JP7469878B2 - Chair with armrests - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a chair with armrests.

Chairs are equipped with operating levers for adjusting the seat height and for controlling the backward tilt, and these operating levers are attached to the armrests. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which an operating lever is provided on the underside of the front part of the armrest so that it can rotate around the longitudinal axis on the left and right, and the operating lever is operated by pulling it upward.

JP 2012-10937 A

Now, when rotating an operating lever, it is preferable to make the rotation stroke as large as possible to reduce the force required to operate it, but if the stroke is made large, the tip of the operating lever will protrude significantly below the armrest, which can be conspicuous by others and can easily get caught on things. There is also the concern that the lever may be difficult to operate because the fingertips cannot reach it (particularly for women, who generally have smaller hands than men, it is more likely that the fingertips will not reach the lever and it will be difficult to operate).

In addition, when people sit down or stand up from a chair, they may hold the armrest firmly with their hands to support their body, but if the operating lever is a rotating type, there is a risk that the operating lever will be pulled by mistake when holding the armrest firmly with the hands.

The present invention was made to improve this current situation.

The present invention relates to
"An operating lever for operating the chair components is attached to the underside of the armrest so that it can move horizontally."
This is the basic structure.

The invention of claim 1 has the above basic configuration,
"The operating lever is mounted so as to be horizontally rotatable or slidable so as to move when pulled outward to the left or right."
The structure is as follows.

The invention of claim 2 is, in the above basic configuration ,
"The armrest comprises an arm body that opens upward, a base plate disposed inside the arm body, a lever member that is connected to the base plate so as to be horizontally rotatable, and the operating lever disposed on the underside of the arm body. The operating lever and the lever member are connected with a screw, and the arm body and the base plate have a long hole that allows the screw to move."
The structure is as follows.

In the present invention, the operating lever moves horizontally along the underside of the armrest, so it only needs to protrude downwards enough for a finger to hook onto it. This allows the operating lever to be hidden from view as much as possible, improving the aesthetic appearance.

In addition, because the armrest has a certain amount of width from side to side, as it functions as a seat for the elbow, the operating stroke of the operating lever can be made large, and the moment (or leverage) can be used to operate the operating lever with ease. In addition, a large space can be secured under the armrest, which is also beneficial in that it makes it easy to secure a pulling margin for interlocking members such as wire cables.

Furthermore, even if you have short fingers, you can easily insert your fingertips under the armrest from the side, so even people with short fingers can easily hook their fingers onto the operating lever. This also makes it easy to operate.

In addition, even if your hand touches the operating lever when you firmly grasp your elbow in your hand to sit down or stand up from the chair, the operating lever is simply pushed toward the underside of the armrest and does not move. This prevents unintended malfunctions.

The operating lever can be arranged on the underside of the armrest so that it can slide back and forth, but by adopting the configuration in which it is pulled outward in the left-right direction as in claim 1 , the operating lever can be operated by naturally moving the hand, which provides excellent operability.

In the configuration of claim 2 , since the lever member is attached to the base plate, the mechanical members can be unitized to improve the ease of assembly and also improve the freedom of design of the armrest.

1A is a front perspective view of a chair according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a side view of the chair, and FIG. 1C is a rear perspective view of the chair. 1A and 1B are perspective views in which some members are separated, and 1B is a perspective view showing a framework. 1A is a perspective view of a back shell body and a tilting frame separated from each other, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the tilting frame. FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the chair from below, FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the armrest, and FIG . 1A is a perspective view showing an armrest, a tilting frame, and a back shell body separated from each other, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing an armrest separated from each other. 13A and 13B are exploded perspective views showing the mounting structure of an armrest. 1A is an exploded perspective view of an armrest, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of the armrest with the armrest removed. 1A is a perspective view of the mechanism, and FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the mechanism. FIG. 1A is a bottom view showing the lower surface of the tilting frame, and FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the mechanism. FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the lifting mechanism and the tilt control mechanism separated from each other.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this application, the terms front, back, left and right are used to specify directions, but these are based on the state seen from a person normally seated in a chair. The front view is the direction facing a seated person.

