Patent Grant
11297951
The present invention relates to a chair suitably used at office and the like.
It is general that a conventional office chair configured so that a back and a seat tilt in a front-rear direction, is provided with a stopper mechanism which temporally fixes the back and the seat at an arbitrary position (for example, Patent Document 1). The chair adopts what we call a synchronous rocking mechanism configured so that the seat moves in front-rear direction in accordance with backward tilting of the back, and is configured so that the movement of the seat in the front-rear direction is locked by locking the synchronous rocking mechanism at a required position.
On the other hand, a chair configured such that the back and the seat twist in the left-right, is also shown in the recent chairs (for example, Patent Document 2). This chair is configured such that the seat front end part of the back and seat is backward-tiltably supported on a support base, and the lower end vicinity part of the back is supported by the support base via a seat part mechanism. A changeable joint structure that allows twist, is adopted between the support base and the seat and between the seat part mechanism and the back.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-099489
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-217845
By the way, the front-rear movement of the seat is considered to be required also for the chair described in Patent Document 2. However, it is not disclosed that the chair described in Patent Document 2 adopts the front-rear lock mechanism of the seat described in Patent Document 1. In the first place, the chairs described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are completely different in the intended use or function. Therefore, it is natural that these Patent Documents do not show how these functions are combined and furthermore, that these functions are combined.
The present invention focuses on such problems, an object thereof is to realize a chair that takes specific measures to suppress movement of the seat in the front-rear direction when the seat swings in the front-rear and the left-right directions with respect to the support base.
The present invention adopts the following means to achieve such object.
That is, a chair according to the present invention, wherein a seat swings in a front-rear and a left-right directions with respect to a support base, the chair is configured such that swinging of the seat in front-rear direction with respect to the support base is capable of being suppressed at one or a plurality of predetermined positions, or arbitrary position via an operation of an operation member.
With the configuration described above, swinging of the seat in the front-rear and left-right directions allows a seated person to sit on the seat under an appropriate weight balance in accordance with the sitting posture and to obtain the feeling of use conventional chairs do not have. Furthermore, the swinging of the seat in the front-rear direction is capable of being suppressed while such a swinging operation is performed. Therefore, it is possible to receive a support to keep a desirable posture with respect to the front-rear direction.
To effectively realize a front-rear and left-right movable configuration and a front-rear direction movement suppression structure, it is desirable that a front-rear swinging part is provided between the seat and the support base supporting the seat, and a left-right swinging part is provided between the front-rear swinging part and the support base or between the seat and the front-rear swinging part, and the seat is swingably supported in front-rear and left-right directions by the support base via these front-rear swinging part and the left-right swinging part, and a front-rear stopper mechanism is provided between the left-right swinging part and the front-rear swinging part, or between the support base and the front-rear swinging part, or between the support base and the left-right swinging part, the front-rear stopper mechanism switches between allowance and suppression of swinging of the seat in the front-rear direction through engaging or disengaging an engaging part and an engaged part by operation of the operation member.
To effectively realize a left-right direction movement suppression structure in the above described configuration, it is desirable that a left-right stopper mechanism is further provided between the left-right swinging part and the front-rear swinging part, or between the support base and the front-rear swinging part, or between the support base and the left-right swinging part, the left-right stopper mechanism switches between allowance and suppression of swinging of the seat in the left-right direction through engaging or disengaging an engaging part and an engaged part by operation of the operation member.
To realize the usability corresponding to a seated person's preference, it is desirable that the engaged positions of the engaging part and the engaged part are provided at a plurality of the positions in the front-rear direction.
To realize the usability equivalent to one of a normal chair as needed, it is desirable that it is possible to switch between suppression and no-suppression of swinging in front-rear direction on at least one predetermined position within the movement range in front-rear direction and it is possible to switch between suppression and no-suppression of swinging in left-right direction at a center reference position in left-right direction.
