Trim cover and vehicle seat

Abstract

To obtain a trim cover that reduces appearance defects and facilitates covering work.SOLUTION: A trim cover 30 is formed into a bag shape by sewing a plurality of outer skin pieces at their respective seam allowance, and covers a padding material with each seam allowance inside. In this trim cover 30, a plurality of V-notches 36 and 38 are formed in the seam allowance 32A and 34A of the outer skin pieces 32 and 34, respectively, in a curved sewing section S. The plurality of V-notches 36 formed in the seam allowance 32A and the plurality of V-notches 38 formed in the seam allowance 34A are displaced from each other in a longitudinal direction of the sewn section S.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to vehicle seats, and more particularly to trim covers. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 below discloses a skin used for cushion pads of headrests and the like. This skin is formed by sewing together multiple skin pieces along their edge portions with seams, and the whole is bag-shaped with the seam allowances on the inside. The seam allowances in the curved sewn portions of the seams are formed with a narrow portion that is narrower than the other portions, a notch that extends in the width direction of the seam allowance, or a recess (V notch) that is cut from the edge of the seam allowance toward the seam. This prevents wrinkles or dents from occurring on the surface side of the curved sewn portions, and prevents the sewing line from meandering. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2007-222404 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Forming a V-notch in the seam allowance as in the above-mentioned prior art reduces appearance defects such as wrinkles and looseness caused by the concentration of the seam allowance in one part of the curved sewn part (the occurrence of so-called seam pooling), but there are cases where the seam pooling is not improved as intended. Therefore, there is an issue that the covering work of the outer skin (trim cover) becomes cumbersome.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a trim cover and a vehicle seat which reduce appearance defects and facilitate the covering operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The trim cover of the first embodiment is a trim cover in which multiple outer skin pieces are sewn together at their respective seams to form a bag shape, and which is placed over a padding material with each of the seams facing inward, and in which multiple V-notches are formed in each of a pair of seams at the curved sewn portion, and the multiple V-notches formed in one of the pair of seams and the multiple V-notches formed in the other of the pair of seams are positioned offset from each other in the longitudinal direction of the sewn portion.

[0007] The trim cover of the first embodiment is formed into a bag shape by sewing together a plurality of skin pieces at their respective seams, and is placed over the padding material with the seams facing inward. In this trim cover, a plurality of V-notches are formed in each of a pair of seams in the curved sewn portion. The plurality of V-notches formed in one of the pair of seams and the plurality of V-notches formed in the other of the pair of seams are shifted from each other in the longitudinal direction of the sewn portion. This prevents the seams from concentrating in a portion of the curved sewn portion, causing wrinkles or slack, more than in the past. As a result, appearance defects are reduced and the covering work is made easier.

[0008] The trim cover of the second aspect is the same as the trim cover of the first aspect, wherein the stitching portion is provided with a stitching line that connects the apexes of the V-shapes of the plurality of V-notches.

[0009] In the trim cover of the second embodiment, a sewing line is provided to connect the vertices of the V-shapes of the multiple V-notches formed in each pair of seams in the curved sewn portion, which effectively prevents the seam from concentrating in one part of the curved sewn portion, causing wrinkles or slack.

[0010] The vehicle seat of the third aspect comprises a frame which is a skeletal member, a padding material which is a cushion body attached to the frame, and a trim cover of the first or second aspect which is placed over the padding material.

[0011] In the vehicle seat of the third aspect, a padding material, which is a cushion body, is attached to a frame, which is a skeleton member, and a trim cover is placed over the padding material. This trim cover is the one of the first aspect or the second aspect, and therefore the above-mentioned effects can be obtained. Effect of the Invention

[0012] As described above, the trim cover and the vehicle seat according to the present invention reduce defects in appearance and facilitate the covering operation. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing a vehicle seat according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a plan view of an armrest included in the vehicle seat according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the frame and padding of the armrest. [Figure 4] 3 is a perspective view showing a part of the trim cover of the armrest as viewed from the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 2. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a first perspective view showing a part of the armrest trim cover as viewed from the back side. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 is a second perspective view showing a portion of the trim cover as viewed from the back side. [Figure 7] 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a cut surface along the line F7-F7 in FIG. 5. [Figure 8] 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a cut surface along line F8-F8 in FIG. 5. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a V-notch. [Figure 10] FIG. 5 is a perspective view corresponding to FIG. 4 and showing a part of a trim cover of an armrest according to a comparative example. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a first perspective view showing a part of a trim cover according to a comparative example as viewed from the back side. [Figure 12] 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a cut surface along line F12-F12 in FIG. 11. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] A vehicle seat 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 12. Note that arrows FR, RH, and UP shown in Figure 1 indicate the front, right, and upper directions of the vehicle seat 10, respectively.

