Chairs and seats – Bottom or back with means to alter contour – Providing support for lower back region
Patent
1995-06-09
1998-02-10
Nelson, Jr., Milton
Chairs and seats
Bottom or back with means to alter contour
Providing support for lower back region
2972842, 2972843, A47C 746
Patent
active
057160988
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to lumbar supports for use in the back rest of seats, chairs and the like. The invention is specially suited for use with vehicle seats, and it will be convenient to hereinafter describe the invention with particular reference to that example use. In that regard, the word "vehicle" is to be understood as embracing vehicles of all kinds including aircraft, water borne vehicles and land vehicles.
It is well known to provide adjustable lumbar supports in vehicle seats, and especially in the seat to be occupied by the vehicle driver. Such adjustable supports take a variety of forms, and the manner of achieving adjustment also varies widely. The adjustment is generally such that it varies the effective length of the support and/or its stiffness, and thereby influences the extent to which the support curves rearwards in response to pressure applied by the user of the vehicle seat. That is, the support may provide a relatively flat or deeply curved support for the vehicle seat occupant, according to the level of adjustment of the support.
Adjustment of the foregoing kind is considered to be useful in combating driver fatigue, because it enables the driver of the vehicle to select a level of support for the lumbar region of the back, which suits that person's individual needs. Optimum benefit of that facility is hindered however, because the lumbar support generally extends transversely across the vehicle seat back rest at a fixed vertical location, and that location may not be suitable for all users of the vehicle. That location will usually be selected to suit people of a perceived normal height (torso or total) and will not be the most comfortable position for people having a height which varies above or below that normal height.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,354,709 and 4,452,485 (both granted to Schuster) describe apparatus for use in the back rest of a seat which includes a grid-like structure having two laterally spaced strap assemblies arranged to extend generally parallel to the upright side edges of the associated seat back rest. A series of transverse linking members interconnect the two belt assemblies, and they form the part of the apparatus to which pressure is applied by the user of the associated seat. An adjustment facility is operable to cause each of the two strap assemblies to curve outwardly between their ends to a greater or lesser extent and thereby provide a relatively flat or a relatively deeply curved support for the back of the occupant of the associated seat. A second adjustment facility is operable to shift the apex of the curve upwards or downwards as required so as to thereby vary the vertical location of the zone of primary support provided by the apparatus.
The zone of primary support as referred to throughout this specification, is to be understood as the zone extending transverse to the seat back rest along which the support structure imposes maximum resistance to deflection by the pressure imposed by the occupant of the associated seat.
In the Schuster construction, the transverse linking members provide the support for the vehicle occupant, and the associated strap assemblies serve to position some of those members further outwards or further inwards, according to the operation of the first mentioned adjustment facility. That adjustment therefore affects the extent to which an occupant of the seat will perceive the support structure to be flat or deeply curved. Operation of the second mentioned adjustment facility shifts the zone of primary support upwards or downwards by shifting the apex of the curve away from one transverse linking member and towards another.
The Schuster support structure is very complex and involves a large number of relatively movable parts. It is therefore difficult and expensive to manufacture. The Schuster support suffers the additional disadvantage that it does not provide for variation in the tension or effective length of the transverse linking members. That form of adjustment is common to adjustable lumbar support
REFERENCES:
patent: 3258259 (1966-06-01), Bohlin
patent: 3948558 (1976-04-01), Obermeier et al.
patent: 4155592 (1979-05-01), Tsuda et al.
patent: 4354709 (1982-10-01), Schuster
patent: 4452485 (1984-06-01), Schuster
patent: 4462635 (1984-07-01), Lance
patent: 4531779 (1985-07-01), Hashimoto
patent: 4858992 (1989-08-01), LaSota
patent: 5217278 (1993-06-01), Harrison et al.
patent: 5224757 (1993-07-01), Geitz et al.
Barfield Anthony D.
Henderson's Industries Pty. Ltd.
Jr. Milton Nelson
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