To improve the operability, it is desirable that the chair is configured such that wherein the front-rear stopper mechanism and the left-right stopper mechanism operate through operation of the operation member in common. It is noted that it is not limited to one operation, it is also included that, when operating a lever upward, the front-rear swinging is stopped and when downward, the left-right swinging is stopped, for example.
To further improve the operability, it is desirable that the chair is configured such that the front-rear stopper mechanism and the left-right stopper mechanism operate by one operation. It is noted that the operation timing may be different even if one operation is performed.
Considering the case where operation of the operation member is performed at the positions other than the predetermined position, it is desirable that the chair is configured such that the engaging part and the engaged part are engaged and the front-rear stopper mechanism works when the seat moves to the predetermined position after a swinging allowance operation is performed through the operation member.
To appropriately allow and suppress a movable part even by the load applied by a seated person, it is desirable that the chair includes a control mechanism configured to change the operation of a movable part between the allowed and suppressed states when the load applied by a seated person is received, and the control mechanism also changes the allowed/suppressed states of the operation of the movable part when an engagement state between the engaged part and the engaging part changes, and a recess of the control mechanism and a recess of the stopper mechanism are set at different positions in the front-rear direction.
In order that the operability is in good condition and contributes to the unitization as well, it is desirable that the operation member is provided at the front-rear swinging part and the operation member moves in accordance with the front-rear movement of the seat.
As another configuration with a good operability, it is desirable that the chair is configured such that the operation member is provided in the seat and the operation member swings in the front-rear and the left-right directions together with the seat.
To achieve both stabilization of the sitting condition and operability, it is desirable that a fixed arm part is attached to the support base and the operation member is provided in the fixed arm part.
To realize natural movement of a back and the seat, it is desirable that a back frame configured to support a backrest is erected integrally behind the seat.
To sit on or leave a chair with stability and at ease with an easy configuration, it is desirable that the chair includes: a load detection part that detects the sitting load applied by the seated person; and an operation part that operates in accordance with the detection state of the load detection part, and the operation part is configured so as to input in the front-rear stopper mechanism in parallel with the operation of the operation member, even in a state where the engaging part and the engaged part of the front-rear stopper mechanism are not engaged via the operation of the operation member, when the load is not applied, the engaging part and the engaged part are engaged, and when the load is applied, they are disengaged.
To secure the appearance when the seated person leaves a seat and the initial state when the seated person sits on a seat, it is desirable that the seat is configured so as to automatically return to the reference position in the front-rear and left-right directions in a state where the load is not applied by the seated person.
To realize allowance and suppression of the front-rear and left-right movement of the seat with an easy structure, it is desirable to configure so that the chair comprises the engaged part, the engaged part is provided at the support base or the seat and includes a groove extending to front-rear direction and left-right direction, the groove has a hole deeper than the groove at the center crossing part of front, rear, left and right direction, and the engaging part that engages the engaged part at the support base side or the seat side is provided at the seat side or the support base side, and the engaging part at the seat side or the support base side elastically protrudes toward the engaged part at the support base side or the seat side by the operation of the operation part, and the engaging part engages one of a front-rear direction groove part or left-right direction groove part of the engaged part in accordance with swinging of the seat to front-rear and left-right directions and swinging to one direction is regulated, and then, by further swinging to another direction, whereby the engaging part engages the crossing part and swinging in both front-rear and left-right directions is regulated.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a new chair that takes specific measures to suppress movement of the seat in the front-rear direction when the seat swings in the front-rear and the left-right directions with respect to the support base.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As illustrated in
The support base part 2 functions as a structured body for receiving the load applied by seated person, and in the support base part 2, a left-right pair of arm attachment parts 23 is integrally formed with the support base part 2 via a bearing base part 22 on both left and right sides of a support base main body 21 including a through hole 21a along an up-down direction into which an upper end of the leg supporting post 13 is inserted. A shaft swing damper 21b is attached to the hole 21a opening on the surface of the support base main body 21 in the front-rear direction and upper ends of left-right swing links L1, L2 are attached to holes 22a opening on the front and rear surfaces of the bearing base part 22, via swing support shafts S1, S2.
