The present invention relates to a massage device capable of massaging the legs of a user.
Conventionally, a massage device has been proposed that includes a tiltable ottoman in front of a seat on which a user can be seated. The ottoman includes an airbag that is selectively inflated and deflated to massage the legs of a user (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Also, the ottoman provided in the massage device of Patent Document 1 includes a leg rest that has a pair of recesses into which the legs of the user can be inserted independently as shown in
In addition to the leg rest, massage devices have been developed that include a foot rest having recesses capable of supporting the feet of a user from the soles. The foot rest is provided separately from the leg rest. In such massage devices, to accommodate the height of individual users (in particular, the length below knees), massage devices have been developed in which the leg rest and the foot rest are slidable in an integral manner with respect to the seat. Therefore, the ottoman, which includes the leg rest and the foot rest, is slid in accordance with the length of the legs, which differs depending on the individual user to adjust the position of the leg rest and the foot rest. As a result, the legs of the user can be put on the ottoman at a position according to preference.
In the above-mentioned massage devices, the length of the legs differs depending on the individual user who uses the massage device. For example, the longer the legs of the user, the greater the difference in the distance between the soles to knees or soles to calves. In other words, for example, if the foot rest and the leg rest on the ottoman are designed for users with short legs, the position of the leg rest is closer to the soles than the calves for users with long legs. Therefore, it is difficult to massage the calves of the user by the massage means provided on the leg rest in a suitable manner. As such, the position of the entire ottoman can be adjusted and used at a position of the individual preference by forming the leg rest and the foot rest to be integrally slidable with respect to the seat. However, since the leg rest is also moved integrally, it is difficult to massage the preferred position of the legs of the user with the massage means provided on the leg rest. Therefore, there is a need for improvement.
Also, since the ottoman includes recesses of the leg rest and the recesses of the foot rest, the recesses may become obstructions when the user sits on the seat. In addition, in the aspect of improving aesthetic quality of the entire massage device, it is desirable that the recesses be stored.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a massage device that is capable of storing a leg rest and a foot rest and of massaging legs of a user in a suitable manner in accordance with the size of the user.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a massage device is provided. The massage device includes a seat on which a user can be seated, an ottoman located in front of the seat and on which legs of the user can be placed, and leg massage means provided on the ottoman. The leg massage means massages the legs of the user. The ottoman includes, on a first side, a leg rest having recesses in which the legs of the user can be inserted and a foot rest having recesses that supports feet of the user from soles. The leg massage means are provided in the recesses of the leg rest, and the ottoman includes, on a second side, a leg placing portion on which the legs of the user can be placed. The ottoman is rotationally supported by a support shaft, which extends in a lateral direction with respect to a pair of support portions provided on the seat. By rotating the ottoman, the ottoman is switched between a massage capable state, in which the recesses are exposed to the front of the seat, and a leg placing state, in which the leg placing portion is exposed to the front of the seat. The foot rest is supported to be slidable relative to the leg rest.
The foot rest is preferably supported to be rotational with respect to the leg placing portion, and the foot rest preferably includes urging means that urges the distal end portion of the foot rest, which distal end portion is on the front side in the massage capable state, toward the support shaft by a predetermined urging force.
The foot rest is preferably supported to be rotational with respect to the leg placing portion, and the foot rest is preferably selectively arranged at a stored position where the angle defined by a bottom surface of the recesses of the foot rest and a bottom surface of the recesses of the leg rest is an acute angle.
The leg massage means preferably includes an airbag that is selectively inflated and deflated.
The recesses of the foot rest preferably include foot massage means for massaging the feet of the user.
The foot massage means preferably includes an airbag that is selectively inflated and deflated.
