The present invention relates to a seat including a pad and a skin.
For a seat such as an automobile seat, a seat structure in which a pad made of a foamed resin or the like is covered with a skin made of leather, vinyl leather or the like is adopted in a seat cushion that supports buttocks of a seated person or in a seat back that supports a back of a seated person.
For example, in the seat disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a skin has hanging portions at joints of a plurality of sheet-like materials, and the hanging portions are inserted into grooves of a pad and fastened to linear wires, the so-called “insert wires”, provided inside the grooves. As a method of fastening the hanging portion, the hanging portion is fastened to the insert wire by hooking the hanging portion to the insert wire with C-shaped rings (C-rings) by means of an attachment tool called “hogringer” or the like.
However, according to the seat structure disclosed in Patent Literature 1, work is necessary for fastening the hanging portion of the skin to the inside of the groove of the pad by using an attachment tool such as hogringer. Since such an attachment tool as hogringer is heavy, a heavy burden is imposed on an operator who performs the skin attachment work.
Further, in the seat structure disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when the hanging portion is fastened by means of the C-rings, the skin is locally (at a pinpoint) pulled by the C-rings, so that wrinkles (e.g. radially extending wrinkles) are likely to appear, making it difficult to improve appearance quality of the seat.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2018-52498
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a seat enabling reduction of a burden of skin assembling work and improvement of appearance quality of the seat.
In order to solve the above problems, a seat according to the present invention includes: a pad having at least one groove formed in an opposing surface facing a seated person; a skin that has at least one hanging portion extending along the groove and hung inside the groove and covers the opposing surface of the pad; at least one linear member extending along a longitudinal direction of the hanging portion and provided at an end edge of the hanging portion; and at least one elastically deformable tubular member provided inside the groove of the pad so as to extend along the groove, in which a slit is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the tubular member, the slit extending in a longitudinal direction of the tubular member, having a width narrower than an outer diameter of the linear member, and enabling the width to be expanded by elastic deformation of the tubular member.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated in
The linear member 4 are attached to hanging portions 3a of the skin 3 respectively, while the tubular members 5 are provided inside grooves 2b of the pad 2 respectively (specifically, a bottom portion of the groove 2b). By inserting the linear member 4 into the tubular member 5, the skin 3 can be assembled.
Next, each component of the seat cushion 1 will be described in more detail.
The pad 2 has an upper surface 2a that is an opposing surface facing a seated person (in particular, a vicinity of buttocks). The pad 2 of the present embodiment has two upper surfaces 2a such that three rows of seating portions are formed in a lateral direction X of the seat cushion 1.
On each of the upper surfaces 2a, the groove 2b is formed in order for the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3 and the linear member 4 to be inserted. The groove 2b extends so as to form four sides of a rectangular shape in the upper surface 2a. In addition, the groove 2b of the present embodiment also extends in a front-rear direction Y of the seat cushion 1 from the corner portions of the four sides of the rectangular shape.
The pad 2 is made of a material having elasticity and a certain degree of shape retainability. The pad 2 is manufactured, for example, by integrated foam molding of a low-density and shape-retaining bead foam and an elastic polyurethane resin. In a case of integrated foam molding, the pad 2 is lightweight.
The skin 3 covers the upper surface 2a of the pad 2, and is configured by joining end portions of a plurality of sheet-like materials made of leather, vinyl leather, or the like. The skin 3 has the hanging portion 3a formed at a joint of the sheet-like material. The hanging portion 3a protrudes downward with respect to a surface of the skin 3. The hanging portion 3a extends along the groove 2b of the pad 2 and is hung inside the groove 2b. In the present embodiment, the hanging portion 3a extends forming four sides of a rectangular shape so as to correspond to the arrangement of the grooves 2b.
The linear member 4 extends along a longitudinal direction of the hanging portion 3a and is provided at an end edge 3b located at a lower end of the hanging portion 3a. The linear members 4 of the present embodiment are individually provided with the hanging portions 3a respectively hung in the grooves 2b on the four sides.
As a method of attaching the linear member 4 to the hanging portion 3a, various methods can be adopted. For example, in a case where the linear member 4 is made of a synthetic resin such as polypropylene (PP), the linear member 4 is fused to the end edge 3b (see
The tubular member 5 is an elastically deformable tubular body, and is provided at the bottom portion of the groove 2b in the pad 2 so as to extend along the groove 2b as illustrated in
A slit 5b (see
The tubular member 5 is made of, for example, a synthetic resin such as polypropylene. In addition, it is desirable that the tubular member 5 is elastically deformed when the linear member 4 is inserted so that the linear member 4 is easily inserted into the tubular member 5, and on the other hand, it is desirable that the linear member 4 after being inserted into the tubular member 5 is hardly removed from the tubular member 5.
