GB2043436A

GB2043436A - Articles of furniture

Info

Publication number: GB2043436A
Application number: GB8002787A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-01-30
Filing date: 1980-01-28
Publication date: 1980-10-08
Also published as: DK38180A; NO792042L; NO790289L; NO150743C; FR2447699B1; FR2447699A1; DE3003037A1; SE8000707L; DE8002163U1; NO150743B; GB2043436B; SE443499B

Abstract

Adjustable furniture having a seat component 39 and/or leg-supporting component 44 with an elongate mounting structure 35 which extends upwards and backwards with respect to the horizontal plane of the ground and a sleeve device 43, 48 mounted for adjustable displacement along the mounting structure and locatable thereon at arbitrary levels above the ground for supporting the component on the mounting structure with the assistance of the weight of and the weight loading exerted on the component. Secured to the inner side of the lower end of the sleeve device is a resilient, friction-promoting material 43e forming a supportive abutment against the mounting structure 35. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Articles of furniture This invention relates to articles of furniture of an adjustable kind such as chairs, especially child's chairs, as well as stools and leg-supporting furniture.

Norwegian Patent Specification No.

135,1 8 discloses adjustable chairs in which a seat and a leg support can be secured at adjustable levels above the ground and at different horizontal levels from a back which, if not fixed, is only moveable to a small extent. These chairs include an elongate component which extends obliquely upwards and backwards and serves as a mounting means along which the seat and leg support are moveable via their respective support sleeves.

A given peg directed radially inwards from a support sleeve is adapted to be pushed into and out of any one of a series of holes formed in this elongate chair component and is secured in place in its associated hole by means of the weight of the chair seat or the leg support along with the weight loading exerted on that seat or support during use. Additionally, the peg can be retained in its hole by locking means, such as a steel spring, arranged between the sleeve and the chair component on the opposite side of the latter.

Such an arrangement involves several disadvantages. Firstly, it is difficult to position the series of holes formed in the component of the chair sufficiently tightly together to enable a fine setting of the chair seat or the leg support to be achieved relative to that component. This is both a functional and economic problem. In addition, the peg has a tendency to scratch up the chromium plate, varnish or other coating on the chair component during readjustment of the chair seat or leg support on the latter. There is also the problem of metallic noise which occurs readily between the pegs, support sleeves and chair component during readjustment of the chair seat and the leg support as well as during use of the chair.

Thus, there is a need for a simpler constructional solution where the afore-mentioned problems are avoided. The aim is a solution where the readjustment of the chair seat and the leg support can be effected in, as it were, a step-free manner without metallic noise but, nevertheless, in a way which is gentle with respect to the chromium coating, varnish coating or similar coating of the chair component and with the possibility for precise adjustment in a convenient manner. A further objective is the avoidance of metallic noise during use of the chair.

According to the present invention an article of furniture comprises at least one of a seat component and a leg-supporting component, elongate mounting means extending obliquely upwards and backwards with respect to the horizontal plane of the ground and a sleeve means mounted for adjustable displacement along said mounting means and locatable thereon at arbitrary levels above said ground for supporting said component on said mounting means with the assistance of the weight of and the weight loading exerted on said component, said sleeve means having secured to the inner side of its lower end a partially resilient, friction-promoting material forming a supportive abutment against said mounting means.

Desirably, partially resilient, friction-promoting material is secured annularly to the inner side of the upper end of the sleeve means to provide an additional supportive abutment against the mounting means.

In one embodiment of the invention, the article of furniture is an adjustable chair comprising a back component, the seat component and the leg-supporting component, each of the seat and leg-supporting components being supportable on the elongate mounting means by their respective sleeve means at said arbitrary levels above the ground and at different horizontal distances from the back component which is substantially immovable.

Preferably, the elongate mounting means comprises a pair of front leg-forming tubular members each of which is bent to form upper and lower guide portions, the upper guide mounting the sleeve means of the seat component and making a less steep angle with a horizontal plane than the lower guide portion which mounts the sleeve means of the legsupporting component. Angles of about 30 and about 60 with a horizontal plane have proved to be convenient for the respective upper and lower guide portions and an angle of 27.5 for the upper guide portion especially so.

By replacing the peg with partially resilient friction-promoting material, such as neoprene rubber, and omitting the holes in the elongate chair component, for example, a chair leg, a constructional simpler solution is achieved.

Furthermore, metallic noise between the sleeve means and this chair component will be counteracted and the partially resilient material will ensure an effective frictional engagement therebetween which will increase with increasing loads against the seat of the chair or against the leg support. This engagement is removed on the upward positive swinging of the freely outwardly projecting front edge portion of the chair seat or the leg support.

