Chairs and seats – Back movement resiliently opposed in operating position – Spring mounts terminal of back
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-07
2003-03-18
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3637)
Chairs and seats
Back movement resiliently opposed in operating position
Spring mounts terminal of back
C297S299000, C297S301300, C297S301500, C297S291000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06533352
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to chairs and, more particularly, to chairs having a reclining back rest.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Chairs having a back rest which is rearwardly reclinable when a user leans back against it are very popular. Such chairs are generally held to be more comfortable than chairs with rigid, non-deflectable back rests.
To date, however, chairs having reclinable back rest have required complex, cumbersome and expensive constructions. Such constructions are impractical for schools and other institutional entities providing large conference centers (e.g., hotels, convention centers, etc.) Reclinable chairs of the prior art are generally too large, too expensive and too difficult to store for such institutional entities.
Accordingly, there is a need for a chair with a reclinable back which is at once compact, inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to store.
SUMMARY
The invention satisfies this need. The invention is a chair having a seat and a back rest. The back rest is attached to the seat via a back rest support element. The back rest support element comprises a flat spring disposed under pre-tension.
In one embodiment, the seat is disposed upon a seat support structure having four legs. Preferably, the legs are splayed outside the perimeter of the seat, so that the chair is stackable with chairs of like design.
In another embodiment, the back rest support element further comprises a full tilt stop tab for preventing the over-deflection of the back rest in a rearward direction and an at-rest stop tab for preventing the forward deflection of the back rest beyond a predetermined “at-rest” position.
In a typical embodiment, the seat and the backrest are made from a lightweight plastic material and the support structure is made from tubular steel.
It is also typical that the flat spring be made from a non-metallic material, such as from fiberglass.
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Glass Peter
Toland Jamie
Anderson Denton L.
Hupe Robert M.
Mai Lanna
Sheldon & Mak
Virco Mgmt. Corporation
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