NL2014981B1

NL2014981B1 - Seating unit.

Info

Publication number: NL2014981B1
Application number: NL2014981A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Johanna Adrianus Besteman Petrus
Original assignee: Johanna Adrianus Besteman Petrus
Priority date: 2015-06-17
Filing date: 2015-06-17
Publication date: 2017-01-23

Abstract

A seating unit comprises a seat, a back rest, front legs and rear legs, a lower back rest slanted between the seat and back rest, each comprising a plane of a plurality of parallel slats, seen from the front side, and pairs of the seat, back rest, front legs and rear legs mutually connected on crossings thereof, wherein said slats are arranged to constitute a triangular beam that comprises at least three of the seat, back rest, lower back rest, and the front and rear legs, wherein the back rest and the seat are each positioned nonparallel to the front legs as well as the rear legs. The rear legs and lower back rest may be mounted at their crossing when the seat is connected to the rear legs and the lower back rest at different points than said crossing.

Description

SEATING UNIT

The present invention relates to a seating unit, comprising: a seat, a back rest, front legs and rear legs arranged to carry the seat and back rest when the seating unit is in use, a lower back rest arranged slanted between the seat and back rest, each comprising a plane of a plurality of substantially parallel slats, in which seating unit the slats of different planes are arranged substantially parallel, when viewed from the front side of the seating unit, and pairs of the seat, back rest, front legs and rear legs are mutually mounted on crossings thereof by connection elements, or comprising the same slats, wherein said slats are also arranged to constitute a beam having a triangular cross-section, which beam comprises at least three of the seat, back rest, lower back rest, front legs and rear legs. A seating unit of the type above is known. For example, the US patent 5.588.695 discloses a foldable chair (see Figure 10 of said patent), having a plurality of back rest, seat and intermediate members. The back rest members are joined along the front, the seat members are joined along the front. The other end of the back and seat members are joined to opposite ends of the intermediate members, forming a beam with a triangular cross section. Leg members extend from two of the back members and two of the seat members. The beam provides stability to the chair when it is unfolded.

Seating units of the known type have the disadvantage of poor comfort. In particular, known embodiments of the known type of seating unit have at least one of the following disadvantages: the angle between seat and back rest planes is too small or too wide, and/or the seating unit is unstable and/or the seating unit has legs that extend in such manner that they are in the way of a user or bypassing persons (see Figure 1 of US patent 5.588.695).

The invention has as a goal to overcome this problem, by offering a seating unit of the type described above that is comfortable and stable at the same time.

This goal is realized by a seating unit according to claim 1.

In the seating unit according to the invention, the beam comprises three or more of the seat, back rest, lower back rest, and the front legs and rear legs, in order to let the seating unit retain its shape.

Yet, due to the fact that the back rest and the seat are each positioned non-parallel, hence under an angle other than zero degrees, to the front legs and the rear legs, the relative orientations of the seat and back rest on one hand may be chosen freely in a wide range for providing a comfortable seat, and the relative orientations of the legs may be chosen freely in a wide range for providing a seating unit capable of standing on a floor without falling over and without having legs or other members that project outside of the projected area below the seat and back rest.

It is noted that the slats may be substantially straight, hence the planes they constitute may be flat, but the slats may also be curved to further increase seating comfort .

Another advantage of the seating unit according to the invention is that it is relatively simple to obtain an embodiment that is stackable, by the absence of the need for arm rests .

Moreover, the width of the seating unit may be varied without compromising the stability or seating comfort. For example a chair for a single person may be an embodiment, and a bank for two, three or more persons may be another embodiment .

Additionally, it may be relatively simple to mount and demount the seating unit. Finally, no additional elements are needed, such as legs extending at or from the front of the seat, and the beam only provides the required stiffness to the seating unit. This makes the mounting and removal of cushions and covers relatively simple, without e.g. hurting one's feet.

In an advantageous embodiment, the triangular beam comprises the rear legs, lower back rest and seat, such that the rear legs and lower back rest cross each other and are mounted to each other at their crossing and the seat is connected to the rear legs and the lower back rest at different points than said crossing of the rear legs and lower back rest. It will be clear, that the crossing of the rear legs and the lower back rest is near the end of the rear legs, because otherwise these would extend forward through the back rest or lower back rest to destroy the comfort of the seat.

