Lumbar support structure for automotive vehicle

4,630,865 4,632,454 4,715,653 4,722,569 4,725,095 4,810,033 4,880,271 4,909,568 4,995,490 5,007,677 5,026,116 5,050,930 5,076,643 5,078,449 5,087,098 5,099,972 5,120,109 5,174,526 5,174,629 5,197,780

12/1986 12/1986 12/1987 2/1988 2/1988 3/1989 11/1989 3/1990 2/1991 4/1991 6/1991 9/1991 12/1991 1/1992 2/1992 3/1992 6/1992 12/1992 12/1992 3/1993

Ahs .
Naert.

Hattori et al. .
Morgenstern et al.
Benson et al. .
Kemmann .
Graves .
Dal Monte .

Kauai

Ozawa et al. .
Dal Monte .
Shuster et al. .
Colasanti et al. .
Suzuki.
Ishizuka .

Ouchi

Ragoni. Kanigowski. Mizushima . Coughlin

192/45

192/45

297/284.7

(List continued on next page.)

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

4314325 11/1994 Germany 297/284.4

Primary Examiner—Peter R. Brown

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Wood, Herron & Evans

A lumbar support structure comprises a resilient grid formed of flexible vertical members and horizontal cross members. The grid is fixed in a seat, such as a car seat, and includes an upper back section and lumbar section. The lower end of the lumbar section is fixed and the upper end of the lumbar section is free and is coupled to cables connected to a cable wheel and clutch mechanism. Clutch mechanism rotates to wind the cable wheel and draw the cables to pull the free end of the lumbar section downward toward the fixed end. The lumbar section is bowed forwardly in the seat to provide lumbar support. The clutch mechanism comprises a clutch and locking pin which cooperate to rotate the cable wheel in both directions for adjusting the lumbar support When the selected position for the lumbar support is chosen, the clutch is locked to maintain the bowed grid in a selected shape.

22 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets