EP0561749A1

EP0561749A1 - Device for positioning and stopping the leg-rest section of a sun bed

Info

Publication number: EP0561749A1
Application number: EP93830105A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Giuseppe Rovera
Original assignee: ROVERSISTEM Srl
Current assignee: ROVERSISTEM Srl
Priority date: 1992-03-17
Filing date: 1993-03-16
Publication date: 1993-09-22
Also published as: ITBS920031V0; IT228436Y1; ITBS920031U1

Abstract

The invention concerns a device for positioning and stopping the leg-rest section (18) with adjustable inclination of a sun bed, which includes stop means (19) applied underneath leg-rest section, and guide means (20) applied to each bearing foot (14) of the bed and interacting with said stop means so as to stop the leg-rest section in several inclinations.

Description

The present invention refers to sun beds of synthetic resin, and more particularly to a device for positioning and stopping the leg rest section of said sun beds.
The sun beds usually have a plane beared by a framework made of two beams provided with two wheels at one end and two feet and seize handles at the other end. The plane is generally formed of a middle section acting as a seat, a rear section acting as a back and a front section acting as a leg-rest. The three sections are articulated to the framework and one another to adjust the reciprocal inclination and set the sun bed in different useful positions.
At present, the leg-rest section, though it can be inclined, will not be positively restrained to the framework in each of its useful position so that, if gripped, as it often happens, for instance to move the sun bed, it raises hindering in this way the operation.
The present invention aims to remove this inconvenience, and its object is in fact to supply a device allowing the positioning, that is the inclination of the leg-rest section, but at the same time ensuring a positive blocking of said section to the framework in each position of inclination.
For this purpose, the device of the present invention includes stop means applied underneath and turned to the opposite sides of the leg-rest section of the sun bed, and guide means applied to the feet of the sun bed framework and designed to interact complementarily with said stop means so as to block said leg-rest section in different positions of inclinations.
However, further details of the invention will result from the following description made with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the sun bed;
Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the stop and slide means on one side of the leg-rest section;
Fig. 3 shows a vertical section view of the stop and slide means;
Fig. 4 shows a section view according to the arrows IV-IV in Fig.3; and
Fig. 5 shows a detail according to the arrows V-V in Fig. 4.

The sun bed includes a framework 10 and a plane 11. The framework is made of a pair of beams 12 provided, at one end, of wheels 13 and, at the opposite end, of bearing feet 14 with seize handles 15. The plane 11 consists of three sections 16, 17, 18 articulated one another and to the framework in order also to adjust the reciprocal inclination. A first section 16, the middle one, acts as a seat; a second section 17, the one towards the wheels 13, acts as a back; a third section 18, the one towards the legs, acts as a leg-rest.
According to the invention, two stop means 19 are applied crosswise underneath this leg-rest section 18, while a guide and stop means 20 interacting with the corresponding stop means 19 is applied on the inner side of each foot 14.
The stop means 19 are turned to opposite sides, that is to the sides of the leg-rest section 18. They consist of two disks 21 fixed to the two ends of a tubular element 22 and each having a radial seize lever 23 and a frontal protusion 24, foursided or oval, having however two different dimensions in the orthogonal, or approximately so, directions.
For what concerns the guide means 20 applied to each bearing foot, it is provided with a channel 25 extending in height according to the course of the foot and along which two, three or more widenings 26, in shape complementary to the frontal protusion 24 of the stopping disk 21, are provided. The channel 25 in fact is only slightly larger than the smaller transversal dimension of the protusion 24 of the stopping disk 21, while the widenings 26 are at least slightly larger in shape and dimensions than the larger dimension of said protusion.
The tubular element 22 is applied and rotatingly supported, underneath the leg-rest section 18, and the stop means 19 applied thereto, especially the protusion 24 of the disks 21, are inserted and interactiong with the channel 25 of the guide means applied to the framework feet 14.
Therefore, by acting on the seize lever 23 of at least one stopping disk 21, thanks to the tubular element 22 it is possible to rotate simultaneously both the stopping disks 21 in order to move the corresponding frontal protusions 24 along the guide means 20. In this way, when said protusion 24 are moved and have the larger dimension oriented in the direction of length of the channel 25 -dashed lines on Fig. 5 - said protusion can slide in said channels in order to allow to adjust the inclination of the leg-rest section 18.
The several different positions of said section 18 are determined by the widenings 26 of the guide channel 25 and more precisely by settling the protusion 24 in said widenings. In fact when the protusion 24 are at the level of any of said widenings, the stopping disks 21 can be rotated so that the protusions are arranged with their larger dimension in a slant that is in a crosswise position to the guide channels - see Fig. 5 - preventing in this way any further movement to the leg-rest section which will then result blocked.
As an advantage, the stopping disks 21 will take up this blocking position automatically thanks to a recovering spring 27, acting as a spiral spring, co-ordinated to each stopping disk 21 - see Figs. 3 and 4- and working oppositely to the sense in which the seize lever 23 is set in action manually.
Then, the leg-rest section will keep steadily each inclinedposition even in case it should be seized and moved, e.g.raised, and however as long as nobody act voluntarily in order to release the stopping disks.
Finally, according to another peculiarity, an idle shaft 28 extends inside the tubular element 22 and bears at its opposite ends two pinions 29 which engage with two corresponding racks 30 at the level of the guide means 19 on the legs 14, i.e. parallel to the guide channels 25.
Such a coupling allows the parallel and synchronized shifting, that is without any lack of balance, of the two sides of the leg-rest section and allows also to ensure a simultaneous action of stop/release of the stopping means 19 in the guide means 20.

Claims

A device for positioning and stopping the leg-rest section with variable inclinations (18) of a sun bed, with regards to a pair of bearing feet (14) located on the opposite sides of said section (18), characterized in that it includes stop means (19) applied underneath and turner to the opposite sides of the leg-rest section, and guide means (20) applied to each bearing foot (14) of the sun bed and designed to interact complementarily with said stop means so as to block said leg-rest section in several inclined positions.
Device as claimed in claim 1), wherein said stop means (19) include two stopping disks (21) fixed and rotating with a tubular element (22) transversally and rotatingly applied underneath the leg-rest section, wherein each of said stopping disks (21) presents a radial seize lever (23) and a frontal protusion (24) having two different dimensions in the orthogonal directions, wherein said guide means (20) each includes a channel (25) which extends in height along the bearing foot and along which widenings (26) spaced out one from the other are provided, wherein said channel (25) is slightly larger than the smaller dimension of the frontal protusion (24) of the stopping disk, while each widening (26) is wider than the larger dimension of said frontal protusion, and wherein said stopping disk (21) slides in said channels (25) when their frontal protusions (24) are turned, in a first position, with their larger dimension towards the length of said channels for the inclination of the leg-rest section, while they stop in said channels when their frontal protusions (24) are at the level of said widenings (26) and turned, in a second position, with their larger dimension in a slant position compared to the channel length.
Device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the stopping disks with frontal protusions (21,24) are turned in the first position by acting manually on the lever (23) of said disks, while they are automatically turned in the second positions by a recovering spring (27) working on the opposite sense to the action on the seize lever.
Device as claimed in the above claims, wherein inside the tubular element (22) bearing the stopping means (19) a shaft extends and turns idly, having two pinions at the opposite ends (29) coupled with the two synchronizing racks (30) at the level of said guide means and parallel to said guide channel (25).