JP2003204836A - Chair with foot rest - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a chair with a foot rest, capable of effectively giving a massage to the knee joint and the below-knee part with the foot rest. <P>SOLUTION: The front end side of a seat part 3 is provided with the foot rest 12, one end edge part of which is journaled to freely rotate around a horizontal shaft 11 pointing in the lateral direction, the other end edge thereof being rocked and displaced in a range extending from the lower side of the front end of the seated part 3 toward the front. The foot rest 12 is caused to continuously rock repeatedly within the above range by an actuator 13, whereby with the bending action of the knee joint, the below-knee part is rocked forward and backward to relax the muscle at the back of the knee so that various symptoms such as numbness, pain, bad blood circulation and oversensitivity to the cold can be relaxed, and in addition to the above, a rehabilitation effect of recovering a decrease in movable range of the knee joint due to ageing or insufficiency of exercise can be expected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chair with a footrest having a function of bending and stretching a knee joint to massage the knee.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, JP-A-9-294791.
There has been proposed a health chair having a footrest on the front end side of a sitting portion (seat portion) as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. This health chair has the function of giving massage to the seated user, such as rubbing, tapping, or acupressure, and the footrest is electrically operated in the range from the lower position of the front end of the sitting part to the front position. The cylinder allows for angle adjustment so that the user of the health chair can tilt the footrest to the desired angle and rest their feet on it during the massage.

[0003]

A conventional footrest has a function of putting a foot on it as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-294791 mentioned above, or a footrest is provided inside the footrest. Only a massager having a massager built-in so that a foot can be massaged has been proposed, and a massager having a function of effectively massaging a knee joint or a lower leg has not been proposed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a chair with a footrest in which a footrest can be effectively used to massage a knee joint or a lower leg.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a chair with a footrest according to the present invention is such that one end edge portion of a chair with a footrest is rotatable around a horizontal axis extending in the left-right direction of the seat portion. A footrest axially mounted, the other end of which is provided so as to be swingable in a range extending from below the seating part front end to the front, and an actuator for continuously repeating the swinging motion of the footrest within the range. It is equipped with.

In the chair with footrest of the present invention, it is desirable that the actuator can stop the footrest at a desired position within its swing range, and the footrest can be used as a normal footrest in a state of being stopped at a desired inclination angle. Can be used.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a chair with a footrest according to the present invention, which is a chair with a footrest (hereinafter, simply referred to as a chair) 1.
Is configured as a massage chair, and the seating portion 3 is arranged on the upper portion of the main body frame (not shown) to which the supporting legs 2 are fixed, and the armrest portions 4, 5 are arranged on both left and right sides of the seating portion 3. There is.

A backrest portion 6 is provided upward from the rear end side of the seat portion 3. In this embodiment, the backrest portion 6 is fixedly provided to the main body frame. The backrest 6 may have a reclining structure in which the lower end side of the backrest 6 is rotatably attached to the body frame so as to be tiltable rearward of the seat 3.

A guide rail 7 is provided inside the backrest 6.
Is provided with a massage unit 8 that moves up and down, and a massage roller 9 of the massage unit 8 covers the back side of the user of the chair 1 seated in the seat 3 and the surface of the backrest 6. The outer cloth 10 is massaged by being pressed or hit from the inside. In addition, in FIG. 1, in order to explain the internal structure of the massage unit 8 and the like, the exterior cloth 10
A part of is cut out and drawn.

As shown in FIG. 2, one end edge portion of a footrest 12 is pivotally mounted on the front end side of the seat portion 3 around a horizontal shaft 11 oriented in the left-right direction. The horizontal shaft 11 connects the front end of the frame 3A on the seating portion 3 side and the upper end of the frame 12A on the footrest 12 side.

In the present embodiment, the footrest 12
Is formed into a plate shape, and its surface is covered with an outer cloth similar to the outer cloth 10 of the backrest 6 in order to give flexibility, and a polyurethane foam material is stretched inside. A massage mechanism such as a vibrator may be incorporated inside the footrest 12 if necessary.

A linear actuating actuator 13 is provided below the seat 3. The actuator 1
3, a casing 13A has a base end portion rotatably attached to an intermediate position of the seat 3 side frame 3A by a horizontal shaft 14 parallel to the horizontal shaft 11.

Further, the actuator 13 has a retractable actuating rod 13B projecting to the side opposite to the base end side of the casing 13A, and the tip of this actuating rod 13B is on the back side of the footrest 12 on the frame side. It is rotatably attached to an intermediate position of 12A by a horizontal shaft 15 parallel to the horizontal shaft 11.

The actuating rod 13B is covered at its part protruding from the casing 13A with a bellows-like expandable cover 13C, and is screwed into a screw formed on the outside of the actuating rod 13B by a motor 13D attached to the casing 13A. It is designed to expand and contract by rotating the nut.

Further, the motor 13D of the actuator 13
Is controlled by a drive control device (not shown) incorporated in a control box 16 arranged below the seating portion 3 shown in FIG. It is possible to repeat various rocking movements.

