EP0290530A1

EP0290530A1 - Extensible legrest and reclining back mechanisms for furniture seating units

Info

Publication number: EP0290530A1
Application number: EP87907546A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ned W. Mizelle
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-10-10
Filing date: 1987-10-13
Publication date: 1988-11-17
Also published as: EP0290530A4; WO1988002610A1; AU8270887A

Abstract

Un mécanisme pour repose-jambes extensibles pour fauteuils et similaires comprend des entretoises (16) mobiles longitudinalement qui supportent un organe (18) de support des jambes. Un assemblage de support soutient les entretoises en porte-à-faux. L'assemblage du repose-jambe est sollicité vers sa position étendue par un ressort (58), une bobine (54) et un organe flexible (56). Des patins de freins (76) s'engagent avec les entretoises pour empêcher le mouvement longitudinal des entretoises. L'organe de support des jambes est relié de manière pivotante aux entretoises. Un verrou manuellement escamotable et élastiquement sollicité (120) est prévu pour tenir le repose-jambe dans sa position étendue et/ou rétractée. Un dossier inclinable (208) est relié à une base par un mécanisme comprenant un ressort à gaz (228). Les extrémités du ressort à gaz sont reliées à des organes transversaux supérieur et inférieur (230, 232) qui sont reliés à des plaques de montage (222, 224) se trouvant sur le dossier et la base de la chaise ou sofa.A mechanism for extendable legrests for armchairs and the like includes longitudinally movable struts (16) which support a leg support member (18). A support assembly supports the cantilever spacers. The leg rest assembly is biased toward its extended position by a spring (58), a coil (54) and a flexible member (56). Brake pads (76) engage with the struts to prevent longitudinal movement of the struts. The leg support member is pivotally connected to the struts. A manually retractable and elastically stressed lock (120) is provided to hold the legrest in its extended and / or retracted position. A reclining backrest (208) is connected to a base by a mechanism comprising a gas spring (228). The ends of the gas spring are connected to upper and lower transverse members (230, 232) which are connected to mounting plates (222, 224) located on the back and the base of the chair or sofa.

Description

EXTENSIBLE LEGREST AND RECLINING BACK MECHANISMS FOR FURNITURE SEATING UNITS

Background of the Invention

This invention relates to improvements in legrests for seating units such as chairs and sofas.

Extensible legrests are widely used in recliner and incliner type furniture. Normally/ a legrest is extensi¬ ble by a scissors-like linkage which moves a leg-supporting member from a retracted position to an extended position. Many mechanisms of this nature are available/ and they are commonly moved from one position to another by a lever and/or by leg pressure.

The present invention differs from most commerci¬ ally available products of its type in the respect that this invention utilizes longitudinally movable struts which hold the leg-supporting member in a cantilevered fashion. Devices of this general type are described in the patent literature but they are not commonly known or used in the modern furniture industry.

The present invention is directed to various impro¬ vements in the extensible strut type of extensible legrest mechanism/ with improvements relating to a simplified struc¬ ture which operates effectively/ is durable, is suitable for use in furniture having a great variety of styles/ and is aesthetically pleasing.

This invention also relates to an improved mechan¬ ism for connecting a reclining back to the base of a piece of furniture such as a chair or sofa_; such furniture pieces being referred to herein generally as seating units.

Modern recliners and incliners have mechanisms which often produce independent seat/ back and legrest movements. These mechanisms are relatively complicated and to some extent they impose constraints on furniture designers as to the configuration of the furniture unit/ the type of suspension which can be used in the seat portion of the unit/ and the nature of the legrest extension mechanism. The present invention pertains to a reclining back mechanism which does not provide and is entirely independent from any seat or legrest mechanisms. Significantly, the mechanism of the invention is constructed so that it is completely located only in the back area of the seating unit/ thus giving the furniture designer a great deal of freedom as to the nature of the set structure, legrest mechanism or seat suspension.

