Motor-vehicle accessory

Abstract

An armrest has a base, a sliding part movable translationally relative to the base between a first end position and a second end position, and first and second guides on base. One of the guides has a first bearing and a second bearing at least one of which is pivotal in a respective bearing seat. The other guide has a first guide bar and a second guide bar spaced apart in a movement direction and movable jointly in the movement direction relative to the respective first and second bearings. The first guide bar extends in a straight line along a first longitudinal axis and the second guide bar in a straight line along a second longitudinal axis. The first longitudinal axis and/or the second longitudinal axis extends at an angle to a straight line extending through a center of the first bearing and a center of the second bearing.

Claims

1. An accessory comprising: a base; a sliding part movable translationally relative to the base between a first end position and a second end position; a first guide unit on the base; and a second guide unit on the sliding part, one of the guide units having a first bearing and a second bearing at least one of which is pivotal in a respective bearing seat, the other guide unit having a first guide bar and a second guide bar spaced apart in a movement direction and movable jointly in the movement direction relative to the respective first and second bearings, the first guide bar extending in a straight line along a first longitudinal axis and the second guide bar extending in a straight line along a second longitudinal axis, the first longitudinal axis and/or the second longitudinal axis extending at an angle to a straight line extending through a center of the first bearing and a center of the second bearing.

2. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein there are two spaced-apart first bearings and two spaced-apart second bearings as well as two first bars and two second bars.

3. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the first longitudinal axis and the a second longitudinal axis are parallel to one another.

4. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the a first longitudinal axis and the second longitudinal axis together form an angle greater than or less than 0°.

5. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the one bearing has an at least partly circular cylindrical or spherical outer surface, the bearing seat being complementarily shaped.

6. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the one bearing is a sliding bearing or a roller bearing.

7. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the guide bars are on the base and the bearings are on the sliding part, or the guide bars are on the sliding part and the bearings are on the base.

8. The accessory according to claim 1, further comprising: a latch for locking the sliding part in position on the base.

9. The accessory according to claim 8, further comprising: an actuating device for moving the latch between a latched position with the sliding part fixed on the base and a released position movable relative to the base.

10. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the accessory is an armrest, a console or a table having a movable panel.

Description

(1) Other advantages become apparent on the basis of the description of an embodiment schematically described in the drawings where:

(2) FIG. 1 is an oblique perspective front view of an accessory in the form of an armrest,

(3) FIG. 2 is an oblique perspective rear view of the armrest,

(4) FIG. 3 is a side view of the armrest,

(5) FIG. 4 is a plan view from the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 3, with padding of an arm support of the armrest having been omitted for the sake of clarity,

(6) FIG. 5a is a sectional view along sectional line B-B in FIG. 4,

(7) FIG. 5b is a schematic view of the first bearing and the second bearing relative to the first guide bar and the second guide bar in four different positions of the sliding part, including the first end position and the second end position,

(8) FIG. 6 is a sectional view along sectional line C-C in FIG. 4,

(9) FIG. 7 is a sectional view based on FIG. 6, in which the latch is in a released position,

(10) FIG. 8 is a perspective view based on FIG. 1, in which the arm support is in the front end position,

(11) FIG. 9 is an oblique perspective rear view of the armrest according to FIG. 8,

(12) FIG. 10 is a side view of the armrest, in which the arm support is in the front end position,

(13) FIG. 11 is a plan view from the direction of the arrow D in FIG. 10,

(14) FIG. 12 is a sectional view along sectional line E-E in FIG. 11,

(15) FIG. 13 is a sectional view along sectional line F-F in FIG. 11, in which the latch is in the latched position,

(16) FIG. 14 is a side view of the arm support of an armrest according to a second embodiment, in which the arm support has the guide bars,

(17) FIG. 15 is a side view of the base of an armrest according to a second embodiment comprising bearing seats formed thereon and bearings that are pivotably retained in the bearing seats,

(18) FIG. 16 is a plan view of the armrest, in which the arm support is in the rear position,

(19) FIG. 17 is a side view of the armrest according to the second embodiment in the rear first end position, in which the bearings and the guide bars are shown by dashed lines,

(20) FIG. 18 shows the armrest based on FIG. 16, with the arm support being in the front second end position.

(21) The armrest as a whole is denoted by reference sign 10 in the drawings.

(22) According to FIG. 1, the armrest has a base 11 and an arm support 12 movable relative to the base 11. The arm support 12 can be moved relative to the base 11 between a rear first end position as shown in FIG. 3 and a front second end position shown in FIG. 10. The arm support 12 is approximately U-shaped and has a central arm-support region 13 comprising an arm-support surface 14 and lateral guide regions 15a and 15b. The arm support 12 has a front end 16 and a rear end 17.