A method of installing the tubular member 5 is not particularly limited in the present invention as long as the tubular member 5 is provided inside the groove 2b of the pad 2 so as to extend along the groove 2b. For example, the tubular member 5 may be fixed inside the pad 2 made of a foaming member by installing a magnet in a mold for molding the pad 2 made of a foaming member, positioning the tubular member 5 filled with iron wire rods or the like inside the mold by using magnetic force of the magnet, and then foam molding the pad 2 made of a foaming member inside the mold. At this time, the tubular member 5 may be arranged inside the groove 2b of the pad 2 (specifically, at the bottom portion of the groove 2b) and fixed inside the pad 2 such that the slit 5b of the tubular member 5 communicates with the inside of the groove 2b. After the pad 2 is demolded, the inner space 5a can be ensured by pulling out the iron wire rods from the tubular member 5.
In the present embodiment, as further shown in
As shown in
As illustrated in
In the seat cushion 1 configured as described above, the tubular member 5 has a configuration in which the skin 3 is fastened by inserting the linear member 4 into the tubular member 5 from one of the slit 5b and the insertion port 5c of the tubular member 5. Therefore, the skin 3 can be assembled to the pad 2 by the following two assembling methods.
1. Method of assembling the skin 3 by inserting the linear member 4 through the slit 5b
As illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
As a method of pressing the linear member 4 downward, for example, an operator uses a roller pressing tool 11 having a disk-shaped pressing roller 11a illustrated in
As a result, the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3 is held inside the groove 2b of the pad 2 by the connection between the linear member 4 and the tubular member 5, and the assembling work of the skin 3 to the pad 2 is completed.
2. Method of assembling the skin 3 by inserting the linear member 4 from the insertion port 5c
As illustrated in
At this time, as illustrated in
As a result, in the groove 2b extending in the front-rear direction Y of the pad 2, the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3 is held inside the groove 2b of the pad 2 by the connection between the linear member 4 and the tubular member 5.
As for the fastening of the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3 in the groove 2b extending in the lateral direction X of the pad 2 shown in
The operator manually connects (or adheres) the male-side member 6 and the female-side member 7 of the hook-and-loop fastener, whereby even in the groove 2b extending in the lateral direction X, the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3 is easily held inside the groove 2b of the pad 2. In this manner, the assembling work of the skin 3 to the pad 2 is completed.
It should be noted that the male-side member 6 and the female-side member 7 of the hook-and-loop fastener can be arranged in the opposite manner. However, in a case where the male-side member 6 having the above hooks is provided in the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3, there is a possibility that the hook is caught by various parts (e.g., clothes, gloves, and the like of an operator) at the time of assembling the skin 3, resulting in hindering the work. Therefore, it is preferable to provide the female-side member 7 having the above loop portions in the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3 so as not to hinder such work.
(1) The seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment includes the linear members 4 extending along the longitudinal direction of the hanging portions 3a and provided at the end edge 3b of the hanging portion 3a, and the elastically deformable tubular members 5 provided inside the grooves 2b of the pad 2 (specifically, the bottom portion of the groove 2b) in a manner to extend along the groove 2b. On the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member 5, the slit 5b is formed which extends in the longitudinal direction of the tubular member 5, has the width 81 narrower than the outer diameter D3 (see
Furthermore, the linear member 4 extending along the longitudinal direction of the hanging portion 3a is restrained inside the groove 2b, whereby a force for drawing the hanging portion 3a into the groove 2b through the linear member 4 can be applied over the entire longitudinal direction of the hanging portion 3a. Therefore, local wrinkles are less likely to appear in the skin 3, so that the appearance quality of the seat is improved.
(2) In the seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment, the insertion port 5c into which the linear member 4 can be inserted is formed at the end of the tubular member 5. Therefore, by inserting the linear member 4 from the insertion port Sc at the end of the tubular member 5, it is possible to restrain the linear member 4 inside the groove 2b of the pad 2, the linear member being provided at the hanging portion 3a of the skin 3, in a state where the hanging portion 3a is inserted in the slit 5b of the tubular member 5. Therefore, it is possible to perform the assembling work of the skin 3 to the pad 2 without using a heavy tool such as hogringer, and possible to reduce a burden on an operator. Also in this case, the linear member 4 extending along the longitudinal direction of the hanging portion 3a is restrained inside the groove 2b, whereby a force for drawing the hanging portion 3a into the groove 2b through the linear member 4 can be applied over the entire longitudinal direction of the hanging portion 3a. Therefore, local wrinkles are less likely to appear in the skin 3, so that the appearance quality of the seat is improved.