The left-right swing part 4 includes a pair of plate-shaped link bases 41 disposed separated from each other in the front-rear direction to perform a swinging operation in the left-right direction with respect to the support base part 2, and a left-right swing main body 42 configured to connect the pair of link bases 41, 41. At both left and right ends of the link bases 41, holes 41a, 41a are opened and the lower ends of the left-right swing links L1, L2 are attached via swing shafts S3, S4.
That is, as illustrated in
A window 41c is opened at the center of the link base 41, a rolling damper 44 is positioned in the window 41c, and a swing range of the left-right swing part 4 is restricted to a range where the rolling damper 44 can perform a relative movement within the window 41c.
The front-rear swing part 3 includes a pair of plate-shaped rail plates 31, 31 disposed separated from each other in the left-right direction to perform a swinging operation in the front-rear direction with respect to the left-right swing part 4, and an upper connection plate 32 and a front connection plate 33 configured to connect the pair of rail plates 31, 31. At a front side of the rail plates 31, a guide hole 34 is provided to penetrate the rail plates 31, a bearing 45a is engaged in the guide hole 34, and the bearing 45a is a rolling body 45 provided to be rollable independently to the left and right on a side surface at a front end side of the left-right swing main body 42. The reference sign 45z in the drawings indicates a spacer disposed on an inner surface side of the rail plate 31 and having a diameter larger than that of the bearing 45a. The rear end side of the rail plate 31 extends rearward and downward, a lower end of a link arm LA, being a swingable front-rear swing link, is attached via a swing shaft S5 to an extension end of the rail plate 31, and the upper end of the link arm LA is supported by the rear end of the left-right swing part 4 via a swing shaft S6. That is, the rear end of the front-rear swing part 3 is disposed in a suspended state to be swingable forward and rearward with respect to the left-right swing part 4 via the link arm LA. The guide hole 34 has a shape that is gently curved forward and downward from the rear end side toward the front end side, and at the rear end, there is provided a shockless part SL configured to mitigate a shock when the front-rear swing part 3 moves forward together with the seat 5. The upper connection plate 32 is provided with a unit attached hole 32a penetrating in the up-down direction, and a front-rear lock unit 8 described later based on
That is, when the front-rear swing part 3 moves rearward, as illustrated in
On the front end side of the rail plate 31 included in the front-rear swing part 3, a pitching damper 31c formed by bending a part of the rail plate 31 is provided, and when swinging rearward, the front-rear swing part 3 abuts against a front end lower part 4z (see
As illustrated in
A front-rear stopper mechanism 8M utilizing the front-rear lock unit 8 illustrated in
In this embodiment, the left-right swing part 4 is supported by the support base 2 and the front-rear swing part 3 is supported by the left-right swing part 4 so that a layered structure is formed in which the left-right stopper mechanism 7M is provided between the support base part 2 and the left-right swing part 4, and the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M is provided between the left-right swing part 4 and the front-rear swing part 3.