In another embodiment of the invention, the article of furniture comprises either the leg-supporting component or the seat component which component has a back edge at the opposite corners of which a pair of the sleeve means are formed integrally and the elongate mounting means are in the form of a pair of mutually parallel, tubular portions of a base component adapted to form a supporting abutment with the ground, each sleeve being mounted for adjustable displacement along its respective tubular portion.

In order that the invention can be more clearly understood, convenient embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of an adjustable chair according to a first embodiment.

Figure 2 is a rear view of half the chair of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 and 4 are vertical sections showing support sleeves mounted on respective guide portions of a leg-forming tubular member.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a leg support according to a second embodiment, and Figure 6 is a vertical section showing a support sleeve mounted on a portion of a base component of the leg support of Fig. 5.

The chair shown in Figs. 1 and 2 will serve as a child's chair and is of the readily dismountable type.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a first chair component 30 is made up of two tubular members 31 which above are rigidly connected to each other by a back 32 and below by rear legs 33 of the chair with a cross-piece 33a. The front legs 34 of the chair are formed by another tubular membered frame where two similar leg-forming tubular members 35 are rigidly connected to each other approximately at the central portion by means of a cross-piece 36 and which at the upper end are connected to their respective tubular members 31 by means of angular support members 37 and fastening screws 38 (Fig.

2).

The seat component 39 itself is connected, via support hoops 40 and cross-pieces 41, 42, to associated support sleeves 43. A leg support component 44 is connected, via support hoops 45 and cross-pieces 46, 47, to associated support sleeves 48 in a corresponding manner. The support sleeves 43 and 48 are shown, in detail, in Figs. 3 and 4.

The support sleeve 43 is threaded into position with a slide fit on an associated guide portion 49 of a tubular member 35. The sleeve surrounds the guide portion 49 with its entire length and an annular portion 43a at its upper end. The sleeve is provided with a downwardly diverging slotted opening 43b on the rear side of the sleeve and in the lowermost portion 43c of the slotted opening, there is secured a steel spring 28 which ensures the pressing of the opposite sleeve portion into abutment with the associated guide pOrtion.

To the said opposite sleeve portion, there is secured a strip 43e, block or similar coating of a friction-promoting, at least somewhat elastically yielding material, such as neoprene rubber. If necessary, the annular sleeve portion 43a can also be provided with an internal coating of neoprene rubber, synthetic rubber material or the like which provides a certain sliding friction and prevents metallic contact between chair legs and sleeve. The steel spring 28 can, if desired, also be coated with a coating corresponding to the one for the annular sleeve portion 43a.

The weight of the chair seat or the weight loading which is exerted by the user of the chair seat will ensure, via lower legs of the support hoop, a friction-promoting support abutment between the strip of, for example, neoprene rubber, and the guide portion 49 while on swinging the chair seat in the direction of the arrow B, the locking engagement between the neoprene rubber strip and the guide portion can be removed so that the support sleeve can be freely displaced along the chair leg to arbitrarily new engagement positions.

The tubular members 35 are bent at an angle to form an upper guide portion 49 extending obliquely upwards and backwards for support sleeve 43 of the seat and a lower guide portion 50 extending upwards and backwards for support sleeve 48 of the leg support. The upper guide portion extends obliquely upwards at an angle with the horizontal plane of about 30 and preferably 27.5 , while the lower guide portion extends obliquely upwards at an angle with the horizontal plane of about 60 . In this way, one is able to achieve adjustment of the seat relative to a stationary back with a suitably greater horizontal component of movement than the vertical component of movement, so that with a single adjusting movement the level of the cross back support can be adjusted together with the horizontal seat length from the front edge of the seat to the back. The leg support, which is important for the correct sitting position in a child's chair, can, on the other hand, be adjusted with a greater vertical component of movement than the horizontal component of movement, partly so as to compensate for the substantially horizontal component of movement of the seat and partly so as to adjust the leg support component according to the distance between the foot sole and the back of the knee.

With the aid of particularly simple means, the chair seat and the leg support can consequently be adjusted in a ready manner relative to each other so as to obtain a correct sitting position for users of various body sizes.

Referring to Fig. 5, a leg support component 10 is connected to a base component 11 via a pair of sleeves 12, 1 3 which are axially moveable and fixable at various height levels along two mutually parallel portions 14, 1 5 of the base component directed obliquely upwards and backwards from the latter.

The leg support component 10 is made with a main portion of die cast plastic. In this main portion, there are cast in, at opposite corners of the back edge portion thereof, the sleeves 12, 1 3 so that these are included as a coherent part of the leg support component 10.