(23) FIG. 2 shows that the base 11 has projecting guide bars 23a and 23b of a guide device 37 on either side. Furthermore, it shows a guide bar 36 projecting upward in the direction z.sub.1, which is not discussed in greater detail here. In addition, recesses 24a and 24b can be seen in the arm support 12 for receiving the guide bars.

(24) When moving between the first end position and the second end position, the arm support 12 performs both a movement in the direction x.sub.1 or x.sub.2 and a movement in the direction z.sub.1 or z.sub.2 (see FIG. 3). While the arm-support surface 14 forms an angle α relative to a horizontal H in the first end position (see for example FIG. 3), the arm-support surface 14 is formed to be approximately parallel to the horizontal H in the second end position (see for example FIG. 10).

(25) FIG. 4 is a plan view of the armrest 10, in which the base 11 together with its first guide bars 22a and 22b and its second guide bars 23a and 23 is shown by dashed lines for better understanding of the armrest 10. The first bearings 25a and 25b and the second bearings 28a and 28b of the arm support 12 are shown by dashed lines in order to indicate their position, despite them not actually being visible in the plan view. The guide bars 22a, 22b, 23a and 23b and the bearings 25a, 25b, 28a, 28b are part of the guide device, which determines the position of the arm support 12 relative to the base 11 in any position between the rear end position and the front end position.

(26) The armrest 10 has no degrees of freedom in relation to the directions y.sub.1 and y.sub.2 due to the design and arrangement of the bearings 25a and 25b as well as 28a and 28b, such that the arm support 12 cannot be moved in these directions. The arm support 12 can be moved in the directions x.sub.1 and x.sub.2 as well as z.sub.1 and z.sub.2 as part of the movement path predetermined by the guide bars 22a, 22b, 23a, 23b.

(27) The sectional view according to FIG. 5a shows the guide bars 22b and 23b of the base 11. Moreover, the base 1 is not shown in FIG. 5a. In addition, the guide region 15b of the arm support 12 is shown. Bearing seats 27 in which sliding bearings 25b and 28b are arranged are formed in the guide region 15b. In the same way, in the guide region 15a, the bearing 25a interacts with the guide bar 22a and the bearing 28a interacts with the guide bar 23a. FIG. 5a also shows that a recess 29 for the guide bar 23b and a recess 30 for the guide bar 22b are formed in the arm support 12.

(28) The bearing 25b is linearly movably guided on the guide bar 22b and the bearing 23b is linearly movably guided on the guide bar 28b, in opposite directions. Since the bearings 25b and 28b are rotatable relative to the arm support 12 in the bearing seats 27 but a center P.sub.1 of the bearing 25b and a center P.sub.2 of the bearing 28b are always in the same position relative to the arm support, forced guidance is formed, i.e. precisely one position of the point P.sub.2 is on each position of the center P.sub.1. In the rear position of the arm support 12 according to FIG. 5, a first center line m.sub.1 of the guide bar 22b has an angle β to a straight line m.sub.3 connecting the points P.sub.1 and P.sub.2. In this position of the arm support 12, a second center line m.sub.2 of the guide bar 23b has an angle γ to the straight line m.sub.3.

(29) It can be seen that the angle β formed between the straight line m.sub.3 and the longitudinal axis m.sub.1 is greater than the angle γ formed between the straight line m.sub.3 and the longitudinal axis m.sub.2. Therefore, when the arm support 12 is moved out of the first end position in the direction x.sub.1, the front end 16 is moved further in the direction z.sub.1 than the rear end 17 of the arm support 12. In this case, the angles β and γ change during movement between the rear and the front end position.

(30) During movement of the arm support 12 between the rear end position and the front end position, the bearings 25a, 25b move relative to the bearing seats 27 in the pivoting direction v.sub.1 or v.sub.2 and the bearings 28a, 28b move relative to the bearing seats 27 in the pivoting directions q.sub.1 or q.sub.2.

(31) It can be seen that different movement characteristics can be produced by the differing arrangement of the first guide bar 22a and the second guide bar 23a relative to one another (the guide bar 22b is spaced apart from and parallel to the guide bar 22a and the guide bar 23b is spaced apart from and parallel to the guide bar 23a) and by the selection of the angles β and γ.

