Claims
- 1. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly,
- said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit,
- said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position,
- said mechanism having lock means which is operable to hold the movable legrest assembly at a stationary position relative to said stationary support assembly when the movable legrest assembly is at its extended position, said lock means including a latch member on the support assembly and a keeper member on the movable legrest assembly, said latch member being movable from a locking position where it engages the keeper to an unlocked position where it is retracted from the keeper, and manually operable means for moving the latch member between its locking and unlocked positions.
- 2. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 1 wherein there are first and second keeper members on the movable legrest assembly, said latch member having a first detent surface which is engageable with said first keeper member to hold the legrest assembly in its retracted position, said latch member having a second detent surface which is engageable with said second keeper member to lock said legrest assembly in said extended position.
- 3. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the latch member has a plurality of detent surfaces which are spaced apart and face in a same direction so as to lock the movable legrest assembly in a plurality of different extended positions.
- 4. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the latch has a fowardly facing detent surface and a latch-lifting cam surface which is rearward of said detent surface, said cam surface being engageable by said keeper when the legrest assembly is moving forwardly to raise the latch member to permit forward movement of said keeper to a position where it is engageable by said detent surface.
- 5. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 4 wherein the latch has a plurality of said cam surfaces and detents to provide a pluralty of user-selectable extended positions of the legrest assembly.
- 6. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 4 wherein the latch member is also provided with a rearwardly facing supplemental detent surface which is near said forwardly facing detent surface and is operable to prevent forward movement of the legrest assembly when it is at an extended position.
- 7. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said latch has a rearwardly facing detent surface for holding the movable legrest assembly in its retracted position and, to prevent damage to the latch in the event of rearward overtravel of the legrest assembly when it is moved to its retracted position, the latch has a latch-lifting cam surface which is rearward of said detent surface and is inclined in a direction which moves the latch toward its retracted position in the event of rearward overtravel of the legrest assembly from its retracted position.
- 8. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly,
- said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit,
- said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position,
- said mechanism having resilient means for biasing the legrest assembly toward its extended position, said resilient means including a spring, a reel, and a flexible member which is wound on said reel and has an outer end portion extending from said reel, said reel and said outer end portion of the flexible member being connected to different said assemblies.
- 9. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on stationary support assembly,
- said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit,
- said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position,
- said mechanism having brake means which are engageable to prevent longitudinal movement of the struts, said brake means including at least one brake shoe which is mounted on said support assembly and has a braking surface which is movable into contact with a said strut, said braking surface being deformable and being conformable to the strut to exclude air from between the brake shoe and the strut so as to provide intimate physical contact which prevents longitudinal movement of said strut.
- 10. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly,
- said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit,
- said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position, said mechanism having brake shoes which are engageable with the struts to prevent longitudinal movement of the struts, brake operating means including a pair of brake levers which are pivotally mounted on said support assembly, said brake shoes being mounted on said brake levers, resilient means for biasing the brake levers to positions where their respective said brake shoes engage the struts, and manually operable means for opposing said resilient means and moving the brake levers to positions where the brake shoes are retracted from said struts.
- 11. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the levers are disposed transversely, said levers being pivotally connected to the support assembly at locations which are outboard of the struts and being connected to the manually operable means at a location which is between the struts.
- 12. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the manually operable means include a manually operable lever and an actuator cable which connects the manually operable lever to the brake levers.
- 13. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein said brake shoes are formed of a material which is deformable and provides a braking surface which is conformable to the struts to exclude air from between the brake shoes and the struts so as to provide intimate physical contact which prevents longitudinal movement of said struts.
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 917,474, filed Oct. 10, 1986, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2371169 |
Jun 1978 |
FRX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
917474 |
Oct 1986 |
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