[0015] As shown in Fig. 1, a vehicle seat 10 according to this embodiment is a rear seat for seating three passengers, and includes a seat cushion 12 on which vehicle occupants sit, a seat back 14 that supports the back of the occupant, and three head rests 16 that support the head of the occupant. An arm rest 20 is attached to the center of the seat back 14 in the left-right direction. The arm rest 20 is rotatable with respect to the seat back 14 between an unfolded position shown in Fig. 1 and a stored position in which the arm rest 20 is stored in a recess 18 formed in the center of the seat back 14 in the left-right direction.

[0016] When the armrest 20 is in the deployed position, the front-rear, left-right, up-down directions of the armrest 20 coincide with the front-rear, left-right, up-down directions of the vehicle seat 10. When the armrest 20 is in the stored position, the front-rear direction of the armrest 20 coincides with the height direction of the seat back 14, the left-right direction of the armrest 20 coincides with the left-right direction of the vehicle seat 10, and the up-down direction of the armrest 20 coincides with the front-rear direction of the seat back 14. Hereinafter, when the front-rear, left-right, up-down directions are used simply, they refer to directions relative to the armrest 20.

[0017] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the armrest 20 includes a frame 22 which is a framework member, a padding material which is a cushion body attached to the frame 22, and a trim cover 30 which covers the padding material .

[0018] The frame 22 is formed by joining, for example, bent metal pipe material or press-formed metal plate material by means of welding or the like, and is formed into a rectangular frame shape with the longitudinal direction being the front-rear direction when viewed from the top-bottom direction. The rear end of the frame 22 is connected to the frame of the seat back 14 (not shown) via a bracket 24 shown in Fig. 2, and the frame 22 is rotatable about an axis along the left-right direction with respect to the frame of the seat back 14.

[0019] The padding material 26 is made of a foam such as urethane foam and has a long rectangular parallelepiped shape with the longitudinal direction being the front-rear direction, the width direction being the left-right direction, and the thickness direction being the up-down direction. The width dimension of the padding material 26 is set to be larger than the thickness dimension of the padding material 26. The padding material 26 is, for example, foam-molded integrally with the frame 22, and the frame 22 is embedded inside the padding material 26.

[0020] The trim cover 30 is configured in a bag shape by sewing together a plurality of upholstery pieces made of, for example, a cloth material, leather, synthetic leather, etc., with their respective seams, and is placed over the padding 26 with the seams facing inward. As shown in Fig. 4, at the corner of the front end of the armrest 20, a upholstery piece 32 covering the upper and front surfaces of the padding 26 and a upholstery piece 34 covering the side surfaces of the padding 26 are sewn together at a sewing portion S. This sewing portion S is curved at the corner of the front end of the armrest 20 so as to convex upward and forward.

[0021] As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in the sewn portion S, a plurality of V notches 36, 38 are formed in the seam allowance 32A of the outer skin piece 32 and the seam allowance 34A of the outer skin piece 34, respectively. The plurality of V notches 36 are arranged at approximately equal intervals in the longitudinal direction (the direction in which the sewn portion S extends) of the curved sewn portion S, and the plurality of V notches 38 are arranged at approximately equal intervals in the longitudinal direction. The plurality of V notches 36 formed in the seam allowance 32A and the plurality of V notches formed in the seam allowance 34A are arranged shifted from each other (alternately arranged) in the longitudinal direction. In addition, in the sewn portion S, a sewing line (seam) L1 is provided so as to connect the vertices of the V-shapes of the plurality of V notches 36, 38, and the outer skin pieces 32, 34 are sewn together along the sewing line L1. The sewing line L2 shown in Fig. 6 is a sewing line for decorative stitches.

[0022] As shown in Fig. 7, in a cross section of a portion where the V notch 36 is formed in the seam allowance 32A of the skin piece 32, a V notch 38 is not formed in the seam allowance 34A of the skin piece 34. As shown in Fig. 8, in a cross section of a portion where the V notch 38 is formed in the seam allowance 34A of the skin piece 34, a V notch 36 is not formed in the seam allowance 32A of the skin piece 32. Note that as the V notches 36, 38 in this embodiment, a concave notch SN or a large notch LN shown in Fig. 9 is adopted.