Further, in this embodiment, the motor 1
The 3D can stop and hold the footrest 12 at a desired position within the swing range of the footrest 12 by the drive control device.

It is desirable that the motor 13D can smoothly and periodically change its rotation speed and rotation direction by inverter control or the like, and it is also desirable that its cycle be variable.

Next, the operation of the footrest 12 constructed as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the user M of the chair 1 sits on the seat 3 with the footrest 12 facing downward and drives the actuator 13 to move the telescopic rod 13
B extends together with the expansion cover 13C, and swings the footrest 12 upward about the horizontal axis 11 as shown in FIG.

At this time, the lower leg of the user M is lifted by the footrest 12, and as a result, the knee joint is extended. Then, when the footrest 12 swings upward to a predetermined position, the motor 13D of the actuator 13 reversely rotates and the footrest 12 swings downward, returning to the state of FIG. 2, and the knee joint of the user M is bent again. After that, the same operation is repeated.

As for the time for repeating the swinging motion of the footrest 12, a timer means may be incorporated in the drive control device so that the footrest 12 operates for a preset desired time and then automatically stops.

Further, the drive control device includes a footrest 12
When the chair stops its swinging motion, it always swings and stops to the position shown in FIG. 2 facing downward, and when the chair 1 is started to be used, the footrest 12 is always in the state shown in the same figure. It is desirable to have a function of driving and controlling 13.

Further, in order that the user M can receive the massage more effectively, the footrest 12 automatically swings to the upper position shown in FIG. May be added.

It is also desirable to have a function of changing the swing range to a desired range by setting the upper limit position and the lower limit position of the swing motion of the footrest 12. In addition, the operation setting of such a footrest 12 is
This can be easily performed by operating an operation unit (not shown) provided on the chair 1 or an operation button of a remote controller held by the user while the user M is seated on the chair 1.

Further, in the present embodiment, as an actuator for oscillating and displacing the footrest 12,
Although the electric linear actuator 13 is used, the actuator is not limited to this, and for example, a fluid cylinder device may be used, and a motor with a speed reducer is used as the actuator to rotate the actuator. May be converted into swing motion of the footrest 12 via a crank mechanism.

Further, the actuator 13 may be drive-controlled so that the swing amplitude and the swing cycle of the footrest 12 are temporally changed according to a preset program,
For example, when the swing of the footrest 12 is started, the amplitude is made small and the swing is made slowly, and the amplitude and the swing speed are gradually increased as the knee joint is loosened, so that the massage of the lower leg is performed. The effect can be enhanced.

When the massage roller 9 provided on the massage unit 8 descends to the vicinity of the waist, the footrest 12 swings to the upper position shown in FIG.
The swing of the footrest 12 may be interlocked with the up-and-down movement of the massage unit 8 so that the footrest 12 swings to the lower position shown in FIG. 2 when the massage roller 9 rises near the shoulder.

In this case, when the massage roller 9 descends near the waist, the footrest 12 lifts the lower leg of the user M to move the waist toward the massage roller 9, so that the waist moves forward from the massage roller 9. It is possible to prevent separation and enhance the massage effect near the waist.

Further, in this embodiment, a massage unit 8 for massaging the backrest 6 on the back side, and a guide rail 7 for guiding the ascending / descending operation thereof.
Although such a massage mechanism is incorporated, the backrest portion may not have such a massage mechanism.

[0029]

As described above, according to the invention as set forth in claim 1, since the swing motion of the footrest can be continuously repeated by the actuator, the bending motion of the knee joint and the lower leg part can be performed. By swinging back and forth, the muscles of the back of the knee can be relaxed, and each symptom such as numbness, pain, poor circulation, and coldness can be relieved.
A rehabilitation effect that recovers the reduction in the range of motion of the knee joint due to aging, lack of exercise, etc. can be expected.

According to the invention described in claim 2,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, when the footrest is stopped and used in the same manner as the conventional footrest, the inclination angle thereof can be easily adjusted to a desired angle by the operation of the actuator.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view of a chair 1 with a footrest according to the present invention.
It is a perspective view showing an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which the footrest is bent downward in one embodiment of the chair with a footrest of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which the footrest is extended forward in one embodiment of the chair with a footrest of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 chair 2 support legs 3 Seat 3A frame 4,5 arm rest 6 backrest 7 Guide rail 8 massage units 9 massage rollers 10 Exterior cloth 11 Horizontal axis 12 footrest 12A frame 13 Actuator 13A casing 13B operating rod 13C telescopic cover 13D motor 14, 15 Horizontal axis 16 control box

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An end edge portion of the seating portion is rotatably mounted on a front end side of the seating portion about a horizontal axis extending in the left-right direction, and the other end edge portion extends from below the front end of the seating portion to the front side. A chair with a footrest, comprising a footrest provided so as to be capable of swinging displacement within a range, and an actuator that causes the footrest to continuously repeat swinging motion within the range. 2. The chair with a footrest according to claim 1, wherein the actuator can stop the footrest at a desired position within its swing range.