The left-right stopper mechanism 7M is configured to switch between allowing and suppressing the swinging of the seat 5 in the left-right direction, by engaging or disengaging an engaging element 71 and an engaged element 72 illustrated in
As illustrated in
When the casing 70 is fitted into the unit attached hole 42a of a swing main body part 42 included in the left-right swing part 4 illustrated in
As illustrated in
The front-rear stopper mechanism 8M is configured to switch between allowing and suppressing the swinging of the seat 5 in the front-rear direction, by engaging or disengaging an engaging element 81 and an engaged part 82 illustrated in
The casing 80 has a flat saucer-shape opened upward, and thus, the engagement pin 81a is guided by a guide 80g1 in the casing 80, and is disposed to be liftable and lowerable with a part of the engagement pin 81a protruding from a lower end of the casing 80. The conversion mechanism 84 includes the above-described coil spring 83a provided elastically in a compressed state between an upper end of the engagement pin 81a and a cover 80a closing the upper opening of the casing 80, a stopper operation arm 85 rotatably supported by a horizontal shaft 80c disposed between side walls 80b, 80b of the casing 80 at a position adjacent to the engagement pin 81a, a torsion coil spring 86 rotatably attached together with the stopper operation arm 85, and a wire tube 87 having a spherical wire tip end 87a that is attached to the stopper operation arm 85 and a tube tip end 87b locked to the casing 80. As illustrated in
When the operation lever 152a illustrated in
It is noted that, in the chair according to the embodiment, a control mechanism 8X configured to automatically suppress a movement of the seat 5 in the front-rear direction at a predetermined position when the seated person leaves the seat, is provided along with the half-piece of the front-rear lock unit 8 of the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M.
First, to detect seating of the seated person, a configuration is such that a weight-receiving part 50 (see
The operation changer 8X changes the allowed/suppressed states of the operation of the front-rear swing part 3 when an engagement state of an engaging part 81X illustrated in
The chair is configured such that the engaged part 82X is a recess 82aX, and when the load applied by seated person is received in the state where the engaging part 81X is fitted into the recess 82aX, the fitted state is released, so that the engaging part 81X and the engaged part 82X are disengaged due to the load applied by seated person, and when the load applied by seated person is removed, the engaging part 81X and the engaged part 82X engage with each other by the elastic force to bring the front-rear swing part 3 into an operation-suppression state.
The control mechanism 8X includes an engagement pin 81aX being the engaging part 81X; and a groove-shaped recess 82aX being an engaged part 82X provided on a sliding surface 40X relatively operating at a position facing the engaging pin 81X. The engagement pin 81aX is configured to be elastically biased toward the sliding surface 40X, and to fit in the groove-shaped recess 82aX at a predetermined position. Then, when the seat 5 detects received of the load applied by seated person in a central part, the control mechanism 8X illustrated in
The engagement pin 81aX is disposed to be 1 liftable and lowerable along front, rear, right, and left guides 80g2 of the casing 80, in a parallel relationship with the engagement pin 81 in the flat casing 80 configuring the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M. Similarly in parts to the conversion mechanism 84, the conversion mechanism 84X includes the coil spring 83aX provided elastically in a compressed state between an upper end of the engagement pin 81aX and the cover 80a closing the upper opening of the casing 80, a safety operation arm 85X rotatably supported by the horizontal shaft 80c disposed between side walls 80b, 80b of the casing 80 at a position adjacent to the engagement pin 81aX, and a torsion coil spring 86X rotatably attached together with the safety operation arm 85X. On the other hand, the weight-receiving part 50 is, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
That is, when a user is seated, the control mechanism 8X is unlocked, and afterwards, whether or not the seated person locks a movement in the front-rear direction depends on the state of a front-rear fixing stopper mechanism 8M, through the operation of the operating member 152, and when the seated person leaves the seat, the state is maintained unless the front-rear fixing stopper mechanism 8M is unlocked, and if the front-rear fixing stopper mechanism 8M is unlocked, the control mechanism 8X actuates to lock the front-rear operation of the seat 5.
In particular, in this chair, the seat 5 tilts at least back and forth, and when the seated person starts standing up, the seat 5 moves while tilting forward together with the front-rear swing part 3, as illustrated in
It is noted that, when a person sits on the seat, the engagement pin 81aX and the recess 82aX are disengaged, however, the engagement pin 81aX and the recess 82aX engage with a certain degree of resistance, and thus, the locked state is not released immediately after the person sits on the seat, but is released when the resistance decreases due to a small movement of the seat 5.
That is, the control mechanism 8X switches the locked state of the seat 5 between when the seated person leaves the seat and when sitting on the seat, and thus, may be called a “seat-leaving and seat-sitting automatic stopper mechanism”.