A massage device according to one embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
The backrest 13 is provided on the rear part of the seat 12 to be tiltable with respect to the seat 12. The ottoman 14 is provided on the front part of the seat 12 to be tiltable with respect to the seat 12. Also, a pair of frames 15 (only one is shown in
The ottoman 14 includes a leg rest 14a and a foot rest 14b. The leg rest 14a is connected to the distal ends of the support frames 16, and includes a pair of recesses 14e into which legs (calves) of a user seated in the seat 12 can be inserted. The foot rest 14b includes a pair of recesses 14f on which the feet of the user are placed and supported. Also, on the other side of the ottoman 14 from the leg rest 14a and the foot rest 14b, a substantially planar leg placing portion 14c on which the legs of the user can be placed is fixed to the leg rest 14a. Therefore, in the massage device 10 of the present embodiment, by rotating the ottoman 14 about the support shaft 16a, the ottoman 14 can be shifted between a massage capable state (see
The leg rest 14a includes three side walls 21a to 21c, which extend in substantially the same direction on both edges and at the center of the leg rest 14a as shown in
The foot rest 14b is supported on the leg placing portion 14c by a pair of L-shaped support frames 17 and a pair of springs 18. The leg placing portion 14c has a predetermined space therein. The proximal ends of the support frames 17 supporting the foot rest 14b are inserted in the space. The proximal end of each support frame 17 is urged toward the downstream end 14d in the insertion direction inside the leg placing portion 14c by the associated spring 18. Thus, when the user applies a certain force on a bottom surface 25 (see
The foot rest 14b provided at the distal end of the support frames 17 includes three side walls 26a to 26c, which extend in substantially the same direction on both edges and at the center of the foot rest 14b as shown in
The foot rest 14b is supported to be rotational with respect to the leg rest 14a about a support shaft 30. An urging member 31 such as a spring is provided on both sides of the foot rest 14b. The distal end portion of the foot rest 14b (left side in
In particular, as shown in
If the force toward the leg rest 14a is greater than the urging force of the urging members 31, the distal end portion of the foot rest 14b is rotated in the direction opposite to the leg rest 14a about the support shaft 30. As shown in
In the ottoman 14 of the massage device 10 formed as described above, a non-illustrated air pump is controlled so that the airbags 23, 28, 29 inflate and deflate as required in response to supply and exhaust of air through the air pump. Accordingly, the legs and the feet of the user are massaged. Furthermore, according to the massage device 10 of the present embodiment, the airbags 23, 28, 29, which serve as the massage means in this embodiment, are provided on one side of the ottoman 14, and the planar leg placing portion 14c is provided on the other side. The ottoman 14 is formed to be rotational. Therefore, the user can select whether to use the ottoman 14 as massage equipment, or as the leg placing portion 14c depending on the user's mood.
When massaging, the height of the foot rest 14b can be adjusted. For example, the user who is seated on the seat 12 presses the bottom surface 25 of the foot rest 14b with the feet (soles) in a direction against the direction in which the springs 18 exert urging force. Accordingly, the foot rest 14b slides with respect to the leg rest 14a. The foot rest 14b can be stopped at the position where the leg rest 14a faces the calves of the user. Therefore, the legs (calves) of the user are massaged in a suitable manner by the airbags 23 provided on the leg rest 14a.
The ottoman 14 also allows the foot rest 14b to be arranged at the stored position. As shown in
Also, the foot rest 14b is formed to be rotational and is shifted to the state in use where the rotating angle D (
The present embodiment has the following advantages.
(1) The ottoman 14 includes the leg rest 14a and the foot rest 14b on one side, and the leg placing portion 14c, on which the legs of the user can be placed, on the other side. Also, the ottoman 14 is rotationally supported by the support shaft 16a provided on the support frames 16 of the seat 12 to extend in the lateral direction. By rotating the ottoman 14, the ottoman 14 is selectively switched between the massage capable state, in which the recesses 14e, 14f are exposed to the front of the seat 12, and the leg placing state, in which the leg placing portion 14c is exposed to the front of the seat 12. In this manner, the ottoman 14 is selectively switched between the massage capable state in which the recesses 14e and the recesses 14f are exposed and the leg placing state in which the recesses 14a, 14b are stored and the leg placing portion 14c on the other side is exposed. Thus, the recesses 14a, 14b are not exposed in the leg placing state, and the user can be seated easily. Also, since the ottoman 14 can be switched between the massage capable state and the leg placing state, the user can select the massage capable state or the leg placing state depending on the user's mood. This improves the convenience of the ottoman 14. Also, the leg rest 14a of the ottoman 14 includes the airbags 23, which serve as the massage means, and the foot rest 14b is slidable with respect to the leg rest 14a. Therefore, the entire length of the ottoman 14 can be changed in accordance with the length of the legs of the user. By stopping the foot rest 14b at a desired position, the leg rest 14a is indirectly adjusted to a position where the legs (calves) of the user can be massaged. Thus, the legs (calves) of the user can be massaged by the airbags 23 in a suitable manner.
