US2679894A - Collapsible high chair - Google Patents

Description

June 1, 1954 H A, LI D Y 2,679,894

COLLAPSIBLE HIGH CHAIR Filed Aug. 6, 1947 INVENTOK H.A-L. LINDSAY -37" imzf Patented June 1, 1954 Can-ad Application August 6,1947, Serial-No. 766,577

2 Claims. 1.

This. invention: relates to a collapsible: high chair.

High chairs for. children are usually made like most pieces'of furniture as a rigid and. stable article. As such, they constitute. an odd piece of furniture usually kept in the kitchen or dining roomand'in most cases, arealways'in the way. Theaverage dining room is usually'supplied to capacity with necessary furniture and the:addi-- tion of ahigh chair very often produces an overcrowded condition. At the very least it detracts from the appearance of the room. In the kitchen,

space is usually limited and a high chair often displaces a much needed ordinary chair. This is particularlyso where houses, as over the past number of years, on the average have been substantially reduced in size. Often where it is necessary to provide for more Space inthe kitchen, dinette or the like, it is necessary that the high chair be carried temporarily to some other location', such as the basement when it is not in use. This continual transferring of this chair from one location to another constitutes a greatinconvenience.

These particular disadvantages are completely avoided by the present invention.

It is an object of the present invention to provide'a simple, practical, collapsible high chair which may be collapsed to a compactunit, easily slipped under other articles of furniture or disposed in a corner or cupboard conveniently cated, so that it maybe brought into use or put away very quickly and easily.

A further object of the invention is to provide a chair of this character which may be collapsed and/or set up-in one simple operation, and in which gravity will act to dispose the parts in the collapsed or set up position following one simple manual operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a chair of this character including the usual tray wherein the tray will be swung automatically to and from a collapsed'or set up position as the other parts move normally in the operation in question.

A still further object of the invention is toprovide a chair of this character wherein the various parts will pivot and co-act with one'another so'as to provide a flat compact unit when closed whichmay be disposed in very confined places for storage purposes.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a chair of this character which will be posi tively locked against collapsing movement when setup, and wherein-the locking iseasily-released by a precise operation when required.

With. these and other objectsin view thei'invention generally comprises a chair includin ia seat, a back, arms, tray, and foot rest, all'car ried upon a lazy-tongs supportin structure.

wherein release of locking means. permitting-the collapse of the lazy-tongs mechanism. will... through the pivotal connections effected" and added links, cause the backto fold upon the: seat, the arms to foldparallelto the back and seat, and the tray to fold under the seat between'theseat and the under-carriage in onecomplete collaps ing operation.

In the preferred form of structure, the foot-rest." constitutes the lock releasing means and foldsrtolie partially beneath the seat and above thefold-- ed tray. The folding to collapsed position: and the unfolding to set up position is accomplished in one single operation wherein gravity plays a major part, as will appear from the following detailed specification taken in conjunctionwithrthe accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1' is a side elevation of a preferred'fo'rmof chair according to thepresent invention shownin its set up position.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of'this chair shown at an intermediate stage of the collapsing'opera tion.

Figure 3 is a side elevation'of the chair com a relatively compact;

pletely collapsed to form flat unit.

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse fragmentary the setup position.

Figure 6 is an enlarged perspective view of one of said side guide brackets.

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of part of the seat, back and rear sup-- port of the chair to illustrate the co-oper'ati've part of thestop means relation of the parts and for rigidifying the foldable members in use.

Figure 7A is a fragmentary front elevation of the back rest of the chair showing a slot for gripping it conveniently.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates the high chair as a whole which includes the seat'B, back rest C; foot rest D and tray E. The seat B isconnected'tothe backrest C. by means of hin es: I01

holding the mounting rod of the footrest through which the chair may be locked at each side of the seat. The arm rests H are pivoted to the back as at I2 and hinged as at l3 to the arm rest supports I4, the latter in turn being pivoted as at l5 (Figures 2 and 3), to the seat frame B. Consequently, in terms of the seat, back rest and arm rests, the back may be folded upon the seat and the arm rests and their supports will fold to lie parallel to and beside the back and seat respectively (see Figure 3).

This general seating structure is mounted on the under-carriage F which is comprised by a lazy-tongs mechanism including the lower pairs of supports l6 and I1 pivoted together as at i8 by a transverse rod. The upper ends of these supports are pivotally connected by means of the brackets IS with the pairs of links and 2| which are in turn pivotally connected as at 22 by a transverse rod.

The upper ends of the links 26 and 2! are designed to connect with parts of the superstructure of the chair. The links 26 pivotally connect with the lower end of cantilever brackets 23, which are rigidly connected as at 24 to each side of the chair back C, the lower end of the bracket 23 protruding below the lower plane of the seat B for connection with links 20. The pivotal connection between'the links 20 and the bracket 23 is by means of a transverse rod 25.

The upper ends of the links 21 are pivotally connected as at 26 to the tray actuating links 21, the upper ends of which are pivotally connected as at 28 to the angular side brackets 29, which at their opposite ends are rigidly connected to the tray E. Thus, having regard to the structure and pivotal relation to the under-carriage F and its pivotal connection with the chair brackets 23 and tray actuating links 2'!, it will be apparent that as the back C of the chair moves to a collapsed position to overlie the seat B the under-carriage will commence to collapse as shown in Fig. 3 and through the tray actuating links 2! the tray E will be caused to gradually swing forwardly and downwardly, until in the collapsed position as shown in Fig. 3 the tray E will partially underlie the seat B in parallel relation thereto and the whole unit will take the form of a flat compact article which can be readily stored. However, locking means is, of course, necessary to provide a fully operative structure and reference will now be made to this locking means.