(32) FIG. 5b shows the straight line m.sub.3, which shows the movement properties of the arm support 12 in the present embodiment, for each of four different positions A, B, C, D of the bearing 25b relative to the guide bar 22b and of the bearing 23b relative to the guide bar 23b. In the rear first end position of the arm support, which is denoted by an “A” being added, the bearing 25b and the bearing 28b have the positions P.sub.1A and P.sub.2A and the straight line m.sub.3 has the position m.sub.3A. The angles α and γ are likewise denoted by an “A” being added. In the front second end position of the arm support 12, the bearing 25b and the bearing 28b have the positions P.sub.1D and P.sub.2D and the straight line m.sub.3 has the position m.sub.3D. The angles α and γ have a “D” added. The positions B and C are shown therebetween.

(33) While the arm support 12 is moving in the rear end 17 substantially in the direction x.sub.1 and only slightly in the direction z.sub.1 (the straight lines m.sub.3 are close to one another in the direction z.sub.1), considerable movement takes place in the direction z.sub.1 in the front end 16 of the arm support 12. As is apparent when comparing FIGS. 3 and 10, the front end 16 is raised when moving between the first and the second end position of the arm support 12. According to FIG. 10, the angle α is 0°.

(34) The armrest further has a latch 18 (see FIGS. 6 and 7), which can be moved between a latched position and a released position. In the latched position, the arm support 12 is immovably locked, and in the released position the arm support 12 can be moved between the rear end position and the front end position in the directions x.sub.1 and x.sub.2. An actuating device 19 can shift the latch 18 between the latched position and the released position. The actuating device has a handle 20 mounted so as to be easily accessible to a user on the front end 16 of the arm support 12 and serving to manually move the latch 18 between the latched position and the released position.

(35) The latch 18 is urged into the latched position by a spring 21. The handle 20 is pivotably mounted on the arm support 12 and moves the latch 18 into the released position by a pivoting movement about a pivot axis a.sub.1 formed by the pivot joint G.sub.1 in the direction u.sub.1.

(36) The sectional view according to FIG. 6 shows the latch 18 and the actuating device 19. The latch 18 has a latch 31 mounted so as to be pivotable in the directions w.sub.1 and w.sub.2 about a pivot axis a.sub.2 by a pivot joint G.sub.2. The latch 31 has a projection 32 for engaging in one of several recesses 33a, 33b and 33c in the base 11. When the projection 32 is arranged in one of the recesses 33a, 33b or 33c (see for example FIG. 6), the latch 18 is in the latched position. When the projection 32 is out of engagement with all of the recesses 33a, 33b or 33c, the latch 18 is arranged in the released position (see for example FIG. 7).

(37) The spring 21 is fastened to a fastening structure 34 of the arm support 12 by one end and to the latch 31 by another end such that a moment is generated about the pivot axis a.sub.2 in the direction w.sub.2. The spring 21 is in the latched position under pre-load.

(38) A movement-transmitting device 35 in the form of a link is articulated to the handle 20 by a pivot joint having the pivot axis a3 and is articulated to the latch 31 by a pivot joint having the pivot axis a4 such that pivoting the handle 20 in the direction u.sub.1 results in a pivoting movement of the latch 31 counter to the spring force of the spring 21 in the direction w.sub.1. In the process, the projection 32 moves out of the recess 33a into the released position according to FIG. 7.

(39) The released position is shown in FIG. 7. In the released position, the arm support can be moved in the direction x.sub.1 toward the front second end position. Once the force on the handle 20 has been released, the latch 31 is moved in the direction w.sub.2 by the spring force of the spring 21, the handle 20 being pivoted in the direction u.sub.2 by the movement transmitter 35. If the arm support 12 was for example moved into the second end position (see FIG. 8 to 13) and the force on the handle 20 was then relieved, the projection 32 would come into engagement with the recess 33c (see FIG. 13). The arm support 12 is then in the latched position again, and therefore any further movement is prevented.

(40) When moving back into the first end position, the arm support is moved in the directions x.sub.2 and z.sub.2.

(41) A second embodiment of the accessory according to the invention in the form of an armrest 110 differs from the first embodiment only in relation to the guide device 130. In this embodiment, the arm support 112 has a first guide bars 122a and 122b as well as rear guide bars 123a and 123b (see FIGS. 14 and 16). The base 111 has a first sliding bearings 125a and 125b as well as second sliding bearings 128a and 128b. When moving between the first end position and the second end position, the sliding bearings 125a and 125b slide on the guide bars 122a and 122b and the sliding bearings 128a and 128b slide on the guide bars 123a and 123b. The bearings 125a, 125b, 128a and 128b are received so as to be rotatable in the bearing seats 127 of the base 111. In this embodiment too, in the same angular position of the guide bars 122a and 122b as well as 123a and 123b, the arm support 112 performs the same movement as in the first embodiment.