate 114 and the bottom plate 116 have central apertures 120, 122, respectively, through which hydraulic lines 124, 126 pass. [0014]A hydraulic swivel coupling 128 is disposed in hydraulic lines 124, 126 to permit an upper portion of hydraulic lines 124, 126 to swivel with respect to the lower portion of hydraulic lines 124, 126 while simultaneously and continuously conducting hydraulic fluid through those hydraulic lines. [0015]Hydraulic lines 124, 126 are coupled at one end to the retract and extend ports, respectively, of hydraulic cylinder 108. Hydraulic lines 124, 126 are coupled at their other ends to electronic control valve 130, which is configured to control the flow to and from hydraulic cylinder 108. [0016]Electronic control unit (ECU) 132 is coupled to electronic control valve 130 to open and close the valve according to an internal computer algorithm. Opening and closing valve 130 selectively sends hydraulic fluid from a hydraulic fluid source 134 to the cylinder 108 and sends hydraulic fluid from the cylinder 108 to hydraulic fluid reservoir 136. ECU 132 is preferably a digital microcontroller controlled by internal digital computer instructions stored in a memory of the ECU that dynamically raises and lowers seat 100 during operation to provide a cushioned ride for the operator sitting in seat 100. The particular construction of ECU 132 and the instructions are not the subject of this invention and therefore are not described in detail. [0017]Bottom plate 116 is mounted on the floor 138 of the vehicle. Floor 138 has an aperture 140 which receives and supports hydraulic swivel coupling 128 for swiveling concentric with the swivel axis 118 of seat 100 that is defined by seat swivel 112. Aperture 140 also passes hydraulic lines 124, 126 from valve 130 and ECU 132 disposed beneath the floor to hydraulic cylinder 108 disposed above the floor. [0018]Referring now to FIGS. 2-3, the upper portion of hydraulic line 124 extending from the hydraulic cylinder 108 to the seat base is coupled to port 142 in upper plate 144 of hydraulic swivel coupling 128. Port 142 is in fluid communication with a circular recess 146 formed in the bottom of upper plate 144 that is concentric with swivel axis 118. [0019]A second circular recess 148 on the upper surface of lower plate 150 of hydraulic swivel coupling 128 is in fluid communication with circular recess 146 in the bottom of upper plate 144, and is also concentric with swivel axis 118. When upper plate 144 is swiveled with respect to lower plate 150, circular recess 146 remains in fluid communication with circular recess 148 and thereby provides a continuous path of fluid flow there between regardless of the relative angular positions of the upper plate with respect to the lower plate about swivel axis 118. Continue reading about Swivel seat with hydraulic connections... Full patent description for Swivel seat with hydraulic connections Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Swivel seat with hydraulic connections patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Swivel seat with hydraulic connections or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Apparatus for use in connecting a car seat belt to a child's car seat Next Patent Application: Controller for seat locking device Industry Class: Chairs and seats ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Swivel seat with hydraulic connections patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.18478 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Daimler Chrysler , DirecTV , Exxonmobil Chemical Company , Goodyear , Intel , Kyocera Wireless , 174 |
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