Although in the present embodiment, the insertion port 5c into which the linear member 4 can be inserted is formed at the end of the tubular member 5, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the insertion port 5c may be omitted. Even in this case, the linear member 4 can be inserted from the slit 5b of the tubular member 5.
(3) In the seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment, the inner diameter D1 of the insertion port 5c is set to be larger than the inner diameter D2 of the other portion of the tubular member 5. This configuration enables the work of inserting the linear member 4 into the slit 5b to be easily performed.
(4) In the seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment, the tubular member 5 has, on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member 5, the outer inclined surface 5d inclined toward the radially inner side of the tubular member 5 as approaching the edge of the slit 5b from the circumferential direction of the tubular member 5.
In this configuration, when the linear member 4 is inserted into the tubular member 5 through the slit 5b, the linear member 4 abuts on the outer inclined surface 5d of the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member 5 and is guided in the direction toward the slit 5b by the inclined surface, so that the inserting work of the linear member 4 into the slit 5b can be easily performed.
(5) In the seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment, the tubular member 5 has, on the inner peripheral surface of the tubular member 5, the inner inclined surface 5e inclined toward the radially inner side of the tubular member 5 as approaching the edge of the slit 5b from the circumferential direction of the tubular member 5.
In this configuration, even when a tensile force toward the outside of the slit 5b of the tubular member 5 acts on the hanging portion 3a of the skin in a state where the linear member 4 is inserted in the tubular member 5, the linear member 4 pushes the inner inclined surface Se of the tubular member 5 radially outward, so that the inner inclined surface 5e moves in a direction of narrowing the width δ1 of the slit 5b. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the linear member 4 from being detached from the tubular member 5 through the slit 5b. As a result, the inner inclined surface Se can function as a check valve so that the skin 3 does not come off the pad 2.
(6) The seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment may further include, in the configuration in which the plurality of hanging portions 3a of the skin 3 are respectively hung in the plurality of grooves 2b of the pad 2, a hook-and-loop fastener (specifically, a hook-and-loop fastener including the male-side member 6 and the female-side member 7 in
In a case where the plurality of grooves 2b are formed in the pad as described above, it may be difficult to attach, to the tubular member 5, the linear member 4 attached to the hanging portion 3a depending on the position of the groove 2b and the extending direction of the groove 2b (e.g., in the lateral direction X of the seat cushion 1). In such a case, by using the hook-and-loop fastener including the male-side member 6 and the female-side member 7 as described above, the hanging portion 3a can be detachably and easily held inside the groove 2b.
Therefore, by using the book-and-loop fastener together with the linear member 4 and the tubular member 5, the skin 3 can be manually assembled without using a tool such as the roller pressing tool 11.
Specifically, as illustrated in
(Modification)
(A) Although in the seat cushion 1 of the present embodiment, the linear member 4 is illustrated as a linear member having a round cross section as an example, the present invention is not limited thereto. As a modification of the present invention, as illustrated in
(B) As another modification of the present invention, as illustrated in
(C) Although in the above embodiment, a seat cushion of an automobile seat has been described as an example of the seat of the present invention, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the seat of the present invention can be widely applied as long as it is a seat having a pad and a skin. As a modification of the present invention, a seat back that supports a back of a seated person in an automobile seat may be used. In addition to an automobile seat, the seat in the present invention includes a seat installed in a vehicle for an airplane, a railway, or the like, and a sofa, a leather chair, or the like installed in a building or a house.
The above embodiments are summarized as follows.
A seat according to the present embodiment includes: a pad having at least one groove formed in an opposing surface facing a seated person; a skin that has at least one hanging portion extending along the groove and hung inside the groove and covers the opposing surface of the pad; at least one linear member extending along a longitudinal direction of the hanging portion and provided at an end edge of the hanging portion; and at least one elastically deformable tubular member provided inside the groove of the pad so as to extend along the groove, in which a slit is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the tubular member, the slit extending in a longitudinal direction of the tubular member, having a width narrower than an outer diameter of the linear member, and enabling the width to be expanded by elastic deformation of the tubular member.
