Chairs and seats – Bottom or back with means to alter contour – Providing support for lower back region
Patent
1995-10-30
1998-01-06
Cuomo, Peter M.
Chairs and seats
Bottom or back with means to alter contour
Providing support for lower back region
74505, 74526, 74606R, 74 8914, A47C 746
Patent
active
057046875
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to an apparatus for the level adjustment and/or arching adjustment of a flexibly resilient support element for the lordosic vertebrae of a sitting person and fitted in the frame of a back rest of a seat, each apparatus for level adjustment and/or arching adjustment comprising a gear mechanism including a worm, a worm wheel, a pinion and a tooth element as well as a drive means.
Such an apparatus is known from AT-B-394 829. In that apparatus two electric motors are fitted to the frame, one for the adjustment of the level and the other for the adjustment of the arching of the support element. On the rear of the support element is provided for each motor a gear mechanism including a worm, a worm gear, a pinion and a tooth rack, each being connected to the electric motor by way of a flexible drive shaft, bent about 180.degree.. For level adjustment the tooth rack of the particular gear mechanism is linked to a balancing beam, which in turn by way of rigid spokes is connected to the upper and lower ends of the support element. The gear mechanism attains a high gear ratio which permits the employment of electric motors even of low power for bringing about the adjustments, energy being, however, lost by virtue of the flexible shaft, a high unpleasant noise level being caused and the latter being subject to rapid wear. In addition the construction is extremely complicated and therefor expensive.
It is an object of the invention to so improve an apparatus of the kind set out in the introduction that in spite of a simple construction an adjustment within defined limits is possible in an energy saving manner and without noise generation.
This object is attained by an apparatus for the level adjustment or arching adjustment of a flexibly resilient support element (4) for the lordosic vertebrae of a sitting person, and which is fitted in the frame (1) of a back rest of a seat said apparatus for level adjustment and/or arching adjustment comprising a gear mechanism (12) including a worm (14), a worm gear (15), a pinion (16) and a tooth element as well as a drive means, characterized in that the gear mechanism is directly connected to the drive means in such a manner that a rigid drive shaft (13) thereof carries the worm (14) engaging into the worm gear (15), the pinion (16) being fixed axially in the worm gear (15) in tooth engagement with a gear wheel (17) in a plane parallel to the worm gear (15), the gear wheel (17) being associated with at least one reel (21) to which one end of a sheathed cable (23) of a Bowden cable assembly (24) is fixed and onto which it can be wound, the gear wheel (17) comprising a web (34) which coacts with stop formations (35) inside a casing (11) of the gear mechanism (12) to limit in a defined manner the movement of the gear wheel (17).
Advantageous embodiments of the invention will be apparent from the subsiduary claims.
In the following the invention will be further explained by way a working example with reference to the drawings. There is shown in:
FIG. 1 the frame of a back rest including a means for adjusting the level of the support member and and apparatus for adjusting the arching of the seat element;
FIG. 2 an adjustment means in partial longitudinal section;
FIG. 3 a section through the worm, the gear wheel and the pinion of the gear mechanism of an adjustment means;
FIG. 4 a section along the line IV--IV in FIG. 2.
The back rest schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises the frame 1 in which between two transverse struts 2 a guide composed of two rods 3 parallel to one another is provided for a support element 4 which is to be moved up and down the guide.
The support element 4 can, as illustrated in FIG. 1, comprise two resiliently flexible longitudinal strips 5 which are parallel to one another and which are interconnected by spaced apart transverse strips 6. At the upper or lower end of the support element 4 reinforced strips or a reinforcement panel 7 may be provided, preferably connected to sliding elements 8 which slide on the rods 3. The support e
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Allred David E.
AMEU Management Corp.
Cuomo Peter M.
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