AU4437302A - Chair - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT "Chair" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 39Vd IVNa3d NO3OaOW 009L9886ET9+ TT:61 00Z/90/EZ

CHAIR

Field of the Invention This invention relates to a chair having a member which is mnoveable to form a backrest for the chair or a table. In a particular non-limiting preferred aspect of the invention the chair may be foldable.

Background of the Invention Chairs are typically provided with a backrest. However when a person using such a chair requires a flat surface for any purpose such as eating or writing, a separate flat member in the form of a tabletop or moveable panel needs to be provided.

Of course, when the person leans forward to write or perform any other actions in association with the table, the backrest of the chair remains unused.

Thus, there is an opportunity for rationalising chair design by making use of the backrest as a table or similar when the backrest is not in use, ]Disclosure of the Invention The invention provides in one aspect a chair comprising, a seat supported on legs, and a substantially planar member held in place above the seat, wherein the planar member is moveable from a first configuration in which it forms a substantially vertically extending backrest for the seat to a second configuration in which it assumes a substantially horizontally extending configuration.

Suitably the chair may have four legs. It may be foldable. It may be foldable so that it assumes a substantially flat configuration.

LO 39Vd IVNd3d WOOdOW £6 E~dIVN~d O~dVJ009L986619+ rustT 366Z/9G/EZ The legs may comprise two joined pairs of legs. The individual legs forming each pair of legs may be joined by a horizontal member. Thus there may be two horizontal members. The seat may be supported by these two horizontal members.

The pair of legs may each have a generally inverted U-shaped appearance. The individual legs of different pairs may be joined together at a point intermediate each of the lengths. Suitably the join will be a pivot join. There may be two such pivot joins provided opposite each other. The pivot join may comprise a nut and bolt.

The seat of the chair may comprise any suitable material which can support the weight of a person. It may be foldable. It may be foldable about a hinge. It may be foldable by virtue of its own flexibility. In a preferred aspect of the invention the seat may comprise a fabric material such as canvas.

The fabric material maybe provided with loops at opposite ends of the fabric material whereby the loops may be secured around the horizontal members.

Suitably, the planar member is held by mounting means secured to the legs.

The mounting means may comprise an upwardly extending member. It may include a horizontally extending upper member.

The planar member may be secured to the upper member. It may be pivotable about the upper member. It may be pivotable about an axis intermediate the width of the planar member.

Locking means may be provided in association with the planar member. The locking means may act to lock the planar member in the second configuration when it is moved to this configuration. Suitably the locking means are releaseable to allow the planar member to be moved to the first configuration.

30Vd iVN63d WOOdOW 80 E~d1~NBd JO~OW009L3886E19+ rt:ec Z80Z/9G/SZ The locking means may optionally include a capability of' releasingly locking the planar member in the firt configuration as well.

The planar member may be mounted on the upper member by a tubular member which telescopes over the upper member.

All of the bereinbefore described members may comprise tubular rods. The tubular rods may be made of any suitably strong material such as steel, aluminium or high strength reinforced plastic.

A preferred aspect of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows an isometric view of a chair according to the invention with the planar member forming a backrest; Figure 2 shows an isometric view of a chair according to the invention with the planar member forming a table for the chair; Figure 3 shows an isometric view of a chair according to Figures 1 and 2 which has been folded to a substantially flat configuration; Figure 4 shows an isometric view of the support and locking mechanism for the planar member when it is in the second configuration; Figure 5 shows an isometric view of the support and locking mechanismn for the planar member when it is in the first configuration; and Figure 6 shows an isometric view of an alternative support and locking mechanism for the planar member.

The various elements identified in the drawings by numerals are listed in the following Integer List.

30Vld iVNd~d NODdON 009L9886619+ tT:EI Z00Z/90/EZ Integer List 1 Chair 2 Seat 3 Panel 4 Leg 6 Leg 8 Leg Leg 12 Joining member 14 Joining member 16 Pivot join 18 Pivot join 19 Stop 20 Seat cloth 22 Looped ends 24 Upwardly extending member 26 Upper member 28 Bracket 30 Outer tube 32 Stop member 34 Stop member 36 Spring 38 Arrow direction 40 Semicircular recess 41 Semicircular recess 42 Pin 44 Pin 46 Enlargement 48 Slot Pin OT 39yd iVNa3d WOOdOW 009L9886E19+ TT:£1 00Z/90/EZ Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the chair according to the invention is generally designated 1. It includes a seat 2 and a planar member in the form of a panel 3. The seat is formed of a fabric material such as canvas and the panel may be formed of any suitable material which can withstand the normal stresses expected of a chair back or table. Applicants have found that recycled plastic is particularly suitable.

The chair includes four legs 4, 6, 8 and Legs 4 and 6 are joined by the horizontally extending joining member 12 to give a joined pair of legs having a generally inverted U-shaped appearance.

Similarly legs 8 and 10 are joined by the horizontally extending joining member 14.

The material of the legs may be any suitable material which is typically used in chair constructions. In the illustrated embodiment the legs are shown as being formed of bent tubular material such as steel.

The pairs of legs are joined intermediate their lengths at the pivot joins 16 and 18.

This ensures that the legs may be foldable to the substantially flat configuration shown in Figure A stop 19 provided on one of the legs prevents the legs pivoting beyond the substantially flat configuration.