Summary of the Invention

This invention relates to improvements in extensi¬ ble legrest mechanisms of the type which have a legrest assembly which has a leg-supporting member transversely mounted on a pair of longitudinally movable strut members/ and a support assembly provided with means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position.

One feature of the invention is the utilization of a resilient means having a spring/ a reel and a flexible member which is wound on the reel. -The reel and the outer end portion of the flexible member are connected to different assemblies so that the resilient means will bias the legrest assembly toward its extended position.

Another feature pertains to a brake means which has a brake shoe which is deformable and is conformable to a strut it engages, thereby excluding air from between the brake shoe and the strut to provide initimate physical contact to prevent longitudinal movement of the strut.

Another feature pertains to the connection between 'the leg-supporting member and the strut members. The leg-supporting member is pivotally connected for movement about a transverse pivot axis , and resilient means are operable between the leg-supporting member and a strut to bias the leg-supporting member to a predetermined angular position with respect to the strut.

Still another feature of the invention is the brake actuating mechanism. Brake shoes are engageable^' with the struts to prevent longitudinal movement thereof, and the brake operating means includes a pair of brake levers which are pivo- tally mounted on the support assembly. The brake shoes are mounted on the brake levers/ resilient means are provided for biasing the brake levers to positions where the brake shoes engage the struts/ and manually operable means are provided for opposing the resilient means to move the brake levers to positions where the brake shoes are retracted from the struts.

Another feature is the provision of a latch means for holding the movable legrest assembly in its extended or retracted positions. In this regard/ the invention involves a latch member on the support assembly which is engageable with one or more keepers on the movable legrest assembly. The latch member is movable between its locking and unlocked positions by an actuator cable which is manually operable by a user. The latch member has a special configuration which provides for convenient latching, releasing/ and movement of the legrest assembly between its latched extended position and a latched retracted position.

A reclining back mechanism according to the inven¬ tion has a pair of stationary mounting plates which are substantially parallel and vertical and are connectible to the stationary base of a seating unit. A pair of swinging mounting plates are pivotally supported by the stationary mounting plates. These swinging mounting plates constitute a movable portion of the mechanism/ and they are connectible to the reclining back of the seating unit. To control the relative movement between the stationary plates and swinging plates/ the mechanism has a generally vertical extensible means which is entirely located rearwardly of the pivots of the mounting plates. The extensible means has a lower end connected to at least one stationary mounting plate and an upper end which is connected to at least one movable mounting plate. Within the extensible means there is a chamber which contains a fluid and is provided with a valve for controlling the fluid flow to and from the chamber. The valve is movable to and from a back-locking position which prevents the fluid from flowing to or from the chamber. While in its back-locking position/ the valve prevents movement between the movable and stationary portions of the reclining back mechanism in order to hold the back at an inclination selected by the user. A user-operable actuator is provided for operating the valve.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a chair frame con¬ structed for use in accordance with the mechanism of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of a mechanism con¬ structed according to the invention.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a rearwardly looking transverse sectional view of the mechanism.

^* Fig. 6 is a view showing the movable legrest assem¬ bly at various extended postions.

Fig. 7 is a side view of a latching mechanism accord¬ ing to the invention.

Fig. 8 is a partial side elevation of the chair frame of Fig. 1 with a back reclining mechanism installed therein.

Fig. 9 is a partial front elevation of the mechan¬ ism of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is an exploded view of another chair frame which may be used with the mechanism of the invention.

Fig. 11 is a partial side elevation showing the configuration of the mechanism when it is installed on a chair frame of the type shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic view showing the princi¬ ple of operation of a lockable gas spring used with the inven¬ tion.

