Chairs and seats – Legrest or footrest interconnected to move relative to... – With means to move bottom relative to and concurrently with...
Utility Patent
1999-04-07
2001-01-02
Nelson, Jr., Milton (Department: 3624)
Chairs and seats
Legrest or footrest interconnected to move relative to...
With means to move bottom relative to and concurrently with...
C297S248000
Utility Patent
active
06168232
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to non-swiveling, motion furniture that reclines from an erect position to one or more reclined positions, especially motion furniture on which false feet are provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional contemporary practice, the mechanism for a non-swiveling article of motion furniture (e.g., a reclining chair, seat or sofa) is arranged to have a base resting on and supported from the floor. Above the base, mechanical linkages bracing elements, mounting sites, activators, rocker locks and the like are provided, as is well known in the art, for operatively supporting a combined seat and arm frame, a back and optionally an ottoman (or leg rest, sometimes including both primary and secondary ottomans), all of which are upholstered.
In general, a one-seat furniture article is called a chair, a two-seat furniture article is called a love seat, and an article having three or more seats is called a sofa. Where one or more of the seats of an article are capable of being reclined, i.e., are reclinable, the condition or position in which the reclinable seat is fully upright is also known as a fully erect or completely closed position. Some reclinable seats are capable of reclining into only one locked position; however, other reclinable seats can be reclined into a plurality of locked positions. For example, where a seat is reclinable into two different reclining positions, the first stage of operation from the upright position results in the ottoman being fully extended, from a stored state, and the back tilted down at least somewhat, thereby achieving an intermediate (or TV) position. In some motion furniture, this first stage of operation is accompanied by a forward movement of virtually all of the movable parts of the furniture article relative to the stationary base. The purpose of this forward movement is to shift the center of gravity of the combined person and chair forwards, relative to where it would have been, as the person's own weight shifts rearwards relative to the movable part of the furniture article. As a consequence, the seating article will not tend to tip rearwards when occupant is no longer able to contact the floor with their feet. A further purpose for shifting the movable part of the chair forwards is that this shifting can reduce or eliminate the need for spacing the furniture article away from the wall of a room to accommodate the envelope of movement of the top of the back as reclining occurs.
In some motion furniture, the two positions described above complete the range of possible motion. In others, a third, fully reclined position is possible, in which the back tilts down further towards horizontal, and the movable part of the chair moves further forwards. In some constructions, the movable part of the chair is also elevated relative to the base in the fully reclined position. Closing involves a reversal of the motions described above.
Although it may not occur to a casual observer or even to a casual user, in most motion furniture, the furniture feet are not readily visible. Often the feet are provided as simple floor glides on the bottom of the base. The floor guides are typically spaced well within the upholstered perimeter of the furniture article for concealment purposes. However, the feet may become more noticeable as the furniture article is fully reclined.
While the floor glides and base are concealed in many conventional motion furniture, other conventional motion furniture have bases secured at an elevated location between the left and right footed arm frames. This class of furniture is known as the so-called high-leg design of motion chair.
The lack of decorative, showy feet for conventional, non-high-leg motion furniture, and, in particular for love seats and sofas having one or more motion seats, has inhibited designers and limited market penetration. There is believed to be a significant group of consumers who would like to enjoy having one or more articles of motion furniture in their living rooms and other less casual areas, but find that the substantially hidden foot style does not match the showy foot style of their other furniture or which otherwise suits their taste in furniture.
One convenient way of uniting the movement of separate seat units on a multiple-seat motion furniture article, used by Action Industries, Inc. in the United States, is shown in
FIGS. 4 and 5
. The article includes, as a substructure, a front rail
40
and a rear rail
42
extending lengthwise to the furniture article. (Colloquially, this substructure often is referred to as being a superstructure.) The frames of any static (non-motion) units of the article are fixed on these rails, and the base of each motion unit is mounted on both rails. The movable seat assemblies, such as assembly
44
illustrated in
FIGS. 4 and 5
, has cross-bars
46
and
48
, which unite the front rail
40
and rear rail
42
to provide one article of seating-type motion furniture. An arm frame
50
is attached to the movable seat assembly
44
, so that the arm frame
50
is moved as the assembly
44
is moved between its reclining and fully erect positions.
Conventionally, in these multiple-seat articles of seating-type motion furniture, substantially hidden feet
52
are provided on the undersides of the rails
40
and
42
for supporting the article on the floor.
There are a few known examples of conventional motion furniture provided with showy false feet, i.e., feet which are located under the arm frames where one would expect to see feet, but which feet do not actually touch, or only barely touch the floor. Showy feet under the arm frames, such as arm frame
50
shown in
FIGS. 4 and 5
, are false feet, which move with the respective combined seat and arm frame and do not actually supportingly engage against the floor. However, due to the attachment of the showy false feet to the bottom of arm frame
50
, showy false feet shift forward and are elevated as the combined seat assembly
44
and arm frame
50
moves as the unit between reclined and erect positions. In a typical article of this latter type, the false showy feet move about 15-45 cm forwards and backwards as well as vertically, with some tilting, as the motion unit is (or motion units are) operated. To some, the movement of the false feet is odd and undesirable, since the false feet are suppose to give the appearance of stationary, supporting structures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to overcome the above-discussed drawbacks associated with motion furniture by providing a non-high-leg motion furniture article, and more particularly a multi-seat article, having stationary false showy feet that remain stationary during movement of the motion furniture from its erect to reclining positions.
In accordance with an embodiment of this invention, the motion furniture article includes a base structure supportable against a floor surface. The base structure includes at least front and rear rails extending lengthwise to the article. The article further comprises one or more movable seat units supported on the rails of the base and movable between a fully erect position and one or more reclining positions. Optionally, one or more of the seat units can also be supported on the base in a stationary manner, so long as at least one of the seat units is movable into a reclining position. The article also comprises first and second arm frames with false showy feet connected thereto. The first and second arm frames are respectively connected to opposite end portions of the front and rear rails, rather than to the movable seat unit. As a consequence, the arm frames and false showy feet connected to the arm frames remain stationary during movement of the movable seat units between their fully erect and reclining positions.
This invention may be applied to chairs, love seats, or sofas.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detai
Action Industries Inc.
Jr. Milton Nelson
Pillsbury Madison & Sutro
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