US2492108A

US2492108A - Retracting type theater chair

Info

Publication number: US2492108A
Application number: US679356A
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph G Prosser
Original assignee: American Seating Co
Current assignee: American Seating Co
Priority date: 1946-06-26
Filing date: 1946-06-26
Publication date: 1949-12-20
Anticipated expiration: 1966-12-20

Description

Dec. 20, 1949 J. G. PROSSER 2,492,108

RETRACTING TYPE THEATER CHAIR Filed June 26, 1946 5 Shets-Sheet l 15a 15 15b Z4 Z4 ,25 25 x 22 22 25 25 12 12 5 s 5 8 7 7 '8 INVENTOR Jbselah 6'. Pvosser ZLIYL IIW ATTORNEY Dec. 20, 1949 J. G. PROSSER 2,492,108 RETRACTING TYPE mamzn CHAIR Filed June 26. 1946 3 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Jbaeplz G. Prossez- D 20, 1949 J. G. PROSSER 2,492,108

RETRAC'I'ING TYPE THEATER CHAIR Filed June 26, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I. 5 f? A fr? IQ) INVENTOR JlIJtph (i. Pvoaae r Q ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 2Q, 1949 UNIT'ED STATE 5 PAT E N T 2,492,108

RETRACTING TYPE THEATER CHAIR Joseph GrP-rosser, Pasadena, Caljfi, assignorzto American Seating Company, Grand Rapids, Mich acorporation of Nerve Jersey Application Jun'e26, 19 Serial No. 6795356 9 Claims. (crass- 116) "The present invention relates to chairs, and

mare particularly "to chairs of the retracting type adapted for installation in theaters, auditoriums li tha is primary objects of the invention are to ovidea novel theater chair of the retracting ype wherein the-chair occupant may move the seat and back rearwardly thus to increase the f space in front oihim and facilitate the passage 6! other theater patrons in front of him without having to rise from his seat; to provide such ajchair whose seat'maintains the same angular inclination from the horizontal throughout its rearward and forward movements; to provide such a chair whose rearwardly-upwardly in- Lelined hack approaches the vertical as the chair is moved rearwardly thus efiecting a minimal reduction of space to the rear of the chair when the same is retracted; to provide such a chair whose isoatis independently-turnable to a raised position of non-use; and to i provide such a chair which is sturdy inconstruction, reasonably economical gin manufacture. and attractive in appearance.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein t Figure 1 isla trontelevational view of a theater ,chair constructed according to the present inmention:

2 5 and having outer end portions ;1 disposed'in Sockets 8 in vthestandards l. Machine screws 9 passing through apertures in the mounting .plates 5 and threaded in bosses II in the standards I 5 :also serve .to secure the mounting members-to the standards.

A pair of suspension links I2 is .pivotally conheated at the upperendsthereoi to the outer sur- 'face ofeach mounting member 5, and a supporting link is pivotally connected intermediate its ends to the lower end of each suspension link |-2 thus forming spaced pairs of supportinglinks on opposite sides of the chair. The front supporting linksare speciflcallydesignated 13a and {the rear supporting links are specifically designated 13b in thedrawings.

"A pair of chair supports it is pivotally connected to the upper ends of the pairs of supporting links respectively, said chair supports being of generally Ueshaped formation and .being connected at their :forward ends by a seat supporting rod I5. The seat 3 is pivotally mounted on the chair supports [4 by means of seat brack- "ets IE on the opposite sides'thereof, and the seat Figure 2 is a left hand side elevational view of partsoi the chair in their forward positions in i Ioiid lines, in partially retracted positions in dotlines, and in fully retracted positions in broken lines.

Referring now in detail to these drawings T wherein like parts are designated by the same numerals in the several views, the chair generally comprises a pair of spaced upright chair stand- I having conventional arm rests 2, and a ieatjand back l of conventional upholstered fljponstruction mounted between the standards I.

\ Bpac ed, upstanding mounting members 5 are it bu d' o the st nd rds I r s t e by feh em an suchas t ubula onn n strut secured as by welding to themounting members is thus movable to a lowered position of use wherein its rests on the rod J5 and to a raised position of non-use as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 3.

The back A of the chair is ;pivotally nounted on the chairsupports 14 by means of back mounting bars I I connected to the rearward upper ends of the chair supports J4 by the same pivotal connections that secure the seat brackets 16 to the she su s- A h k a t atin link A so nects each forward supporting :link I3a to the corresponding back mounting bar I1. The for- -ward pivotal connections of the back actuating links [8 to the front supporting links l3a are above the pivotal connectionsof these supporting links to the chair supports I 4, while the rearward pivotal connections of the back actuating links :to the back mounting bars 11 are below the pivotal connections of these backmountingbars to the chair-supports it.

