Patent Application
20080231100
The present invention relates to chairs. More particularly, the present invention relates to a reclining chair, a chassis, a frame and a kit for manufacturing a reclining chair.
Chairs are omnipresent in our lives. Not a day passes by where a person does not have to sit. A wide variety of chairs and they are constantly the object of new designs and improvements. The underlying reasons being, of course, the huge market that exists for chairs.
Different types of chairs have different applications. In the quest for the ultimate comfortable chair, the adjustable reclining chair reigns as a master. Still, many different designs of reclining chairs exist, which are not all created equal. Some of them rely on thick padding to provide comfort, others rely on multiple adjustments and yet others combine both approaches. However, many a drawback exists with these designs. Some require a quite complex structure, which adds cost to the product. Others are bulky and heavy with their thick padding. Others require much manipulation for properly adjusting the seating surface. Furthermore, most of them, with their fixed-shape one-piece backrest, are not capable of evenly supporting the back of a user as humans are all, to some extent, shaped differently.
Hence, although chairs have been around us for a long time, there is still room for an improved design of reclining chair, and its underlying structure, which is capable of providing an improved comfort to its user.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a reclining chair and a structure for a reclining chair that overcomes the disadvantages of, or at least provide a useful alternative to, the reclining chairs and reclining chair structures of the prior art.
It is an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a reclining chair affording an improved comfort to its user.
It is an object of an aspect of the present invention to provide a reclining chair structure affording an improved comfort to its user.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a chassis for a reclining chair comprising at least two contiguous deformable quadrilateral segments, pivot points and at least two force-developing elements. Each quadrilateral segment has four rigid side members and four vertices. Each quadrilateral segment shares one of its side members with at least one other contiguous quadrilateral segment. The pivot points are located at each vertex of each quadrilateral segment. All pivot points have their pivot axis parallel to the pivot axis of the other pivot points. Each force-developing element independently provides a force to a corresponding one of the at least two quadrilateral segments.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a frame for a reclining chair. The frame is made of two parallel chassis as previously described and of at least two force-developing elements. Both chassis are connected by at least two cross-members, each cross-member connecting one of the quadrilateral segments of one chassis to a corresponding quadrilateral segment of the other chassis. This defines a pair of corresponding quadrilateral segments. Each force-developing element independently provides a force to a corresponding one of the pair of corresponding quadrilateral segments.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a reclining chair comprising a seating surface for supporting a user, a chassis as previously defined for supporting the seating surface, at least two force-developing elements and a base for supporting the chassis. Each force-developing element independently provides a force to a corresponding one of the quadrilateral segments.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a kit for a reclining chair. The kit comprises at least two contiguous deformable quadrilateral segments, at least two force-developing elements, a seating surface and a base. Each quadrilateral segment has four rigid side members and four vertices. Each quadrilateral segment is provided with a pivot point at each vertex. All pivot points have their pivot axis parallel to the pivot axis of the other pivot points. Each quadrilateral segment is adapted to share one of the side members with another contiguous quadrilateral segment. Each force-developing element is adapted to be mounted to one of the quadrilateral segments. The seating surface is adapted to be supported by the quadrilateral segments. The base is adapted to support one of the quadrilateral segment.
These and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings wherein:
The chassis for reclining chairs described herein is made of a plurality of interconnected quadrilaterals structures. Because of the way the chassis is made, each quadrilateral segment is capable of being pivoted, or deformed, completely independently from any other quadrilateral segment. This means that it is possible to vary the angle of any single quadrilateral segment with respect to a base without influencing the shape of any other quadrilateral segment. Furthermore, when the quadrilateral segments are shaped like parallelograms, it is possible to vary the angle of any single quadrilateral segment with respect to a base without influencing the angle of any other quadrilateral segment with respect to the same base.
In the embodiment shown in
The side members 14 may be made of a wide variety of materials. Most often, a metal will be used such as steel or aluminum. The side members 14 may either have a closed cross-section, such as a round or square tube, or be made of an open cross-section, such as an “L”. Similarly, pivot points 18 may use bushings, bearings, simple screw or pivot axle or any other adequate means. Any person skilled in the art would be familiar with such detailed design and hence, this aspect will not be covered in further details in the present description.
Each quadrilateral segment 12a, 12b is equipped with a force-developing element 22a and 22b for independently providing a force thereto. Each force-developing element 22a, 22b is attached to a different one of the quadrilateral segments 12a, 12b and provides a force to only one of the quadrilateral segment 12a, 12b. For example, and as shown in
The force-generating elements 22a, 22b may be of the type capable of developing a force both when compressed and when extended, only when compressed, or only when extended. Most of the time, a force-generating element capable of developing a force only in one direction is sufficient. However, it may be beneficial in some situations to use the type capable of developing a force in both directions. It may also be possible to use two or more force-developing elements in each quadrilateral segment so that the force-developing elements complement each other. Furthermore, it may be possible to use force-developing elements that are controllable. For example, the force-developing elements may be locked in place, or develop their force only when requested to.
Each force-developing element 22a, 22b may be located at different places within its corresponding quadrilateral segment, as long as it provides the desired force. For example, the force-developing elements 22a, 22b may be located between two opposed pivot points 18, between one pivot point 18 and the opposed side member 14, between two side members 14 or, if the force-developing element develops its force by rotation, either at one pivot point 18 or between one pivot point 18 and one contiguous side member 14. In fact, it would be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art that various ways of attaching the force-developing elements 22a, 22b are possible, depending on the type of force-developing element. Indeed, some types of force-developing elements are designed to work along a longitudinal axis while others are designed to work in rotation or flexion. Examples of such force-developing elements are coil springs, leaf springs, air springs, elastomeric materials and pneumatic, hydraulic or electrical actuators.
Although the chassis 10 is shown having two quadrilateral sections 12a, 12b, it could be equipped with three, four, five or more quadrilateral sections. The number of force-developing elements must at least correspond to the number of quadrilateral sections. When two or more chassis 10 are placed in parallel so that each quadrilateral segment of a chassis corresponds to another quadrilateral segment of another chassis, one force-developing element may be shared amongst both corresponding quadrilateral sections. This will be discussed in more details below.
The quadrilateral segments 12a, 12b may adopt different positions with respect to each other. As shown in
In
The base 24 may be attached to either the side member 14 or to two pivot points 18. The base 24 may also be attached to two opposed side members of one of the quadrilateral segments as long as the quadrilateral is shaped as a parallelogram and the attachment points are symmetrically placed on two opposed side members.
The base 24 supports one pair of corresponding quadrilateral segments 30d. The frame 26 supports a seating surface 31. Herein, the term seating surface is understood to mean the entire surface on which the user rest. The seating surface 31 generally follows the shape of the frame 26. The seating surface 31 is used to support a user. The seating surface 31 may be made of any material usually used in the art for such application.
It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the structure for a reclining chair and the reclining chair using such structure defined herein may be aligned such as to define a flat seating surface. Hence, the reclining chair looks more like a bed. Hence, in the present description, the term reclining chair encompass a term such as “articulated bed” since the reclining chair of the present invention has the possibility of doing both.
The present invention has been described with regard to preferred embodiments. The description as much as the drawings were intended to help the understanding of the invention, rather than to limit its scope. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention as described herein, and such modifications are intended to be covered by the present description.
