DE29620099U1 - Seating, in particular stools - Google Patents

Description

FIELD OF APPLICATION AND STATE OF THE ART

Sitting on rigid, upholstered or unupholstered seating is a major cause of poor posture and health. For this reason and for reasons of comfort, there are already numerous ways of making seating so mobile that it can tilt and move sideways, such as rocking chairs, reclining armchairs, etc. It is also already known that one-legged stools can be made to be able to move sideways and tilt to a certain extent by means of a joint with limited mobility attached to the foot.

TASK AND SOLUTION

The object of the invention is to enable limited lateral and tilting mobility in a piece of seating furniture, in particular a stool, in a simple and functionally reliable manner and in particular to improve the posture-promoting effect.

This problem is solved by claim 1.

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Because the leg of a one-legged stool is flexible, the seat attached to it can move sideways and tilt accordingly, but always exerts a significant restoring force to the middle position that progresses with increasing deflection. The rod clamped between the seat and the foot, e.g. made of stainless steel, bends and maintains the tension with a spring. This relieves the entire spine, relaxes the muscles and strengthens them. In addition, the user's lower extremities are optimally supplied with blood, as they can also be active while sitting. This actively promotes the upright posture of the body. The muscles do not tire and tense up so easily, as the seat inclination can be easily varied. The strong restoring force keeps the muscles moving and trains them.

The progressively increasing spring force automatically limits the deflection and thus prevents tipping over. The spring force of the flexible leg should be adapted to the size and stability of the foot to ensure that the user's center of gravity does not move outside the support area of the foot even when deflected.

The leg should be rigidly connected to the seat and the foot. This also provides a fixed relationship between the lateral and tilting movement of the seat. However, this characteristic can be deliberately influenced by changing bending properties with the height of the leg. If, for example, the leg tapers in height in the cross-section, its bending line will lead to a stronger curvature in the upper area and the tilting of the seat will be greater than with a non-tapered leg.

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The leg should be made of material with ideal elastic properties in the stress area, i.e. in this area the deformation should be purely elastic without any permanent component, e.g. in the case of steel below the yield point. The same applies to production from reinforced plastics, e.g. carbon fiber or Kevlar materials. In addition to the cross-sectional tapering, the bending properties can also be influenced in other ways over the height of the leg, for example through shaping, differences in wall thickness in the pipe material, etc.

Although it is preferred that the seating furniture be equally flexible in all directions, in special cases it may be desirable to create a preferred direction of deflection. This is possible by selecting the appropriate cross-section of the leg, for example an oval or non-circular cross-section, or other means of creating different bending properties in different directions. For example, tilting in a forward/backward direction could be possible to a greater extent than tilting sideways.

The foot can be a relatively solid plate, e.g. made of cast aluminum etc., to which the leg is attached, in particular by inserting it. In the edge area, support buffers can be inserted into the foot, which also provide anti-slip protection on the ground in order to prevent slipping if the user deliberately "pushes" sideways. This could also be achieved when using castors by means of appropriate load-activated brakes in these. In addition to a foot design in the form of a plate or disc, a multi-armed foot, for example a five-armed foot shape with or without castors, can also be used.

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In order to enable a transition from the flexible leg to the foot or seat with as little stress as possible, the leg can have a sleeve at its upper and/or lower end or be inserted into a sleeve which in turn is attached to the seat or foot via a fastening flange. This sleeve can also serve as a pivot bearing for the seat, particularly when attached to the seat.

These and other features emerge not only from the claims but also from the description and the drawings, whereby the individual features can be implemented individually or in combination in the form of sub-combinations in an embodiment of the invention and in other fields and can represent advantageous and protectable embodiments for which protection is claimed here.

The division of the application into individual sections and subheadings does not limit the general validity of the statements made thereunder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and is explained in more detail below. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a stool with indicated working positions and

Fig. 2 is a vertical partial section through an embodiment of a stool.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE AED EXAMPLE FIG. 1

Fig. 1 shows a one-legged stool 11 with a possibly padded, for example round seat 12, a middle, single leg 13 and a foot 14, which is designed in the form of a e.g. round disk 15 with a central hub area 16. It stands on the floor 30.

The leg 13 is inserted essentially rigidly into both the foot and the seat, i.e. at the connection point leg/foot or seat/foot, no significant angular deviations occur between leg and foot under lateral loading.