Next, the guide hole 34 illustrated in
Therefore, in the present embodiment, as illustrated in
A lateral dimension w1 of the guide surface 31b1 is greater than a thickness t1 of the rail plate 31 being the plate member PM. The guide surface 31b1 is integrally formed of metal together with the rail plate 31. As illustrated in
The flange part 31b according to this embodiment is configured by plastic deformation processing of the plate member PM around the guide hole 34, and specifically, by adopting burring processing. In general, in the burring processing, a pilot hole is opened in a plate member, the periphery of the pilot hole is fixed with a jig and in this state, the edge of the pilot hole is raised, by pressing with a tool larger than the pilot hole, to form a flange part, and thus, a cylindrical flange is generally formed. So far, burring processing has only been utilized for forming tapped holes and the like and has not been considered for producing a structure for guiding a rolling body.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, based on this new perspective, as illustrated in
The manufacturing means for the guide hole 34 is selected based on the conditions that the guide surface 31b1 is smooth, the guide surface 31b1 has strength, and the manufacturing cost is low. Fine blanking processing and other processing were also tried, however, it turned out that, even though the fine blanking processing relatively likely to be selected was excellent in forming a smooth guide surface, the plate member needed to have a considerable thickness to obtain strength. Thus, the fine blanking processing could not be adopted due to its inappropriate cost and other processing also did not satisfy the conditions above. Overall, it turned out that burring processing met these conditions very suitably.
However, when a shortest distance D from the guide hole 34 to the nearest edge of the plate member PM is narrow in the burring processing, the plate member PM is deformed during the processing or due to the load applied during the processing. As a result of attempting various tests in this embodiment, it was found that it was necessary and sufficient, as a condition for obtaining a stable shape, to set the shortest distance D (see
As illustrated in
Further, when a left-right support state of the front-rear swing part 3 for the left-right swing part 4 becomes unbalanced, a lower region of the guide hole 34 causes the bearing 45a being the rolling body 45 to abut against the lower region of the guide hole 34 to support the bearing 45a and the flange part 31b contributes to supporting the load during this time.
Generally speaking, as illustrated in
As described above, the guide hole 34 is formed in the vertical surface of the movable portion or the support portion of the chair and moves while receiving the load applied by seated person. The movable portion is supported at two locations on the front and rear side by the support portion including a guide structure configured by the rolling body 45 and the guide hole 34. In the present embodiment, the other movable portion of the chair is supported by the link arm LA, any one of the front and rear support structures is configured by the above-described rolling body 45 and the guide surface 31b1, and the other is configured by a different support structure, that is, in this embodiment, of the link structure.
Next, the support mechanism of the back 6 will be described. As illustrated in
The backrest 62 includes a cushion arranged on the front surface of a back plate 62a and the backrest 62 is entirely covered by an upholstery fabric. A lower end of the backrest 62 is disposed at a predetermined distance above the seat surface and the backrest 62 is supported on a back surface side by a back support part 61a at an upper end of the back frame 61 via the operating mechanism 6M.
The operating mechanism 6M includes: a base part 64 fixed to or formed integrally with the back plate 62a included in the backrest 62 and including an elastic body 67 arranged on a back surface side of the base part 64; a tilting part 65 disposed at a position adjacent to the base part 64 and including a guide part 65a recessed in a tapered shape at the back surface side, the center of the guide part 65a being open in the front-rear direction; and a pressing tool 66 including a convex guide part 66a corresponding to the guide part 65a on the front surface side, the pressing tool 66 being fixed to the base part 64 via the opening of the tilting part 65 in a state where the guide part 66a is fitted into the guide part 65a, as illustrated by an arrow J in
More specifically, as illustrated in
In this embodiment, urethane is used for the elastic body 67, and as illustrated in
That is, the backrest 62 is disposed in a positional relationship where the backrest 62 moves against the elastic reaction force in the rearward direction and the turning direction while being supported by the elastic body 67, and a configuration is such that, when the elastic body 67 is deformed to the front, rear, right, or left in accordance with the amount of turning movement in the front, rear, right, or left directions, the reaction force returning the backrest 62 to a neutral position increases. The turning direction includes a turning movement in the left-right direction in front view, as illustrated in
The guide part 65a of the tilting part 65 and the guide part 66a of the pressing tool 66 included in the base part 64 are guided to and stopped in a reference position illustrated in
It is noted that, as illustrated in
As described above, the left-right turning operation of the back 6 occurs with respect to the back frame 61 and the seat 5 is attached to the front-rear swing part 3 to which the back frame 61 is attached, and thus, the back frame 61 and the seat 5 integrally swing in the left-right direction in front view, however, the backrest 62 further performs a different movement separately from the left-right turning operation of the seat 5 and the back frame 61.