A transverse rod 30 is disposed across the underside of the seat B adjacent to its front edge when the chair is in the upright position. The ends of this rod are designed to enter into the horizontal guideway 3| of the guide brackets 32, which are disposed on the inside of a side marginal flange or frame piece 33 of the seat B. This bracket is shown in Figs. 4-6. The forward end of the guideway terminates in a downwardly extending notch 34 which is designed to receive the ends of the transverse rod when the chair is in an upright position.

The foot rest D is suspended from the transverse rod 30 and is rigidly attached thereto. It will be apparent that as the foot rest D is swung from its normal position in Fig. 1 upwardly, it will tend to rotate the rod 33 out of the notch 34 of each guideway 32, whereby to dispose the rod 30 directly in the guideway. The footrest is normally held in the notch 34 by the connecting links 35 (Fig. 5, one only shown). These links extend rearwardly to engage the transverse rod 25 (Fig. 4) and a slight tension is imposed on the links 35 by reason of the slight flexibility of the rod 25, which tends to firmly retain the transverse rod 30 in the notches 34 when the chair is in the upright position. A bracket 36 downwardly depending from each side of the chair seat B and formed with a receiving notch 31 is designed to coact with the transverse rod to securely lock the chair in an upright position. As the chair is swung to upright position the link 35, pushed by the rod 25 as it swings into its normal position (i. e. from Fig. 2 to Fig. 1), pushes the transverse rod 30 in the guideway 3| until it moves into the notch 34. As the foot rest D swings down to normal position the transverse rod 25 is engaged in the notches 37 of the brackets 38, whereby to lock the chair securely in its upright position. Conversely, as the foot rest D is swung upwardly, the transverse rod 30, is released from the notches 34, and slides rearwardly in the guideways 34 to fully swing the foot rest to a position parallel with the seat C and pull it partially underneath the seat as will be clearly understood by reference to Fig. 2.

The length and angle of the elements of the under-carriage and the tray actuating links is calculated such that when the chair is swung to collapsed position the tray will be housed as previously indicated above, partially beneath the seat and between the latter and the under-carriage. It is designed to automatically swing ,to this position, clearing the front of the foot rest D as the latter automatically slides to its collapsed position (Fig. 2). Thus, a compact collapsed unit is provided when the chair is folded and a sturdy rigid structure (Fig. 1) is produced when the chair is set up. Moreover, by reason of the fact that the foot rest D constitutes the actuator for rigidly setting the chair up in operative position and for collapsing it it will be apparent that the chair is always rigid and safe when the child is in it. The pressure of the childs feet tend to more firmly retain the chair rigid in its set up position. The rigidifying effect is further added to by the tension imposed on the transverse rod 30 from the connection of the links 35 with the transverse rear rod 25.

When the chair is in a collapsed position the relation between the links 26 and 2| is such that they are disposed very slightly past dead centre so that in picking up the collapsed unit it will tend to remain in the collapsed position. However, by grasping the back of the seat which is preferably provided with a hand slot 38 (Fig. 7a), and pressing against the front edge of one of the links 16 to start the pivotal action while pulling upwardly on the grasped chair back C, the whole unit will swing into operation by gravity and will become locked in the upright position. Similarly, from the upright position by slightly swinging the foot rest D upwardly and pushing forwardly on the chair back the whole unit will collapse by gravity to the position shown in Fig. 3 once the lock is released by such movement of the foot rest.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that I have produced a collapsible high chair which may be readily operated to and from collapsed position and which when collapsed will form a compact unit capable of easy storage, and which will attain the general objects set forth. It will be apparent also that changes may be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention and, therefore, it is intended that no greater limitation should be placed upon the subject matter of the invention than that imposed by the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is: 1. In a collapsible high chair, a seat, a back hinged to said seat, first link means pivotally connecting with said seat and with said back adapted to form arm structure, a tray pivotally mounted on said first link means, two similar foldable support assemblies carried by said seat member, said support assemblies being foldable in parallel spaced apart planes, a first bracket means carried by said back member, a rod extending between said support assemblies adjacent the rear of said seat member, said first bracket means pivotally connecting with said rod, a second bracket means carried by said seat member formed to engage with said rod when said seat and back members are in an operative position and serve as a stop, third bracket means carried by said tray, second link means connecting said third bracket means to said support link assemblies adjacent the front portion of said seat member for operating said support assemblies from a folded to an operative position and for simultaneously operating said tray from a folded position to an operative position overlying said arm structure as said back hinges from a position overlying said seat member to an operative position substantially at right angles to said seat member, said back, tray, and folding support assemblies all lying adjacent the two sides of said seat member in folded posi- 6 tion, and locking means for locking said chair in an operative position.

2. A collapsible high chair as claimed in claim 1, having a foot rest, said seat member being formed with rails extending along each of its sides in parallel relation to each other, means for slidably and pivotally mounting said foot rest between said rails adjacent its upper end, and in which said means for locking said chair in an operative position comprises a notch formed in said rails adjacent their forward ends to receive the upper end of said foot rest at its point of connection therewith in locked engagement and link means pivotally connected with said foot rest adjacent its top at one end and with said rod at their other end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 39,995 Huzingen Sept. 15, 1863 387,586 French Aug. '7, 1888 394,599 Nichols Dec. L8, 1888 703,227 Blackard June 24, 1902 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 85,398 Germany Feb. 17, 1896

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