Chairs and seats – Oscillating suspender connected to or through adjunctive rest – Armrest or side frame-connected
Patent
1998-10-14
2000-02-08
Barfield, Anthony D.
Chairs and seats
Oscillating suspender connected to or through adjunctive rest
Armrest or side frame-connected
297317, 297328, 297282, A47C 102, A47C 302
Patent
active
060220767
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
The present invention relates a suspension device for use in reclinable seating, particularly seating in which the reclinable unit comprises a back rest and seat portion formed in fixed relation to one another e.g. as an integral unit. This reclinable unit may also comprise a leg support or footrest portion.
In a reclining armchair as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,599 there is a unitary seating element comprising a back rest, a seat and a footrest. This seating element is suspended from a base structure by a single pivot at each side, somewhat above the middle of the seating element, but lower than the arm rest level. FIGS. 2 and 3 of the '599 patent show such an arrangement in the upright and fully reclined states, respectively. FIGS. 1 and 2 of the present application schematically correspond to those drawings in the patent.
The problem with such an arrangement is the tendency of the chair, at least when occupied to fall into either the upright or the fully reclined position because the combined center of gravity, 5a and 5b, of the occupant and seating element is lower in these positions than in the intermediate position, 5c, as shown in FIG. 3 herein. Effort is needed to move out of these upright and fully reclined positions and elderly and handicapped people may not be able to emerge from the fully reclined position. The need to raise the centre of gravity when passing from the fully reclined to the intermediate position can be likened to a potential energy barrier which must be overcome in order for the occupant of the chair to rise from the fully reclined position. Thus, although the armchair described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,599 allows the user to adopt a comfortable and beneficial position in which the individual's feet are raised above the level of his heart, its suspension may be somewhat difficult to operate especially by elderly and handicapped persons.
The present invention provides a recliner chair comprising a linkage mechanism by which a reclinable unit is suspended from a base unit, the linkage mechanism comprising at least three members pivotally connected in series, two outer members of the series being pivotally secured to the base unit, the reclining unit being affixed, preferably rigidly, to an intermediate member of the series, rotation of the intermediate member between the two outer members of the series allowing movement of the reclinable unit between an upright and a fully reclined position about a pivotal axis. The pivotal axis preferably moves during movement of the reclinable unit between upright and fully reclined positions, this movement including a vertical component such that the combined center of gravity of the reclinable unit and any occupant remains at a substantially constant height.
The reclinable unit is connected to the base unit by at least one, and preferably two linkage mechanisms one on each side of the unit.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a suspension device for a reclinable seating comprising a linkage mechanism by which a reclinable unit is suspended from a base unit, the linkage mechanism comprising at least three members pivotally connected in series, two outer members of the series being pivotally securable to the base unit, an intermediate member of the series being securable, preferably rigidly, to the reclinable unit, the intermediate member being rotatable between the two outer members of the series, about a pivotal axis, to permit movement of the reclinable unit between an upright and a fully reclined position.
Desirably, the linkage mechanism comprises three members pivotally connected in series. Preferably, the intermediate member of the series is formed in a T-shape, two arms of the T being pivotally linked to other members of the series the third arm of the T being rigidly securable to the reclinable unit. In one preferred embodiment, the relative lengths and proportions of the members of the linkage mechanism are substantially as shown in the accompanying FIGS. 4-8.
Thus, according to the present invention the
REFERENCES:
patent: 3235304 (1966-02-01), Glass
patent: 3711152 (1973-01-01), Sirpak et al.
patent: 4790599 (1988-12-01), Goldman
patent: 5108148 (1992-04-01), Henke
Barfield Anthony D.
Greenfield George L.
Huffman James W.
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