Preferably, the back rest is mounted to the crossing of the rear legs and the lower back rest, and also to the seat between the rear legs and the lower back rest. This allows for the selection of an optimal orientation of the back rest, and seamless transition between lower back rest and back rest. Moreover, the triangular beam is thus provided with an additional reinforcement, creating two smaller triangular cross sections and hence offering redundancy in the construction. Finally, the mounting of the back rest to the crossing of the front legs and the lower back rest, where the front legs and lower back rest were already connected, eliminates the need for additional mounting elements and is favorable with respect to the reduction of bending moments in the slats .

In an embodiment, the front legs are integrated with the lower back rest. This simplifies the construction while still allowing proper, i.e. useful, orientations of both the front legs and the lower back rest.

Further, the connecting elements may be longitudinal connecting elements to simplify the mounting and demounting of the seating unit and avoid the use of lateral obstacles extending from the planes.

In a further embodiment, one or more slats are provided with an indentation in which an adjacent slat snugly fits and is kept in place. In this manner, an interaction among adjacent slats is obtained, and hence additional stiffness is provided to the seating unit without additional components being necessary. Moreover, in this manner the openings between slats, needed to allow other slats to pass through, may be made narrower, thus allowing for an even higher seating comfort or more design freedom.

In another embodiment, at least one of the slats is made of wood or plastic, and at least one of the longitudinal connecting elements is pre-tensioned to accommodate time-dependant dimensional variations of the slat material and loads at normal use of the seating unit. By normal use, we refer to use as a seat (chair, bank, etc.) in the conditions for which it was designed, such as the proper number of users and temperature, humidity.

Wood has the property of expanding and shrinking, depending on the humidity of its surrounding air. Plastic is known for its property of creeping, when it is exposed to a long lasting force. In both cases, the connection made by the connecting elements may become loose. By adequate pretensioning, it becomes possible to let the connection remain tight and reliable over a long period of time, by taking up said dimensional variations, and also loads due to normal use of the seating unit.

This is the case when the longitudinal connecting element is capable of a combination of sufficiently high elastic deformation and sufficiently high tensile strength to take up said dimensional variations. In combination with slats made of wood or plastic, this is advantageously plastic or titanium, more specific polyamide (PA).

Advantageously, the front legs are arranged to have, when the seating unit is resting with its legs on a substantially flat floor, an angle of inclination to that floor of less than 42 degrees, preferably less than or equal to 40 degrees. In this manner, a deep seat may be realized, while still maintaining a sufficiently high stability of the seating unit, hence a more comfortable seating unit.

The invention will now be illustrated on the basis of preferred embodiments, referring to the accompanying drawings and merely as an illustration of the invention and not in limitation thereof. In the drawings, similar parts are given identical reference numerals. Here

Figure la shows a perspective front view of a chair according to a first embodiment of the invention,

Figure lb shows a perspective rear view of the same chair,

Figure lc shows a side view of the same chair,

Figure 2a shows a perspective front view of a chair type according to a second embodiment of the invention both as a single chair and as a stack of chairs, and

Figure 2b shows a perspective rear view of the same chairs as shown in figure 2a.

In figures la-c, a seating unit in the form of a chair 1 has a seat 2, a back rest 3, two front legs 4 and two rear legs 5. The seat 2 has eight slats 6 made of wood and together forming a flat plane on which a back of a person may be supported. The back rest 3 is made of three slats 6, also made of wood. A lower back rest 7 is located between the seat 2 and the back rest 3, and has four slats 6 of which two are longer to form said front legs 4; hence these two slats 6 of the lower back rest 7 are integrated with the front legs 4.

In this embodiment, all the slats 6 are parallel, when viewed from the front side of the chair. Not all slats are provided with reference numbers, for clarity. Three longitudinal connection elements, in this embodiment formed as studs 8, extend through openings in the slats 6 of the seat 2, back rest 3, front legs 4, rear legs 5 and lower back rest 7, transversal and even parallel to the longitudinal direction of the parallel running slats 6. The studs 8 have bolts on their ends (not shown in the figures).

The front legs 4 and rear legs 5 form an upside down ν'-shape, with their top ends connected by a first one of the three studs 8. A second stud 8 connects the lower back rest 7 to the seat 2.

The slats 6 of the rear legs 5 run through indentations 9 made in the slats 6 of the seat 2 (see figure lb). Although these slats 6 are not fixed in their longitudinal direction by the indentations, they are kept in place because they are also fixed to the back rest 3, as described.