[0023] In the vehicle seat 10 configured as described above, a padding material 26 is attached to the frame 22 of the armrest 20, and a trim cover 30 is placed over the padding material 26. The trim cover 30 is formed into a bag shape by sewing together a plurality of skin pieces including skin pieces 32, 34 at their respective seams, and is placed over the padding material 26 with the seams facing inward.

[0024] In this trim cover 30, a plurality of V notches 36, 38 are formed in the seam allowance 32A of the upholstery piece 32 and the seam allowance 34A of the upholstery piece 34, respectively, in the curved sewn portion S located at the corner of the front end of the armrest 20. The plurality of V notches 36 formed in the seam allowance 32A and the plurality of V notches 38 formed in the seam allowance 34A are arranged offset from each other in the longitudinal direction of the sewn portion S. This prevents the seam allowance from concentrating in one part of the curved sewn portion S, causing wrinkles or slack, more than in the past.

[0025] That is, as in the comparative example shown in Figs. 10 to 12, if the V notches 36, 38 as in this embodiment are not formed in the seams 32A, 34A of the skin pieces 32, 34 of the trim cover 30, the thickness of the trim cover 30 will be thick at the seams 32A, 34A (see Fig. 12). As a result, it becomes difficult for the corners of the trim cover 30 to follow the corners of the padding material 26, and the seams 32A, 34A will concentrate in a part of the curved sewn portion S, causing a seam pool. In this embodiment, the multiple V notches 36 formed in the seam 32A and the multiple V notches 38 formed in the seam 34A are arranged offset from each other in the longitudinal direction of the sewn portion S, so that the thickness of the trim cover 30 can be thin at the seams 32A, 34A (see Figs. 7 and 8). As a result, the corners of the trim cover 30 can easily conform to the corners of the padding 26, preventing stitch pooling, reducing poor appearance and facilitating the covering operation.

[0026] In addition, when the armrest is prone to appearance defects such as meandering or swelling of the sewing line, the number of steps required for manufacturing the armrest increases, but in this embodiment, the number of steps can be reduced. Specifically, when the above-mentioned appearance defects are likely to occur, when covering the trim cover, work such as pulling, stroking, smoothing, and putting the seam allowance into the groove of the pad material is required. In addition, work such as cutting the seam allowance of the trim cover, folding the seam allowance and sticking adhesive tape may be required. Furthermore, finishing ironing may be required to remove wrinkles and slack. In this embodiment, the number of steps required for such work can be reduced. In addition, the risk of deterioration of appearance due to forgetting to put the seam allowance into the groove of the pad material can be eliminated. Furthermore, the difference in quality due to the intuition, skill, work experience, etc. of the worker performing the covering can be reduced.

[0027] In addition, in the above-mentioned trim cover 30, a sewing line L1 is provided so as to connect the vertices of the V-shapes of the multiple V-notches 36, 38 formed in the pair of seam allowances 32A, 34A in the curved sewing portion S. This makes it possible to effectively prevent stitch pooling. Moreover, in this embodiment, the V-notches 36 and the V-notches 38 are arranged offset from each other in the longitudinal direction of the sewing portion S, so that the sewing line L1 is set close to the vertices of the above-mentioned V-shapes, and even if a so-called seam drop occurs, no holes will be made in the surface of the trim cover 30. This makes it possible to prevent the occurrence of defective products due to holes due to seam drop.

[0028] In the above embodiment, the present invention is described as being applied to the trim cover 30 of the armrest 20, but this is not limited to the above, and the present invention may also be applied to the trim cover of a seat cushion, a seat back, or a headrest.

[0029] In addition, the present invention can be implemented in various modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 10 Vehicle seats 22 Frames 26 Pad material 30 Trim cover 32, 34 Epidermal piece 32A, 34A seam allowance 36, 38 V-notch S Sewing section L1 Sewing line

Claims

1. A trim cover is formed in a bag shape by sewing together a plurality of skin pieces at their respective seams, and the trim cover is placed on a padding material with the seams facing inward, A plurality of V-notches are formed in each of the pair of seams in the curved sewn portion, A trim cover in which a plurality of V-notches formed in one of the pair of seams and a plurality of V-notches formed in the other of the pair of seams are offset from each other in the longitudinal direction of the sewn portion.

2. The trim cover according to claim 1 , wherein the stitching portion has stitching lines that connect vertices of the V-shapes of the plurality of V-notches.

3. A frame which is a skeleton member; A padding material which is a cushion body attached to the frame; The trim cover according to claim 1 or 2, which is placed on the padding material; A vehicle seat comprising:

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