1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an adjustable arm assembly for a chair including an adjustable chair arm having a detent actuator to be manually depressed so that the elevation of the chair arm can be selectively adjusted relative to the chair seat to suit the needs and comfort of one who is seated on the chair.
2. Background Art
Whether it be a home or office chair, the opposing arms that are commonly associated with such chairs are typically fixed in place. That is to say, the chair arms are connected to opposite sides of the seat and/or to the back rest of the chair so that the elevation of the arms relative to the seat is not adjustable. In cases where one seated on the chair is very tall or a small child, it may be desirable to have the ability to adjust the position of the arms of the chair in order to better accommodate the arm of the occupant. In other words, by being able to raise or lower the chair arms, the comfort of one seated on the chair could be advantageously enhanced, regardless of his height. Therefore, it would be desirable to have access to a chair having arms that may be quickly, easily and selectively adjusted between a range of elevations to meet the needs of the user.
Briefly, and in general terms, an adjustable arm assembly is disclosed for a home or an office chair of the kind having a seat and a back rest. The arm assembly includes an adjustable arm located adjacent one side of the seat. A detent actuator is manually accessible at the adjustable arm to receive a pushing force thereagainst to enable the elevation of the arm relative to the seat to be selectively adjusted to meet the needs and enhance the comfort of one who is seated on the chair.
Depending from the adjustable chair arm is a hollow elevation adjustment tube. A cylindrical lock housing is carried at the bottom of the elevation adjustment tube. When the detent actuator is depressed by the user, the elevation adjustment tube and the lock housing carried thereby are slidable reciprocally through a hollow inner guide tube of the arm assembly to correspondingly adjust the elevation of the chair arm. The inner guide tube is surrounded by and coaxially aligned with an outer arm tube cover. Structural frame tubes are received through the outer arm tube cover for connection to the inner guide tube by which to hold the adjustable arm assembly alongside the chair.
An elevation adjustment slot is formed at one side of the inner guide tube, and a set of axially aligned detent holes is formed along the opposite side. An elevation adjustment stop is sized to be received in and ride through the elevation adjustment slot. A key projects from the elevation adjustment stop. In the assembled configuration, with the elevation adjustment tube of the adjustable arm located inwardly of the inner guide tube, the elevation adjustment stop is connected to the lock housing carried by the elevation adjustment tube such that the key of the stop is mated to a keyhole formed in the lock housing. As the lock housing slides up and down through the inner guide tube with the elevation adjustment tube after the detent actuator is first depressed, the elevation adjustment stop connected to the lock housing correspondingly rides through the elevation adjustment slot so as to limit the movement of the adjustable arm depending upon the dimensions of the adjustment slot.
A lock is carried by and movable laterally through the lock housing. When the adjustable arm is at rest and no pushing force is applied to the detent actuator thereof, a detent pin of the lock is urged into receipt by one of the set of detent holes formed in the inner tube guide. When it is desirable to change the elevation of the adjustment arm, a pushing force is applied to the detent actuator. The pushing force is transferred from the detent actuator to a spring biased actuator arm which runs through the hollow elevation adjustment tube to the lock within the lock housing. A ramped fork located at one end of the actuator arm is seated upon the detent pin of the lock. An axial movement of the actuator arm through the elevation adjustment tube in response to a pushing force applied to the detent actuator is translated into a lateral displacement of the lock through the lock housing to cause the detent pin thereof to move outwardly of its detent hole. The elevation adjustment tube is now pushed downwardly or pulled upwardly through the inner guide tube to change the elevation of the adjustable arm. When the pushing force is removed from the detent actuator, the detent pin of the lock is automatically driven through a different one of the detent holes in the inner guide tube by which to retain the new position of the adjustable arm as selected by the user.
Referring initially to
In the present example, a pair of frame tubes 10 bend around the back rest 5 of chair 1 to hold the adjustable arms 20 at opposite sides of the seat 3 at which to accommodate the arms of a user. The frame tubes 10 are connected to the back of seat 3 at a mounting bracket or plate 12 (of
According to a preferred embodiment, and for the purpose of aesthetics, each of the adjustable arms 20 of the arm assemblies 100 at opposite sides of the seat 3 of chair 1 includes an upper arm member 22 and a lower arm member 24 spaced therefrom. However, the adjustable arm 20 of the adjustable arm assembly 100 may also include a single arm member as opposed to the upper and lower arm members 22 and 24, as shown. In the preferred embodiment, the upper arm member 22 is covered by a pad 26 or similar cushion material against which one of the arms of the user will rest when the user is seated in the chair 1.
A detent actuator 28 is manually accessible to the user at the lower arm member 24. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, a pushing force applied to the detent actuator 28 in the direction of the reference arrow of
Depending downwardly from the lower arm member 26 of the adjustable arm 20 is a sleeve 30. The top of a hollow elevation adjustment tube 32 is fixedly received within the sleeve 30. The bottom of the elevation adjustment tube 32 is slidably received within an outer arm tube cover 34 of the adjustable arm assembly 100. The frame tubes 10 which bend around and are connected to the back rest 5 of chair 1 extend through the outer arm tube covers 34 so that the adjustable arms 20 are positioned adjacent the seat 3 at opposites sides of the chair 1. When the detent actuator 28 is depressed, the elevation adjustment tube 32 is capable of reciprocal movement into and out of the outer arm tube cover 34 in response to a pushing force or a pulling force applied to one of the upper or lower arm members 22 and 24 so that the elevation of the adjustable arm 20 can be selectively changed to meet the needs of the user.
