The present invention relates to an armrest adjuster, especially to an armrest adjuster by which an armrest not only can be changed between a button-free mode and a button mode easily, but also can be installed optionally for movement and adjustment in the fore-and-aft direction or the lateral direction, or rotation from side to side, with/or without damping action.
There are many armrest adjusters available now such as U.S. Pat. No. 8,474,914 B2. However, there is room for improvement for the armrest available now.
Firstly, users sit on chairs usually work or play games by electronics (such as smartphones, tablet computers, etc.) on their hands or laptops on their knees. The efficiency of the armrest can be increased greatly once the armrest (armrest body) set on each of two sides of the chair can be adjusted or moved (such as rotational adjustment) to the front side of the users for allowing users upper limbs (such as elbows) to lean against or allowing users to put the laptop. However, the conventional armrest is unable to meet the user's needs mentioned above.
Moreover, the armrest pad (armrest body) is usually connected to and disposed on a top surface of an armrest support. For rotational adjustment, and adjustment in the fore-and-aft direction and the lateral direction, the side view of the armrest pad (armrest body) should have a certain height. Thus not only the types of the armrest support used are limited, the appearance of the whole chair is affected. The purchase intension of manufacturers of the chair manufacturers/or the armrest support to the chair armrest is also under influence of the height.
Although certain types of conventional armrest provide rotational adjustment, and adjustment in the fore-and-aft direction and the lateral direction, these armrests are divided into two control modes-a button control mode (such as a press member 90 of the present invention) and a button-free control mode. As to the armrest with the button, users need to press the button first for adjustment in various directions. On the other hand, users can adjust the armrest directly and freely without pressing any button once they sit on the chair with button-free armrests. For manufacturers, the conventional armrests have different structure, unable to be replaced by each other easily according to user's needs. Thus the manufacturing cost is increased and this has negative effects on production management of manufacturing ends or suppliers.
Lastly, plurality of metal fasteners (such as screws) is required to assembly the conventional armrest. Thus the installation of the armrest is not simple. The increased number of the metal parts and accessories results in higher assembly cost. This is not good for the environment.
In order to solve the above problems, there is a need to provide a novel armrest adjuster.
Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a button-free armrest adjuster by which an armrest body can be moved and adjusted relative to a projecting shaft in the fore-and-aft direction or the lateral direction, or rotated relative to the projecting shaft from side to side, with/or without damping action. The side-view height of the armrest body is reduced easily and the installation of the armrest body is convenient.
In order to achieve the above object, a button-free armrest adjuster according to the present invention includes an armrest disposed on a top surface of an armrest support. The armrest consists of an armrest pad, an armrest base connected to an armrest cover of the armrest pad correspondingly to form an armrest body, a first component, a second component fixed between the armrest base and the top surface of the armrest support, a first shaft cover, a second shaft cover, and at least one damper. A rectangular space is formed within the armrest body while a projecting shaft is disposed on a center of the second component along the fore-and-aft direction. While in use, the projecting shaft remains stationary while the armrest body is moved and adjusted in fore-and-aft direction or lateral direction, or rotated from side to side, with/or without damping action so as to achieve the side-view height adjustment and easy installation thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an armrest adjuster with a button by which an armrest body can be moved and adjusted relative to a projecting shaft in the fore-and-aft direction or the lateral direction, or rotated relative to the projecting shaft from side to side, with/or without damping action. The side-view height of the armrest body is reduced easily and the installation of the armrest body is convenient.
In order to achieve the above object, an armrest adjuster with a button according to the present invention includes an armrest disposed on a top surface of an armrest support. The armrest consists of an armrest pad, an armrest base connected to an armrest cover of the armrest pad correspondingly to form an armrest body, a first component, a second component fixed between the armrest base and the top surface of the armrest support, a first shaft cover, a second shaft cover, and at least one damper. A rectangular space is formed within the armrest body while a projecting shaft is disposed on a center of the second component along the fore-and-aft direction. The armrest further includes a press member, a control member and a fastener. The press member is disposed with a third rack in the fore-and-aft direction for being engaged with a fourth rack of the first component. The third rack of the press member is released from the fourth rack of the first component when a press portion of the press member is pressed and moved away from an opening while in use. At the moment, the projecting shaft keeps stationary and the armrest body can be moved and adjusted relative to the projecting shaft in fore-and-aft direction or lateral direction, or rotation from side to side, with/or without damping action optionally. The third rack of the press member is returned to be engaged with the fourth rack of the first component when the press portion of the press member is released and returned elastically. Now a slide bar of the press member also drives the control member to move outward elastically and turn back to the original position. Thus the fastener is also returned elastically and a sixth rack is engaged with a second rack of the first shaft cover and teeth around the second shaft cover simultaneously. Thereby the armrest is turned back to the fixed state, being positioned.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
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The armrest pad 10 is fixed with an armrest cover 11 therein and the armrest cover 11 is used for preventing each component within the armrest base 20 from releasing from its original position. Thus the failure of the armrest 1 caused by abnormal displacement of one component can be avoided.
