Claims
- 1. A pivot mechanism for reducing chucking, comprising
- a quadrant adapted to be coupled with a seat back, said quadrant being pivotally mounted about a pivot and having a set of teeth;
- pawl means having a set of teeth engaging said quadrant teeth for releasably locking said quadrant in position, said pawl means pivotally mounted about a pivot and moving from a first position engaging said quadrant to a second position disengaging said quadrant enabling movement of said quadrant, said pawl means moving, due to gravitational force, from said first to said second position and said pawl means including a cam surface;
- an engagement means pivotally mounted on a pivot, said engagement means biased in a first position contacting said pawl means cam surface at a contact point and exerting a locking force on said pawl means when said pawl means is in its first position and in a second position enabling rotation of said pawl means to its second position and when said pawl means is in its first position, quadrant pivot center, pawl means pivot center and said contact point are substantially positioned at vertices of an equilateral triangle, and said locking force against said pawl means is positioned such that said pawl means is urged toward said quadrant, reducing the distance between the quadrant center of rotation, pawl means center of rotation and a pitch arc defined by said pawl means teeth, causing said pawl means teeth and quadrant teeth to more firmly mesh.
- 2. The pivot mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said quadrant, said pawl means and said engagement means are formed with a dimensional tolerance, said engagement means including a biasing spring for providing force and a cam surface for selectively engaging said pawl means cam surface, such that said engagement means biasing spring urges said pawl means and said quadrant to firmly mesh regardless of said tolerance.
- 3. The pivot mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein backlash defined between said pawl means and said quadrant is reduced when said engagement means urges said pawl means toward said quadrant.
- 4. The pivot mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pivot mechanism is adapted to couple with a seat base, said pivot mechanism being selectively operative to lock said seat back in an angular orientation with respect to said seat base or alternately to allow said seat back to recline in angular motion with respect to said seat base.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/327,117, filed Oct. 21, 1994, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (19)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2041092 |
Aug 1992 |
CAX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
327117 |
Oct 1994 |
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