(2) The foot rest 14b includes the urging members 31, which urge the distal end portion of the foot rest 14b that is at the front side in the massage capable state toward the support shaft 16a by a predetermined urging force. Thus, the size of the ottoman 14 as a whole is reduced by urging the distal end portion of the rotational foot rest 14b toward the support shaft 16a by the predetermined urging force with the urging members 31. In the present configuration, in which the ottoman 14 is rotated, the ottoman 14 can be easily rotated by reducing the size of the ottoman 14. The airbags 29, which serve as the massage means, are provided on the bottom surfaces 25 of the foot rest 14b, which support the feet of the user from the soles. In the case where the airbags 29 are inflated, if force acts on the rotational foot rest 14b in the direction opposite to the direction in which the user's soles are pressed, it is difficult to massage in a suitable manner. At this time, since the foot rest 14b is urged toward the support shaft 16a by the urging members 31 in the present configuration, the opposite force as described above is reduced, and it is possible to massage in a suitable manner.
(3) The foot rest 14b is formed to be rotational. Also, the foot rest 14b is formed to be selectively maintained at the stored position where the rotating angle D between the bottom surface 25 of the foot rest 14b and the bottom surface 20 of the leg rest 14a is an acute angle. Thus, the foot rest 14b is rotated with respect to the leg rest 14a to a position where the rotating angle D formed by the bottom surfaces 20, becomes an acute angle, that is, to a position closer to the leg rest 14a as compared to the conventional massage device (ottoman). This reduces the size of the ottoman as a whole. Also, since the foot rest 14b is rotational, the foot rest 14b can be shifted to the position in use where the rotating angle D is substantially a right angle. Therefore, the present embodiment in which the airbags 28 are provided on the foot rest 14b can be operated in the same manner as the conventional massage device, and prevents the reduction in the effect of massage associated with the reduction in the size of the ottoman 14.
(4) Since the foot rest 14b includes the airbags 28, which serve as the foot massage means for massaging the feet of the user, the feet of the user are massaged.
(5) The massage means is formed by the airbags 23, 28, 29, which selectively inflate and deflate. Thus, the user can be softly massaged.
The embodiment of the present invention may be modified as follows.
In the present embodiment, the support frames 17, which support the foot rest 14b, are slidably inserted in the leg placing portion 14c. One end of each support frame 17 is urged toward the downstream end in the insertion direction by the associated spring 18. The structure for supporting the foot rest 14b to selectively extend and contract may be modified. For example, a motor 40, a screw 41, and a nut 42 may be used instead of the springs 18 as shown in
In the above embodiment, the foot rest 14b is urged toward the support shaft 16a, which is the center of rotation, by the urging members 31. However, the structure is not limited to this.
In the above embodiment, when the foot rest 14b is in the stored state, the rotating angle D between the bottom surface 25 of the foot rest 14b and the bottom surface 20 of the leg rest 14a is an acute angle (approximately 55 degrees). However, the rotating angle D may be a right angle.
In the above embodiment, the airbags 28, 29 are provided on the foot rest 14b, but the airbags 28, 29 may be omitted.
In the above described embodiment, although not particularly mentioned, for example, a massage mechanism that massages the upper body of the user may be provided in the massage device 10. The massage mechanism includes a treatment element and provided in the backrest 13.
In the above described embodiment, the backrest 13 is tiltable with respect to the seat 12. Instead, the backrest 13 does not need to be tiltable, that is, the backrest 13 may be fixed. Alternatively, the backrest 13 may be omitted.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2009-220465 | Sep 2009 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2010/065009 | 9/2/2010 | WO | 00 | 2/29/2012 |