(1) Overview of the Chair First, an overview of the chair will be described mainly with reference to Figures 1 to 4. As shown in Figure 1, the chair comprises, as its main elements, a leg device 1, a seat 2, and a backrest 3, with a headrest 4 disposed above the backrest 3. The chair of this embodiment also comes standard with armrests 5. The leg device 1 has a leg support 6 made of a gas cylinder and branches extending in radial directions, with casters provided at the tip of each branch. A roughly box-shaped base 7 that opens upward is fixed to the upper end of the leg support 6.

As shown in FIG. 2(B), a front block 8 made of resin or aluminum die-cast is bolted to the front end of the base 7, and a pair of left and right front links 9 are attached to the front block 8 via a front shaft so that they can tilt rearward.

As also shown in FIG. 2(B), forward-facing arm portions 11 of a tilting frame 10 are disposed on both the left and right sides of the base 7, and the forward-facing arm portions 11 are connected to the base 7 by hollow shafts (not shown) so as to be able to tilt backward. In addition, left and right support portions 12 are provided at the rear of the tilting frame 10, and the backrest 3 and armrests 5 are attached to the support portions 12.

The front end of the forward arm 11 that constitutes the tilting frame 10 is connected to the base 7 via a hollow shaft that runs horizontally as described above, so that the backrest 3 tilts backward around the front end of the tilting frame 10. A torsion bar (not shown) as an example of a spring means is built into the hollow shaft, and the tilting frame 10 tilts backward against the elasticity of the torsion bar.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, in the tilting frame 10, the left and right support parts 12 are integrally connected to lower stays 13 and upper stays 14 that are gently curved so as to bulge backwards (concave forwards) in plan view, and the left and right support parts 12 and the upper and lower stay parts 13, 14 form the base of the tilting frame 10, and separate forward-facing arm parts 11 are fixed to both the left and right ends of the base (the forward-facing arm parts 11 may be formed integrally with the base). The base and forward-facing arm parts 11 of the tilting frame 10 are each aluminum die-cast products, but resin products can also be used.

The seat 2 is constructed with a cushion stretched over a resin seat plate 15, part of which is shown in FIG. 1(B), and the seat plate 15 is attached to a seat support shell body 16 located below it. The front of the seat support shell body 16 is connected to the front link 9 described above with a left-right long pin, and the rear of the seat support shell body 16 is connected to a rear link 17 protruding upward from the forward arm 11 of the tilting frame 10 with a left-right long pin. Therefore, when the backrest 3 tilts backward, the seat 2 also tilts backward while moving backward.

As shown in FIG. 3, the backrest 3 has a back shell body 20 consisting of a lower shell body 18 and an upper shell body 19 made of synthetic resin, and as shown in FIG. 2(A), a cushion body 21 is disposed on the front surface of the back shell body 20. The back shell body 20 and the cushion body 21 are entirely covered with a bag-shaped skin material (not shown). The skin material is omitted in FIGS. 1 and 2. Note that in this embodiment, the back shell body is composed of upper and lower shells 18, 19, but the entire body may be an integrated structure.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the lower part of the lower shell body 18 protrudes forward, and as shown in FIG. 4, a dovetail-shaped female rail section 22 that opens downward is formed at the front end of the left and right protrusions, while a dovetail-shaped male rail section 23 into which the female rail section 22 fits from above is integrally formed on the rear surface of the support section 12 of the tilting frame 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, the upper stay 14 of the tilting frame 10 is formed with a left-right long positioning protrusion 24 and a left-right long groove frame body 25 that opens up and down, while the lower surface of the lower shell body 18 is formed with a downward recess 26 into which the positioning protrusion 24 and the groove frame body 25 fit. The upper stay 14 and the lower shell body 18 are fastened with multiple bolts (three bolts) spaced apart on the left and right. Bolt insertion holes 28 are visible in FIG. 3, and the bolts are screwed into nuts placed on the lower shell body 18.

In the end, the lower shell body 18 (or the backrest 3) is fastened to the upper stay 14 with bolts while being held in position by fitting the male and female rails 22, 23 together. The bolts are screwed in from below, so the head is not visible to the public. The groove frame 25 is fitted with a lever 30 (see Fig. 3(B)) for moving the lumbar pad 29 shown in Figs. 2(A) and (B) up and down.

