The present invention relates generally to seats for crew members of vehicles such as locomotives and more particularly to seats of this type with structure for preventing or minimizing theft of the seat from the vehicle.
Conventional crew seats are generally attached atop a vertically disposed trunnion member comprising part of an assembly in which the vertical trunnion member is usually received within a vertically disposed tubular intermediate member in turn supported by a vertically disposed tubular base member which rests on the floor of the vehicle or is cantilevered from a side wall of the vehicle. Usually the trunnion member is mounted for rotation about its vertical axis, relative to the tubular intermediate member, and the tubular intermediate member is mounted for vertical adjustment, with the trunnion member, relative to the base member.
The seat, per se, is usually well constructed and upholstered and is relatively expensive. Because of the high quality of construction of the seat, per se, and because the seat may be removed merely by lifting it with the trunnion member out of the vertically disposed tubular intermediate member, it presents a theft temptation; and the theft of large numbers of such seats has become a problem. Even when the seat and trunnion member are bolted or screwed to the rest of the assembly theft has not been avoided because thieves have found it relatively easy to unscrew or unbolt the seat and trunnion member from the rest of the assembly.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds