JPH1189668A - Armrest device of office chair - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce fatigue of the muscle of a shoulder and a neck by eliminating the necessity of floating arms placed on armrests even when the arms are longitudinally moved. SOLUTION: Left and right armrests 20 of an office chair are slidably supported in the longitudinal direction in upper end parts of elbow frames 14 rising upward from the left and right of a seat part 12 so as to be longitudinally freely movable together with left and right arms placed on them. In a support structure of the armrests, a slider 25 extending in the longitudinal direction is fixed to the lower side of the armrests, and the slider 25 is slidably supported in the longitudinal direction by a guide member 26 fixed to the upper end parts of the elbow frames 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an office chair provided with an armrest, and more particularly to an office chair of a kind suitable for use, for example, when inputting a computer keyboard.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The armrest of an ordinary office chair is fixed to the upper end of an elbow frame that rises upward from the left and right sides of a seat. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As in the armrest device disclosed in No. 9, the armrest can be shifted in a substantially horizontal plane so that the distance between the armrests on both sides can be adjusted widely or narrowly according to the physique of the occupant. Some are provided, and after adjustment, they are fixed at that position by a lock mechanism.

[0003]

In each of the above-mentioned prior art office chairs, the armrests are fixed at the time of use, so that the user can move his / her both arms (parts beyond both elbows) back and forth, for example, by operating a computer keyboard. In the case of work that is frequently performed, it is necessary to lift both arms from the armrest each time. Therefore, if you continue working for a long time,
There is a problem that the shoulders and neck are fatigued. An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0004]

An armrest device for an office chair according to the present invention is provided so that the left and right armrests of the office chair can be freely moved back and forth with the left and right arms placed thereon from above and below the seat portion. The elbow frame is slidably supported in the front-rear direction at the upper end of the elbow frame.

The armrest device for an office chair according to the preceding paragraph has a slider extending in the front-rear direction fixed to the lower side of the armrest, and the slider is slidably supported in the front-rear direction by a guide member fixed to the upper end of the elbow frame. It is preferred that

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. The office chair shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 rotatably supports a seat 12 via a support 11 on a leg 10, and a backrest 13 is provided on the rear side of the seat 12, and the left and right of the seat 12 are provided. An elongated armrest 20 extending in the front-rear direction is provided at the upper end of each of the elbow frames 14 rising upward from above. Armrest 20
As shown by an arrow A in FIG. 2, it is slidably supported by a distance L in the front-rear direction.

Next, a support structure of the armrest 20 to the elbow frame 14 will be described with reference to FIGS. As mainly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the armrest 20 is provided with a cushion member 22 made of a foamed elastic material such as polyurethane foam on the upper side and both sides of an armrest frame 21 made of sheet metal having both sides bent downward, It is attached by covering with a skin 23. A pair of lock bars 24 is fixed to both sides in the width direction of the lower surface of the armrest frame 21, and a slider 25 is fixed to a center part in the width direction. Both the lock bar 24 and the slider 25 are provided over substantially the entire length in the longitudinal direction, and a pair of guide grooves 25a are formed on both side surfaces of the slider 25 along the longitudinal direction.

A support 15 having a shallow groove-shaped cross section extending in the front-rear direction is fixed to the upper end of each elbow frame 14 by welding or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the support base 15 moves the armrest 20 over the entire sliding range of the armrest 20.
A guide member 26 having a groove-shaped cross-section is screwed and fixed to the upper surface of the guide member 26 except for a rear portion provided with a lock arm 30 (described later). The engagement protrusion 26 a formed along the longitudinal direction on the inner surface on both sides of the guide member 26 is
The armrest 20 is slidably engaged with the armrest 20a so that the armrest 20 is slidably supported in the front-rear direction. The slider 25 and the guide member 26 are preferably made of a synthetic resin having a small friction coefficient such as polyethylene or polypropylene.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, a lock arm 30 and a lever 31 for operating the lock arm 30 are provided at the rear of the support base 15. The lever 31 is inserted from the lower side of the support base 15 so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis at a root portion thereof and extends horizontally, and a lock arm 30 is screwed and fixed to an upper end surface of the step portion. I have. The lock arm 30 is normally at the position shown by the solid line and the arm rest 20 can be freely moved with respect to the support base 15, but the lever 31 is rotated as shown by the arrow B to move the lock arm 30 to the position shown by the two-dot chain line 30A. Then, both ends of the lock arm 30 frictionally engage with the inner surfaces of the pair of lock bars 24, and the movement of the armrest 20 is locked. The lock by the lock arm 30 is performed to prevent breakage in the case of transportation, and is not performed during normal use such as operation of a computer keyboard.

When the occupant of the office chair operates the keyboard of the computer, etc., the operation is performed with both arms placed on the armrest 20. When each arm moves back and forth, the armrest 20 moves smoothly following the arm, so that it is not necessary to lift each arm from the armrest 20. Therefore, there is no burden on muscles such as shoulders and neck,
Fatigue on the shoulders and neck during such work is reduced.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when the arm is frequently moved back and forth, such as when operating the keyboard of a computer, there is no need to lift the arm from the armrest, so that the muscles such as the shoulders and neck are burdened. There is no such thing. Therefore, the fatigue of the shoulder, neck, and the like during such work can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an office chair provided with an armrest.

FIG. 2 is an overall side view of an embodiment of an armrest device of an office chair according to the present invention and a peripheral portion thereof.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

12 ... seat, 14 ... elbow frame, 20 ... armrest,
25: slider, 26: guide member.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An upper and lower armrest of an elbow frame rising up from the left and right sides of a seat so as to freely move back and forth with left and right armrests of an office chair together with left and right arms placed thereon. An armrest device for an office chair, characterized by being supported. 2. The slider according to claim 1, wherein a slider extending in the front-rear direction is fixed below the armrest, and the slider is slidably supported in the front-rear direction by a guide member fixed to an upper end of the elbow frame. Office chair armrest equipment.