A pair of confining links 19 is pivotally secured at the forwardends thereof to the outer surface of eachmounting member 5. The rearward ends of these confining links is are pivotallysecured -to the lower ends of thesupporting links al:3a,a'nd

l3b respectively.

Stop members 20 are secured to the outer suriaces' of the chair supports 14 respectively betweenthe supporting li-nks i311 and l3b by means erudite or screws i-I, and these stop 'meinbers limit the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links. If desired, tension springs 22 may be provided for normally urging the chair to its retracted position, said springs having their forward ends attached to studs 23 on the front supporting links and their rearward ends attached to studs 24 on the upper extensions 25 of the mounting members 5.

Operation The operation of the chair may best be understood by reference to Figure 5 of the drawings. The major portion of the chair occupants weight (represented by the arrow) is carried by the front links which ar under compression. The rear links carry little or none of the occupants weight, and they may even be under tension when the chair is in its forward position shown in full lines. These forces are mainly transmitted to the mounting members 5 through the suspension links i2, and in lesser degree by the confining links i9. It will be seen that the occupants weight maintains the chair in this forward position.

When the chair is moved rearwardly to its intermediate position illustrated in dotted lines the suspension links R2 are in vertical positions wherein they transmit virtually all of the occupants weight to the mounting members 5, while the confining links [9 are in lowered positions.

When the chair is moved to its fully retracted position, which is illustrated by broken lines in Figure 5, the supporting links i302 and B1) are inclined rearwardly past center and the occupants weight tends to maintain the chair in this position; the confining links are again in their raised positions and transmit a portion of the load to the mounting members 5.

During this rearward movement, the seat and back move slightly upwardly and the back is rotated toward the vertical by the back actuating links i8.

It will be seen that in this chair construction the following distances are substantially equal: The distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of suspension links H. to the adjacent mounting member 5:, the distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of supporting links I311 and i3?) to the adjacent pair of suspension links 82, the distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of supporting links 13a and iiib to the adjacent chair support it, the distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of confining links H! to the adjacent mounting member 5, the distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of confining links It to the adjacent pair of supporting links Mia and 531;. The lengths of the supporting links between their pivotal connections are the same. Links 52 same direction. By this arrangement the supporting links its and I32) are in constant parallelism, and thus the chair supports and chair seat supported thereby maintain the same angular disposition throughout these movements.

invention being intended to be pointed out in the claims, it is not to be limited to or by details of construction of the particular embodiment thereof illustrated by the drawings as hereinbeiore described.

I claim:

1. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting are parallel and links l9 extend in the to said mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chair supports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of said supporting links, and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supportinglinks.

2. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposed pairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected to said mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chair supports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of said supporting links above the pivotal connection of said supporting link to its adjacent chair support, and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

3. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposed pairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected to said mounting members and each pair comprising a front and a rear supporting link, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chair supports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to the front one of a pair of said supporting links above the pivotal connection of said supporting link to its adjacent chair support, and

stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

l. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposed pairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected to said mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat pivotally mounted on the chair supports, stop means carried by the chair supports for limiting the'lowering movement of the seat, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of said supporting links and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

5. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposed pairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected to said mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat pivotally mounted on the chair supports, stop means carried by the chair supports forwardly of the pivotal connectionsbetween said chair supports and their adjacent supporting links for limiting the lowering movement of the seat, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of said supporting links and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links. 7

6. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, a pair of suspension links pivotally connected at their upper ends to each mounting member, a supporting link pivotally connected intermediate its ends to the lower end of each suspension link thus forming spaced pairs of supporting links, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chair supports, a back mounted on the chair supports, a pair of confining links pivotally connected at their forward ends to each of said mounting members and pivotally connected at their rearward ends to the lower ends of said supporting links, and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

7. A chair according to claim 6 in which the following distances are substantially equal: The distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of suspension links to the adjacent mounting member, the distance between the pivotal connections of each pair of supporting links to the adjacent pair of suspension links, the distance beto said mounting members and each pair comprising a front and a rear supporting link, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a seat mounted on the chair supports, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, back actuating links pivotally connected to opposite sides of the back and to the front supporting links respectively above the pivotal connections of said supporting links to their adjacent chair supports, and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

9. In a chair, spaced upstanding mounting members, oppositely disposed pairs of supporting links having their lower ends pivotally connected to said mounting members, a pair of chair supports each pivotally connected to the upper ends of a pair of said supporting links, a back pivotally mounted on the chair supports, a back actuating link pivotally connected to the back and to one of said supporting links, a spring connected to one of said supporting links and to the adjacent mounting member for normally urging the supporting links rearwardly, and stop means for limiting the forward and rearward movements of said supporting links.

JOSEPH G. PROSSER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,176,221 Kerbel Mar. 21, 1916 1,418,709 Hardman June 6,. 1922 2,098,623 Hard Nov. 9, 1937 2,336,031 Orton Dec. '7, 1943