SUPPORT BRACKET AND HEADREST WITH SUPPORT BRACKET

Abstract

Inter alia, the invention relates to a support bracket (12) with two bar regions bracket on a vehicle seat, with a traverse (15) connecting the bar regions pivotally supporting a head contact part (11) of a headrest (10), and with locking means of a latch (17) for blocking pivoting the head contact part (11).

The special feature is that the traverse (15) is made of plastic or a composite material and comprises attachment regions for securing to a support rod (13a, 13b) or is integrally connected with bar regions.

Claims

1. A support bracket comprising: two support rods on a vehicle seat, a traverse connecting the support rods, made of plastic or of a composite material, and pivotally supporting a head contact part of a headrest, and attachment regions on the traverse for securing to the support rods or integrally connected with the support rods.

2. The support bracket according to claim 1, further comprising: slide surfaces for the pivotal slide-mounting of the head contact part and molded on the traverse.

3. The support bracket according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one strike for arresting the head contact part is and molded in at least one pivot position on the traverse.

4. The support bracket according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one stop surface molded on the traverse and shaped to cooperate with a counter surface of the head contact part and to limit pivoting of the head contact part in at least one pivoting direction.

5. The support bracket according to claim 1, wherein holes are formed on the traverse that each form a seat for a respective support rod.

6. The support bracket according to claim 5, wherein at least a first stop formation is formed on the seat that prevents movement of the support rod in a demounting direction or with respect to a rotation in the hole around a longitudinal axis of the support rod.

7. The support bracket according to claim 6, further comprising: a guide surface molded on the traverse and suitable to guide a latch element of the latch into engagement with the stop formation.

8. The headrest with a head contact part that is pivotal on the traverse of a support bracket, wherein the support bracket is formed in accordance with claim 1.

9. The headrest according to claim 9, wherein the head contact part comprises bearing surfaces that respectively cooperate with the slide surfaces and form a pivot bearing.

10. The headrest according to claim 9, wherein the head contact part is arrestable in at least one pivot position with a latch.

11. The headrest according to claim 10, wherein the latch is moveable between a latched position and a released position and comprises a latch element and a strike that can be releasably engaged, and the latch element is on the head contact part and the strike is on the traverse, or that the strike is on the head contact part and the latch element is on the traverse.

12. The headrest according to claim 11, wherein the latch element is formed as a slider that is mounted on the head contact part for straight-line movement.

13. The headrest according to claim 11, wherein the latch element is actuatable by an actuation outside on the headrest, in that a housing of the head contact part comprises at least one recess for operating the actuation, and in that the recess is covered by an elastically deformable plastic skin.

Description

[0029] Further advantages result on the basis of the description of an embodiment schematically shown in the drawing. The drawing shows in:

[0030] FIG. 1 a perspective view of the headrest in a use position,

[0031] FIG. 2 an exploded view of the headrest,

[0032] FIG. 3 a front view of the headrest in a use position,

[0033] FIG. 4 a side view of the headrest according to arrow I in FIG. 3,

[0034] FIG. 5 a side view of the headrest in the nonuse position,

[0035] FIG. 6 a front view of the headrest according to FIG. 3 with the latch in the latched position and the cushion and a front part of a housing of the head contact part not illustrated,

[0036] FIG. 7 a perspective view of the headrest with the latch in the released position and the cushion and a front part of the housing not illustrated,

[0037] FIG. 8 a view of a detail along section line A in FIG. 6,

[0038] FIG. 9 a sectional view along section line B-B in FIG. 8,

[0039] FIG. 10 a view of a detail according to FIG. 8 with the latch element is in the released position,

[0040] FIG. 11 a sectional view according to the section line C-C in FIG. 10,

[0041] FIG. 12 a perspective view of the traverse as a single component,

[0042] FIG. 13 a front view of the traverse,

[0043] FIG. 14 a view according to arrow G in FIG. 13,

[0044] FIG. 15 a view according to arrow H in FIG. 14,

[0045] FIG. 16 a schematic front view of a second embodiment of the headrest in the use position with the latch in the latched position,

[0046] FIG. 17 a schematic sectional view of the headrest according to section line D-D in FIG. 16,

[0047] FIG. 17a a detail according to section line Z in FIG. 17,

[0048] FIG. 18 a front view of the headrest according to FIG. 16 with the latch in the released position,

[0049] FIG. 19 a sectional view according to the section line E-E in FIG. 18,

[0050] FIG. 20 a sectional view according to the section line F-F in FIG. 18,

[0051] FIG. 21 a sectional view of the headrest in the style of FIG. 19 in the nonuse position,

[0052] FIG. 22 a sectional view of the headrest in the style of FIG. 20 in the nonuse position.

[0053] A headrest as a whole is indicated with reference character 10 throughout the drawing. Like reference characters relate to corresponding parts in the different figures even though small letters are added or omitted.

