Chair assisting rising movements

Details Chair assisting rising movements Chair assisting rising movements

2000-12-22

2003-05-06

Nelson, Jr., Milton (Department: 3636)

Chairs and seats

Movable bottom

Tiltable

C297S344170, C297SDIG001

Reexamination Certificate

active

06557940

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a chair assisting rising movements, and more particularly to a chair assisting rising movements provided with a reclining function and a rising function.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Chairs provided with reclining functions are conventionally known in which backseats may be tilted rearward for enabling comfortable postures.
However, it is the case with such conventional chairs provided with reclining functions that persons with weakened leg muscles find it hard to perform sitting actions or rising actions since they need to take stooped postures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above drawback of the prior art, and it is an object thereof to provide a chair assisting rising movements enabling easy sitting and rising actions and being superior in safety and comfort.
It is another object thereof to provide a chair assisting rising movements that is comfortable at the time of performing rising action, sitting action or in reclined condition, on which one may take safe and comfortable posture, whose armrests are easy-to-use, in which wiring from the control circuit box can be shortened, and with which height adjustment may be easily performed to suit short persons and tall persons.
For solving the above subjects, the present invention provides a chair assisting rising movements that is comprised of a reclining block
1
including a seat surface
2
a
and a backrest
3
that can be tilted in a rearward direction, a mount base block
20
that is placed on a floor surface, and an intermediate base block
15
provided between these blocks, the chair further comprising a first link
4
for connecting the reclining block
1
to a rear end portion
15
b
of the intermediate base block
15
in a freely rotating manner, a second link
5
for connecting a front portion
20
f
of the mount base block
20
to a front end portion
15
a
of the intermediate base block
15
in a freely rotating manner, and a third link
6
for connecting a rear portion
20
g
of the mount base block
20
to the rear end portion
15
b
of the intermediate base block
15
in a freely rotating manner, and the chair further comprising a reclining movement mechanism
7
for moving the backrest
3
from a stationary position to a rearward tilted condition through rotation of the first link
4
, and a rising movement mechanism
8
for raising the seat surface
2
a
of the reclining block
1
from a stationary position to a specified height via the intermediate base block
15
through rotation of the second link
5
and the third link
6
.
With this arrangement, a comfortable posture can be taken by tilting the backrest
3
of the reclining block
1
, and the seat surface may be raised to a suitable height when performing sitting or rising action by moving the intermediate base block
15
upward so that sitting and rising may be easily performed without stooping.
It is further preferable that the second link
5
and the third link
6
are arranged to be of different lengths such that the rear end portion
15
b
of the intermediate base block
15
becomes higher than its front end portion
15
a
at the time of rising movement. With this arrangement, the seat surface
2
a
will be inclined in a front-downward manner when the intermediate base block
15
is pushed upward such that it is inclined in a front-downward manner at the time of rising movement, and a person taking seat may perform sitting and rising actions in a more comfortable manner.
It is further preferable that the chair is of an arrangement in which the load applied to the second link
5
and the third link
6
at the time of rising movement is not reversed during rotation of the links. In other words, by continuously making load apply on the second link
5
(or similarly to the third link
6
) in a single direction from above, jerkiness at the time of rising movement can be eliminated.
It is further preferable that the intermediate base block
15
is provided with a receiving member
21
for maintaining the intermediate base block
15
mounted on the mount base block
20
in the stationary position. In this case, by making the receiving member
21
mount on the mount base block
20
when the intermediate base block
15
has returned to its stationary position, occurrence of rattling movement can be prevented at the time of taking a seat or reclining.
It is further preferable that a footrest
12
is connected in a freely rotating manner to a front end side of the seat surface
2
a
of the reclining block
1
, and the chair being provided with a control portion
16
for enabling rising movement only when the footrest
12
and the backrest
3
are in stationary positions. With this arrangement, it is possible to prevent the reclining block
1
from erroneously performing upward movement at the time of performing reclining movement of the backrest
3
or when using the footrest
12
.
It is further preferable that in case an operation for rising movement is directed when the backrest
3
and the footrest
12
are not in stationary positions, the control portion
16
performs rising movement only after the backrest
3
and the footrest
12
returned to their stationary positions. With this arrangement, it is possible to eliminate trouble such as operating the rising switch many times.
It is further preferable that the chair is provided with a mechanism of varying an angle of the seat surface
2
a
at the time of reclining movement of the backrest
3
. With this arrangement, the user can comfortably lay down in a natural posture since the angle of the seat surface
2
a
is varied at the time of reclining movement.
It is further preferable that the chair is arranged in that a central side of the seat surface
2
a
is supported by the intermediate base block
15
in a freely rotating manner while a rear end portion
2
b
of the seat surface
2
a
is suspended from the backrest
3
via a suspending link
9
. With this arrangement, the mechanism for varying the angle of the seat surface
2
a
when the backrest
3
is reclined can be realized in a small-sized and light-weighted manner.
It is further preferable that armrests
11
are fixed to the seat surface
2
a
such that their angles with respect to the seat surface
2
a
are maintained to be constant. With this arrangement, the armrests
11
descent together with the declining of the seat surface
2
a
in linkage with the backrest
3
upon reclining the backrest
3
so that a posture for resting one's arms will not become unnatural.
It is further preferable that a control circuit box incorporating the control portion
16
therein is mounted to the intermediate base block
15
. With this arrangement, wiring from the control circuit box can be shortened even at the time of reclining movement and rising movement.
It is further preferable that the rising movement mechanism
8
is comprised of an electric actuator for raising movement
8
a
for rotating the second link
5
and the third link
6
, the electric actuator for raising movement
8
a
being disposed to be substantially horizontal to the floor surface
22
. With this arrangement, an internal mechanism of the chair assisting rising movements can be low and the seat surface
2
a
can be maintained at a low level as well.
It is further preferable that the chair is provided with an adaptor
23
for adjusting a height of the seat surface
2
a
with respect to the floor surface
22
. With this arrangement, height adjustment for short and tall persons can be performed by the adaptor
23
.
It is further preferable that the chair is provided with a mechanism for decreasing a height of the seat surface
2
a
to be lower than that of the stationary position when performing reclining movements of the backrest
3
. With this arrangement, a comfortable posture can be taken at the time of performing reclining movements.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3138402 (1964-06-01), Heyl, Jr. et al.
patent: 4007960 (1977-02-01), Gaffney
patent: 4637652 (1987-01-01), Bergenwall
patent: 4852939

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