Patent Application
20050264050
This invention relates to a chair and more particularly to a chair to be used in gardening. For some time now gardening has been a very popular activity. The practicality of gardening activities is increasingly becoming part of the hobbies and leisure activities of an ever increasing number of people. Although these activities are popular they can be somewhat tedious particularly such essential parts of the gardening process as weed removal and planting. Removal of weeds of course improves the appearance of a garden or landscaped area and of course eliminates those nuisance plants that tend to destroy the valuable plants that are planted to grow in the same ground. The most effective method of weeding and planting an area is of course by hand. Normally however this can take a significant amount of time, in somewhat awkward work positions that place a great deal of physical strain on many parts of the body. Accordingly it is desirable to provide an apparatus that can minimize the physical strain associated with the weeding and planting process so that a more comfortable and enjoyable physical experience is achievable.
Attempts have been made to provide garden chairs that are desirable which can also satisfy the users need for comfort while outdoors. One such chair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,224. This chair is a garden chair including a back rest, a seat and a cross frame defined by a first and second pair of support braces rotatably connected together through a first axle. The first pair of support braces are also rotatably connected to the front of the seat through a second axle and the rear of the seat is rotatably connected to the back rest through a third axle. An arm provided with a longitudinal slot connects the second pair of braces to the back rest, with the third axle passing through the longitudinal slot. A free end of the arm and the back rest are engabable in a plurality of positions to permit vertical adjustment of the seat.
Another arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,168. This seating apparatus includes a frame, a member supported by the frame for movement relative thereto, a ratchet mechanism for affording movement of the member relative to the frame in a first direction from a first extreme position through a range of positions to a second extreme position and for preventing movement of the member relative to the frame in a second direction opposite to the first direction. The ratchet mechanism includes a ratchet and a one-piece pawl including a first portion engageble with the ratchet, a resilient portion for bracing the pawl into engagement with the ratchet, and a release mechanism for completely disengaging the ratchet and the pawl when the member is moved into the second extreme position.
These arrangements are suitable for the purpose intended. That is to provide a suitable adjustable seat to be used outdoors. However these seats are designed to provide comfort for a user while engaged in leisurely and restful activities. They are not designed for and cannot be readily useable in a working environment such as for gardening. They do not provide structures that will ease the physical strain on the body while engaged in gardening activities. Such a gardening chair is desirable.
A gardening chair for supporting a user thereon in accordance with the principles of this invention is provided with a base support member, and a seating means aligned with and coupled to upper portions of the base support member for supporting a user's lower body thereon. A diagonally extending support member is provided for supporting a user's chest and upper body thereon. A means for supporting the diagonally extending support member for movement to a plurality of predetermined diagonal positions is coupled between the diagonally extending support member and the base support member. The gardening chair is further provided with a means for stopping the diagonally extending supporting member in a predetermined lowermost diagonal position.
The details of the invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:
Referring to
The base support member 14 is provided with a pair of spaced front vertically extending legs 16 and 18, and a pair of spaced vertically extending rear legs 20 and 22. The vertically extending legs 16, 18, 20 and 22 are each provided with a lower member 24 and upper member 26. The lower member 24 is mounted for slidable movement inside the upper member 26. The lower member 24 and the upper member 26 are both provided with adjacently alignable apertures 28 formed therein and pins 30 which are provided to rest in the aligned apertures 28 in the upper and lower members 24 and 26. This allows the legs 16, 1820 and 22 to be lengthened or shortened in a well known manner as may be desired by a user. This may become desirable because of the irregularity of the terrain or even the size of the plants or weeds in a gardening work area. A rectangular shaped lower support member, generally designated, by the numeral 32 is provided to stabilize lower portions of the base support member 14. The lower support member 32 is provided with horizontally extending support members 34,36, 38 and 40. The members 34, 3638 and 40 couple the legs 16, 18, 20 and 22 together in a rectangular configuration. The front legs 16 and 18 are coupled to each other by the horizontally extending support member 34 at lowermost portions thereof The rear legs 20 and 22 are coupled together at a lowermost portion thereof by the horizontally extending member 36. The front leg 16 and the rear leg 20 are coupled together at lowermost portions thereof by the horizontally extending member 38 and the front leg 18 and the rear leg 22 are coupled together by the horizontally extending member 40. The lower support member 32 of the base support member 14 is also provided with an intermediate horizontally extending support member 42 which is coupled between intermediate portions of the horizontally extending members 38 and 40.
The base support member 14 is also provided with an upper support member, generally designated, by the numeral 44. The upper support member is provided with horizontally extending members 46, 48 and 50 (
The base support member 14 is also provided with a pair of adjacently aligned spaced horizontally extending seat support members 52 and 54 which are coupled between the horizontally extending members 48 and 50 at intermediate portions thereof
The chair 10 is also provided with a seating apparatus, generally designated, by the numeral 60. The seating apparatus 60 is provided with a center rectangle shaped padded seating member 62 and a pair of adjacently aligned elongated shaped padded seating members 64 and 66. The center seating member 62 of the seating apparatus 60 is supported and coupled to the horizontally extending seat support members 52 and 54 on the upper support member 44 of the base support member 14. The elongated padded seating members 64 and 66 are adjacently aligned on opposite sides of the center seating member 62 around one of the horizontally extending members 48 and 50 respectively.
