Claims
- 1. A powered seat slide device for sliding a seat on a floor to a desired position, comprising:
- two stationary rails extending on and along the floor in parallel with each other, each stationary rail including a bottom wall, parallel side walls raised vertically from respective sides of the bottom wall and opposed flanges extending outwardly from tops of the respective side wall;
- two movable rails having the seat mounted thereon, said movable rails slidably and respectively engaged with said stationary rails, each movable rail including inwardly flanged side walls and being slidably engaged with the associated stationary rail in such a manner that the inwardly flanged side walls of the movable rail embrace the opposed flanges of the stationary rail, each movable rail and the associated stationary rail being assembled to define therebetween an elongated tunnel which extends along a common axis of the stationary and movable rails;
- an elongated rack plate housed in said elongated tunnel having opposed sides respectively secured to the opposed flanges of one of said stationary rails to extend along the same and form an enclosed cross-section therewith, so that the stationary rail is mechanically strengthened, said rack plate being formed with a longitudinally extending slit at least one side of which is formed with evenly spaced teeth;
- a gear mechanism mounted to one of said movable rails to move therewith, said one movable rail being in association with the stationary rail to which said rack plate is connected, said gear mechanism having a pinion which is projected into side elongated tunnel and operatively meshed with said teeth of said rack plate; and
- an electric motor for actuating said gear mechanism.
- 2. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 1, in which said elongate rack plate is secured to said stationary rail and said gear mechanism is mounted to said movable rail.
- 3. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 2, in which said elongated rack plate is an elongate plate which has a longitudinally extending slit one side of which is formed with teeth which serve as the rack.
- 4. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 3, in which said pinion of the gear mechanism is put in said slit of said elongate plate operatively meshed with said teeth.
- 5. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a flexible drive cable which connects said electric motor to said gear mechanism for transmitting power of the motor to said gear mechanism.
- 6. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 5, further compressing a gear housing which is securely mounted on said movable rail to house therein essential parts of said gear mechanism.
- 7. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 6, in which said gear mechanism comprises:
- a first shaft housed in said gear housing in a manner to be rotatable about its axis, said first shaft mounting thereon said pinion;
- a worm wheel mounted on said first shaft thereby to rotate together with said pinion about the axis of the first shaft; and
- a worm operatively engaged with said worm wheel and connected to a leading end of said flexible drive cable by said electric motor.
- 8. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 7, in which said gear housing is provided with a hub portion which is projected into said elongated tunnel of the coupled stationary and movable rails to rotatably hold an end of said first shaft.
- 9. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 8, in which said movable rail is formed with an opening through which said first shaft is projected into said elongate tunnel.
- 10. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 9, in which said stationary rail is provided with longitudinally spaced two stoppers which are arranged in said elongated tunnel to restrict the longitudinal movement of said movable rail relative to said stationary rail.
- 11. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 10, in which each stopper is covered with an elastomeric member.
- 12. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 7, in which said worm is mounted on a second shaft the axis of which is perpendicular to that of said first shaft.
- 13. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 5, in which said electric motor is mounted in a recess formed in said seat.
- 14. A powered seat slide device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a slider means mounted with the movable rails for receiving the opposed flanges and the opposed sides of the rack plate.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
61-181033 |
Jul 1986 |
JPX |
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Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 078,706 filed 7/28/87 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (5)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2844647 |
Apr 1980 |
DEX |
1415381 |
Sep 1965 |
FRX |
2341454 |
Sep 1977 |
FRX |
2440285 |
May 1980 |
FRX |
2510952 |
Feb 1983 |
FRX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
78706 |
Jul 1987 |
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