US 4,413,857 · Granted 1983-11-08
The Nissan Seat That Heats You in Winter and Cools You in Summer
Imagine a car seat cover that's basically two things in one: a heating pad when it's cold outside, and an air-blowing fan when it's hot. The clever part is a flexible core inside that lets air flow through tiny holes while still being sturdy enough not to collapse when you sit on it.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a seat cover with a flexible main body that contains an internal air passage. What's protected here is the specific design of a resilient core with a base plate and projections that maintains the air passage even under the weight of a person sitting down. The cover combines heating elements on one side with air-discharge holes on the other, powered by either a heater or blower depending on the season.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early approach to climate-controlled seating—a feature that later became a luxury selling point in high-end vehicles. Nissan's innovation solved a real engineering problem: how to build a flexible seat cover that could both heat and ventilate without the air channels getting crushed when someone actually sits on it. The resilient core design was the key to making that work.
Real-world use
You'd experience this technology in a car where the driver's seat warms your back on a freezing morning, then switches to blowing cool air through the seat on a hot summer drive.
Original USPTO abstract
A seat cover (1) mounted on a vehicle seat (A) is used as a heater in winter and as a ventilator in summer. A flexible main body (9, 9') has on its one side an electric heater (10) and on the other side a number of holes (13) through which air is discharged by a blower (32). The main body includes a core (22, 35) which defines therein a passage (8) for the air. The core consists of resilient material and includes a base plate (22b, 35a) which is provided with a number of projections (22a, 35c) projecting from at least one side of the base plate. The core improves flexibility of the seat cover to conform with both the user's body and the vehicle seat, while providing a sufficient rigidity to prevent closure of the air passage when the user's weight is applied thereto.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 4,413,857
- Filing date
- 1980-11-03
- Grant date
- 1983-11-08
- Assignee
- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
- Inventor(s)
- HAYASHI; KAZUO
- CPC class
- A47C7/74
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