Detailed Description

This invention relates to a legrest mechanism for seating articles of furniture, and to articles of furniture constructed with such mechanisms. Preferably, the seating units are chairs, sofas or the like which are upholstered and are provided with reclinable backs; however/ the mechanism may also be used with other types of furniture. A typical wooden frame for an upholstered piece of furniture with an inclinable back is shown in Fig. 1. The component most pertinent to this invention is the split front rail which has an upper front rail 2 and a lower front rail 4. Vertical front rail sections 6 and 8 are also provided. In the completed .article of furniture/ the legrest frame 10 is nested around the front end of the main frame/ and these components are connected together by the mech¬ anism described below.

As shown in Fig. 2, the legrest mechanism is attached to the top rail 2 and bottom rail 4 by screws 12 or other suit¬ able fasteners. Additionally/ fasteners can extend through the holes 14 shown in Fig. 3 to attach the mechanism to the vertical rails 6 and 8.

The mechanism includes a longitudinally movable legrest assembly which/ as shown in Fig. 4, has a pair of longitudinally movable strut members 16, a transverse leg-supporting member 18/ and two transverse cross tubes 20 and 22 which are welded to the strut members 16. As can be seen in Fig. 6; the struts 16 are nonlinear so that, as they move forwardly, they also tend to elevate the leg-supporting components at the forward end thereof. This non-linearity may be due to a gradual curvature as shown, or it may be provided by forming one or more slight bends in linear tube sections. As can be seen in Fig. 5, the struts 16 have an oval-shaped cross section which has proven to be particularly advantageous from the standpoint of strength, effectiveness and aesthetics.

The stationary assembly which is mounted on the furniture frame and which supports the movable legrest assem¬ bly has a box-like chassis formed of identical top and bot¬ tom pieces 24 and mirror image vertical end pieces 26. The pieces 24 have flanges 28 which lie in vertical longitudinal planes and are riveted to the end pieces at 30. Vertical mounting flanges 32 are located at the front of the pieces 24, and outturned vertical mounting flanges 34 are likewise provided at the forward edges of the end pieces 26. As previously mentioned, the chassis is connected to a split front rail of a chair frame by fasteners which extend through the openings in the flanges 32 and 34.

As best seen in Fig. 2, the end pieces 26 of the chassis each carry three rollers 36, 38 and 40, each of these rollers being provided with a circumferential groove which corresponds to the shape of the legrest-supporting struts. The pivot axes of rollers 36 and 38 are stationary but, to accommo¬ date dimensional variations and to assure that all three rollers are continuously engaged firmly with the strut, the roller 40 is movable and is resiliently biased against the strut. Each roller 40 is mounted on a bellcrank lever 42 which has one end pivoted to the end piece at 44 and another end connected to a spring 46, the opposite end of which is hooked to a laterally offset ear 48 on the end piece 26.

The legrest assembly is resiliently biased toward it fully extended position, and it is lockable in any partially extended position selected by the occupant. This locking effect is due to a brake mechanism which is described later in this specification. The legrest assembly is biased forwardly by a conventional power spring reel mechanism 50 which is supported en a nonrotatiπg shaft 52 on the bottom piece 24 of the chassis. This spring reel mechanism, sometimes referred to simply as a power spring, includes a reel 54 mounted on the shaft 52. An elongated flexible member 56, t pically a wire, is wound on the reel. The rotatable reel 54 is connected to the ncπrotatable shaft 52 by a spring schematically shown at 58, this spring being arranged to rotate the reel in a direction designated by the arrow 60 to wind the wire 56 onto the reel. A fitting 62 at the distal end of the wire is fastened to the rear cross tube 20 of the legrest assembly so that, as the internal spring in the mechanism 50 tends to wind the wire 56 on the reel 54, it also tends to pull the movable legrest assembly in a forward direction. The maximum extent of such movement is limited by stops 64 which are mounted or. the reer cross tube 20 by brackets 66. These stops 64 are in the same longitudinal vertical plane as the struts 16 and rollers 36, 38 and 40. When the movable legrest assembly moves for- wardly, the stops 64 eventually contact the rollers 38 as shown in Fig. 6, thereby preventing any further forward movement of the legrest assembly.