FUNCTION

If the seat 12 is loaded laterally or asymmetrically to the leg axis 31, it can move slightly sideways and tilt at the same time. For this purpose, the leg is made as a relatively thin rod from a high-strength elastic material, for example stainless steel. The flexibility and in particular the ratio of elasticity to breaking strength can be influenced by the appropriate choice of material 0 and/or cross-sectional design. Fiber-reinforced plastics, for example using carbon fibers, Kevlar or glass fibers, are also suitable for this purpose.

The bending line can be influenced by changing the cross-section accordingly over the height.

Fig. 1 shows lateral deflection positions, whereby in the example shown the deflection mainly takes place in the upper part of the leg. This can be brought about by correspondingly increased bending softness in the upper part of the leg.

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but also, for example, by deliberately tilting the seat (e.g. by asymmetrical loading in conjunction with corresponding "counter-thrust ^{" 11} from the user's legs). In this way, the user can set his or her own ideal sitting position and also constantly change it in a playful way, thereby keeping his or her muscles and joints moving and training without getting the usual signs of sitting fatigue. Although a swivel and/or tilt range of 20° on all sides is possible, 5° to 10° is often enough to achieve the desired effects.

EXAMPLE OF IMPLEMENTATION PIG. 2

Fig. 2 shows an embodiment of a stool in which the foot is made as a cast part, for example from cast aluminum. It has the shape of a slightly conical disk 15 extending from a central hub with an outer flange 32 parallel to the floor, in which there are holes into which support buffers 22 are inserted. They support the foot 14 on the floor 30 and prevent it from slipping when subjected to lateral loads.

In the hub 16 there is a vertical bore 20 into which a lower end section IS of a stainless steel rod

17, which forms the leg 13. The end section

18 is slightly thickened with good rounding compared to the freely upwardly extending bar 17 in order to reduce the loads at the main stressed clamping point.

In its upper section 19, the solid rod 16 is again somewhat thickened and designed in the form of a sleeve 28 with an internal bore 33. A round pin 25 of a connecting piece 23 engages in this, which has a fastening flange 24, which can be attached in any way, for example

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for example by means of screws, is attached to the underside of the seat. The fastening flange has, surrounding the pin 25, an annular recess 35 within which a snap ring 26 is inserted into a groove in the outside of the sleeve 28. The annular recess 35 is closed at the bottom by a locking washer 27, which is screwed onto the fastening flange 24, so that the snap ring rests against it when the seat is lifted. In this way, the seat can rotate relative to the leg in the sleeve, but is secured against axial removal.

Within the scope of the invention, numerous modifications of the illustrated embodiment are possible, some of which have already been described at the beginning. Although the main area of application is for stools, i.e. backless seating, it can also be used for chairs or other seating with appropriate adaptation. The preferred round shape of the seat can also have a different shape, e.g. triangular or saddle-like, depending on the requirements.

Claims (1)

Expectations Seating, especially stools Seating furniture, in particular a stool, with a foot (14), a seat (12) and a leg (13) connecting them, wherein the seat (12) has a limited lateral and tilting mobility relative to the foot (14), characterized in that the leg (13) is flexible. Seating furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that the leg (13) applies a considerable, progressive, resilient restoring force in the direction of a normal position, in particular a central middle position of the seat (12) above the foot (14). Seating furniture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the leg (13) is rigidly connected to the seat (12) and/or the foot (14). Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the leg (13) has a changing over its longitudinal extent, preferably according to A 31 159 - 2 - has a tapered cross-section and/or changing bending properties. 5. Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the leg (13) consists essentially of a steel rod (17). 6. Seating furniture according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the leg (13) is made of plastic, preferably reinforced with glass fiber, Kevlar or carbon fiber. 7. Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cross-section of the leg (13), e.g. to create a preferred deflection direction, is non-circular, in particular oval. 8. Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the base (14) is disc-shaped and the leg is attached thereto, preferably by insertion. 9. Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the foot (14) has support buffers (22) inserted in its edge region, preferably with anti-slip properties. 10. Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the base (14) has several laterally extending arms, preferably provided with rollers. 11. Seating furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that on the leg (13) preferential A 31 159 .J.. «· «5·3·« a fastening flange (24) is attached, to which the seat (12) is fastened, via a sleeve (28) forming or enclosing the upper leg end section (19), wherein the sleeve (28) in particular forms a pivot bearing for the seat.