Chair

Details Chair Chair

1995-11-27

1997-09-09

Brown, Peter R.

Chairs and seats

Back movement resiliently opposed in operating position

Back and bottom adjust in a fixed relationship

297353, 29745215, 297325, A47C 1032

Patent

active

056648359

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a chair with a moveable seat panel mounted springingly on a support, and a back-rest.
Over the last few years, office chairs have been developed to a high level with respect to functionality, ergonomic characteristics and durability. Naturally, this has resulted in ever more complicated, heavier and also more expensive constructions.
The task of this invention is to create a simple, light chair which is inexpensive to manufacture and, despite being of a simpler construction, provides comfortable seating whilst meeting ergonomic requirements.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, this task is solved for a chair of the above-mentioned type in that the seat panel is made from thin, pliant panel material which is guided down around the front edge of the seat panel in a U-shape and then rigidly sandwiched in the support.
Plywood or various plastic materials could, for example, be used for this type of pliant, flexible panel material.
As an additional guide for the seat panel it is useful to provide, between the rear portion thereof and the support, at least one guide bar that is pivotably connected with the support and rigidly connected to the underside of the rear portion of the seat panel, and which causes the rear portion of the seat panel to flex into position along a pre-determined path, and, when the seat panel flexes into position, forces it into an essentially S-shaped bend, which results in an ergonomically advantageous adaptation to the user's body shape.
The back-rest is also preferably made from a flexible, panel-shaped material. It is preferably connected with the rear end of the seat panel.
A guide allowing the back-rest to be vertically adjusted is preferably mounted at the rear end of the guide bar.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which
FIG. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic partial view of a chair according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a corresponding diagrammatic partial side view.


DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a chair according to the invention, with a vertical pillar 10 forming the support, with a rotating base at the bottom end (not shown), a seat panel 12 and a back-rest 14, as well as two arm-rests 16 and 18. A different support, e.g. a support with four legs, can be used instead of the pillar 10.
The seat panel 12 is made from a thin, pliant panel material which is bent down in a U-shape around the front edge, designated by the reference number 20, of the seat panel 12, and is rigidly sandwiched in the top portion of the pillar 10 with its lower, now again rearwardly directed section 22. This results in a strong, but--thanks to the flexibility of the panel material of seat panel 12--springingly pliant mounting for the seat panel 12 when the chair is used by one person.
To additionally support and guide the seat panel 12, the example illustrated shows two parallel guide bars 24 which are pivotably mounted in an axle 26 at the top end of the pillar 10 and from there are slopingly inclined backwards and upwards. These guide bars 24 are rigidly attached underneath the rear end portion of the seat panel 12, as shown more precisely in FIG. 2. This ensures that the rear end of the seat panel 12 is accurately guided as its flexes into position, and furthermore, when it flexes into position, the seat panel 12 is also forced by the rigid connection with the guide bars 24 into an essentially S-shaped bend which has been shown to be very ergonomically and anatomically advantageous. This S-shaped bend is based on the fact that when the guide bars 24 move downwards, at least the rear edge portion of the seat panel always runs parallel to the guide bars and therefore, in the rearwardly lowered position, the panel only rises in the centre portion in an S-shape towards the level of the front edge.
FIG. 2 indicates connecting mountings 28, which rigidly connect the guide bars 24 to the rea

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