Chairs and seats – Plural related seats – Relatively movable
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-27
2001-07-03
Nelson, Jr., Milton (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Plural related seats
Relatively movable
C297S331000, C297S344100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254185
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Seating arrangements at stadiums and other large facilities around the world are primarily designed to accommodate able-bodied persons by using basic fold-down seating configurations. Individuals in wheelchairs are generally limited to sitting in areas allocated for wheelchair use at predetermined locations throughout the stadium. The advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which mandates the scope of the accommodations that must be provided for individuals in wheelchairs, has prompted stadium owners to expand the seating areas for these individuals.
The seating arrangements prevalent in today's newly erected stadiums accommodate wheelchairs by providing individual seats mounted on a single post that fold up and swing away to provide an area between the posts sufficiently large for a wheelchair. This distance, which must be at least thirty-three inches as required by the ADA, dictates the number of seats available in a given row. This configuration requires a minimum separation distance between each post in a given row of seats. Conventional wheelchair accessible stadium seating merely provides sixty-six inches of open space between two folded seats to accommodate two individuals in wheelchairs. Accordingly, these seating configurations must necessarily allow for empty space between the adjacent posts upon which the individual seats are mounted, creating an inefficient waste of space between adjacent posts. As such, the conventional stadium seating fails to maximize the seating space achieved by the current invention.
Moreover, these individual seats are mounted on single posts and are stowed by pivoting the seating area upward and rotating the entire seat about a fixed pivot point. However, because the seat if fixed at the pivot point, the rotated seat encroaches upon the aisle behind where the individuals in wheelchairs are seated.
Conventional handicapped seating has another inherent drawback in that when folded and pivoted away, the seat effectively creates a “wall” or barrier between either the individual in the wheelchair and an individual in a standard seat, or between two individuals, both in wheelchairs.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a seating system that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art. The seating arrangement of the present invention is configured so that two seats mounted on a single post are capable of folding and swinging away, effectively eliminating the wasted space associated with mounting each seat on its own corresponding post. The use of contiguous sets of tandem seats maximizes the number of seats for both individuals in wheelchairs and those using conventional stadium seating.
The additional space created by the tandem seating arrangement allows for installation of more seats in a particular row or an additional sliding seat between sets of tandem seats. Configuring this single seat to have translational and pivotal movement in relation to the post allows this lineal row configuration to accommodate up to fifty percent more seats than the conventional seating design. Additionally, such a configuration allows the single seat, once it is folded and pivoted away, to be further displaced away from the aisle behind where the individuals in wheelchairs are seated. Utilization of the sliding support member in conjunction with the central pivot point on the single support post allows for significant flexibility in seating design.
An additional advantage of one embodiment of the present invention is that it eliminates the obstruction created by conventional folding seats by providing a stadium seat which folds downward, the folded seat resting proximate the individuals' legs, rather than obstructing the individuals' lateral view.
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Engineering drawing of “Swing Away Chair” of Irwin Seating Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1 page.
Accessible Products Brochure of American Seating Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1992, 4 pages.
DeFelice Thomas
Smith-DeFelice Donna
Staehlin John H.
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Jr. Milton Nelson
Smith-DeFelice Donna
Volunteers for Medical Engineering
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