Due to physiological and preferential factors, different occupants of the chair or other seating unit are able to select their own legrest extension distances and angles. The distance selection capability is due to the braking mechanism which is infinitely adjustable within the limits of legrest travel. As best shown in Fig. 5 , this braking mechanism has a pair of transverse brake levers 70 which have their outboard ends pivotally connected at 72 to pivot brackets 74 which are affixed to the end pieces 26 of the mechanism. Each of these brake levers 70 has a brake shoe 76 which is movable into and out of braking engagement with the struts 16. The brakes are normally held in their engaged braking positions by a spring 78 which acts against overlapping end portions 80 of the levers 70 at the longitudinal centerline of the mechanism. This spring 78 is a compression spring mounted beneath a center piece 82 which is affixed to the top piece 24 by rivets.

To release the brakes, a brake release cable 84 extends centrally through the spring 78 and has its end operatively connected to the levers 70 where they overlap. The opposite end of the cable is connected to a manually operable lever 86 which is mounted where it can be conveniently operated by the occupant of the chair. The inside surface of a chair arm is one suitable location. The cable is preferably a Boden wire device which has a sheath 88. The opposite ends of the sheath 88 are always stationary, and the release cable 84 moves lengthwise within this sheath.

Preferably/ the brake shoes 76 are formed of a soft material which provides a braking surface which is deformable and conformable to the strut when the brakes are engaged. The conformablility excludes air from between the brake shoe and the strut so as to provide intimate physical contact preventing longitudinal movement of the strut. It is believed that any tendency of the strut to move is resisted by a vacuum which is produced at the interface between these elements.

As previously mentioned/ the leg supporting member includes the transverse piece 18. Its opposite ends have rear¬ wardly turned ears 90/ and these ears are connected to the struts 18 by aligned transverse pivot pins 92 which are best shown in Fig. 6. The edges of these ears 90 are shaped to provide stop surfaces 94 and 96 which/ when the legrest piece 18 rotates, are movable into contact with stop pins 98 which are affixed to the struts 18. This limits the pivoting movement of the legrest with respect to the struts.

A center piece 100 is attached to the center of the transverse legrest piece 18/ and this center piece 100 has an upper extension forming a cam surface 102 best seen in Figs. 2 and 6. The piece 100 also has a flange 104 which lies in a vertical longitudinal plane and has a hole 106 for receiving one end of a tension spring 108. The opposite end of this spring 108 is attached to the forward crosstube 22 of the legrest assembly. As can be seen in Figs. 2 and 6/ this spring 108 biases the member 18 in a clockwise direction when the member 18 is in the vertically^' retracted position shown in Fig. 2. However/ such clockwise movement is prevented in Fig. 2 due to the engagement between the rearwardly facing cam surface 102 and a forwardly facing cam surface 110 which is located at the forward end of the previously-described center piece 82 on the stationary chassis of the mechanism.

When the legrest is moved forwardly from its retrac¬ ted position, the spring 108 rotates the legrest piece to a position which is about midway between its limits of pivotal movement. The tension in spring 108 is low enough so that the angle of the legrest will self-adjust to the angle of the occupant's leg. However, when the legrest is at its fully extended position as shown in Fig. 6, the stop surface 94 will engage the stop pin 98 on the strut 16 to prevent any further clockwise movement.

The occupant may move the legrest assembly to its retracted position by using lever 86 to release the brake. while pressing his or her legs in an inward direction. Dur¬ ing this travel/ the angle of the legrest will self-adjust until the cam surface 102 engages the cam surface 110 to move the legrest to the stored upright position shown in Fig. 2.

In some situations/ it is desirable to provide a locking mechanism which holds the movable legrest assembly at a stationary extended or retracted position. One such mechanism which can be used in addition to or in lieu of the braking means illustrated in Fig. 5 is shown in Fig. 7. This mechanism includes a molded plastic or metal latch member 120 which is pivotally mounted at 122 on the stationary piece 82. The solid lines show the latch in its latching position/ and the broken lines show the outline of its unlatched positions. A compression spring 126 normally biases the latch toward its latching position/ but the lever is movable to its unlatched position by a manually operated cable actuator 128/ the remote end of which is provided with a manually operated lever such as the one shown at 86 in Fig. 5.

