This application claims priority to Taiwanese Invention Patent Application No. 111128958, filed on Aug. 2, 2022.
The disclosure relates to a chair, and more particularly to a foldable chair.
Referring to
Although the conventional foldable chair has folding functionality, when the user operates the upper slide base 122 to move along the mounting rod 111 to convert the seat unit 13 and the folding unit 12 from the folded state to the expanded state, the top ends of the folding rods 123 may get stuck when moving from the collapsed end points 135 toward the expanded end points 134, and the user may need to expend extra effort to manually guide the top ends of the of the folding rods 123 to facilitate movement to the expanded end points 134. This would be very inconvenient for the user of the conventional foldable chair. Additionally, sometimes the user may sit on the conventional foldable chair when the top ends of the folding rods 123 are stuck between the expanded end points 134 and the collapsed end points 135, and the conventional foldable chair is still unstable. This may be very dangerous for the user as the user may fall off the conventional foldable chair and sustain an injury.
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a foldable chair that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, the foldable chair includes a support unit, a sliding base, and a seat unit. The support unit includes a pivot base, a main support rod that is pivotally connect to and that extends through the pivot base, and at least two auxiliary support rods that are pivotally connected to and that extends through the pivot base. The sliding base is slidably sleeved on the main support rod. The seat unit includes a seating subunit that is connected to the sliding base, and a linkage subunit. The linkage subunit includes a first linkage rod pivotally connected to the pivot base, a second linkage rod having opposite ends that are respectively and pivotally connected to the first linkage rod and the sliding base, and a resilient member disposed between the pivot base and the first linkage rod. The seating subunit is convertible, via movement of the sliding base and the linkage module, between a folded state, where the seating subunit is folded to be substantially parallel to the main support rod, and where the first and second linkage rods are substantially parallel to the main support rod, and an expanded state, where the seating subunit is expanded to be transverse to the main support rod, and where an end of the first linkage rod that is distal from the pivot base supports the seating subunit thereon for positioning the seating subunit relative to the main support rod. The resilient member is disposed for biasing the end of the first linkage rod that is distal from the pivot base away from the main support rod.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment(s) with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that various features may not be drawn to scale.
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
It should be noted herein that for clarity of description, spatially relative terms such as “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “on,” “above,” “over,” “downwardly,” “upwardly” and the like may be used throughout the disclosure while making reference to the features as illustrated in the drawings. The features may be oriented differently (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative terms used herein may be interpreted accordingly.
Referring to
The support unit 3 includes a pivot base 31, a main support rod 32 that is pivotally connected to and that extends through the pivot base 31, and at least two auxiliary support rods 33 that are pivotally connected to and that extends through the pivot base 31. The pivot base 31 has a pivot post 311 that extends upwardly. The main support rod 32 has a main rod bottom end 321, a main rod top end 322 that is opposite to the main rod bottom end 321, and a handle 323 that is mounted on the main rod top end 322. In this embodiment, there are two auxiliary support rods 33 and each of the auxiliary support rods 33 has an auxiliary rod bottom end 331, and an auxiliary rod top end 332 that is opposite to the auxiliary rod bottom end 331.
Referring to
Referring to
The main seat member 53 of the seat unit 5 has a first end portion 531, a second end portion 532, a main support surface 533, a main bottom surface 534, a pair of pivot plates 535, and a guide rail 536. The first end portion 531 is proximate to the main support rod 32. The second end portion 532 is opposite to the first end portion 531. The main support surface 533 extends from the first end portion 531 to the second end portion 532. The main bottom surface 534 is opposite to the main support surface 533 (see
Each of the lateral seat members 54 of the seat unit 5 has an inner lateral side 541, an outer lateral side 542, a lateral support surface 543, a lateral bottom surface 544, and a blocking piece 545. The inner lateral side 541 is adjacent to the main seat member 53. The outer lateral side 542 is opposite to the inner lateral side 541. The lateral support surface 543 extends from the inner lateral side 541 to the outer lateral side 542. The lateral bottom surface 544 is opposite to the lateral support surface 543. The auxiliary rod top ends 332 of the auxiliary support rods 33 respectively abut against the lateral bottom surfaces 544 of the lateral seat members 54 when the seating subunit 51 is in the expanded state. The blocking piece 545 of each of the lateral seat members 54 is formed on the lateral bottom surface 544, is adjacent to the outer lateral side 542, and engages the auxiliary rod top end 332 of the respective one of the auxiliary support rods 33 for restraining movement of the auxiliary support rod 33 when the seating subunit 51 is in the expanded state. Furthermore, one of the lateral seat members 54 of the seat unit 5 further has a buckle member 546 that is disposed on the outer lateral side 542 thereof, and the other one of the lateral seat members 54 further has a clasp member 547 that is disposed on the outer lateral side 542 thereof and that engages the buckle member 546 when the seating subunit 51 is in the folded state.