The chair 10 is also provided with a chest support member, generally designated, by the numeral 70. The chest support member 70 provides support to the chest of a user 12 of the chair 10. The chest support member 70 is provided with a planar shaped chest cushion 72. The chest cushion 72 is provided with a pair of support brackets 74 and 76 (shown in dotted lines) which are mounted to intermediate portions of an under side 78 of the cushion 74.
The chest support member 70 is also provided with an elongated support member 80 which is coupled to the brackets 74 and 76. The elongated support member 80 is provided to engage the horizontally extending member 46 on the upper support member 44 to keep the chest cushion 72 from being moved downwardly beyond a predetermined diagonal position. The chest cushion 72 is also provided with a support bracket 82 which is coupled to an upper portion 84 of the under side 78 thereof
The chest support member70 is also provided with a pair of diagonally extending elongated biasing members 86 and 88. The elongated members provided an upward biasing tension on the chest cushion 72 which allows it to be maintained in predetermined desired diagonal positions. The elongated member 86 is coupled at one end 90 thereof to one side of the upper support bracket 82 of the chest cushion 72 by a coupling member 92 and the other end 94 thereof to the front leg 16 of the base support member 14 by a coupling member 96. The other elongated member 88 is coupled at an end 98 thereof to the other side of the support bracket 82 by a coupling member 100 and at the other end 102 thereof to the front leg 18 of the base support member 14 by a coupling member 104. The elongated biasing members 84 and 86 determine the degree of incline of the chest cushion 72 and allows a user to move downwardly to rest in a predetermined diagonal position over a designated work area while also helping the user to move upwardly by a gentle push in that direction. The elongated biasing members in this embodiment may be for example, gas struts or shock absorbers.
The chair 10 is also provided with triangular shaped support members 106 which are coupled to the bottom of each one of the legs 16, 18, 20 and 22 of the base support member 14. The triangular shaped support members 106 are provided with a plurality of apertures 108. The apertures 108 are provided to receive a ground engaging spike 110 which when inserted through the aperture into the ground locks the chair in place to the ground.
When in use the user 12 of the chair 10 is seated thereon so the chest of the user engages the cushion in a manner so the arms and hand of the user hang over the cushion and can move freely to function in the work area. This gives the user 12 support to the chest, shoulders and neck while being in a forward inclined position thereby taking the stress and strain off the lower back normally caused from having to lift up and down while gardening.
A second embodiment of the chair 10 is illustrated in
The chest cushion 122 is also provided with a support bracket, generally designated, by the numeral 132 which is coupled to the under side 128 thereof. The support bracket 132 is provided with a pair of spaced elongated track members 134. Each track member 134 is provided with a longitudinally extending opening 136 formed therethrough and a plurality of spaced aligned grooves formed therein. The support bracket 132 is also provided with a movable support member, generally designated, by the numeral 138. The support member 138 is provided with a pair of spaced elongated members 140 and a horizontally extending upper support member 142 coupled to uppermost portions of the elongated members. Each one of the pair of elongated members 140 is provided with a plurality of spaced aligned abutments 144 formed thereon. Additionally, each one of the elongated members 140 is aligned with and coupled for slidable movement in a corresponding opening 136 of one of the track members 134.
In this embodiment the elongated member 86 is coupled at one end 90 thereof to one side of the upper support member 142 of the chest cushion 122 by a coupling member 92 and the other end 94 thereof to the front leg member 16 of the base support member 14 by a coupling member 96. The other elongated member 88 is coupled at an end 98 thereof to the other side of the upper support member 142 by a coupling member 100 and at the other end 102 thereof to the front leg member 18 of the base support member 14 by a coupling member 104.
When is it desired to adjust the length of the chest cushion 122 the cushion is moved either up or down as illustrated by the arrows. When the cushion 122 is moved the elongated members 140 slide in the tracks 134 of the bracket 132 and is held in place as the abutments 144 of elongated members engage corresponding grooves 138 in the tracks 134. This allows the chest cushion to be adjusted as needed while the elongated biasing members 84 and 86 determine the degree of incline of the chest cushion to allow a user to lean over a designated work area.
A third embodiment of the chair 10 is illustrated in
The apparatus 150 is provided with an L-shaped tensioning arm 152, and an elastic band 156. The tensioning arm 152 is coupled at one end 160 thereof to an intermediate portion of a lower portion 162 of chest cushion 72 by a coupling member 164. Another end 166 of the tensioning arm which is supported under the seat is coupled to one end 168 of the elastic band 156 by a coupling member 170. The elastic band 156 is then coupled at an end 172 to an intermediate portion of the horizontally extending bar 34 which extends between the fronts leg 16 and 18 of the base support member 14. The elastic resistance support apparatus 150 determines the degree of incline of the chest cushion 72 to allow a user to lean over a designated work area while also helping to assist a user to move downwardly by the user's weight on the cushion 72 and move upward by a gentle push upward to straighten up. The elastic support apparatus may also for example be configured with a pair of tensioning arms and elastic bands if more support is desirable.
It should be understood that the invention described herein can be used in other work environments without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the claim.
It should be further understood that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the claim.