The latch has a forward notch 130 with a rearward- ly-facing detent surface which in Fig. 7 engages the crosstube 22 of the movable legrest assembly. In this respect/ the crosstube serves as a keeper. The rear of the notch 130 is inclined at 136 in order to prevent damage to the mechanism in case there is inadvertent rearward overtravel of the legrest assembly when it is moved to its retracted position. In this regard, the surface 136 acts as a latch-lifting cam so that any overtravel will simply cause the latch to . pivot upwardly to avoid damage by any impact forces.

The rear portion of the latch member is provided with one or more forwardly-facing detent surfaces 138, 138a and 138b which prevent rearward movement of the movable legrest assembly when it is in an extended position. These surfaces 138, 138a and 138b are engageable with an L-shaped crosspiece 140 which is rigidly attached to the movable legrest assembly toward the rear portion thereof. When the legrest is extended, the cross¬ piece will be in the vicinity of the latch 120, as shown in Fig. 7. The crosspiece 140 serves as a keeper after the movable legrest assembly has moved forwardly to an extended position. During the forward movement, the latch is automatically lifted when the forwardly-moving keeper 140 moves along the cam surfaces 139, 139a and 139b which extend rear¬ wardly from the detent surfaces.

Although it is possible to use only a single de¬ tent surface 138, plural detent surfaces are desirable be¬ cause they give the user some selectivity in arriving at a forward position of the legrest which is most comfortable.

An optional feature of the latch assembly shown in Fig. 7 is the provision of rearwardly facing supplemental detent surfaces 142a and 142b which are proximate to and face toward the detent surfaces 138a and 138b. These supplemental detents are desirable because they prevent the legrest assembly from being moved forwardly by the power spring 50 in situa¬ tions where the legrest assembly is in its extended position and the user removes his feet from the leg-supporting member.

The operation of the latching mechanism will now be explained. When the legrest is retracted, the mechanism will be held in the condition shown in Fig. 7 due to engagement of the forward keeper 22 by the detent surface 132. To extend the legrest, the user operates the lever to pull the cable 128, thereby compressing the spring 126 and pivoting the latch about the pivot member 122. This releases the forward keeper 22 and legrest assembly for forward movement. Toward the end of this forward movement, the rear keeper 140 moves into contact with one or more of the cam surfaces 139, 139a and 139b, and this action causes the latch to pivot upwardly to a retracted position. The spring 126 continues to bias the latch downwardly so that, at some point, the user may discontinue the forward movement of the legrest and permit the rear keeper 140 to seat itself against one of the forwardly facing detent surfaces 138, 138a and 138b. In the selected position, the legrest assembly is securely held against any rearward movement. If the supplemental detent surfaces 142a and 142b are provided, forward movement of the legrest assembly by the power spring mechanism 50 is also prevented. Whenever the .user wants to restore the legrest to its retracted position, he simply operates the cable actuator 128 to lift the latch 120 until the engaged detent surface 138/ 138a or 138b is disengaged from the rear keeper 140, thus enabling the legrest assembly to move rearwardly until the front keeper 22 again arrives in the notch 130. During the latter part of the rearward travel/ the surface 136 of the latch has a camming effect which raises the latch to prevent damage to the latch if there is overtravel.

From the foregoing/ it will be appreciated that this invention provides a simple yet highly effective and desirable means for providing a piece of furniture with an extensible legrest.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the chair frame has a stationary base 202 and a reclining back 204. The base has a front 206, a back 208, and two sides 210. The back 204 has crossrails 214 and 216, and two vertical sides 218 to which the mechanism is attached. In a usual manner, the base 202 and reclining back are provided with springs, cushioning material and upholstery fabrics, and they also may be provided with additional mechanisms which may, for example, add an extensible legrest to the unit.

