| 摘要 |
<p>An aircraft cabin divider (9) formed of pivotally interconnected panel sections (10, 11, 12, 13) for erecting between two rows of passenger seats. The panel sections comprise an upper panel section (10) for mounting to the ceiling of an aircraft cabin and a lower panel section (12) for fixing to the floor of the cabin. The upper and lower panel sections are pivotally mounted to an intermediate panel section which in the installed position faces passengers sitting in the aft row of seats to one side of the divider. At least one of the pivotal interconnections is stress critical thereby to rigidise the structure in the installed position and so that under crash impact conditions, the intermediate panel section is able to follow the movement if the seat backs of the forward row of passenger seats such that the heads of the passengers in the aft row do not collide with the intermediate panel section of the divider so avoiding unnecessary injuries. To permit the intermediate panel section further freedom of forward movement, the stress critical interconnection, preferably between the intermediate panel section and the upper panel section, includes an expandable friction hinge (18) to enable the intermediate panel section to move away from the upper panel section to a maximum collapsed position determined by the expansion of the hinge.</p> |
