Patent Application
20190038030
The disclosure relates to a chair, and more particularly to a chair provided with an improved structural connection between a fabric seat unit and a support structure.
It is known in the art to provide a leisure chair which has a flexible seat unit assembled to a support structure including a ring frame, a leg unit and a plurality of connection members attached to the ring frame and connecting the leg unit. The fabric seat unit includes a seat member and a plurality of sleeves connected to the seat member. Each sleeve has a passage. During the manufacture of the support structure, the ring frame is formed into a semi-finished open ring product having open ends to facilitate insertion of the open ring product into the passages of the sleeves. After completion of insertion, the open ends of the semi-finished open ring product are closed to form the ring frame. After the leg unit is assembled to the ring frame, assembly of the leisure chair is completed.
However, once the ring frame and the flexible seat unit are assembled together, the flexible seat unit is unable to be disassembled from the ring frame. Therefore, the flexible seat unit is unreplaceable. If the flexible seat unit is damaged, the entire assembly has to be discarded. In addition, because the flexible seat unit has to be assembled before the ring frame is shaped completely, the design of the flexible seat unit is decided by the manufacturer in a factory. Therefore, such a chair lacks adaptability to be customized.
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a chair that can overcome at least one drawback of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, a chair includes a support structure, a fabric seat unit and a retaining strip.
The support structure includes a ring frame having an inner periphery bounding a ring space, an outer periphery opposite to the inner periphery, and upper and lower sides each interconnecting the inner and outer peripheries, a leg unit, and a plurality of connection members attached to the ring frame and connected to the leg unit.
The fabric seat unit includes a seat member that is disposed in the ring space and that has an annular rim abutting against the upper side of the ring frame, and an annular positioning portion having a plurality of sleeves annularly spaced apart from each other and connected to the annular rim. The sleeves extend downwardly from the annular rim to the lower side of the ring frame, pass over the outer periphery of the ring frame and bend inwardly toward the inner periphery of the ring frame. Each of the sleeves has a passage adjacent to the inner periphery of the ring frame.
The retaining strip removably extends through the passage of each of the sleeves adjacent to the inner periphery of the ring frame. When the fabric seat unit is loaded, each of the connection members engages and positions the retaining strip to the ring frame.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
As shown in
The support structure 1 is, but not limited to be, foldable. The support structure 1 includes a ring frame 11, a leg unit 10, and a plurality of connection members 15 attached to the ring frame 11 and connected to the leg unit 10. The ring frame 11 has an inner periphery 110 bounding a ring space 111, an outer periphery 112 opposite to the inner periphery, and upper and lower sides 113, 114 each interconnecting the inner and outer peripheries.
The leg unit 10 includes a first leg frame 12 slanting downwards and rearwards from the ring frame 11, and a second leg frame 13 slanting downwards and forwards from the ring frame 11 and connected pivotally to the first leg frame 12 by a plurality of pivot pins 14. The first leg frame 12 includes two left-right spaced-apart first leg portions 121, and a first intermediate portion 122 interconnecting bottoms of the first leg portions 121. The second leg frame 13 includes two left-right spaced-apart telescopic second leg portions 131, and a second intermediate portion 132 interconnecting bottoms of the second leg portions 131. The telescopic second leg portions 131 are variable in length and are disclosed in US2016/0073783 A1 owned by the applicant of the current application. The connection members 15 are spaced apart from each other and respectively connect the first and second leg portions 121, 131 to the lower side 114 of the ring frame 11. Because the connection members 15 are identical, only one of the connection members 15 is illustrated in detail (see
The fabric seat unit 2 is made of a cloth or plastic material. In this embodiment, the fabric seat unit 2 includes a seat member 21 and an annular positioning portion 22. The seat member 21 is disposed in the ring space 111 and has an annular rim 211 abutting against the upper side 113 of the ring frame 11. The annular positioning portion 22 has a plurality of sleeves 221 annularly spaced apart from each other and connected to the annular rim 211 by stitches. The sleeves 221 extend downwardly from the annular rim 211 to the lower side 114 of the ring frame 11, pass over the outer periphery 112 of the ring frame 11 and bend inwardly toward the inner periphery 110 of the ring frame 11. Each the sleeve 221 has a passage 222 adjacent to the inner periphery 110 of the ring frame 11. Each connection member 15 is attached to the ring frame 11 between two adjacent ones of the sleeves 221, and extends transversely of the inner and outer peripheries 110, 112 of the ring frame 11.
The retaining strip 3 removably extends through the passage 222 of each sleeve 221 adjacent to the inner periphery 110 of the ring frame 11. The retaining strip 3 has exposed parts that are exposed from the sleeves 221 respectively at positions where the sleeves 221 are spaced apart from each other and that are engageable with the connection members 15 respectively. The retaining strip 3 is a rounded strip and has an insertion portion 31 extending into the passage 222 of each sleeve 221, and an overlapping end portion 32 overlapping with the insertion portion 31. In addition, the retaining strip 3 is made of a flexible metal material.
Referring back to
Referring
When the fabric seat unit 2 is unloaded and is needed to be replaced or cleaned, the retaining strip 3 may be removed from the passages 222 of the sleeves 221 to detach the fabric seat unit 2 from the support structure 1. In addition, the support structure 1 and the fabric seat unit 2 can be manufactured independently from each other. By virtue of the detachable retaining strip 3, different fabric seat units 2 with various patterns or colors may be interchangeably attached to the support structures according to customer orders or demands. In conclusion, the chair of the present disclosure can be manufactured conveniently and flexibly, and the fabric seat unit 2 is easily disassembled from the support structure 1 for cleaning or replacement.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