As shown in FIG. 3(B), the lower stay 13 of the tilting frame 10 has an inverted L-shaped cross section, and by arranging a center cover 31 and a side cover 32 on its underside, a horizontally elongated recess that opens forward is formed in the lower stay 13. The center cover 32 is fixed to the lower stay 13 with screws 33, and the side cover 32 is engaged with the lower stay 13 and held down by the center cover 25. The side cover 32 also covers the underside of the forward-facing arm 11.

(2) Basic Structure of the Armrest Next, the armrest 5 will be described mainly with reference to Figures 5 to 8. First, the basic structure will be described. As shown in Figure 5(B), the armrest 5 has an arm body 36 attached to the support 12 of the tilting frame 10, and an arm pad 38 attached to the arm body 36 via an inner lid 37. The arm body 36 is made of aluminum or resin, and has the shape of a long container that opens upward and is elongated from front to back. An operating mechanism is located inside (this will be described later).

As mentioned above, the support column 12 has a hollow structure, and as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the elbow body 36 is integrally formed with a boss body 40 that enters the support column 12 via a bottomed cylindrical intermediate holder 39. To be precise, the support column 12 has a rectangular cylindrical (trapezoidal) shape that is slightly long in the front-to-rear direction, so the intermediate holder 39 and the boss body 40 also have a rectangular shape that is slightly long in the front-to-rear direction.

The relay holder 39 has a flange 41 that overlaps the upper surface of the support section 12, and two tapped holes 43 are formed at the top and bottom of the rear surface that overlaps the rear surface of the support section 12. A forward bolt (screw) 44 that penetrates from the rear into the male rail section 23 formed on the rear surface of the support section 12 is screwed into the tapped hole 43. Therefore, the relay holder 39 is fixed to the support section 12 by the forward bolt 44.

The boss portion 40 has a bolt insertion hole 46 through which the downward bolt (screw) 45 is inserted, and an upper escape hole 47 through which the wire cable is inserted. The lower surface of the boss portion 40 overlaps the bottom portion 39a of the relay holder 39 from above, and the bottom portion 39a of the relay holder 39 has a nut holding groove 49 that holds the nut 48 into which the downward bolt 45 is screwed so that it cannot rotate, and a lower escape hole 50 through which the wire cable is inserted. Therefore, the elbow body 36 is fixed to the relay holder 39 by the downward bolt 45.

As mentioned above, the tilting frame 10 is an aluminum die-cast product, and the support section 12 is formed in a cylindrical shape. However, while the support section 12 is deep, the boss section 40 does not need to be very tall. Therefore, without the intermediate holder 39, the boss section 40 would have to be fixed directly with a horizontal bolt inserted into the support section 12, which would expose the bolt head to the outside and spoil the aesthetic appearance.

In contrast, when the relay holder 39 is used as in the embodiment, the head of the forward bolt 44 that secures the relay holder 39 is hidden by the back shell body 20 (lower shell body 18) that constitutes the backrest 3, and the head of the downward bolt 45 that secures the boss portion 40 to the relay holder 39 is hidden inside the boss portion 40 and cannot be seen from the outside, so the elbow body 36 can be secured to the support portion 12 without compromising the aesthetic appearance. Note that instead of attaching the nut 48 to the relay holder 39, a tapped hole may be formed. Conversely, a nut into which the forward bolt 44 screws may be attached to the relay holder 39.

(3) Armrest operating mechanism As mentioned above, the chair has leg supports 6 made of gas cylinders, and therefore the height of the seat 2 and backrest 3 can be adjusted by extending and retracting the leg supports 6. The chair also has a tilt control mechanism that switches the backrest 3 between a free state in which it can be tilted freely and a locked state in which it is held at a specific angle. The height adjustment mechanism and tilt control mechanism are operated via a wire cable that is a wire slidably inserted through a tube.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5(A), a first operating lever 51 is attached to the underside of the right armrest 5 so as to be horizontally rotatable, and a second operating lever 52 is attached to the underside of the left armrest 5 so as to be horizontally rotatable, with the first operating lever 51 operating a first wire for tilt control, and the second operating lever 52 operating a second wire for lifting and lowering operation (the left and right may be reversed). Next, the operating mechanism that pulls the wires using the operating levers 51, 52 will be described. Note that the left and right operating mechanisms are the same in structure, except that they are symmetrical, so the right armrest 5 will be taken up for explanation.