The details of the adjustable arm assembly 100 and the adjustable chair arm 20 thereof and the ability of the user to change the elevation of arm 20 relative to the seat 3 of chair 1 are now disclosed while referring to
As is best shown in
A retaining ring 42 is slidably received around the elevation adjustment tube 32 of adjustable arm 20. A protrusion 43 (of
In the assembled configuration, the retaining ring 42 and the cylindrical lock housing 44 at the bottom of the elevation adjustment tube 32 are slidably received within the inner guide tube 36 surrounded by the outer arm tube cover 34 so that the protrusion 43 (of
A pair of threaded fasteners 58 are moved through the holes 55 and 56 in the elevation adjustment stop 52 for receipt by respective ones of the threaded holes 48 and 49 in lock housing 44 (best shown in
In this regard, the elevation adjustment stop 52 controls the adjustable nature of arm 20 by limiting the reciprocal movement of the lock housing 44 through the inner guide tube 36. That is to say, the elevation adjustment stop 52 will be captured and retained against the bottom and top of the elevation adjustment slot 38 along which the elevation stop 52 travels as the adjustable chair arm 20 is subjected to a downward pushing or upward pulling force. When the elevation adjustment stop 52 contacts the bottom or top of the adjustment slot 38, any further displacement of the lock housing 44 to which the stop 52 is connected will be blocked. By virtue of the foregoing, additional movement of the elevation adjustment tube 32 downwardly or upwardly through the inner guide tube 36 is prevented, whereby to establish the lower and upper limits to which the elevation of arm 20 can be adjusted when the detent actuator 28 is depressed.
With the elevation adjustment stop 52 attached to the lock housing 44 by way of the elevation adjustment slot 38, the lock exit port 57 that is formed in stop 52 will be axially aligned with the lock pin opening 50 through lock housing 44. In this manner, and as will be disclosed when referring to
Turning now to
In the assembled configuration (of
A lock 70 is mounted in and slidable laterally through the lock housing 44. The lock 70 has a detent pin 72 at one end thereof and an axially aligned spring receiving pin 74 at the opposite end. In the assembled configuration of
When it is desirable to change the elevation of the adjustable arm 20, and as will soon be explained, a manual pushing force applied to the detent actuator 28 causes the spring 76 to be compressed so as to store energy. The detent pin 72 of lock 70 is withdrawn from its detent hole 40 in the inner guide tube 36 and pulled inwardly relative to the detent pin opening 51 formed in the side 44-2 of lock housing 44. Accordingly, the elevation adjustment tube 32 and the lock housing 44 carried thereby are now free to be pushed downwardly or pulled upwardly through the inner guide tube 36 to correspondingly change the elevation of the adjustable arm 20 to suit the needs of the user.
When the detent actuator 28 is released (at the selected elevation), spring 76 will release its stored energy and expand to cause the detent pin 72 of lock 70 to be pushed outwardly relative to the detent pin opening 51 of lock housing 44 and into a different one of the detent holes 40 in the inner guide tube 36. With the detent pin 72 of lock 70 once again received through a detent hole 40 to prevent further displacement of the elevation adjustment tube 32, the adjustable arm 20 will be held at the new elevation selected by the user until the detent actuator 28 is once again depressed.
Like the lock housing 44, a pair of sides 34-1 and 34-2 are mated to one another to establish the hollow cylindrical outer arm tube cover 34 around inner guide tube 36. The elevation adjustment stop 52 having key 54 is connected to one side 44-1 of the lock housing 44 as previously described so as to be capable of riding through the elevation adjustment slot (designated 38 in
Referring specifically to the assembled configuration of the adjustable arm assembly 100 illustrated in
In order to change the elevation of the adjustable arm 20, a pushing force is applied to the detent actuator 28. A depression of actuator 28 causes the actuator head 60 of actuator arm 62 connected thereto to simultaneously move downwardly through the hollow elevation adjustment tube 32 towards the sides 44-1 and 44-2 (shown in
More particularly, the ramped fork 64 is responsive to the depression of detent actuator 28 and the downward movement of actuator arm 62 so as to impart a corresponding pushing force against the lock 70 (in the direction of the reference arrow located below the lock). Accordingly, the detent pin 72 of lock 70 will now be withdrawn from its original detent hole 40 in the inner guide tube 36 and pulled inwardly towards the detent opening 51 (of
With the detent pin 72 of lock 70 withdrawn from the detent hole 40, the user may apply a pushing force against one of the upper or lower arm members 22 and 24 of the adjustable arm 20 to drive the elevation adjustment tube 32 and the lock housing 44 located therearound downwardly through the inner guide tube 36 to lower the elevation of arm 20. Of course, the user may also exert a pulling force against the arm members 22 and 24 to pull the elevation adjustment tube 32 upwardly and thereby raise the elevation of arm 20.
When the new elevation of the adjustable chair arm 20 has been selected, the user releases the detent actuator 28. The compression spring 66 will now expand and release its stored energy to automatically push the actuator head 60 as well as the actuator arm 62 and the detent actuator 28 back to their original at-rest position, as shown in
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6336680 | Lee | Jan 2002 | B1 |
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6419323 | Chu et al. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20080079302 A1 | Apr 2008 | US |