Armrest With Impact Dependent Dimension

The present invention relates to an armrest for use in vehicles such as automobiles and one whose height varies as a function of a side impact force to provide safety to an occupant.

Armrests for use between seats in vehicles typically pivot between a raised, stored position and a lowered, use position. In many vehicles, such armrests are relatively large having a generally square cross-sectional shape such that the width of the armrest and its height are substantially the same. In modern compactly designed vehicles, it is difficult to incorporate large bulky armrests as used in larger, earlier vintage vehicles. In newer vehicles, therefore, the armrests tend to be smaller and thinner and as a result, in the event of a vehicle accident, the occupant, if accelerated laterally against the side of an armrest could be seriously injured. To prevent such injury, it is necessary for the armrest to present at least a two-inch height along a major portion of its length so that it provides protection for the vehicle occupant as required in the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. Accordingly armrests, even those employed in compactly designed vehicles, must have a vertical height which is sufficient to meet this safety requirement. The result in some vehicles is an ungainly appearing armrest.

Ultra-thin armrests of the type disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/914,791 filed on Jul. 16, 1992, and entitled ARTICULATED ARMREST provides an armrest which rotates downwardly from a generally vertical plane when in a raised, stored position to a horizontal use position in which the armrest lies in a generally horizontal plane. In this position, the edge or height dimension can be relatively thin. Also, from an aesthetic standpoint, it may be desirable to provide an armrest which has a height which is substantially less than the minimum height required by safety standards and yet provides adequate safety for the vehicle occupant.

The vehicle accessory of the present invention provides a member with which the vehicle occupant may come into contact in the event of an accident, which expands upon receipt of an impact force to cushion the reactive force upon the vehicle occupant. When embodied in an armrest of the present invention, such structure satisfies the design needs both for an armrest which can rotate between vertical and horizontal planes as it is moved from a retracted to a use position, or relatively thin armrests which may be desirable from an aesthetic or cost standpoint. This goal is accomplished by providing an armrest having an inner support core to which there is positioned an expandable or collapsible member which extends outwardly from at least one edge of the core at a side thereof and which upon receiving a lateral force in a direction toward the core, collapses to increase its height. A cushioning material is positioned over the collapsible member, and the armrest structure so formed is covered by a suitable upholstery material.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the collapsible member includes a pair of arms pivotally joined at one end and coupled to the core and extending outwardly therefrom and terminating at a pivot joint at the opposite ends of the arms such that they pivot away from one another upon receipt of an impact to present an expanded height. In a preferred embodiment, the arms include an intermediate pivot hinge to facilitate the increase in height of the armrest upon receipt of impact force. Such construction, therefore, allows the vehicle designer to provide a relatively thin-profile armrest which has safety features equal to those of conventional large and bulky armrests and at a reasonable cost. These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof together with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the interior of a vehicle showing a vehicle seat with an armrest embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, front-elevational view of a vehicle door panel including an armrest embodying the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, vertical, cross-sectional view of the armrest shown in FIG. 1 taken along section lines III--III of FIG. 1 shown in a normal use position; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, vertical, cross-sectional view of the armrest shown in FIG. 3 shown upon application of a side impact force.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown the interior of a vehicle including the front driver's seat 10 having a seat back 12 and seat support 14. Mounted to the underlying structural support of the seat back 12 or to some other similar mounting location in a conventional manner is an armrest 20 embodying the present invention. The armrest extends between the seat 10 and a second seat 16 which may include a substantially identical armrest of mirror image construction (not shown). The armrest 20 may be mounted to the vehicle seat in the manner disclosed in the above identified patent application Ser. No. 07/914,791, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. If so mounted, the armrest 20 will rotate as it is lifted upwardly in a direction indicated by Arrow A to a raised, stored position aligned in the substantially vertical plane of the seat back 12. When lowered to a use position, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the armrest 20 presents a relatively flat and wide profile indicated by Arrow W in the Figure to provide the desired armrest support but is relatively thin as indicated by dimension Arrow H. The height H may be, for example, about one inch or less. Thus, the armrest provides an attractive appearance and allows compact storage of the armrest if one of the type which rotates when raised to a stored position. The armrest construction embodying the present invention provides a vertical height H which increases dramatically if a lateral impact is applied to the armrest as, for example, if the vehicle occupant is thrown against the armrest in the event of an accident.

An armrest of the present invention may also be mounted to a door panel 18 of a vehicle as illustrated in FIG. 2 where an armrest 20' is mounted to the passenger side door of a vehicle which includes a window 17 and molding 19 at the usual location. Armrest 20' can be mounted to the door panel in a conventional manner but includes the same interior construction as armrest 20 to provide the height adjustable safety feature as that described in detail below in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4. Naturally, armrest 20' is somewhat shorter than the armrest 20 mounted between the vehicle seats. The construction of armrests 20 and 20' is shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4 which is now described.

Armrest 20 includes a generally hollow, rectangular, elongated core 22 which may be made of steel or other structurally rigid material to which a suitable mounting structure (not shown) is mounted for attaching the armrest to the vehicle seat support structure for structurally mounting the armrest to the vehicle in a conventional manner. The core 22 includes a plurality of spaced upper and lower generally rectangular slots 24 and 26 in the preferred embodiment which extend along the length of the core for receiving upper and lower spaced tabs 42 and 52 of a collapsing member 30 which extends over core 22.