As shown in Figure 8, the operating mechanism comprises a shallow dish-shaped base plate 53 that is elongated from front to back and is placed in a recess in the elbow body 36. The base plate 53 is connected to a lever member (link plate) 54 that is long in the front to back direction and a support shaft (screw) 55 so that it can rotate horizontally around its rear end. The base plate 53 is fixed to the elbow body 36 at a portion near its rear end with a screw 56. The front part of the base plate 53 is held in place by the engagement of a positioning pin 57 and a positioning hole 58 so that it cannot shift.

The lever member 54 is a resin molded product, a die-cast product, or a processed sheet metal product, and in a neutral state, is inclined in a plan view so that the tip is closer to the seat 2. The first operating lever 51 and a portion of the lever member 54 near the tip are fixed by two screws 59, one at the front and one at the back. The screw 59 is screwed into a stepped boss portion 60 protruding upward from the first operating lever 51, and the stepped boss portion 60 penetrates an elongated hole 61 formed in the arm body 36 and the base plate 53. The screw 59 is a screw as recited in the claims, and is inserted into the elongated hole 61 via the boss portion 60. The elongated hole 61 is formed in an arc with the support shaft 55 as its center.

Therefore, when the first operating lever 51 is pulled in the opposite direction (outward) from the seat 2 with the fingertip placed on it, the first operating lever 51 rotates horizontally. The lever member 54 is pulled by the spring 62 against the base plate 53 so as to return to the neutral position in which it is tilted inward.

One end of a first wire cable 63a for tilting operation is engaged with the base plate 53. That is, the first wire cable 63a includes a tube 64 and a wire 65 inserted therethrough, with a locking device 66 fixed to one end of the tube 64 and a ball 67 fixed to one end of the wire 65. One end of the first wire cable 63a is positioned on the inside of the base plate 53 near the seat 2 in a longitudinal position, but the locking device 66 is attached to a holder portion 53a formed on the base plate 53 so that it cannot slip, and the ball 67 is engaged with an inward protruding portion 54a formed on the lever member 54.

As shown in FIG. 8(B), the locking device 66 has an annular groove 66a formed therein, while the holder portion 53a has a rib 53b into which the annular groove 66a fits, thereby holding the locking device 66 in place so that it cannot come off. The inwardly protruding portion 54a of the lever member 54 has a ball retaining hole 68 into which the ball 67 fits from above, and a wire passing groove 69 that communicates with the ball retaining hole 68. The wire passing groove 69 is cut in the circumferential direction to hold the ball 67 in place so that it cannot slip out upward.

The first wire cable 63a passes through the upper escape hole 47 provided in the boss portion 40 of the elbow body 36 and the lower escape hole 50 provided in the relay holder 39 to reach the inside of the support portion 12, and then passes through the passage hole 70 (see FIG. 11(A)) formed at the lower end of the support portion 12 to reach above the base 8. In other words, the first wire cable 63a is pulled from the support portion 12 through the relay holder 39 and the boss portion 40 into the inside of the elbow body 36.

As shown in FIG. 8, side engagement claws 53c are provided on both the left and right sides of the base plate 53 so as to protrude upward, and a rear engagement protrusion 53d is provided on the rear end of the base plate 53. The inner lid 37 is attached using these engagement claws 53c and engagement protrusions 53d so that it cannot shift forward, backward, left, or right.

As explained above, in this embodiment, the operating levers 51, 52 are arranged on the underside of the armrest 5 so that they can rotate horizontally. Therefore, the operating levers 51, 52 only need to protrude downward enough for the fingertips to rest on them. This makes it possible to make the operating levers 51, 52 as inconspicuous as possible, achieving a streamlined design.

In addition, the interior of the elbow body 36 can be fully utilized as an operating mechanism, the front-to-rear length of the lever member 54 can be sufficiently secured, and the armrest 5 has a certain degree of left-to-right width, allowing the rotation stroke of the operating levers 51, 52 to be increased, so that the lever action can be fully utilized to easily pull the wire 65.