The lower back rest 7, rear legs 5 and seat 2, together with their two studs 8 and the fixing in indentations 9, constitute a stiff and stable triangular beam (or column) 10 from which the legs 4 extend as a continuation of the lower back rest 7 and seat 2 extends. The triangular shape is shown in Figure lc by the hatching.

The back rest 3 is mounted to this beam 10 by the same stud 8 that also connects the top ends of the front legs 4 and rear legs 5. The lower end of the back rest 3 is mounted to the seat 2, between the front legs 4 and rear legs 5, by a third stud 8, and also by indentations (not visible) to provide additional strength and to limit deformations of the chair 1 under working conditions. The presence of the back rest 3 creates two smaller triangular beams within the beam 10, as a result of which the chair 1 will still maintain most of its shape when one of the front legs 4 and rear legs 5 becomes loose. This redundancy of stability increases the safety of the chair.

The same stud 8 also mounts the back rest 3 to both legs 4 and 5. At its lower end, the back rest 3 is mounted to the seat 2, by the second of three studs 8.

The front legs have an angle of inclination, to an underground or floor on which the chair rests, of 34 degrees, allowing for the seat 2 to be deep without the chair 1 falling over forward.

Figures 2a and 2b show an almost identical type of chair, differing in the absence of the indentations 9, and in the width of the slats. The figures show the chair as a single chair 11 and as a stack 12 of chairs.

The stacking is possible because the slats are dimensioned and positioned, especially regarding their width and mutual distances, to allow the front legs 4 to pass through the seat 2, between the slats 6 thereof, and the rear legs 5 to pass through the back rest 3 and the lower back rest 7, also between the slats 6 thereof. In particular, the width of the slats and the openings between the slats are adapted and the indentations are removed as only little space would be available for them.

It will be clear to the reader that suitable pillows may be arranged on the seating units according to the invention, for comfort and possible for aesthetical reasons.

Other embodiments are possible. For instance, the slats 6 do not need to be parallel, but could diverge slightly, in an upward direction, for instance for aesthetical reasons. Moreover, a foldable embodiment is possible, by altering the connections in the triangular beam, for connections known per se, e.g. similar to those shown in US patent 5.588.695 as discussed before.

Claims

A seating unit (1), comprising: a seat (2), a backrest (3), front legs (4) and rear legs (5) arranged to support the seat and backrest when the seating unit is in use, a lower backrest (7) arranged obliquely between the seat and backrest, each comprising a plane of a plurality of substantially parallel slats (6), in which seat unit the slats from different planes are arranged substantially parallel, viewed from the front of the seat unit, and pairs of the seat, backrest , front legs and hind legs are either interconnected by connecting elements (8) at intersections thereof or comprise the same slats, said slats being arranged to form a beam that has a triangular cross section, which triangular beam is at least three of the seat, backrest, lower backrest and comprising the front legs and rear legs, characterized in that the backrest and the seat are each positioned non-parallel with respect to both the as the hind legs.

Seating unit according to claim 1, wherein the triangular beam comprises the rear legs and lower backrest and seat such that the rear legs and lower backrest cross each other and are attached to each other at their junction and the seat is connected to the rear legs and to the lower backrest at points other than said crossing between hind legs and lower back.

The seating unit according to claim 2, wherein the backrest is attached to the intersection of the rear legs and the lower backrest, and also to the seat between the rear legs and the lower backrest.

Seating unit according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the front legs form a whole with the lower backrest.

Seating unit according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said mountings comprise elongated connecting elements (8).

Seating unit according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the elongated connecting elements extends through openings (9) in the slats.

Seating unit according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one slat is provided with a recess into which an adjacent slat fits flush.

Seating unit according to one of the preceding claims 5 to 7, wherein at least one of the slats is made of wood or plastic, and at least one of the elongated connecting elements is prestressed to allow time-dependent variation variations of the slat material during normal use of the slat material. unit.

The seating unit according to claim 8, wherein the at least one of the elongated connecting elements comprises a plastic or titanium.

The seating unit according to claim 9, wherein the at least one of the elongated connecting elements comprises polyamide (PA).

Seat unit according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the front legs are arranged to have an angle of inclination with respect to that floor of less than 42 degrees, preferably less than or equal to 40 degrees.