The seat 2 formed of seat cloth 20 has looped ends 22 which are fitted over the joining memnbers, 12 and 14.

An upwardly extending member 24 which is joined to the leg 4 is in turn joined to an upper member 26. This is integral with the upwardly extending member and extends horizontally therefrom.

As is shown more clearly in Figures 4 and 5 a pair of brackets 28 welded to an outer tube 30 are secured to the underneath of the panel 3 by screws.

TT 39Vd iVNd~d NOOdOVJ 009L9886619+ TT:ET Z8G3/9G/SZ The outer tube 30 telescopes over the upper member 26 and allows the panel to pivot about the axis defined by the upper member.

Stop members 32 and 34 are secured at opposite ends of the outer tube 30 to the upper member for purposes to become apparent.

A spring 36 telescoping the upper member is fitted between the stop member 32 and one end of the outer tube 30. This has the effect of biasing the assembly comprising the brackets, outer tube and panel wit respect to the upper member in the direction opposite to that shown bythe arrow3 38.

The stop member 32 includes a semi-circular recess 41 which is adapted to receive the pin 44 in the configuration shown in Figure 4 and the stop member 34 includes a semi-circular recess facing in the opposite direction which receives the pin 42.

When the chair is in the erected configuration (the second configuration) shown in figure 2 with the panel forming a table, the combination of pins and recesses described above serve to lock the table in the horizontal position.

To change the panel into the backrest configuration (the first configuration) shown in Figure 1, the panel should be pushed in the direction, of the arrow 38 whilst holding the upwardly extending member 24 against movement to compress the spring 36 and bring the pin 42 out of engagement with the recess 40. This then allows the panel to be rotated to the configuration shown in Figure 1.

When the chair is not in use, it may be folded initially to the configuration shown in Figure 1 and then the legs may be folded by pivoting them with respect to each other about the pivot joins 16 to the configuration shown in Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 6, the panel 3 is shown intermediate the back rest and table configurations.

ZT 3DVd iVN83d WOOdOW 009L9886ET9+ IT:ET ~T BDVd ±~NdBd HOO~ION 009L9886E19+ TT:st ~00~/9G/E~ The outer tube 30 is biased in the direction of arrow 38 by the spring 36 pushing against the enlargement 46 of the upper member 26 and the end of the outer tube.

The other end of the outer tube has a slot 48 arranged to co-operate with the pin 50 on the upper member 26 to lock the panel in the table configuration. One or more similar slots (not shown) may optionally be provided at different locations around the outer tube to enable the panel to be locked into any other desired configuration such as the backrest configuration or an angled configuration which may be used to facilitate writing, etc.

It is to be understood that the word comprising as used throughout the specification is to be interpreted in its inclusive form ie. use of the word comprising does not exclude the addition of other elements.

It is to be understood that various modifications of and/or additions to the invention can be made without departing from the basic nature of the invention. These modifications and/or additions are therefore considered to fall within the scope of the invention.

T 39Vd iVN63d WOOdoW 009L9886ET9+ 1:ET1 IZ00/90/EZ

Claims (12)

1. A chair comprising, a seat supported on legs, and a substantially planar member held in place above the seat, wherein the substantially planar member is movable from a first configuration in which it fonns a substantially vertically extending backrest for the seat to a second configuration in which it assumnes a substantially horizontally extending configuration.

2. A chair according to claim 1 wherein the chair has four legs which are foldable to assume a substantially flat configuration.

3. A chair according to claim I or claim 2 wherein the chair has two pairs of two legs each pair of legs being joined by a horizontally extending member and the seat is attached to and is supported by the horizontally extending members.

4. A chair according to claim 3 wherein each pair of two legs joined by a horizontally extending member has an inverted generally U-shaped app earance and individual legs of different pairs are pivotally joined at a position intermediate their lengths.

S. A chair according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the seat comprises a foldable member.

6. A chair according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the seat comprises a fabric material.

7. A chair according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the substantially planar member is held by mounting means secured to the legs. 1' 30Vd IVMd3d W0NOWV 009L9886619+ 11:81 Z00Z/90/S3

8. A chair according to claim 7 wherein the mounting means comprise an upwardly extending member joined to at least one of the legs and a horizontally extending upper member joined to an upper part of the upwardly extending member, the substantially planar member being mounted on the horizontally extending upper member.

9. A chair according to claim 8 wherein the substantially planar member is mounted on the horizontally extending upper member by a tubular member which telescopes over the upper member.

A chair according to any one of the preceding claims including releasable locking means adapted to lock the substantially planar member in the second configuration.

11. A chair according to claim 10 as appended to claim 9 including resilient means for biasing the substantially planar member to move telescopically in one direction on the horizontally extending member and the locking means comprise a slot on the tubular member adapted to co-operate with a pin on the horizontally extending upper member to lock the substantially planar member in the second configuration.

12. A chair according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 23rd day of May 2002 Keith Lyon and Anthony Brown by their patent attorneys Morcom Pernat 9 39Vd lVNa3d HOOdOW 009L988619+ TT:Et ZOOZ/90/6Z 91 BSVd ±VNdBd NOOdON 0091.9886819+ 11:81 ~00~/90/8~