Chairs and seats – Movable bottom – Tiltable
Patent
1997-08-05
1999-06-08
Cranmer, Laurie K.
Chairs and seats
Movable bottom
Tiltable
29719511, 29719514, A47C 102
Patent
active
059099259
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a rocking stool having a seat surface and a support structure having a base means.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Rocking stools are already known for example from DE 42 10 098.4-16, having a hinge-like arrangement between the seat surface and the base means. The base means in those stools is of the same kind as that found in conventional chairs, seats the like.
A disadvantage with the above rocking stools according to the state of the art is that, when the stools are moved, they cannot be pulled over the floor, but have to be lifted and carried.
Rocking stools are also known in which the base means has rollers. Although such rocking stools can admittedly be easily moved over the floor, they move considerably over the floor when the person sitting on the stool rocks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a rocking stool which can be easily pushed or pulled over the floor without loading but which affords firm contact relative to the floor when loaded so as to prevent movement over the floor during the rocking movement.
In accordance with the present invention the object is attained by a contact means which is arranged substantially centrally beneath the seat surface and which can be brought into pressing contact with the floor when the stool is loaded and which serves as a support means in the rocking movement.
The major part of the force due to weight is transmitted by way of the contact means disposed centrally beneath the seat surface. As a result, the pressure in relation to surface area, at the contact surface between the contact means and the floor, is so high as to ensure that the rocking stool grips the floor in the optimum fashion.
A further advantage of the invention is that the centre point about which the rocking movement takes place can be at the point of contact between the contact means and the floor. That design configuration provides the desired optimum rocking radius, in a very inexpensive structure.
In accordance with a very desirable embodiment the contact means is connected to the base means by way of a frame, at least one strut or the like, wherein when a loading is applied the frame, strut or like experiences elastic deformation to such an extent that the contact means is pressed against the floor.
In an advantageous development the spacing between the contact means and the floor in the non-loaded condition may be adjusted.
In an alternative development the necessary force required for deformation of the strut and thus the force for pressing the contact means against the floor may be adjusted.
Both the possibility of adjusting the spacing and also the force serve in an ideal fashion for adaptation to the body weight of the person using the stool. That is particularly important when the person using the stool would like to only slightly relieve the loading on the stool in order to move it or roll it to another location. In that respect it is important that just a slight relief of the loading on the rocking stool will already cause the contact means to lift away from the floor.
Desirably the contact means is made from a material with a high coefficient of friction. Such materials are elastomers such as for example rubber. It is highly advantageous for the contact means to be in the form of a hemispherical pressure knob, with the spherical part thereof being pressed against the floor.
In a preferred embodiment the vertical axis of the contact means moves in the rocking movement in accordance with the vertical axis of the stool. In that construction the point of contact between the contact means and the floor is at the same time the centre point of the rocking movement.
In an alternative construction the contact means remains in a perpendicular position and the rocking movement of the stool is made possible by virtue of a hinge or pivot above the contact means.
The support structure of the rocking stool may be embodied in a large number of different forms, but a preferred configuration is that of
REFERENCES:
patent: 4099697 (1978-07-01), Von Schuclkmann
patent: 4183579 (1980-01-01), Gonzalez y. Rojas
patent: 4932719 (1990-06-01), Gonzalez y. Rojas
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