Patent Application
20050077759
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a rocking chair, and in particular to a foldable structure of rocking chair.
2. The Related Art
A conventional rocking chair comprises two concave bars mounted on bottoms of chair legs. A person sitting on the rocking chair may move his or her center of gravity back and forth to cause rocking motion of the chair. Such a conventional rocking chair is not collapsible and thus, it occupies a great amount of space, even it is not in use.
Collapsible rocking chairs are also available, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,298B1, which comprises two pairs of rods crossing but not jointed to each other. Cross bars having opposite ends pivoted to the rods respectively are arranged above and below the crossing point of the rods. Swinging one of the rods by the weight of the person sitting on the chair causes the other rod to move therewith and back-and-forth swinging of the rods leads to rocking motion of the chair.
An additional cross bar is provided between two spaced rods of the chair for limiting the movement of the other rods and thus preventing the chair from over-tilting. This, however, requires additional expenses in manufacturing. In addition, the length of the rods and the relative position of the crossing point must be carefully selected. Otherwise, turnover may occur, causing the person sitting on the chair to fall and hurt.
Thus, the present invention is aimed to provide a foldable rocking chair of the mentioned structure but having improved turnover protection design.
Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a foldable rocking chair having a rocking stop that provides excellent turnover protection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a foldable rocking chair having a comfortable support for legs of a person sitting thereon.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a foldable rocking chair having an adjustable backrest and headrest.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a foldable rocking chair comprising a chair frame comprised of first and second U-shaped members each having opposite side bars connected by a bottom bar and arranged to cross each other, a stretcher bar having opposite ends pivoted to the side bars at a location below the crossing of the side bars, an armrest in the form of an L-shape pivoted to the side bars at a location above the crossing of the side bars and a primary cross bar extending between and fixed to free ends of the side bars of the first U-shaped member and adjacent to the pivot connection between the armrest and the side bars whereby when the side bars of the first U-shaped member are rocked frontward, the armrests are moved toward and eventually contact the primary cross bar to stop the frontward rocking motion of the first U-shaped member. A flexible sheet is attached to the chair frame with adjustable headrest and adjustable lower back rest cushions for supporting a person thereon.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
With reference to the drawings and in particular to
Also referring to
A stretcher bar 20 is connected between each first side bar 162 and the associated second side bar 182 by having opposite ends thereof pivoted to the fist and second side bars 162, 182 below the crossing point of the side bars 162, 182. An L-shaped bar 22, also functioning as an arm rest, is also connected between each first side bar 162 and the associated second side bar 182 by also having ends thereof pivoted to the side bars 162, 182 above the crossing point of the side bars 162, 182. The stretcher bar 20 and the armrest 22 are located on opposite sides of the crossing point of the side bars 162, 182.
A first cross bar 24 is fixed to and extends between upper ends of the first side bars 162. Similarly, a second cross bar 26 is fixed to and extends between upper ends of the second side bars 182. The cross bars 24, 26 function to stabilize the structure.
A head support member 28, having a U-shaped comprised of two limbs 282 connected by a bottom 284, is releasably and movably mounted to the upper ends of the second side bars 182. In this respect, the first side bars 182 are tubular and form openings on the upper ends into which the limbs 282 of the head support member 28 are telescopically fit. Fasteners 30, such as spring-biased pin or snap-on elements, are provided between the first side bars 182 and the limbs 282 of the head support member 28 whereby the relative position of the head support member 28 is adjustable with respect to the first side bars 182. Thus, when a person sits on the chair 10, the upper sections of the first side bars 182 function as a backrest to which the head support member 28 is attached. The adjustment of the position of the head support member 28 allows for variation of the length of the backrest for users having different heights.
A leg support member 32, also in the form of a U-shape comprised of opposite limbs 322 connected by a bottom 324, is releasably mounted to the upper ends of the first side bars 162 for supporting the legs of the person sitting on the chair 10. The leg support frame 32 is not coplanar with the first U-shaped member 12 and is arranged at an angle with respect to the first side bars 162 to make the person sitting on the chair 10 comfortable. For example, the first side bars 162 are inclined with respect to the ground, which is assumed horizontal, and the leg support member 32 is positioned horizontally, thus forming an angle with respect to the first side bars 162. The limbs 322 of the leg support member 32 may be tubular into which the upper ends of the first side bars 162 are telescopically fit for fixing the leg support member 32 to the first side bars 162.
For leg comfort, the first cross bar 24 and the leg support member 32 are made curved or concave, as illustrated in the drawings.
Also referring to
To prevent over-tilting of the rocking chair 10 in the frontward direction, the L-shaped armrests 22, which are comprised of first and second sections 222, 224 substantially perpendicular to each other, are mounted to the associated first and second side bars 162, 182 in such a way that the second section 224 of each armrest 22 is pivoted to the first side bar 162 at a position close to the first cross bar 24. When the chair 10 is rocked forward, as shown in
As compared to the conventional foldable rocking chair, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,298B1, which adds an extra cross bar below the crossing point between first and second side bars to stop the frontward rocking motion of the chair, the rocking chair 10 in accordance with the present invention can be of simpler structure by completely eliminating the extra cross bar.
To collapse the foldable rocking chair 10, upper portions of the first and second side bars 162, 182, namely the portions above the crossing point between the side bars 162, 182, are moved toward each other, the pivotal connection between the stretcher bars 20 and the armrests 22 and the first and second side bars 162, 182 causing the stretcher bars 20 and the armrests 22 to flow the motion of the first and second side bars 162, 182. Eventually, the first and second side bars 162, 182 and the stretcher bars 20 and the armrests 22 substantially overlap each other and the collapsing of the chair 10 is completed as shown in
Referring back to
A back cushion 40B is selectively attached to the flexible sheet 14 for support lower back of the person. Preferably, the back cushion 40B and the head cushion 40 are made position adjustable, for example, by means of the adjustment of the head support member 28. Alternatively, the cushions 40, 40B can be made detachable from and re-attachable to the flexible sheet 14. Other means or structure for adjusting position of the cushions 40, 40B along the length of the flexible sheet 14 may also be employed, if appropriate.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
