Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of commercial vehicles and in particular to a driving place.

State of the art

Small commercial vehicles are often used for delivery of goods in urban areas. This means that the driver must be able to get easily in and out of the driving place, because of the many times that this is done on a daily basis.

The driving place is the assembly formed by the driver's seat, the pedals and the steering wheel.

Therefore, the driving place of a small commercial vehicle must not only be sufficiently comfortable to avert pathologies due to incorrect postures and to stresses caused by irregularities in the road surface, but also has to ensure an ample adjustment to fit with any driver' s body size .

Summary of the Invention

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to overcome all the aforesaid drawbacks and to indicate a driving place of a commercial vehicle allowing to optimize the ergonomics, the habitability of the driving place, the manoeuvrability of the vehicle as well as the comfort of use for the driver of the vehicle, irrespective of his/her size .

It is an object of the present invention the driving place of a commercial vehicle according to claim 1.

Advantageously, the fact that the driver' s seat can slide in elevation on an oblique steering column towards the back of the vehicle allows the driver to improve the perception of the vehicle overall dimensions.

It is also an object of the present invention a commercial vehicle that implements the aforementioned driving place. The claims form an integral part of the present description . Brief description of the figures

Further purposes and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description of an example of embodiment (and of its variants) and from the annexed drawings given purely by way of explanatory and non-limiting example, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a side view of a preferred embodiment of a vehicle driving place according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the view of Figure 1. The same numbers and the same reference letters in the figures identify the same elements or components. In the present description, the term "second" component does not imply the presence of a "first" component. These terms are in fact used only for clarity' s sake and are not intended as limiting.

Detailed description of examples of embodiment

The driving place according to the present invention comprises a driver's seat, exclusively secured to the vehicle structure through a long-limbed post M sliding on a corresponding guide, defined by the steering column L shown in Figure 2.

The guide keeps the long-limbed post M in a vertical plane parallel to the longitudinal development of the vehicle, in an oblique position so that an upper end M2 is more set back than the lower end Ml.

This post arrangement allows the seat to rise away from the vehicle dashboard D and to lower, coming closer to the vehicle dashboard D, always remaining parallel to itself. The seat S includes a seat SI and a seat back S2. They are rigidly connected to each other, maintaining in any condition the same substantially perpendicular mutual position .

Both the seat SI and the seat back S2 are connected to the post by means of respective connecting rods Bl and B2, so that an articulated quadrilateral structure is defined between the post M and the seat S.

In particular, a first connecting rod Bl is connected to a lower part of the seat and a second connecting rod B2 is connected to a rear part of the seat back.

A first end of a damper DP is hinged close to the lower end Ml of the post M, while a respective opposite end is hinged to the seat, in a point different from the hinging point to the respective connecting rod Bl .

The articulated quadrilateral defined by the coupling seat S/post M allows a complex movement of the seat S with respect to the post M in said vertical plane. The damper DP dampens such complex movement when the seat is stressed, for example due to the roughness of the road surface or when the driver drops on the seat .

The driving place according to the present invention also comprises a collapsible steering wheel V, adjustable at least in its depth, and a set of pedals P associated with the floor G and sliding according to the longitudinal development of the vehicle.

With reference to the figure, both the post M, the steering wheel V and the pedals P are provided with respective double arrows, each of them being equipped with a first direction A and a respective opposite direction Z.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sliding of the post M with respect to the respective guide - and therefore of the seat S with respect to the steering column L -, of the pedals P with respect to the floor G and of the steering wheel, axially, with respect to its own shaft, are interlocked by means of suitable electric actuators, preferably by means of a control unit provided with memories of the mutual positions of said components defining the driving place of the commercial vehicle.

The shaft of the steering wheel is schematically shown in Figure 1 by means of a respective rotation axis X.

With the proper slight adjustments, which each driver may carry out, the lifting of the seat S determines its movement in the direction A, thus implying a corresponding movement of the steering wheel and of the pedals in the respective directions A, towards the driver's seat S. The opposite is true with respect to respective opposite directions Z .

It is clear that the directions A or Z are indicated with the same symbol because they are interrelated, although the directions of movement are distinct in spite of their lying in a same vertical plane parallel to the longitudinal development of the vehicle.

Figure 2 shows the steering column L that serves as a guide along which the post M slides. Only for clarity's sake, the drawing does not show the damper DP, which must obviously be present to support the seat.

With reference to Figure 2, both the seat and the seat back are shaped like cradles.

These cradles are designed to accommodate respective cushions .

The edges CI and C2 defined by the cradles are preferably made of a surface-treated material, preferably anodized aluminium and/or light alloys.

Advantageously, when the driver enters or leaves the driving place, the edges of the surface-treated material cause little friction against the driver's garments, thus facilitating these operations.

When, on the other hand, the driver is sitting on the seat, the edges CI and C2 have a containing, enveloping effect, thus ensuring a sufficient degree of deflection relative to the body of the driver.

According to the present description, "back" or "forward" are references relating to the longitudinal development of the vehicle in which the aforesaid driving place must be implemented.

Different embodiments of the described non-limiting example are possible without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention, comprising all the equivalent embodiments for a person skilled in the art.

From the above description, the person skilled in the art is able to embody the object of the invention without introducing any further construction details. The elements and features shown in the various preferred embodiments may be combined without leaving the scope of protection of the present application. What described in the description of the state of the art, unless specifically excluded in the detailed description, must be considered in combination with the features of the present invention, thus forming an integral part of the present invention.