The mechanism includes two mirror image sides, which have stationary mounting plates 222 and pivoted portions 224 which lie in parallel substantially vertical planes. The plates 222 are connectible to the sides 210 of the base 202. Each movable portion 224 is connectible to a side 218 of the reclining back of the seating unit. The swinging plate 224 is connected by pivot means 226 to the stationary mounting plate 222 so that the swinging mounting plate is supported by the stationary mounting plate. The connections of members 222 and 224 to the base 202 and back 204 may be made with T-nuts or any other suitable fasteners which are well known in the furniture manufacturing industry. The mounting plate 222 is L-shaped, and the swinging plate 224 is oriented so that the members 222 and 224 together form a generally C-shaped assembly.

An internally lockable gas spring unit 228 is an extensible means which has its opposite ends indirectly connected between the stationary mounting plates and the swinging mounting plates. This indirect connection is made via an upper transverse bar 230 and a lower transverse bar 232. The opposite ends of the upper transverse bar 230 are connected by brackets to the swinging mounting plates 224, and the lower transverse bar 232 has its opposite ends connected by brackets to the stationary mounting plates 222. The gas spring is located midway between the opposite ends of the transverse bars 230 and 232. It has its upper end connected by a bracket to the midportion of the upper transverse bar 230, while its lower end is connected by a bracket to the center of the lower transverse bar 232. As can be seen in Fig. 8, any pivotal movement of the swinging mounting plates 224 relative to the stationary mounting plates 222 will result in an effective change of length of the gas spring. In this respect, the gas spring serves as an extensible means which has its lower end connected to at least one of the stationary mounting plates and its upper end connected to at least one of the swinging mounting plates. This gas spring is oriented generally vertically and, as shown in Fig. 8, it is entirely located rearwardly of the pivots 226.

A different type of chair frame and a different configuration of the mechanism are shown in Figs. 10 and 11. Primed reference numerals are used in these drawings to identify elements which correspond to elements shown in Figs. 8 and 9. A principal difference between these two examples is in the orientation of the members 222 and 222'. As shown in Fig. 10 , this member 222' has been reversed so that its foot extends at a downward and forward inclination. The member 224' is disposed so that the members 222' and 224' form a somewhat Z-shaped linkage. The principle of operation of the gas spring unit can be seen in Fig. 12. The cylinder 236 has an upper chamber 238 and a lower chamber 240 which are located respectively above and below the piston 242. Fluids at above-atmospheric pressures are in the chambers 238 and 240.

Preferably both a liquid and a pressurized gas are in the unit. Relative axial movement between the piston 242 and cylinder 236 changes the volumes of the chambers 238 and 240. The cylinder has a double wall which, in effect, provides a passage 244 for fluid which can move between the chambers 238 and 240. Such flow, however, is selectively preventable by means of a valve 246 which is located in the upper chamber. This valve is movable to and from a back-locking position, i.e. a closed position, which prevents the fluid from flowing to or from either chamber. Accordingly, it will be understood that while the valve is in its closed back-locking position, movement between the movable and stationary portions of the reclining back mechanism are prevented, thereby holding the back at an inclination selected by a user.

The gas spring mechanism may take many forms. Such devices are well known in the furniture industry for purposes of seat height and back adjustments. However, when used for back adjustments, a near-hor zontal orientation has been used in the art. Various suitable gas springs are shown in the United States patent issued to Stabilus GmbH as assignee, and these patents are incorporated herein by reference.