In addition, even if the fingertips hit the operating levers 51, 52 when gripping the armrest 5 tightly when sitting down or leaving the chair, the operating levers 51, 52 will not rotate, and therefore will not cause malfunctions in tilt control, height adjustment, etc. In particular, in the embodiment, the finger rest portions of the operating levers 51, 52 are inclined in plan view so that the tips are closer to the seat 2, making it difficult for the fingertips to hit the operating levers 51, 52 when gripping the armrest 5 with the hand, which is advantageous in that it is possible to reliably prevent erroneous operation of the operating levers 51, 52.

In this embodiment, the left and right armrests 5 are provided with operating levers 51 and 52, respectively, but it is also possible to provide an operating lever on only one of the armrests 5.

(4) Lift/lower control mechanism, tilt control mechanism As described above, in the present invention, an operating lever for adjusting the height and an operating lever for controlling the tilt are provided on the armrest 5. However, just to be sure, a brief explanation of the lift/lower control mechanism and the tilt control mechanism will be provided below.

As can be seen from Figures 8 to 11, a hollow shaft 73 to which the forward arm 11 is fixed is rotatably held by the base plate 53, and a torsion bar (not shown) arranged on the hollow shaft 73 is fixed to a center block portion 74 (see Figure 12). Lock grooves 75 (see Figure 12) are formed in multiple upper and lower stages on the rear surface of the center block portion 74, while a lock plate 76 that can be engaged and disengaged from the lock grooves 75 from the rear is arranged on the base 7 so as to be freely rotatable horizontally. The lock plate 76 is held immovable vertically by upper and lower retaining plates 77, and can be rotated horizontally by a one-way brake portion 78.

When the wire 65 is repeatedly pulled, the one-way braking unit 78 alternates between holding the lock plate 76 in the forward position and holding it in the backward position. The one-way braking unit 78 is unitized and fixed to the base 7 with screws 79. The holding plate 77 is also fixed to the base 7 with screws 80.

The lifting control mechanism has a cable holder 81 that is attached to the base 7 so that it cannot slip off, a first link lever 83 that presses the push valve 82 of the leg support 6 from above, and a second link lever 84 that rotates the first link lever 83. The locking device 66 of the second wire cable 63b is held in place by the cable holder 81 so that it cannot slip off, and the ball 67 of the second wire cable 63 engages with the lower end of the second link lever 84.

When the wire 65 of the second wire cable 63b is pulled, the second link lever 84 rotates around the left-right long shaft 84a, and the first link lever 83 rotates around the front-rear long shaft 84a, causing the first link lever 83 to push the push valve 82.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the wire cables 63a, 63b are pulled upward from the front of the cover 85 that covers the base 7, and as shown in FIG. 11(A), they are pulled into the passage hole 70 of the support section 12 via the horizontally long recess of the lower stay 13. Therefore, a notch 86 for passing the wire cables 63a, 63b is formed at the connection between the lower stay 13 and the forward arm 11 of the tilting frame 10. In addition, a recess 87 that opens downward is formed at the lower end of the support section 12, and the recess 87 and the notch 86 are covered by the side cover 32 as shown in FIG. 5(A). Therefore, the wire cables 63a, 63b can be easily inserted.

The present invention can be embodied in a chair. Therefore, it can be used industrially.

2 seat 5 armrest 10 tilting frame 12 support portion 36 armrest body 39 relay holder 40 boss portion 51, 52 operating lever 53 base plate 54 lever member
59 Bis
61: slot 63a, 63b: wire cable 64: tube 65: wire 67: ball

Claims (2)

A chair in which an operating lever for operating a chair member is attached to the underside of an armrest so as to be horizontally movable,
The operating lever is mounted so as to be horizontally rotatable or slidable so as to be moved by pulling it outward to the left or right.
Chair. A chair in which an operating lever for operating a chair member is attached to the underside of an armrest so as to be horizontally movable,
The armrest comprises an arm body that opens upward, a base plate disposed inside the arm body, a lever member that is connected to the base plate so as to be horizontally rotatable, and the operating lever disposed on the underside of the arm body, the operating lever and the lever member being connected with a screw, and the arm body and the base plate having an oblong hole that allows the screw to move.
Chair .

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