It is noted that, in this embodiment, the base part 64 is attached to the backrest 62 and the tilting part 65 is attached to the side of the back frame 61, however, a configuration may be so that the base part 64 is attached to the side of the back frame 61 and the tilting part 65 is attached to the side of the backrest 62.
Next, a front support mechanism of the seat will be described.
As described above, in this chair, the seat 5 is configured to be supported to be swingable to the front, rear, right, or left with respect to the support base part 2, however, a feeling of pressure on a femoral region of the left and right legs of the seated person sitting on the chair configured to swing to front, rear, right, or left, may change to be unbalanced depending on the posture of the seated person. Further, in this chair, the back 6 is provided to tilt rearward behind the seat 5 and when the back 6 tilts rearward, the seat 5 moves together with the back 6 and performs an operation in which the front part of the seat 5 rises relative to the back part of the seat 5 which descends, and as a result, the seated person may experience a feeling of pressure on the femoral region of the legs when leaning rearward and anxiety or instability due to the legs of the seated person being lifted in the air.
Thus, as illustrated in
The deformation part 5X is provided at a position receiving the weight of the legs of the seated person, and is configured to deform downward when receiving the weight of the legs and to return upward when the weight of the legs is removed.
Specifically, as illustrated in
Then, the seat outer shell 51 is fixed to the front-rear swing part 3, and the rear part 53a of the seat inner shell 53 is attached above the seat outer shell 51. Thus, the deformation part 5x including the front part 53b of the seat inner shell 53 is deformed toward the seat outer shell 51.
In this embodiment, a front seat lower cover 55 is attached to the front part 53b forming the deformation part 5X of the seat inner shell 53, with the seat outer shell 51 interposed therebetween. Although
At two locations on the left and right of the front part of the seat outer shell 51, compression springs 56 being elastic bodies are arranged at positions compressed between the front part 53b of the seat inner shell 53 and the front part of the seat outer shell 51.
When the deformation part 5X at the side of the seat inner shell 53 approaches the seat outer shell 51, as illustrated in
Here, as illustrated in
It is noted that, in the chair according to the present embodiment, as illustrated in
As described above, the chair according to the present embodiment in which a seat 5 swings in the front-rear and the left-right directions with respect to a support base 2, the chair is configured such that swinging of the seat 5 in front-rear direction with respect to the support base 2 is capable of being suppressed at one or a plurality of predetermined positions, or arbitrary position (one position in the present embodiment) via an operation of an operation member 152. Therefore, swinging of the seat 5 in the front-rear and left-right directions allows a seated person to sit on the seat under an appropriate weight balance in accordance with the sitting posture and to obtain the feeling of use conventional chairs do not have. Furthermore, the swinging of the seat 5 in the front-rear direction is capable of being suppressed while such a swinging operation is performed. Therefore, the seated person can receive a support to keep a desirable posture with respect to the front-rear direction.