[0054] According to FIGS. 1 to 5, the headrest 10 comprises a head contact part 11 with a head contact surface 43 that is mounted on a support bracket 12. The support bracket 12 comprises support rods 13a and 13b with free ends 14a and 14b. The upper ends 16a and 16b opposite the lower ends 14a and 14b are connected with a traverse 15 (see FIG. 2). The traverse 15 forms a pivot axis a for the head contact part 11 that is pivotal between a use position (see for example FIGS. 1, 3, and 4) and an nonuse position (see for example FIG. 5). Springs 25a and 25b that respectively urge the head contact part 11 with one spring end 27b and are held in a seat 28 of the traverse 15 with another spring end 27a urge the head contact part 11 into the nonuse position.

[0055] The head contact part 11 is arrestable in the use position by a latch 17. The latch 17 is adjustable between a latched position and a released position. The latch 17 is urged by a spring 23 (see for example FIG. 2) into the latched position. By moving a button 18 that can be operated from outside in the direction y.sub.1 the latch 17 can be moved against the force of the spring 23 from the latched position to the released position. In a return of the latch 17 to the latched position caused by the spring 23, the button 18 is also displaced in the direction y.sub.2 to the initial position.

[0056] In the latched position, the head contact part 11 is pivotably-arrested in the position-of-use. In other words, the head contact part 11 can be pivoted neither in the direction u.sub.1 nor in the direction u.sub.2. In the released position, the head contact part 11 is moveable between the position-of-use and the nonuse position. A housing 60 of the head contact part 12 is moveable relative to the support bracket 12 merely in the pivot directions u.sub.1 and u.sub.2, i.e. it is not-moveable in the directions x.sub.1, x.sub.2, y.sub.1, y.sub.2, as well as z.sub.1 and z.sub.2. In a manner known per se, the support rods 13a and 13b can be supported in backrest-fixed guides of a seat in a height-adjustable manner.

[0057] In the present embodiment, merely an arresting in the position-of-use is provided. According to an alternative configuration, the headrest could also be equipped with a locking mechanism in the nonuse position or in other positions.

[0058] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the headrest 10. It is discernable that the support bracket 12 includes the support rods 13a and 13b and the traverse 15. The traverse 15 is provided with slide surfaces 19a and 19b pivotally supporting the head contact part 11. Furthermore, the traverse 15 comprises parts of the latch 17 as well as a seat 28a for the reception of the spring end 27a of the spring 25a and a seat 28b for the reception of the spring end 27a of the spring 25b. In the traverse 15, holes 44a and 44b are formed as well, (not discernable in FIG. 2), and the hole 44a is provided to receive the end 16a of the support rod 13a, and the hole 44b is provided to receive the end 16b of the support rod 13b.

[0059] The head contact part 11 comprises a rear part 29 as well as a front part 30 of a housing 60, a cushion part 31, a cover 32 in the form of a slip-cover, as well as a latch element 20 formed as a slider that is part of the latch and the springs 23 and 25a and 25b.

[0060] The rear part 29 is formed with a guide device 33 for guiding the latch element 20, receptacle trunnions 26a and 26b for holding the spring 23, as well as bearing structures 34a and 34b pivotally supporting the head contact part 11 on the traverse 15. Supplementary bearing structures that are not shown in FIG. 2, are formed on the front part 30. The bearing structures 34a and 34b of the rear part 29 as well as the bearing structures of the front part 30 together form bearing surfaces 56a and 56b, wherein the bearing surface 56a cooperates with the bearing surface 19a, and the bearing surface 56b cooperates with the bearing surface 19b in order to mount the head contact part 11 on the traverse in a pivotal manner by a slide bearing. Laterally, the rear part 29 comprises recesses 40a and 40b for operating the button 18 from outside, as well as recesses 41a and 41b that are provided for the passage of the support rods 13a and 13b.

[0061] In FIG. 6, the headrest 10 is shown without the front part 30 of the housing 60. As shown in FIG. 6 that the latch element 20 includes the reception trunnion 24 for an end (right end in FIG. 6) of the spring 23 that is molded on the latch element 20 in the present embodiment. The reception trunnion 26a for the other end of the spring 23 is, as mentioned above, on the rear part 29 of the head box.

[0062] The latch element 20 is mounted for straight-line movement in the direction y.sub.1 and y.sub.2 relative to the housing 60, i.e. relative to the rear part 29 and to the front part 30. The latch element 20 can be moved in the direction y.sub.1 to the released position shown in FIG. 11 from the latched position according to FIG. 6. The latch element 20 can be moved in the direction y.sub.2 to the latched position from the released position. The latch element 20 is not moveable relative to the housing 60 in the directions z.sub.1 and z.sub.2 as well as in the directions x.sub.1 and x.sub.2.

[0063] The latch element 20 comprises extensions 35a and 35b on its lower side. In the latched position, a front surface 58 of the extension 35a cooperates with a stop surface 55 (not discernable in FIG. 6) of a projection 59a of the traverse 15, and a front surface 58 of the extension 35b cooperates with a stop surface 55 of a projection 59b of the traverse 15.

