Abstract:
A disc-shaped member is attached to a vehicle seat and is in turn rotatably mounted on a base member secured to the vehicle floor by a conventional fore and aft seat adjuster. A locking bar has its forward end fixedly attached to the base member and is cantilevered generally longitudinally of the vehicle. The other end of the cantilevered locking bar has an upstanding projection which is engaged in a notch in the peripheral edge of the discshaped member to prevent rotation of the disc-shaped member relative the base member. An L-shaped operating lever extends laterally of the vehicle seat and has a depending leg. A first pivot pivotally mounts the depending leg on the base member, and a second pivot pivotally connects the operating lever with an integral laterally extending arm of the cantilevered locking bar. When the operating lever is pivoted about its first pivot, the second pivot is translated through an arc and the cantilevered locking bar is flexed laterally to carry the upstanding projection out of engagement of the notch and permit rotary movement of the vehicle seat. In order to minimize the vertical component of flexure of the cantilevered locking bar as the second pivot is moved through its arcuate path, the first pivot is located in a line which perpendicularly bisects the chord of the arc through which the second pivot is translated during movement of the cantilevered locking bar from its unflexed to its fully flexed position in which the seat is unlatched for rotary movement.