The armrest base 20 is connected to the armrest cover 11 of the armrest pad 10 correspondingly to form an armrest body 4. A rectangular space 30 is formed within the armrest body 4 while a first long slot 21 is arranged at a middle part of the armrest base 20 in fore-and-aft direction (such as the X axis in figure), as shown in
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The first shaft cover 70 is arranged at the projecting shaft 61 of the second component 60 and is located over the third long slot 43 of the first component 40, as shown in
The second shaft cover 80 is rotatably mounted in a circular recess 73 on the top surface of the first shaft cover 70 and is also fixed on the projecting shaft 61 of the second component 60, as shown in
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The projecting shaft 61 remains stationary and the first rotary damper 51 of the first damper 50a is engaged with and moved along the first rack 45 when the armrest body 4 is adjusted forward and backward in the fore-and-aft direction. Thus the armrest body 4 is moved and adjusted relative to the projecting shaft 61 in the fore-and-aft direction with the damping action, as the arrow A in
The projecting shaft 61 remains stationary and the second rotary damper 52 of the second damper 50b is engaged with and slid along the second rack 72 when the armrest body 4 is adjusted in the lateral direction. Thus the armrest body 4 is moved and adjusted relative to the projecting shaft 61 in the lateral direction with the damping action, as the arrow B in
The projecting shaft 61 remains stationary and the third rotary damper 53 of the third damper 50c is moved along the teeth 82 around the second shaft cover 80 when the armrest body 4 is rotated for adjustment. Thus the armrest body 4 is rotated and adjusted relative to the projecting shaft 61 with the damping action, as the arrow C in
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The press member 90 is plugged into the opening 4a of the armrest body 4. A press portion 91 is arranged at an outer end of the press member 90 and a first elastic member 92 is set on an inner end of the press member 90 for leaning against a first protruding wall 231 on the lateral side of the lower opening 23 of the armrest base 20 elastically. A fore-and-aft slide bar 93 projecting upwards is set between the press portion 91 and the first elastic member 92 while a pin 94 projecting inwards is arranged at in inner wall of the slide bar 93. A third rack 95 is disposed on the pin 94 along the fore-and-aft direction and is engaged with the fourth rack 461 of the first component 40.
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The fastener 110 is set between the second groove 44 of the first component 40 and the platforms 47 and located under the control member 100. The fastener 110 includes a sixth rack 111 that is engaged with the second rack 72 of the first shaft cover 70 and the teeth 82 around the second shaft cover 80 simultaneously, a second elastic member 112 elastically leaning against a second protruding wall 48 near the platforms 47 of the first component 40, and a second recess 113 with an opening facing upwards and used for mounting the control member 100. One side of the fastener 110 corresponding to the control member 100 is disposed with a third bump 114, a third slanting groove 116, a fourth bump 115 and a fourth slanting groove 117 in turn from inside to outside. The third bump 114 and the fourth bump 115 are slid into the first slanting groove 103 and the second slanting groove 105 of the control member 100 respectively at the same time while the first bump 104 and the second hump 106 of the control member 100 are slid into the third slanting groove 116 and the fourth slanting groove 117 respectively and simultaneously. The third bump 114 and the fourth bump 115 are pressed against by the first bump 104 and the second hump 106 of the control member 100 respectively and simultaneously when the control member 100 is moved inwards.
The third rack 95 on the pin 94 of the press member is moved inward to be released from the fourth rack 461 of the first component 40 when the press portion 91 of the press member 90 is pressed and moved inward elastically, away from the opening 4a (as the arrow D in
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As shown in
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In summary, the armrest adjuster according to the present invention has the following advantages compared with the prior arts:
(1). The armrest body 4 of the present invention can be moved and adjusted in fore-and-aft direction or lateral direction, or rotated from side to side, on the top surface 3 of the armrest support 2 with/or without damping action. As shown in
(2). The height of the armrest pad (armrest body) in the side view can be reduced through proper arrangement of each component of the present invention. Not only the types of the armrest support used are not limited, the appearance of the whole chair is improved. This increases the purchase intention of chair manufacturers/or armrest support manufacturers to the present armrest.
(3). The armrest adjuster with a button (press member) of the present invention is formed by the button-free armrest adjuster being disposed with a press member 90, a control member 100 and a fastener 110. Thus the present invention can be changed into the armrest adjuster with a button or the button-free armrest adjuster easily according to users' needs. Thereby not only the production cost is reduced, this is beneficial to production management of manufacturing ends or suppliers.
(4). Only a few metal fasteners (such as screws) are required in the assembly by the present invention. Not only the assembly is simplified, the assembly cost is also reduced due to the minimum number of metal parts and accessories. This is also beneficial to the environment.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalent.