Seat apparatus for industrial vehicle

Abstract

A seat apparatus is provided to ensure an operator's backward visibility when a vehicle moves back. The seat apparatus includes a seat 1 rotatably supported on a vehicle body 3 through a rotating mechanism 5 . The seat 1 has a mechanism for enabling its rotational position against the vehicle body 3 to be adjusted. In addition to an accelerator pedal 7 of the vehicle, an accelerator lever 10 is provided to allow an operator to operate a vehicle traveling unit manually.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A seat apparatus for an industrial vehicle, the seat apparatus comprising: 
 an accelerator pedal for controlling a vehicle traveling unit;    a seat rotatably supported on a vehicle body through a rotating mechanism, for controlling a rotating position of the seat in relation to the vehicle body; and    an accelerator manipulating unit arranged about the seat, for operating the vehicle traveling unit manually in place of the accelerator pedal.    
     
     
         2 . The seat apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a base plate connected to the vehicle body and a rotating plate connected to the seat, wherein the rotating mechanism includes: 
 a bearing that supports the rotating plate on the base plate rotatably; and    a low-friction sheet arranged between the base plate and the rotating plate through a clearance so as to surround the bearing.    
     
     
         3 . The seat apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the rotating plate is adapted to suppress its oscillation in a direction apart from the base plate.  
     
     
         4 . The seat apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the rotating plate is adapted to enable change of its rotating position to at least both of a neutral position to direct the seat in front and a retreat rotating position used at a vehicle's moving back and also adapted so that the rotational movement of the rotating plate can be locked on the neutral position and the retreat rotating position, and the accelerator manipulating unit is arranged on a lock lever provided on either the rotating plate or the seat, for releasing the locking state of the rotating plate.  
     
     
         5 . The seat apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the rotating plate is adapted to change its rotating position to a passenger's getting on-and-off rotating position on the opposite side of the retreat rotating position over the neutral position, the rotating plate can be locked its rotational movement on the passenger's getting on-and-off rotating position.  
     
     
         6 . The seat apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a seat slide mechanism arranged on the vehicle body to slide the seat, the rotating mechanism arranged between the seat slide mechanism and the seat.  
     
     
         7 . The seat apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein an operator's manual operation of the vehicle traveling unit with the accelerator manipulating unit is permitted when the seat is in the retreat rotating position used at a vehicle's moving back.  
     
     
         8 . The seat apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle traveling unit is adapted to control a vehicle's traveling by operating a throttle valve of an engine, and the accelerator manipulating unit is adapted to operate an accelerator wire connected to the throttle valve.  
     
     
         9 . The seat apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle traveling unit is adapted to control a vehicle's traveling by controlling at least the drive of an electrically-powered motor through a controller, and the accelerator manipulating unit is adapted to generate a signal corresponding to an operator's manipulating amount to the controller.  
     
     
         10 . A seat apparatus for an industrial vehicle, the seat apparatus comprising: 
 an accelerator pedal for controlling a vehicle traveling unit;    a seat rotatably supported on a vehicle body through a rotating mechanism, for controlling a rotating position of the seat in relation to the vehicle body; and    an accelerator manipulating means for operating the vehicle traveling unit manually in place of the accelerator pedal, arranged about the seat.