The valve in the gas spring unit is operated by means of an external lever, one of which is designated 248 in Fig. 9. Connected to this lever, there is an actuator cable 250 which is Boden wire device having an internal wire surrounded by an external conduit. The manually actuatable lever 248 is connected to the wire and it is mounted on the seating unit where it is convenient to a user. The wire-enclosing conduit has its opposite ends connected to the lever support 252 and a member 254 on the gas spring unit. Thus, by moving the lever 248, the valve in the gas spring is moved between its open and closed positions in order to permit selective locking of the back at an inclination which is comfortable for the individual user. When the back is reclined, displacement of the piston rod increases the pressure and, when the valve is released, the increased pressure is used to return the back to its upright position.

As shown in Figs. 8 and 11, the entire mechanism is located where it is spaced from any seat spring unit or legrest mechanism in the chair. This gives a furniture designer complete freedom in selecting seat spring units and legrest mechanisms. The unit is concealed entirely beneath and behind the exposed exterior seat surface and back surface of the chair which are illustrated by the lines 252 and 254 in Fig. 11. The mechanism is located entirely rearwardly of the vertical plane 256 where the seat surface intersects the back surface.

Persons familiar with the field of the invention will realize that it may be practiced by various devices which are different from the specific illustrated embodiment. Therefore, it is emphasized that the invention is not limited only to this embodiment but is embracing of a wide variety of mechanisms which fall within the spirit of the following claims.

Claims

1. An extensible legrest for a seating unit/ compri¬ sing a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly, said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit/ said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position, said mechanism having resilient means for biasing the legrest assembly toward its extended position, said resilient means including a spring, a reel, and a flexible member which is wound on said reel and has an outer end portion extending from said reel, said reel and said outer end portion of the flexible member being connected to different said assemblies.

2. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, compri¬ sing a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly, said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit, said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position. said mechanism having brake means which are engage¬ able to prevent longitudinal movement of the struts, said brake means including at least one brake shoe which is mounted on - said support assembly and has a braking surface which is mov¬ able into contact with a said strut, said braking surface being deformable and being conformable to the strut to exclude air from between the brake shoe and the strut so as to provide intimate physical contact which prevents longitudinal movement of said strut.

3. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly, said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit, said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position, said leg-supporting member being pivotally connected to said strut members for movement about a transverse pivot axis, resilient means operable between said leg-supporting member and said strut for biasing said leg-supporting member to a predetermined angular position with respect to said strut.

4. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 3 having stop means for limiting the angular movement of said leg-supporting member with respect to said strut, said spring being arranged to bias said leg-supporting member to a position where said stop means is unengaged.

5. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 3 having cam means on said leg-supporting member for engaging said stationary support assembly to pivot said leg-supporting member to a position which is different from said predetermined angular position produced by said spring.

6. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly, said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit, said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position said mechanism having brake shoes which are engageable with the struts to prevent longitudinal movement of the struts, brake operating means including a pair of brake levers which are pivotally mounted on said support assembly, said brake shoes being mounted on said brake levers, resilient means for biasing the brake levers to positions where their respective said brake shoes engage the struts, and manually operable means for opposing said resilient means and moving the brake levers to positions where the brake shoes are retracted from said struts.

7. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 6 wherein the levers are disposed transversely, said levers being pivotally connected to the support assembly at locations which are outboard of the struts and being connected to the manually operable means at a location which is between the struts.

8. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 6 wherein the manually operable means includes a manually operable lever and an actuator cable which connects the manually operable lever to the brake levers.

9. An extensible legre^'st mechanism according to claim 6 wherein said brake shoes are formed of a material which is deformable and provides a braking surface which is conformable to the strut to exclude air from between the brake shoe and the struts so as to provide intimate physical contact which prevents longitudinal movement of said strut.

10. An extensible legrest for a seating unit, comprising a movable legrest assembly mounted on a stationary support assembly, said legrest assembly having a pair of longitudinally movable strut members and a transverse leg-supporting member, said leg-supporting member being mounted on the strut members and being longitudinally movable therewith between a retracted position and an extended position, said leg-supporting member providing means for underlying and supporting a leg of a person occupying the seating unit, said support assembly having means for supporting the struts for longitudinal movement and for supporting the struts in a cantilevered manner when the legrest assembly is in its extended position, said mechanism having lock means which is operable to hold the movable legrest assembly at a stationary position relative to said stationary support assembly when the movable legrest assembly is at its extended position, said lock means including a latch member on the support assembly and a keeper member on the movable legrest assembly, said latch member being movable from a locking position where it engages the keeper to an unlocked position where it is retracted from the keeper, and manually operable means for moving the latch member between its locking and unlocked positions.

11. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein there are first and second keeper members on the movable legrest assembly, said latch member having a first detent surface which is engageable with said first keeper member to hold the legrest assembly in its retracted position, said latch member having a second detent surface which is engageable with said second keeper member to lock said legrest assembly in said extended position.

12. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the latch member has a plurality of detent surfaces which are spaced apart and face in a same direction so as to lock the movable legrest assembly in a plurality of different extended positions.

13. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the latch has a forwardly facing detent surface and a latch-lifting cam surface which is rearward of said detent surface, said cam surface being engageable by said keeper when the legrest assembly is moving forwardly to raise the latch member to permit forward movement of said keeper to a position where it is engageable by said detent surface.

14. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 13 wherein the latch has a plurality of said cam surfaces and detents to provide a pluralty of user-selectable extended positions of the legrest assembly.

15. An extensible legrest mechanise according to claim 13 wherein the latch member is also provided with a rear¬ wardly facing supplemental detent surface which is near said forwardly facing detent surface and is operable to prevent forward movement of the legrest assembly when it is at an ex¬ tended position.

16. An extensible legrest mechanism according to claim 10 wherein said latch has a rearwardly facing detent surface for holding the movable legrest assembly in its retracted position and, to prevent damage to the latch in the event of rearward overtravel of the legrest assembly when it is moved to its retracted position, the latch has a latch-lifting cam surface which is rearward of said detent surface and is inclined in a direction which moves the latch toward its retracted position in the event of rearward overtravel of the legrest assembly from its retracted position.

17. A reclining back mechanism for a seating unit which has a stationary base and a reclining back, said mechanism including a stationary portion which is connectible to the stationary base of the seating unit, said mechanism including a movable portion which is connectible to the reclining back of the seating unit, said stationary portion of the mechanism including a pair of stationary mounting plates which lie in parallel planes which are substantially vertical, said movable portion of the mechanism including a pair of swinging mounting plates which are connectible to the reclining back of the seating unit, said swinging mounting plates being connected by pivot means to and supported by the stationary mounting plates, an extensible means which'has a lower end connected to at least one said stationary mounting plate and an upper end connected to at least one said movable mounting plate, said extensible means having a chamber which contains a fluid and also having a valve for controlling the flow of said fluid to and from said chamber, said valve being movable to and from a back-locking position which prevents the fluid from flowing to or from the chamber, said valve while in said back-locking position preventing movement between the movable and stationary portions of the reclining back mechanism so as to hold the back at an inclination selected by a user, and a user-operable actuator for operating said valve, said extensible means being oriented generally vertically and being entirely located rearwardly of said pivot means.

18. A reclining back mechanism according to claim 17 including a lower transverse member connecting the lower end of the extensible means to both said stationary mounting plates of the mechanism, and an upper transverse member connecting the upper end of the extensible means to both of said swinging mounting plates of the mechanism.

19. A reclining back mechanism according to claim 17 wherein the extensible means is a gas spring.

20. A reclining back mechanism according to claim 17 wherein the mechanism is in a seating unit which has a stationary base and a reclining back, said seating unit having an exposed surface consisting of an upwardly facing seat surface and a forwardly facing back surface, said mechanism being concealed entirely by said exposed surfaces.

21. A reclining back mechanism according to claim 20 wherein the mechanism is located entirely rearwardly of a vertical plane where said seat surface intersects said back surface.

22. A reclining back mechanism according to claim 17 wherein said actuator includes a remote control cable which has one end operatively connected to said valve.