The base component 11 is made of a tube the central portion 1 6 of which extends in wave form with a relatively small wave length and with a relatively large wave height. A central portion 1 6 is illustrated with a wave path about 1 + wave length. From the central portion 16, opposite ends of the tube pass upwardly from opposite sides thereof, approximately at the longitudinal axis of the waves, to form the two mutually parallel base component portions 14, 1 5 directed obliquely upwards and backwards. The base component portions 1 4, 1 5 in the form of freely upwardly projecting tube ends are provided with end plugs 17, 18.

The sleeve 1 2 and its associated base component portion 14 is shown in section in Fig.

5. The sleeve is threaded into place with a slide fit on the portion 14 and surrounds the latter with an annular portion 1 9 at the upper end of the sleeve. The sleeve is provided with a downwardly diverging slotted opening 20 on the rear side of the sleeve, and in the lower portion 21 of the slotted opening, there is secured a steel spring 22 which ensures pressing of the opposite sleeve portion into abutment with the associated tube portion 14.

To this opposite sleeve portion, there is secured a strip 23, block or similar coating of a friction-promoting, at least somewhat elastically yielding, material, such as neoprene rubber. If necessary, the annular sleeve portion 1 9 can also be provided with an internal coating of neoprene rubber, relatively rough synthetic plastics material or similar material which provides a certain slide friction and prevents metallic contact between the portion 14 and the sleeve 1 2. The steel spring 22 can, if desired, also be coated with a corresponding coating as the annular sleeve portion 19.

The weight of the leg support component or the weight loading which is exerted by the user against the leg support component will ensure a friction-promoting support abutment between the neoprene rubber strip and the portion, while on swinging the leg support component in the direction of the arrow B, the locking engagement between the strip, of, for example, neoprene rubber and the portion 14 can be removed so that the support sleeve can be displaced relatively freely along that portion to desired positions.

In Fig. 5, the leg support component is shown in an upper position, the leg support component being adapted to be displaced downwards towards the ground in the direction of the arrow C as required.

It is apparent that the leg support of this embodiment can be modified to form a stool by providing the base component portions with a greater vertical dimension (if necessary in combination with a greater wage height on the wave-shaped central portion). If desired, the freely upwardly projecting ends of the base component can be provided with a back rest-forming loop portion (not shown) instead of end plugs, downwardly directed leg ends if which can be anchored to tube ends of that bottom component.

Claims

1. An article of furniture which comprises at least one of a seat component and a legsupporting component, elongate mounting means extending obliquely upwards and backwards with respect to the horizontal plane of the ground and a sleeve means mounted for adjustable displacement along said mounting means and locatable thereon at arbitrary levels above said ground for supporting said component on said mounting means with the assistance of the weight of and the weight loading exerted on said component, said sleeve means having secured to the inner side of its lower end a partically resilient, frictionpromoting material forming a supportive abutment against said mounting means.

2. An article according to claim 1, wherein partially resilient, friction-promoting material is secured annularly to the inner side of the upper end of the sleeve means to provide an additional supportive abutment against the mounting means.

3. An article according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the article is in the form of.an adjustable chair comprising a back component, the seat component and the leg-supporting component, each of the seat and leg-supporting components being supportable on the elongate mounting means by their respective sleeve means at the arbitrary levels above the ground and at different horizontal distances from said back component which is substantially immovable.

4. An article according to claim 3, wherein the elongate mounting means comprises a pair of front leg-forming tubular mem bers each of which is bent to form upper and lower guide portions, said upper guide portion mounting the sleeve means of the seat component and making a less steep angle with a horizontal plane than the lower guide portion which mounts the sleeve means of the legsupporting component.

5. An article according to claim 4, wherein the upper and lower guide portions extend obliquely upwards making angles of about 30 and about 60 respectively with a horizontal plane.

6. An article according to claim 5, wherein the angle made by the upper guide portion with the horizontal plane is 27.5 .

7. An article according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said article comprises the leg-supporting component or the seat component, said component having a back edge at the opposite corners of which a pair of the sleeve means are formed integrally and the elongate mounting means are in the form of a pair of mutually parallel, tubular portions of a base component adapted to form a supporting abutment with the ground, each sleeve means being mounted for adjustable displacement along its respective tubular portion.

8. An article according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the sleeve means has an annular portion at its upper end surrounding the elongate mounting means and is provided with a downwardly diverging slotted opening on its rear side in the lower portion of which is housed spring means adapted to press an opposite portion of the sleeve means downwardly into abutment with the elongate mounting means.

9. An article according to claim 8, wherein the friction-promoting material is in the form of a strip secured to the opposite portion of the sleeve means.

10. Articles of furniture substantially as described herein with particular reference to Figs. 1 to 4 or Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.