The collapsing member 30 includes an upper arm 40 and a lower arm 50 which override the upper and lower surfaces 21 and 23 of core 22 and extend laterally outwardly from the occupant facing surface 25 of core 22. The upper and lower arms 40 and 50 of collapsing member 30 may be integrally joined by flanges 41 and 51 adjacent the opposite wall 27 of core 22 and seam welded or otherwise attached for holding arm ends 41 and 51 together. Arms 40 and 50 are of generally identical construction and are typically integrally molded of a polymeric material and constitute elongated members which extend along a significant length of the armrest from near the front to a position near the mounting of the armrest to the seat 10. Upper arm 41 includes a vertically extending leg 43 extending upwardly from flange 41 and integrally joined to a generally horizontally extending leg 44.

At a position spaced from flange 41 toward the opposite end is an elongated, reduced thickness section of leg 44 to define a pivot hinge 45 for leg 44. A plurality of spaced locking tabs 42 are integrally formed in leg 44 and extend into slots 24 as shown in FIG. 3. Each tab 42 has a conventional arrowhead shape to collectively releasably hold leg 44 against the upper surface 21 of core 22 when the armrest is in its normal use configuration. Arm 44 extends over the top surface 21 of core 22 and terminates in a downwardly extending, generally triangular camming projection 46 which extends over the corner of core 22 and over outer surface 25 of the core. Second hinge means 47 is formed at the junction of camming projection 46 and a downwardly inclined leg 48 of upper arm structure 40 with leg 48 terminating at apex 60 defining a pivot hinge with an upwardly inclined leg 58 of lower arm 50. Arm 50 is substantially a mirror image of arm 40 and has substantially identical elements as arm 40 which are identified by the same least significant digit of the associated reference numeral. Each of the hinges 45, 47, 60, 55, and 57 is integrally formed in the resilient polymeric arms 40 and 50 by providing, as seen in the Figures, a reduced thickness area which extends longitudinally along the length of the arms to allow the arms to pivot as seen in FIG. 4.

The collapsing member 30 is, prior to assembly, a substantially elongated sleeve which is positioned over core 22 with the plurality of spaced tabs 42 and 52 then snap-fitted into the slots 24 and 26 which are spaced in core 22 to align with the tabs. The resilient polymeric material forming collapsing member 30 can be polyvinylchloride, polyethylene, or any other suitable generally resilient polymeric material which can be molded to include the integral hinges 45, 55, 47, 57 and 60.

As seen in FIG. 4, when a lateral force is applied to the armrest 20, as represented by Arrow F in FIG. 3, the upper and lower arms 40 and 50 pivot at hinges 45 and 55 away from one another and the core and the inclined legs 48 and 58 move under the influence of the camming action of the inclined surfaces of camming projections 46 and 56 engaging the upper and lower corners of the core 22. Inclined legs 48 and 58 become generally vertical as shown in FIG. 4 as the collapsing member 30 collapses in response to the impact force F. The hinges 47 and 57 allow the inclined legs 48 and 58 to move to a vertical position while hinge 60 allows the legs 48 and 58 to spread open to a generally planar position presenting an increased height H1 (FIG. 4) over the height H shown in FIG. 1. This height is approximately twice that of the original height of the armrest and at least two inches to provide an impact resistant cushion surface for providing protection to the vehicle occupant.

The collapsing member 30 and entire armrest are covered with a suitable open or closed cell foam cushion material 70 which can be molded over the core and collapsing member once assembled or can be in the form of a sleeve into which the subassembly is inserted. Extending over the cushion material 70 is a suitable upholstery material 75 which can be a foam-backed fabric, leather, vinyl or any other suitable upholstery material to conform the vehicle armrest to the interior appearance of the vehicle.

Armrest 20 thus provides a relatively low profile, wide and therefore comfortable armrest which can easily be stored if utilizing a mount of rotational construction for the two axis rotation of the armrest in its movement between stored and use positions, while at the same time providing a relatively thick armrest for safety in response to a lateral impact force. Tabs 42 and 52 are formed such that although snugly fitting into the slots 24 and 26, they will break away from the slots as shown in FIG. 4 upon an impact force and allow the legs 44 and 54 to pivot away from one another as seen. After an impact force, the legs 44 and 54 can be snap-fitted into the aperture or slots 24 and 26 by squeezing on the upper and lower surfaces of the armrest with the inclined arrowhead-shaped ends of the tabs camming the tabs into the respective aligned slots.

Thus, the armrest is capable of multiple impacts; however, it can be designed such that it only withstands a predetermined impact, and the tabs can be designed such that they break away upon impact, and it is necessary to replace the armrest if a serious lateral impact is encountered. The armrest construction 20 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is also employed for the armrest 20' shown in FIG. 2 with the only difference being the length of the core and collapsing member and associated cushioning upholstery material and the particular conventional fastening means for attaching the core 22 to the side of door panel 18.

It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that these and various other modifications to the preferred embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit or scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.