Further, a front-rear swinging part 3 is provided between the seat 5 and the support base 2 supporting the seat 5, and a left-right swinging part 4 is provided between the front-rear swinging part 3 and the support base 2, and the seat 5 is swingably supported in front-rear and left-right directions by the support base 2 via these front-rear swinging part 3 and the left-right swinging part 4, and a front-rear stopper mechanism 8M is provided between the left-right swinging part 4 and the front-rear swinging part 3, and the front-rear stopper mechanism switches between allowance and suppression of swinging of the seat 5 in the front-rear direction through engaging or disengaging an engaging part 81 and an engaged part 82 by operation of the operation member 152. Therefore, the movable configuration in the front-rear and the left-right directions and the movement suppression structure in front-rear direction are capable of being effectively compatible.
Further, a left-right stopper mechanism 7M is further provided between the support base 2 and the left-right swinging part 4, and the left-right stopper mechanism 7M switches between allowance and suppression of swinging of the seat 5 in the left-right direction through engaging or disengaging an engaging part 71 and an engaged part 72 by operation of the operation member 151. Therefore, in the above-described configuration, movement suppression structure in left-right direction is capable of being effectively realized.
Further, it is possible to switch between suppression and no-suppression of swinging in front-rear direction on at least one predetermined position within the movement range in front-rear direction and it is possible to switch between suppression and no-suppression of swinging in left-right direction at a center reference position in left-right direction. Therefore, if the left-right swinging is suppressed at the center reference position and the front-rear swinging is suppressed at the predetermined position in front-rear direction, the fixing state same as one of the normal chairs can be obtained.
Further, the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M and a left-right stopper mechanism 7M operate through operation of the operation members 151, 152 in common. Therefore, operation is easily performed.
Further, the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M and the left-right stopper mechanism 7M operate by one operation in a different timing. Therefore, an operation is easily performed and it is possible to ensure an appropriate movement.
Further, the engaging part 81 and the engaged part 82 are engaged and the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M works when the seat 5 moves to the predetermined position after a swinging allowance operation is performed through the operation member 152. Therefore, the operation of the operation member 152 and the operation timing of the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M can be adjusted.
Further, the operation member 152(151) is provided in the seat 5 and the operation member 152(151) swings in the front-rear and left-right directions together with the seat 5. Therefore, even if the seated person changes his/her posture in the front-rear and left-right directions, the position of the operation member 152(151) is not changed and the operability is in good condition.
Further, a back frame 61 configured to support a backrest 62 is erected integrally behind the seat 5. Therefore, when the seat 5 tilts in the left-right direction and the back frame 61 tilts in the same direction, the moving directions of a part of the back 6 and the seat 5 are the same and the back and the seat can integrally effortlessly move following the movement of the seated person.
Further, the seat 5 is configured so as to automatically return to the reference position in the front-rear and left-right directions in a state where the load is not applied by the seated person. Therefore, even if the freedom degree of the seat 5 movement is higher, the seat 5 can stay at the predetermined position when the seated person sits on the seat.
Although an embodiment of the present invention was explained above, the specific configuration of each part is not limited to those in the embodiment described above.
For example, according to the above-described embodiment, the engaging part and the engaged part are engaged with recess and convex. However, a configuration may be applied that the engaging part is considered as a friction member and the engaged part is as a sliding surface, and the sliding is suppressed by the sliding resistance when the friction member is pressed to the sliding surface.
Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the position of the recess 82aX being the engaged part configuring the control mechanism 8X and the position of a groove 82a being the engaged part 82 configuring the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M are aligned in the front-rear direction (X direction), and it is configured that the position to lock the seat 5 when a seated person sits on a seat and the position to lock the seat 5 when the seated person leaves the seat are the same position. However, as illustrated in
Further, for example, it is also effective that the grooves 182a of the front-rear stopper mechanism 108 are provided at a plurality of the positions in front-rear direction and the position locked by fitting the engaging part can be selected. Adversely, the mode may be also applied that the engaging parts which engaging each groove are provided at a plurality of the positions. In this way, the movement of the seat can be suppressed at a plurality of the positions in front-rear direction with easy structure.
Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the left-right swinger 4 is provided between the front-rear swinger 3 and the support base 2, and the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M is provided between the left-right swinging part 4 and the front-rear swing part 3, the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M switches between allowance and suppression of swinging of the seat 5 in the front-rear direction through engaging or disengaging the engaging part 81 and the engaged part 82 by operation of the operation member 152. However, a configuration may be applied that the left-right swinging part 4 is provided between the seat 5 and the front-rear swinging part 3 and the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M is provided between the support base 2 and the front-rear swinging part 3. In this way, it is possible to effectively realize the front-rear and left-right movable configuration and movement suppression structure in front-rear direction.
Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the left-right stopper mechanism 7M is further provided between the support base 2 and the left-right swing part 4, the left-right stopper mechanism 7M switches between allowance and suppression of swinging of the seat 5 in the left-right direction through engaging or disengaging the engaging part 71 and the engaged part 72 by operation of the operation member 151. However, when the left-right swinging part is provided between the seat and the front-rear swinging part, the left-right stopper mechanism 7M that switches between allowance and suppression of the swinging of the seat 5 in the left-right direction through engaging or disengaging the engaging part 71 and the engaged part 72 by operation of the operation member 151, may be further provided between the left-right swing part 4 and the front-rear swing part 3. With the above-described configuration, it is possible to effectively realize the movement suppression mechanism in the left-right direction.
Further, the operation member 152 of the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M and the operation member 151 of the left-right stopper mechanism 7M are configured to operate through operation of the operation member in common in practically. However, separate operation members are available.
Further, a configuration may be applied that the operation member 152 is provided not in the seat 5 but in the front-rear swing part 3 and moves in accordance with the front-rear movement of the seat 5. In this way, since the position of the operation member is not changed even if the seated person changes his/her posture in the front-rear position, the operativity is in good condition and the unitization is also easily realized.
Furthermore, according to the above-described embodiment, since the fixed arm part 91 is attached to the support base 2, it is also effective to provide the operation members 151, 152 in the fixed arm part 91. In this way, even if the seat 5 swings in the front-rear and left-right direction, the seated person can sit on the seat with stability at ease due to the fixed arm part 91. Further, if the operation members 151, 152 are provided in the fixed arm part 91, operation can be easily approached.
Further, the fixed arm part 91 may be attached to the support base 2 and the operation members 151,152 may be fixed to the fixed arm part 91. In this way, even if the seat 5 swings in the front-rear and left-right directions, the seated person can sit on the seat with stability at ease due to the arm fixer 91. When the operation members are provided in the fixed arm part 91, operation can be easily approached.
Further, chair includes: a load detector that detects the sitting load applied by the seated person; and an operation part that operates in accordance with the detection state of the load detection part. The operation part is configured so as to input in the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M in parallel with the operation of the operation member, even in a state where the engaging part 81 and the engaged part 82 of the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M are not engaged via the operation of the operation member 152, when the load is not applied, the engaging part and the engaged part are engaged, and when the load is applied, the engaging part and the engaged part are disengaged. In this way, the front-rear stopper mechanism 8M is shared and the front-rear swing part 3 being the movable part can be suppressed in accordance with the sitting state as well. Therefore, the seated person is able to sit on or leave the seat with easy configuration with stability at ease.
Further, as illustrated in
With the above-described configuration, it can work with one groove and layered structure with a plurality of grooves is not required.
Various other changes may be applied to other configurations without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
Since the chair according to the present invention is configured as described above, the chair can be utilized especially suitably in an office and the like.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2017/022759 | 6/20/2017 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2018/235174 | 12/27/2018 | WO | A |
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| International Search Report dated Sep. 12, 2017, issued in counterpart International Application No. PCT/JP2017/022759 (2 pages). |
| Extended (Supplementary) European Search Report dated Sep. 29, 2020, issued in counterpart EP Application No. 17915117.0. (5 pages). |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200205573 A1 | Jul 2020 | US |