The guide portion 55 is a slide rail that is parallel to the main support surface 533, and that is proximate to the first end portion 531 of the main seat member 53.
Referring to
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When the user disengages the clasp member 547 from the buckle member 546, and pushes the first end portion 531 of the main seat member 53 lightly, the restoring force stored in the main body 526 of the resilient member 54 will bias the first linkage rod 522 via the second leg member 528 which will urge the slide block 521 to slide toward the expanded state end point 538. Referring to
Conversely, when the user wishes to convert the seating subunit 51 form the expanded state into the folded state, the user pulls the first end portion 531 of the main seat member 53 to drive the sliding base 4 to slide upwardly along the main support rod 32. When the sliding base 4 slides upwardly, the second linkage rod 525 will drive the first linkage rod 522 and the slide block 521, and cause the slide block 521 to move from the expanded state end point 538 towards the folded state end point 537 so that the second end point 532 of the main seat member 53 gradually moves closer to the pivot base 31, and cause the first engaging portion 71 to be disengaged from the second engaging portion 72. Thus the seating subunit 51 will be converted from the expanded state (as shown in
The above description provides a brief overview of the conversion of the seating subunit 51 between the folded state and the expanded state, and the action of the actuating member 6. However, a more detailed account of the same is disclosed in Taiwanese Invention Patent No. 1736504, and further details are omitted herefrom.
In summary, in the foldable chair according to the present disclosure, by virtue of the resilient member 524 being disposed between the pivot post 311 of the pivot base 31 and the first linkage rod 522, when the seating subunit 51 is in the folded state, the first linkage rod 522 and the pivot post 311 compress the main body 526 of the resilient member 524 by respectively biasing the second leg member 528 and the first leg member 527 so that the main body 526 is loaded with a restoring force that causes the second leg member 528 to bias the first linkage rod 522. Therefore, after the user disengages the buckle member 546 and the clasp member 547, the user will only need to lightly push downwardly on the first end portion 531 of the main seat member 53 to release the restoring force in the compressed main body 526 which will cause the second leg member 528 to push the first linkage rod 522 to urge the slide block 521 to slide towards the expanded state end point 538. This allows the seating subunit 51 to smoothly convert from the folded state to the expanded state.
Additionally, it should be noted that, in other embodiments of the disclosure, the guide rail 536 and the sliding block 521 may be omitted. In this case, when the seating subunit 51 is converted from the folded state to the expanded state, the restoring force in the compressed main body 526 of the resilient member 524 will cause the second leg member 528 to push the end of the first linkage rod 522 that is distal from the pivot base 31 to move away from the main support rod 32. Additionally, since the first linkage rod 522 is connected to the second linkage rod 525, the movement of the first linkage rod 522 will cause the sliding base 4 which is connected to the second linkage rod 525 to slide on the main support rod 32 until the first engaging portion 71 engages the second engaging portion 72. At this point the first linkage rod 522 is restricted by the second linkage rod 525, and the end of the first linkage rod 522 that is distal form the main support rod 32 will abut against main bottom surface 534 of main seat member 53 so that the seating subunit 51 can remain in the expanded state.
In summary of the above, the foldable chair 2 according to the present disclosure is easy to operate and is able to remain stable when the seating subunit 51 is in the expanded sate.
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 embodiment(s). 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; such does not mean that every one of these features needs to be practiced with the presence of all the other features. In other words, in any described embodiment, when implementation of one or more features or specific details does not affect implementation of another one or more features or specific details, said one or more features may be singled out and practiced alone without said another one or more features or specific details. It should be further noted that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is(are) considered the exemplary embodiment(s), it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) 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.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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111128958 | Aug 2022 | TW | national |