Headrest for a vehicle seat

1. A motor-vehicle headrest comprising:

an upright mounting rod adapted to be anchored in a vehicle seat back;

an upright rear wall at an upper end of the rod and forming part of a rear forwardly open housing shell;

an upright front wall forming part of a front rearwardly open housing shell and spaced forward of and directly forming with the rear wall a cavity containing the upper end of the rod, the front wall being formed by a pair of side portions unitary with each other and each forming a wing;

membrane hinges between and formed unitarily with the side portions for pivoting the side portions about at least one upright axis; and

upholstery surrounding the portions of the front wall.

2. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 1 wherein the side-portion wings are pivotal between rear positions bearing rearwardly on the rear housing shell and front position pivoted forward therefrom.

3. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 2 wherein the side-portion wings are formed with rearwardly extending rims that rearwardly overlap the rear shell even in the front position and thus always laterally close the cavity.

4. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 1 wherein the front wall is further formed between the side portions with a central portion.

5. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 4 , further comprising

a brace block fixed to at least one of the walls engaged axially forward with the front-wall central portion and rearward with the rear wall.

6. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 4 wherein the brace block is unitary with the one wall.

7. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 6 wherein the brace block has a rear part unitary with and extending forward from the rear wall and a front part unitary with and extending rearward from the front wall, the front and rear parts bearing on each other.

8. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 5 , further comprising

means in the brace block connected to the mounting rod for limited pivoting of the block and walls about a generally horizontal axis on the rod.

9. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 8 wherein the rod is U-shaped and has a horizontal bight interconnecting upper ends of two upright legs, the means for limited pivoting including a socket set in the brace block and gripping the bight.

10. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 9 wherein the socket is a spring-steel sleeve fitted around the bight and set nonrotatably in the brace block.

11. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 1 , further comprising

brake means between the side-portion wings and the rear shell inhibiting but not preventing pivoting of the side-portion wings.

12. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 11 wherein the rear shell is formed with a pair of arcuate brake surfaces each centered on the pivot axis of a respective one of the side-portion wings, the brake means including

respective friction bodies carried on the side-portion wings and bearing on the respective brake surfaces.

13. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 12 wherein the rear shell is formed with a pair of arcuate inwardly projecting ribs each forming a respective one of the brake surfaces.

14. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 13 wherein the friction bodies are each formed with a groove fitting over the respective rib.

15. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 14 wherein each side-portion wing has a rearwardly projecting arm carrying the respective friction body.

16. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 13 wherein the friction bodies are entropy elastic.

17. The motor-vehicle headrest defined in claim 1 , further comprising

interengaging latch formations on the shells securing same together.