The seat of the present embodiment includes the linear member extending along the longitudinal direction of the hanging portion and provided at the end edge of the hanging portion, and the elastically deformable tubular member provided inside the groove of the pad so as to extend along the groove. On the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member, the slit is formed which extends in the longitudinal direction of the tubular member, has the width narrower than the outer diameter of the linear member, and enables the width to be expanded by elastic deformation of the tubular member. Thus, by inserting the linear member from the slit on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member, the linear member provided at the hanging portion of the skin can be restrained inside the groove of the pad in a state where the hanging portion is inserted in the slit of the tubular member. Therefore, it is possible to perform an assembling work of the skin to the pad without using a heavy tool such as hogringer, and possible to reduce a burden on an operator.
Furthermore, the linear member extending along the longitudinal direction of the hanging portion is restrained inside the groove, whereby a force for drawing the hanging portion into the groove through the linear member can be applied over the entire longitudinal direction of the hanging portion. Therefore, local wrinkles are less likely to appear in the skin, so that the appearance quality of the seat is improved.
In the seat described above, an insertion port into which the linear member is insertable may be formed at an end of the tubular member.
In such a configuration, by inserting the linear member from the insertion port at the end of the tubular member, it is possible to restrain the linear member inside the groove of the pad, the linear member being provided at the hanging portion of the skin, in a state where the hanging portion is inserted in the slit of the tubular member. Therefore, it is possible to perform an assembling work of the skin to the pad without using a heavy tool such as hogringer, and possible to reduce a burden on an operator. Also in this case, the linear member extending along the longitudinal direction of the hanging portion is restrained inside the groove, whereby a force for drawing the hanging portion into the groove through the linear member can be applied over the entire longitudinal direction of the hanging portion. Therefore, local wrinkles are less likely to appear in the skin, so that the appearance quality of the seat is improved.
In the above seat, an inner diameter of the insertion port is preferably set to be wider than an inner diameter of the other portion of the tubular member.
Such a configuration enables the inserting work of the linear member into the slit to be easily performed.
In the seat described above, the tubular member preferably has an outer inclined surface on an outer peripheral surface of the tubular member, the outer inclined surface being inclined toward a radially inner side of the tubular member as approaching an edge of the slit from a circumferential direction of the tubular member.
In such a configuration, when the linear member is inserted into the tubular member through the slit, the linear member abuts on the outer inclined surface of the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member and is guided in the direction toward the slit by the inclined surface, so that the inserting work of the linear member into the slit can be easily performed.
In the seat described above, the tubular member preferably has, an inner inclined surface on an inner peripheral surface of the tubular member, the inner inclined surface being inclined toward a radially inner side of the tubular member as approaching an edge of the slit from a circumferential direction of the tubular member.
In such a configuration, even when a tensile force toward the outside of the slit of the tubular member acts on the hanging portion of the skin in a state where the linear member is inserted in the tubular member, the linear member pushes the inner inclined surface of the tubular member radially outward, so that the inner inclined surface moves in a direction of narrowing the width of the slit.
Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the linear member from being detached from the tubular member through the slit. As a result, the inner inclined surface can function as a check valve so that the skin does not come off the pad.
In the seat described above, the linear member preferably has a tapered protruding portion at a portion of an outer peripheral surface of the linear member, the portion being separated from the hanging portion.
Such a configuration enables the inserting work of the linear member into the slit to be easily performed.
In the seat described above, the linear member preferably has an engaging protrusion on an outer peripheral surface of the linear member, the engaging protrusion being engageable with the inner peripheral surface of the tubular member.
In such a configuration, even when a tensile force toward the outside of the slit of the tubular member acts on the hanging portion of the skin, the engaging protrusion of the linear member is engaged with the inner peripheral surface of the tubular member, so that it is possible to prevent the linear member from being detached from the tubular member through the slit. As a result, the skin is prevented from being detached from the pad.
The seat described above may further include, in a configuration in which a plurality of the hanging portions are respectively hung in a plurality of the grooves, a hook-and-loop fastener that detachably holds some of the plurality of hanging portions in the grooves.
In a case where the plurality of grooves am formed in the pad as described above, it may be difficult to attach, to the tubular member, the linear member attached to the hanging portion depending on the position of the groove and the extending direction of the groove. In such a case, by using the hook-and-loop fastener as described above, the hanging portion can be manually held inside the hook and loop fastener with ease.
As described above, according to the seat of the present embodiment, the burden of the skin assembling work can be reduced, and the appearance quality of the seat can be improved.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2019-102109 | May 2019 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2020/018244 | 4/30/2020 | WO | 00 |