US 4,981,324 · Granted 1991-01-01
The Ventilated Car Seat Pad That Pipes Cool Air Straight to Your Back
Imagine a cushion for your car seat that has tiny holes in it, and a tube connects those holes to your car's air vents. Turn on the AC, and instead of cool air just blowing at your face, it flows through the cushion and cools down your back and sides — the places that normally get hot and sweaty on long drives.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The patent covers a back support pad designed to clip onto a car seat, fitted with multiple small openings or a single larger opening. A flexible hose runs from your car's air vent into the pad's internal air passages, delivering forced air (hot or cold) directly onto a passenger's back and sides. The claim also extends to a lockable funnel attachment that grips the air vent itself, plus optional extras like an integrated seat cushion or built-in electric fan that can independently circulate air through the pad.
Why it matters
This patent solves a real comfort problem in vehicles: the areas of your back and torso that touch the seat often don't receive air circulation from standard HVAC systems, leading to heat buildup and perspiration on long trips. By routing vent air directly through a cushioned pad, this invention offers targeted climate control to an underserved zone. The design is simple enough to retrofit onto existing seats without major modification, making it a practical aftermarket or OEM accessory.
Real-world use
On a hot summer road trip, instead of only your face and chest feeling the AC, you could activate this pad and have cool air blowing against your back and sides the entire time, similar to how modern high-end car seats now have climate control built in.
Original USPTO abstract
A ventilated back support pad configured to rest atop an automobile seat is provided with a plurality of apertures on one or more of its faces. Forced air is channeled from a selected automotive air vent through the apertures via a flexible hose having one end connected with air passageways within the support pad. The opposite end of the flexible hose includes a funnel shaped attachment head adapted for releasibly engaging the selected air vent. This attachment head includes two locking pins which can be manually secured to a louver of the vent. In other preferred embodiments of the invention, the back support pad can be provided with a ventilated seat support rest integrally formed therewith and/or internally mounted electric fan. Further, as an alternative to the use of many apertures, a single enlarged aperture covered by a screen, or the like, can be utilized to allow forced air to escape from the support pad. In use, conforting cool or warm air is conducted from an automotive air vent through the back support pad and onto areas of a passenger's body, particularly the back, which are not normally contacted by air that is conventionally circulated within a vehicle.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 4,981,324
- Filing date
- 1989-10-13
- Grant date
- 1991-01-01
- Assignee
- Law Ignace K
- Inventor(s)
- LAW; IGNACE K.
- CPC class
- B60N2/5657
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