The present invention concerns a device that is attached to chair legs and helps students to improve their focus.
Children often have excess energy and trouble focusing on schoolwork. It is desirable to provide children and students an outlet for expending energy, and alleviating anxiety, hyperactivity, and boredom. Children often rock back and forth in their seats. Constant motion has a calming influence that helps fidgeting children to expel energy while seated, reducing stress, and increasing their ability to focus. Greater focus leads to higher grades and improved academic performance. Rocking in all directions also engages and strengthens core muscles, resulting in better posture.
Attachments for chair legs transform a standard school chair into a wobbling chair that enables children to expend excess energy while working, which assists in alleviating anxiety, hyperactivity, and boredom.
A chair foot attachment 10 is provided for installing onto the base or foot 12 of a chair leg 14. The chair foot attachment 10 permits a student sitting on the chair to be able to wiggle and wobble on the chair 16 more freely, without having to lift the chair legs 14 off the floor, and without disturbing others in their immediate vicinity. The chair foot attachment 10 is shown attached to all four chair legs 14 in
It should be noted that it is possible that fewer than four chair foot attachments 10 could be used while still permitting a student to wiggle and wobble on the chair 16 more freely. For example, two chair foot attachments 10 could be installed on two of the chair legs 14, such as the two front legs, two rear legs, or diagonally opposed legs, while still providing the user with the ability to wiggle and wobble on the chair 16.
Movement by students using the chair foot attachments 10 can increase blood flow, which enables children a greater ability to focus. At the same time, constant motion can cause a calming influence, which can help to reduce stress and increase the time a student stays on task. Installation of the chair foot attachment 10 is simple in that a user only needs to snap the attachment onto a foot 12 of a chair 16. The design depicted can be installed on a standard round school chair glide 18, measuring between approximately 1.125 inches and 1.25 inches in diameter, without requiring any tools. A user simply positions the foot 12 of the chair 16 into the center of the chair foot attachment 10 and press downwardly until the chair foot attachment 10 is seated firmly around the foot 12 of the chair leg 14. The design may be used on many different sized feet 12 of chair legs 14.
The chair foot attachment 10 shown in the Figures has a size of about 2.6″ in height and about 3.8″ in diameter. The chair foot attachment 10 can be sized in different sizes depending upon the foot size of the chair 16.
As discussed below, the base 12 of the chair foot attachment 10 permits the attachment 10 to be effectively used on tile, wood, and carpeted floors. In particular, the chair foot attachment 10 has a base that permits the chair foot attachment 10 to slide on many different types of surfaces.
The chair foot attachment 10 includes an upper member 20 that is dome-shaped, having a flattened upper profile. A cavity 22 extends inwardly into the dome 20 from the upper surface 24 thereof. The cavity 22 may be centrally disposed, as shown, and includes an upwardly facing bottom surface 26 that abuts the bottom of a chair leg 16 when the chair leg is installed in the cavity 22. The cavity 22 is shown as having a cylindrical shape. A ring-shaped protrusion 28 extends inwardly into the cylinder between the bottom surface 26 of the cavity 22 and the upper surface 24 of the upper member 20. The protrusion 28 assists in retaining the chair foot 12 in the cavity 22. The outer legs 30 of the upper member 20 may have a thickness that is greater than the thickness of the upper member 20 at its upper surface 24. The shape of the upper member 20 provides a spring-like member. The protrusion 28 may be optional.
In one embodiment, the upper member 20 may have an outer diameter of about 3.6″ and a height of about 2.5″. The cavity may have an inner diameter of about 1.2″ and the protrusion 28 has an inner diameter of about 1.1″. The bottom surface 26 of the cavity 22 may be spaced about 1.4″ from the bottom surface of the upper member 20.
The upper member 20 may be made of a flexible material, such as rubber. One type of rubber that may be used is a combination of natural rubber and SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber).
The chair foot attachment 10 is depicted as including a base member 30 having two parts, both of which are substantially ring-shaped. The base member 30 includes an inner member 32 that forms an inner wall 34 and a bottom wall 36 of the base member 30, and an outer member 38 that forms an outer wall of the base member 30. The inner and outer members 32, 38 are configured to snap together with appropriate attachment surfaces, as known by those of skill in the art.
The upper member 20 may include a shape, including grooves for mating with the base member 30, as shown in
As discussed above, the base member 30 is made of a material that permits the chair foot attaclunent 10 to slide more easily on many different types of surfaces. The base member 30 also has grooves 40 spaced apart on the bottom wall 36 that prevent the base member 30 from suctioning onto a surface, further promoting sliding of the base member on an underlying surface. The grooves 40 extend between the inside of the dome and the exterior of the dome, permitting air to transfer between the inside and exterior of the dome. The base member 30 may be made of a material such as plastic. One type of plastic that can be used is COPP (Copolymerized Polypropylene). Other materials may alternatively be used.
Both the base member 30 and the upper member 20 are shown as being symmetrical. Alternatively, although not shown, the base member and upper member could be non-symmetrical. The base member 30 may be optional.
In a first embodiment, a chair foot attachment for improving focus includes a flexible upper member. The upper member has a height with side walls defining bottom edges of the upper member and an upper wall with a cavity extending downwardly into the upper member from the upper wall. The cavity extends only partially into the upper member and defines a cavity height that is less than the height of the upper member. The cavity has an upwardly facing bottom surface for abutting a bottom of a chair foot when the chair foot is installed in the cavity. When the chair foot is positioned in the cavity, it permits an associated chair to wobble.
The upper member may be at least in part hollow. The upper member may have a flattened upper profile. The cavity may be centrally disposed. The cavity may have a substantially cylindrical shape. The cavity may include a ring-shaped protrusion adjacent the bottom surface of the cavity for assisting in retaining a chair foot in the cavity. The side walls of the upper member may have a thickness that is greater than the thickness of the upper wall of the hollow member. The upper member may have an outer diameter of about 3.6″ and a height of about 2.5″. The cavity may have an inner diameter of about 1.2″ and the protrusion may have an inner diameter of about 1.1″. The bottom surface of the cavity 22 may be spaced about 1.4″ from the bottom edges of the hollow member.
The upper member may be made of a flexible material. The flexible material may be rubber.
The chair foot attachment may also include a base member coupled to the bottom edges of the hollow member. The base member may have an inner member and an outer member. The inner member may form an inner wall and a bottom wall of the base member. The outer member may form an outer wall of the base member. The inner and outer members may be configured to snap together via attachment surfaces. The inner member may be ring-shaped, and the outer member may be ring-shaped.
The upper member may include grooves for mating with the base member, including an interior groove for coupling with the inner member. The base member may be configured to trap the bottom edges of the upper member. The base member may have a bottom surface with grooves to deter the base member from suctioning to the floor during use. The grooves may permit air to transfer between the inside and exterior of the upper member. The base member may be substantially symmetrical, and the upper member may be substantially symmetrical.
The term “substantially,” if used herein, is a term of estimation.
While various features are presented above, it should be understood that the features may be used singly or in any combination thereof. Further, it should be understood that variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art to which the claimed examples pertain. The examples described herein are exemplary.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/187,384, filed May 11, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63187384 | May 2021 | US |