VEHICLE SEAT RECLINING APPARATUS

In a vehicle seat reclining apparatus, a plurality of pawls (31) having outer gears (44, 47) which are disengageably engaged with an inner gear (23) provided on an internal surface of an upper arm (12) are constituted by a first pawl (31A) and second pawls (31 B). The first pawl (31A) has an inner cam portion (45) which is engaged with a cam surface (55) provided on an outer circumference of a cam (32), a pawl grooved cam portion (46) which is engaged with an engaging protrusion (57) provided on a side surface of the cam (32), and an engaging portion (43) which is brought into engagement with a protruding portion (25) provided on the internal surface of the upper arm (12) when the upper arm (12) is pivotally moved a predetermined angle relative to a lower arm (11). The second pawls (31 B) have engaging protrusions (49) engaged with release plate grooved cam portions (59) provided in a release plate (33).