[0064] The guide device 33 for the latch element 20 comprises projections 37a and 37b that respectively form slide surfaces 38 for the latch element 20 and that respectively are provided with hook structures 39 that engage around the latch element 20 in order to prevent one degree of freedom in the direction x.sub.1.

[0065] The latch element 20 is moveable from the latched position shown in FIG. 6 in the direction y.sub.1 to the released position against the force of the spring 23 by the button 18. If the force applied to the button 18 decreases, the latch element 20 and along with it the button 18 are moved back to the latched position in the direction y.sub.2 by the spring 23.

[0066] The button 18 engages through the recess 40b without being guided on the housing 60. A faceplate 57 that is not shown in FIG. 6, covers the recess 40b in the mounted state of the headrest 10 in such a way that the button 18 is actuatable via the faceplate 57.

[0067] In the present embodiment, the button 18 is arranged on the left side of the head contact part 11, but the button 18 and the spring 23 can likewise be mounted on the right side of the head contact part 11. For this purpose, another embodiment of the traverse 15 is provided in which the strike 22 is formed in a mirror-symmetrical manner with respect to the traverse 15 shown in this embodiment. The rear part 29 of the head box and the latch element 20 can be used in identical fashion. For this purpose, a further receptacle trunnion 26b for the spring 23 is provided on the rear part 29. In this case, the latch element 20 is mounted in a manner turned by 180 around the z-axis.

[0068] The latch element 20 comprises a locking region 21 that is in engagement with a strike 22 of the traverse 15 in the latched position (see for example FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 that shows the detail A in FIG. 6). The latch element 20 including the locking region 21 and the strike 22 are part of the latch 17. The locking region 21 comprises locking surfaces 45a and 45b (see FIG. 9) that cooperate with counter-bearing surfaces 47a and 47b of the traverse 15 in order to prevent pivoting of the head contact part 11 in one of the directions u.sub.1 and u.sub.2 in the latched position. Furthermore, the contact between a contact surface 46 of the locking region 21 and a contact surface 48 of the traverse 15 restricts the movement of the latch element 20 in the direction y.sub.2.

[0069] As shown in FIG. 9 that the locking region 21 is formed as a dovetail widening downward in the direction z.sub.2. In other words, the part of the locking region 21 that engages in the strike 22 has a smaller extension 11 in the x-direction in the upper end than in a lower end that has an extension 12 in the x-direction. The strike 22 of the traverse 15 is formed complementary to the locking region 21. In this way, the locking region 21 is held in engagement with the strike 22 in a form-fitting manner in the latched position. Even with higher forces in the direction x.sub.1 or x.sub.2 that are transmitted by the housing 60 of the head contact part 11 to the latch element 20, it is fixed in engagement with the traverse 15, and the forces can be assumed reliably by the support bracket 12.

[0070] Moreover, the latch element 20 of FIG. 9 is guided in the rear part 29 of the head box by further slide surfaces. A lock external surface 50 of the locking region 21 cooperates with a slide surface 49 of the rear part 29, for example, and prevents movement of the latch element 20 in the direction x.sub.2. Furthermore, a lock external surface 52 of the latch element 20 cooperates with a slide surface 51 of the rear part 29, preventing movement in the direction z.sub.1.

[0071] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9 that the locking region 21 comprises a projection 36 that forms an abutment surface 54 that extends radially to the pivot axis a. The abutment surface 54 rests against a support surface 53 of the traverse 15 in the latched position. In this way, moments of the head contact part 11 can be assumed in the direction u.sub.1 by the traverse that for example are caused because of a force that acts on the head contact part 11 from the rear (from the right in FIG. 9) in the direction x.sub.1.

[0072] In the nonuse position, the support surface 53 cooperates as a stop with a surface of the rear part 29 in order to restrict the pivoting in the direction u.sub.1.

[0073] When the latch element 20 is moved to the released position, the locking region 21 is moved out of the engagement with the strike 22. The latch element 20 travels the path 13 between the latched position and the released position (see FIG. 11). In the released position of FIGS. 10 and 11, the locking region 21 is out of engagement with the strike 22.

[0074] In the released position of the latch 17, the head contact part 11 can be moved from the position-of-use in the direction u.sub.1 to the nonuse position by the springs 25. A contact surface 46 of the locking region 21 rests against a guide surface 42 of the traverse 15. The guide surface 42 holds the latch element 20 in the released position during the movement to the nonuse position against the force of the spring 23.

[0075] If the head contact part 11 is moved from the nonuse position to the use position, the latch element 20 is automatically moved to the latched position by the spring 23. Once the use position is reached, the locking region 21 rests no longer against the guide surface 42 and the latch element 20 can move in the direction y.sub.2 to its initial position with the locking region 21 again moving into engagement with the strike 22.

[0076] A second embodiment of the headrest is described in the schematic FIGS. 16 to 22 that has the same functions as the first embodiment. It differs by the arrangement of the spring 23.

[0077] As can in particular be taken from FIG. 2, the invention allows the construction of a headrest 10 that is composed of a few parts. Production and assembly costs are therefore reduced compared to conventional headrests known from the prior art. Moreover, the headrest ensures high functional reliability.